The Institute cook book

Evening refreshments may be of infinite variety — from the very simple to the most elaborate — without regard to appetite or digestion. The menu may include hot bouillon, hot entrees, sandwiches, cold entrees, salads, coffee, salted nuts, ices and cakes. Coffee may be served in teacups with the supper or in after-dinner cups as a last course. The second way is necessarily customary where guests are not seated at tables. Only the daintiest of china, glass and silver shoidd appear on the table, and all crowding should be avoided: dishes can be replenished from the pantry if necessary. The table may be simply or elaborately decorated according to the kind of entertainment, the season, and the inclination of the host. Candlelight is to be preferred to any other, both because it is softer and because the candlesticks assist in making the table pretty. APPETIZERS APPETIZERS IT is customary to serve at the beginning of a meal a dish which, while it may have Httle food value, whets the appetite and stimulates the flow of digestive juices. At the formal dinner this is ordinarily raw oysters or clams in the shell, or caviar or anchovy canapes; but for other meals the cocktail is coming into ever wider use. The fruit cocktails are acceptable to many people, and at limcheons frequently form part of the decorative scheme. The cocktail glass should be set on a small linen or paper doily on a plate. OYSTER COCKTAIL No. 1 12 oysters 1 saltspoon salt 1 teaspoon grated horseradish Dash of red pepper 1 teaspooa tomato catsup 1 teaspoon tabasco 2 tablespoons lemon juice Put three oysters in each glass. Mix the horseradish and seasonings and pour the sauce over the oysters, OYSTER COCKTAIL No. 2 12 oysters 1 tablespoon tomato catsup 1 tablespoon lemon juice Vz saltspoon paprika 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 saltspoon salt 5 drops tabasco Put three oysters in each glass. Make a sauce of the other ingredients and pour over the oysters. LOBSTER COCKTAIL Cut the lobster into small pieces; mix well with tomato catsup, lemon juice and salt. Serve in cocktail glasses. Family of Four CLAM COCKTAIL Follow either of the recipes for oyster cocktails, using little neck clams. GRAPE-FRUIT COCKTAIL Cut the grape-fruit into halves, crosswise, and scoop out the pulp, rejecting the white inner skin as well as the seeds. Clean the shells ; cut the edges with a sharp knife into scallops and throw them into cold water. Set the pulp on the ice. At serving time put a teaspoon of cracked ice in the bottom of each shell; fill with the pulp, mixed thoroughly with powdered sugar and white graphs, if desired; and place a maraschino cherry or bit of bright-colored jelly in the center of each. Lay on paper doilies or surroimd with bits of asparagus fern. MIXED FRUIT COCKTAILS Cut into small pieces as many different kinds of fruit as you have in the house; sweeten to taste and set on the ice to chill. At serving time fill the cocktail glasses and place a maraschino cherry or ripe strawberry on the top of each. Fresh or canned pineapple is one of the most refreshing fruits for cocktails. RASPBERRY COCKTAIL