Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Noodles, or Nouilles. — Noodles are made of delicate pastry, cut up into ribbons and various shapes, and used as a substitute for vermicelli and macaroni, either in making fritters or puddings, or for serving with cheese or in soup. Take y* lb. of fine flour, put it on the pastry-board, make a hole in the centre, and in this put two eggs. Add a pinch of salt, oz. of butter, and a teaspoonful of cold water, and mix all together into a very firm, smooth paste. Leave it a little while to dry, then roll it out as thin as possible, and cut it into thin bands about an inch and a quarter in width. Dredge a little flour upon these, and lay four or five of them one above another ; then cut them through into thin shreds, something like vermicelli ; shake them well, to prevent their sticking together, and spread them out to dry. Noodles cannot be made without a straight rolling-pin and smooth pastry-board. When wanted for use, drop them gradually into boiling water, stirring gently with a wooden spoon to keep them from getting lumpy. Let them boil from six to twenty minutes, then take them up with a strainer; drain Noodles, Timbales MACARONI Spaghetti, Ravenna them well, and spread them out on a coarse cloth. If thoroughly dried, they will keep any length of time stored in tin canisters. Noodles, Timbales. — Put in three quarts of salted boiling water 2 lbs. of fine egg noodles, boil six minutes, drain well. Butter a platter about three inches deep, put inside of it a white buttered paper ; pour the hot noodles over it, and place another similar platter over the noodles. Put a weight over the two platters, and let cool off thoroughly. When cool, cut the timbales with a small, empty, buttered, plain mould; cut down through. Roll the timbales in beaten egg, and afterwards in bread-crumbs. Then fry for three minutes in hot fat. After three minutes remove, cool them off a little, and with a round knife remove all the inside, leaving only a thickness of a quarter of an inch ; have the bottom part thick enough to retain the gravy. Nouilles Soup. See Soups. Mush. See Porridge. Polenta, Italian. — This is an Italian and American dish, made from Indian corn flour in America and Italy, but in England semolina is used for the purpose. Four ounces of this will thicken a quart of milk ; the semolina is stirred into it when the milk is on the point of boiling, and simmered for about ten minutes after. Throw the polenta into a dish to get cold ; cut it into slices, powder it thickly with grated Parmesan, moisten it with salad oil or clarified butter, and bake. Serve quite hot, with more cheese on a separate dish. Time, half an hour to bake. Polenta, Savory. — Salt a pint of boiling water, put it on the fire, and stir into it enough yellow corn meat to make a good mush. Cook about an hour until thoroughly done. Take out by the spoonful and put upon a dish. Have ready a rather highly seasoned tomato sauce ; pour this over the polenta ; sprinkle with cheese ; set the dish in the oven three minutes, and send to table. If you have a cupful of good brown gravy in the house, it can be used instead of the tomato sauce.