365 tasty dishes

Thickly butter an oval mold or deep dish. Crumble the inside of a loaf of stale bread and measure. For i quart melt 2 tablespoonfuls of butter and pour it slowly over the crumbs, turning them well that the mixing may be even. Peal and cut into half-inch pieces sufficient rhubarb to measure I quart. Fill the dish with alternate layers of crumbs and rhubarb, sprinkling sugar thickly over each layer of the latter. Finish with crumbs, put an extra teaspoonful of butter cut into bits over the top and bake in a slow oven for from forty-five minutes to an hour, according to the thickness of the charlotte. Serve hot or cold. MAY z. — Delicious Lemon Custard. Five lemons (rind of i grated carefully), 2 cupfuls sugar, i tablespoonful butter (melted), 6 eggs (separated), i cupful milk, I tablespoonful sifted flour, i small saltspoonful salt. Scald milk, mix flour to smooth paste with sufficient cold water, add to milk and boil five minutes. Beat yolks and sugar, add to thickened milk when partly cool ; stir in also the melted butter little at a time. Have whites with salt beaten very stiff. To the mixture add alternately the whites in small quantities and the juice and rind. Pour into two rich crusts and bake twenty to twenty-five minutes — or bake in small custard cups if preferred. 2. — Cheese Gnocchi. Mix together 2 tablespoonfuls each of flour and corn-starch and ^ of a teaspoonful of salt. In a saucepan melt 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, add the dry mixture and, when well blended, i pint of hot milk. Stir until smooth and thick, cover and cook slowly for five minutes. Add ^ of a cupful of grated cheese and the beaten yolks of 2 eggs, take from the fire, turn into a shallow buttered pan and set aside until cold. Turn out, cut in any fancy shapes, sprinkle thickly with cheese and brown in a sharp oven. 3.— Potatoes Casserole, Turkey Filling. A somewhat unusual way to serve cold meat, especially poultry, is in combination with a potato casserole. For this prepare i quart of mashed potatoes, seasoning well, and adding, when partly cooled, the beaten yolks of 2 eggs. Pack into a well-greased border mold, and turn carefully out on a fireproof serving dish, or mold with the hands so as to form an oval or circular wall. Cut the cold meat into small neat pieces, and for each pint prepare i^ cupfuls of thick sauce, cream sauce for poultry or veal, brown sauce for any dark meat. Season well, and heat the meat in it. Brush the casserole over with beaten egg, place it in a hot oven until golden yellow, then fill the centre with the meat and garnish with a little chopped parsley. 4.— Rhode Island Chowder. Cut % oi z. pound of fat salt pork into thin slices, place in the bottom of a large kettle and slowly cook until well tried out and brown on both sides. Have ready 7 pounds of cod or any firm-fleshed white fish cut in large pieces and 10 good-sized onions peeled and sliced. Lift out the pork leaving the fat in the kettle. Lay in as many pieces of the fish as will cover the bottom, add a thick layer of the sliced onions, salt and pepper to season. Alternate until the materials are used up, adding the pieces of fried pork before the last layer of fish. Pour over sufficient boiling water to come to the top of the fish, place on the fire, cover and when the water boils keep at a gentle bubble for half an hour. Pour in i quart of cider and I glassful of port ; add 2 pounds of sea biscuits which have been broken and soaked in cold water for five minutes. Taste, add more seasoning if necessary and boil for five May minutes longer. Serve boiled potatoes separately. 5. — Kentucky Potatoes.