365 tasty dishes

Two cupfuls of sifted meal and as much cold water as will make it into a batter, free from lumps; i teaspoonful of salt. Have ready i quart of boiling water and stir the batter into it, allowing it to boil briskly for thirty minutes. Stir frequently, and if it is somewhat too thick, add i cupful more of boiling water. Serve hot with cream and sugar as a change from the oaten and wheaten cereals for breakfast. Cold mush may be cut in strips, dipped in beaten egg, floured and fried for lunch. The above formula may be varied by using half new milk and half water. Januasy. 23. — Brown Curry. For a brown curry melt 2 tablespoonfuls of butter in a saucepan, add to it i large sliced onion and fry till it is brown. Add 2 pounds of beef, veal or mutton cut in small pieces and let all cook up together. Make a paste of I small tablespoonful of curry powder and water and stir into the meat for five minutes, or till thoroughly mixed. Season with salt, add i cupful of water and cook all slowly until meat is tender, possibly two hours. Just before serving add juice of half a lemon. 24.— Fried Calf's Brains. Drop the brains in cold water as soon as received. Change the water frequently until they look white and nice. Carefully remove tough muscles and, if possible, the outer membrane, the latter requiring careful handling. Place in a saucepan, with j^ of a teaspoonful of salt, I tablespoonful of vinegar and sufficient boiling water to cover. Simmer very gently for fifteen minutes, drop into cold water and let stand until chilled. Drain, split with a silver knife and dip each piece Januasy. into beaten egg, then roll in fine crumbs. Have a deep kettle partly filled with smoking hot fat, immerse each piece in it and cook quickly until golden brown. Serve with a brown, tomato or tartare sauce. 25.— Hot Gruel. Beat up an egg to a froth, add a wineglassful of sherry, sweeten and add a little grated lemon and nutmeg. Have ready some hot gruel made very smooth, stir in the wine and egg and serve with sippets of toast. This is quite delicious. 26.— Fried Smelts. Smelts are a small pan fish found in most of the Eastern markets throughout the winter. Those which come from Canada and Northern points are frozen, and can usually be had for about ten cents a pound. Green smelts are much larger, and come from points around and south of New York ; they cost almost twice as much as the smaller variety. They are drawn through the gills. Wash them thoroughly and dry on a soft cloth. Dip in milk and roll in flour or com meal, or January. dip into slightly beaten egg and roll in fine crumbs. Have a deep kettle partly filled with smoking hot fat. Do not put more than half a dozen in at a time, and draw the kettle off a little, so that they will be browned and thoroughly cooked in about four minutes. Bring the fat back to its first heat and cook more, keeping those first cooked on a pan lined with soft or unglazed paper in the open oven; this removes superfluous fat and keeps them hot. Serve on a napkin, garnished with cress or parsley and quartered lemons. 27.~Veal Cutlets in Cheese Batter. Prepare a frying batter by beating together the yolks of 2 eggs, J^ of a cupful of water, a pinch of salt, ^ of a cupful of flour, i tablespoonful of melted butter and j4 of a, cupful of grated cheese. Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, stir gently into the batter and set aside for a few hours. Trim and cut the meat in moderately thin slices, dip a piece at a time into the batter and drop into deep smoking-hot fat. Only cook two or three pieces at a time unless the kettle is a large one. January. aS. — French Recipe for Fritters.