riM I . *pj^/vt. - 7 ks*-* ' ? \ THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK THE NATIONAL . COOK BOOK BY MARION HARLAND AND CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1896 COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS TROW DIRECTORY 4TINQ AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Aftermath, 526-530 Appetizers, 1-9 Beverages, 472-430 Bread, 328-354 Broths, * 18-28 Cakes and Cake-making, . 357-377 Candies, Home-made, . . . . 481-483 Canned Fruits, . . . . . . 484-488 Catsups, Relishes, Flavoring Vinegars, etc*, 506-509 Chafing-dish, With the, -'. . V^ -T 520-525 Cheese Dishes, . .* . . . '. 209-214 Custards, Blanc-mange, Jellies, etc*, * ' . 436-450 Eggs, . . ..* .' ; . . , . J88-206 Fish, . * * . . . . 50-90 Fritters, 409-4J4 Fruit Desserts, * '"* ^ *' ' 458-46J Game, V ^ * * J76-J83 Ices, ^, . . ^ . . 451-457 Jellies, Fruit, . . - Brothers for permission to use certain recipes and directions, which, under a slightly different form, were printed in " Harper's Bazar." C. T. H. INTRODUCTORY THE thousand recipes in this volume represent seven years of accumulation and selection of material which we believe will be of value to our sister housekeepers. We have collected these recipes from all quarters of the globe, and adapted them to the American kitchen, making patient test of each before admitting it to our store of available matter. Circumstances have brought both of us into constant and close association with housewives all over this dear land of ours. We have made them, their needs, their ambitions, and their capa- bilities, a study, and in offering THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK to them, have more than a mere author's interest in our readers. They are our fellow-workers and friends. Recollections of the gracious acceptance they have accorded to former works have cheered us in the endeavor to prepare the very best Manual of Practical Cookery ever put upon the American market. We bespeak for it a fair trial in the hundreds of thousands of homes and kitchens in which " COMMON SENSE IN THE HOUSE- HOLD " has found a loving welcome and has proved itself a trust- worthy friend. MARION HARLAND. CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK APPETIZERS. A SIGNIFICANT token of the advance of the average domestic caterer in knowledge of the structure of the human stomach and in aesthetic taste is the honorable position now given on all well-appointed tables to what are technically termed hors- d'oeuvres. We are moved to repudiation of the foreign phrase by the torture it suffers in the mouths of chef and confectioner, and by the desire to call a good thing by its right name. Hors-d* (Kuvres means, literally, out-of-course, or out-of-order. The misnomer is palpable when applied to the incentives to the business and pleasure of eating, and to the assistants in the work of digestion that are classed under the conventional heading. Each has place and course, and all are in order. Especially is this true of the dainty devices that precede and enliven the regular progress of the social luncheon and "course dinner." The ingenuity of the professional cook and the lighter fancy of the accomplished housemother are taxed to swell the number of these and to contrive such as will play well their part. We see peculiar fitness in supplying a goodly assortment of such "aids and comforts" as a prelude to the more serious opus which is to follow. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK RAW OYSTERS. Small oysters are most fashionable for this purpose, but many epicures cannot forego the pleasure of seeing and eating the large, luscious bivalves which have made the American oyster famous through the world. If not served upon the half-shell as is always best lay each oyster carefully upon a bed of pounded ice in the cavity intended to receive him in your oyster-plate. Put a slice of lemon in the centre of the plate. If you use the half-shells, set them also upon pounded ice. This is better than scattering bits of ice over them, which in melting make the oysters insipid. RAW CLAMS. Use the Little Neck Clams when you can get them, and serve as you would oysters. OYSTER COCKTAILS. (No. J.) Mix together a tablespoonful of tomato catsup, half a tea- spoonful of Harvey's sauce, a tablespoonful of lemon-juice, a pinch of paprica, one of salt, and five drops of Tobasco sauce. Have ready in cold claret glasses or cocktail glasses small oysters, which should have been kept on ice until wanted. Put four or five in each glass, and pour a generous teaspoonful of the mixture on them. OYSTER COCKTAILS. (No. 2.) Thirty small oysters. For sauce have two tablespoonfuls of lemon-juice, a teaspoonful of finely grated horseradish, a tea- spoonful of tomato catsup, a pinch of salt, and a smaller pinch of cayenne, ten drops of Tobasco. Mix well and divide between six cocktail glasses, each containing five oysters. CAVIARE SAUTE. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter in the chafing-dish or frying- pan, and when it is very hot turn into it the contents of a THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 3 * two-pound can of caviare. Stir until the caviare is heated through. Season with as much red pepper as will lie on the point of a penknife, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and serve the caviare upon small squares or crescents of buttered toast. CAVIARE BARS. Open a box of caviare two hours before you are to use it, and turn into a china or stone-ware vessel, to rid it of the airless taste and smell imparted by the can. Half-an-hour or so before serving, beat into it the juice of a lemon and two tablespoon- fuls of olive oil until it is like thick cream. Have ready thin slices of buttered bread an inch and a half wide and a little over three inches long. Spread the caviare mixture upon the but- tered side of one slice and lay the other upon it as with sand- wiches. When all are prepared, pile the bars neatly upon a cold plate, and cover with a napkin until they are sent to table. ANCHOVY BARS. For these use the whole anchovies. Scrape them fine, leaving out the skins, and work to a paste with butter, lemon-juice, and a little cayenne pepper or paprica. Then proceed as with the caviare bars. ANCHOVY STRIPS. Cut strips of buttered bread less than an inch wide and about three inches long, and spread the buttered sides with anchovy paste, sprinkled very lightly with cayenne pepper or with the Hungarian sweet red pepper, known as paprica. BACON ON TOAST. Toast or fry thin slices of bacon until crisp, drain from fat, and serve on thin buttered toast. SMOKED SALMON. Cut smoked salmon into strips, and broil it over a clear fire until it is hot through and well marked with the bars of the 4 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK broiler. Transfer it to a hot plate which has been rubbed with a piece of lemon-peel, baste it liberally with butter, and squeeze over it the juice of a lemon. SMOKED SPRATS. Butter a baking-pan lightly, lay in it smoked sprats, and leave them in the oven until they are smoking hot. Serve French mustard and pass lemon with them. GRILLED SARDINES. Drain and skin boneless sardines. Heat two tablespoonfuls of butter in a chafing-dish and saute the sardines in this, turning them once. When very hot season with salt, a little cayenne, and the juice of a lemon. Serve on toast. SARDINE AND OLIVE SANDWICHES. Scrape the sardines to a paste, rejecting the skins and bones, and rub smooth with butter, lemon -juice, and a dash of red pep- per. Have ready small, triangular slices of bread, buttered upon the loaf, and then cut evenly and thin, spread the buttered sides with the mixture, press together lightly, and heap upon a dish. You can vary these sandwiches agreeably by mincing olives fine and working into the paste above described, then making this into sandwiches. CHICKEN SANDWICHES. Chop the white meat of a boiled chicken very fine, work into a paste with sweet cream, season with paprica or cayenne and celery salt, and make into sandwiches as already directed. If you cannot get cream, use butter for mixing. CHICKEN AND ALMOND SANDWICHES. To the chicken-meat prepared as in the last recipe add half as much almond paste, made by chopping almonds that have been blanched, then set in a cold place until stiff and crisp. Moisten to the right consistency with sweet cream, season smart- ly with cayenne or paprica and celery salt, and make into sand- wiches with thin slices of buttered brown bread not Graham, THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK DEVILED EGG SANDWICHES. Rub, or pound, the yolks of hard-boiled eggs that are per- fectly cold and mealy, to a powder, and wet up with salad oil, seasoning to taste with French mustard, cayenne or paprica, and salt, with a dash of lemon-juice. Work to a smooth yellow cream and spread between thin slices, or strips, of buttered brown bread. If seasoned piquantly, these will be delicious and a pleasant spur to appetite. BRUNETTES. Dip the crisp inner leaves of lettuce in a French dressing of salad oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt. Lift each out with the tips of your fingers and lay them between thin slices of buttered brown bread cut into triangles and spread with cream cheese Philadel- phia or Neufchatel, or the home-made cottage cheese worked soft with cream. The lettuce must not lie one instant in. the dressing if you would have it crisp and juicy. Dip it in, roll it over, and take it out at once. These are especially acceptable at hot-weather luncheons and afternoon teas. LETTUCE SANDWICHES are made like the Brunettes, leaving out the cheese. They are best with brown bread, although palatable if fresh home-made white bread, light and sweet, be used. CRESSLETS. Pick, without bruising, the leaves of fresh, succulent water- cresses from the stems, toss them over and over quickly, with a silver fork, in a French dressing, and spread between thin tri- angles of buttered brown bread spread with cream cheese. These, and other sandwiches made with green salads, must be eaten as soon as possible after they are made, and be kept on ice until they go to table. . THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK NASTURTIUM SANDWICHES. Butter and cut into thin slices a light white loaf, and spread between them fresh petals of nasturtium flowers, each petal overlapping the next half-way in its length to give substance to the sandwich "filling." These need no other seasoning than their own native piquancy. Garnish the dish with whole flowers, or, if served singly on plates, lay a flower upon each square or triangular sandwich. OLIVE AND CAPER BARS. Mince very finely olives and mix with one-third the quantity of finely chopped capers. Work up smoothly with butter, or oil, paprica or cayenne, and celery salt, and spread between thin strips of buttered brown bread. You can vary this spicy appetizer by substituting green nas- turtium pods for the capers. PEA-NUT SANDWICHES. Skin fresh-roasted pea-nuts, and pound fine. Work to a paste with melted butter, season with salt and cayenne, or paprica, and spread between thin squares, triangles, or bars of brown or white bread. They will be really very good. DEVILED SHRIMPS. Chop canned or fresh shrimps fine ; beat to a paste with olive oil or melted butter ; season with lemon-juice, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, and celery salt, and spread them between but- tered and toasted " sal tines " or small "snowflake" crackers, or, should you prefer, thin slices of buttered bread. SALTED ALMONDS. Blanch the almonds by pouring boiling water upon them, let- ting them stand ten minutes in this, closely covered, then, pour- ing it off and covering the nuts with more water from the boiling THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK J kettle. As soon as you can bear your fingers in the water, begin to strip the skins from the almonds, and spread upon a sieve or cloth to dry. They should be cold and crisp before you do anything more with them. The neglect of this precaution has spoiled many a batch of salted nuts. Have ready a flat baking-pan in which is a good lump of butter, soft, but not melted. Set the pan with butter and al- monds in it upon the range and stir briskly until each nut is well coated. Then put pan and contents into a brisk oven, stirring every few minutes until the nuts are lightly browned. Sprinkle thickly with fine salt while hissing hot, and turn out upon tissue-paper to cool. Or- Cover the blanched, cooled, and dried almonds with salad oil, and spread them upon a shallow dish. Leave in a cold place for an hour or two, stirring them up several times to keep the nuts coated ; turn oil and nuts into the baking-pan (there should be just enough oil to keep them from burning), and roast briskly in a quick oven, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Transfer to a broad platter, sift fine salt over them, tossing them with a fork to get each kernel well salted, and put upon a paper to dry. SALTED PEA -NUTS. Blanch and, when cold and dry, proceed as with almonds, to which they are preferred by some people. Filberts may be treated in the same way, also English walnuts and pecans. The last two need not be blanched. Almonds, pea-nuts, filberts, and walnuts are often mixed to- gether when served, that the eater may take his choice. Fresh fruits are among the most popular and efficient of appe- tizers. The juices arouse the digestive organs to their duty by clearing the coat of the stomach of the mucus lining that has gathered upon it during a period of inactivity. Clogged by this, 8 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK the much-abused organ acts sluggishly, and is overloaded before it fairly appreciates what work is laid out or in for it. GRAPE-FRUIT OR SHADDOCKS. Both names are absurd. The now much sought-after delicacy is a species of sour orange. The botanical name is Citrus decu- mana, and tradition says it was brought to Europe first by a cer- tain Captain Shaddock. By what system of analogical reason- ing it acquired the title of " grape-fruit " is an unsolved mystery. In growth, appearance, and taste it bears no resemblance to the fruit of the vine, but the name will be used in this book as a matter of convenience, a large majority of readers and consum- ers knowing it by no other. Each lobe or section is separated from the rest by a white membrane as bitter as gall. The first care of the caterer upon cutting the fruit in half crosswise must be to get rid of this. It is easily drawn out. Now with a silver spoon dig out or bore a small hole in the exact centre of each half of the fruit, fill and heap with all the fine sugar it can be persuaded to hold, pour a teaspoonful of sherry or Jamaica rum over the sugar, and send at once to table, as the sugar and liquor will soon toughen the pulp. The fruit should be made ice-cold before it is cut. Dislike of the bitter membrane leads some caterers to take the pulp from the peel and, cutting it into small squares, to serve it in small glasses. In this case fine sugar is sprinkled upon each layer and the rum or wine poured in when the glass is full. TUTTI-FRUTTI IN BOWLS. Remove the fruit carefully from the halves of the grape-fruit and lay the emptied and scraped peels in ice-water while you prepare the filling. Cut the pulp into small cubes, and several bananas into pieces of like size and shape ; skin, halve, and seed white grapes, and if you can get them, add a few ripe strawberries to the mixture. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 9 Wipe the bowls made of the peels and fill with this, sprinkling sugar among the fruits as they go in. Add a good teaspoonful of sherry, claret, or rum, and set in ice until served. Waiting increases the quantity of juice at the expense of flavor and ten- derness. A pleasing variety of this dish may be obtained by cutting grape-fruit into baskets instead of bowls, /.<*., leaving a strip of the peel in the shape of a handle uj>on one-half of the fruit. It is prettier than the bowls, but one loses half the peel of each shaddock. A bow of ribbon tied to the handle enhances the gay effect. ORANGES may be prepared as a first course or dessert according to any of the foregoing recipes for grape-fruit, or served whole and ice- cold. They are cut into halves at table and eaten from the peels with a spoon. GRAPES. A bunch of hot-house grapes, decorated with a bow of narrow ribbon tied to the stem, is a pleasant provocative to appetite at breakfast or luncheon-time. The grapes should be kept on ice until they are served. They cannot be made too cold. SOUPS. AN essay upon this subject lately published asserts that " Noth- ing is easier than to make good soups." The reader who has sat at many tables in town and country is driven to the necessity of questioning the truth of the statement or to the conviction that the Average American Cook is the stupidest of scholars. So general is the impression that soup-making is an intricate busi- ness, and, as our A.A.C., just alluded to, would put it " a mussy and fussy piece of work " that, when done, does not pay for the time and labor expended, that the everyday family dinner of the great middle class does not as a rule include this dish. Our men and boys are disposed to despise, or be impatient of, it, being in a hurry to fall to work upon the weightier matters of the meal. Each of them could dispose of his pound of meat with potato accompaniment in the time consumed in swallowing a dozen mouthfuls of that which a representative man of the people com- plained openly, " did not stick to his ribs." There may be a reason for this popular prejudice more worthy of respect than silly contempt for new-fangled ways and foreign fads would be. It can be stated in a single sentence : The Average American Cook has never mastered this, accord- ing to our essayist, easiest of culinary arts. When custom or con- vention, or invalidism, dictate "soup for dinner," our A.A.C. buys a bone and " some ' ' soup-meat ; puts them over the fire with "some" water, cooks all together for "some" time, and serves it up in " some " fashion. If her dishes are washed with a like disregard of common sense and comfort, there is little choice between her soup and her dish-water. Both are dingy, greasy, unpalatable, and indigestible. It is well for the household to THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK II which she ministers that this article of food api>ears but rarely at the head of her board. Yet the making of soup in the right way is one of the simplest of kitchen duties. Once in the pot, and set at the side of the range, the prospective savoriness takes care of itself for hours, and is the better for being left alone. When removed from the fire, turned into an earthenware vessel, and seasoned, it requires an- other period of wholesome neglect that the fat may arise and form into a solid cake. Take this o(T, and, should you find as is probable and desirable a firm jelly below, warm the soup until it will flow freely through a fine soup-sieve and strain out meat, bones, and vegetables. You have now so many pints, or quarts, of " stock," the strength of which depends upon the raw material that went into the kettle, and slow cooking. As the end to be gained is the extraction of every particle of nourishment from the meat, etc., the soup should never boil fast. This is a rule without exception. Soup-making is a process that cannot be hurried. Therefore, keep a long look ahead upon the stock - pot, which should never be of metal. The hireling's practice of letting soup get cold in the kettle in which it was cooked is un- clean and unwholesome. Upon this stock there may be founded an endless variety of gravy soups, clear soups, and, what some judges of really good living rate as most useful and relishful of all the great and re- spectable family of broths, purees, and cream soups. In the manu- facture of these, the ingenious housewife finds scope for many inventions. The laws governing clear soups have a certain con- servative rigor becoming the rank they take in the family bill-of- fare. They must be made of fresh, raw meat, and, when twice strained, require to be also clarified, and if too pale, must be arti- ficially colored. Compared with them the broths are Bohemian, a hearty, happy-go-lucky tribe, adapting themselves easily to divers and incongruous constituent elements and thickening up in a jolly, democratic spirit which commends them to children and homely folk. 12 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK CLEAR SOUPS. STOCK FOR CLEAR SOUPS. Four pounds of beef bones, well cracked. One pound of chopped lean beef. One pound of lean veal, also minced fine. Six quarts of cold water. Salt and pepper to taste. One table- spoonful of kitchen bouquet. Put meat and bones, without seasoning, into a clean soup- kettle, cover with cold water, and let them stand in a cool place one hour. See then that the chopped meat is broken apart and softened so that it will not be likely to form into a tough mass while cooking. Set at one side of the range where it will not reach the boiling point under an hour, and when this is reached keep it simmering for five hours longer. Remove from the fire, turn into a stoneware bowl or crock, season to taste, and let it stand all night, or until it is perfectly cold. Take off all the fat, strain out the meat and bones, and set away for use. You have now a nearly colorless bouillon, susceptible of many and agreeable modifications. Some cooks put into the soup- kettle a carrot, a turnip, and an onion, cut into dice. The vegetables give body and flavor to the stock, but undeniably risk the perfect clearness of amber soups and bouillons. AMBER SOUP. To one quart of jellied stock add the unbeaten white and broken shell of an egg. Stir well for a minute and set over the fire where it will heat quickly, not withdrawing the spoon or ceasing to stir gently until it is smoking hot. Boil fast for five minutes, draw to the side of the range and throw in a piece of ice the size of an egg, or a little cold water, to check the boil sud- denly. In three minutes more lift very carefully, not to stir the dregs, and strain through a double cloth laid in a colander. Do not press or stir the soup until all has dripped through that will THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 13 pass the cloth, then take up the latter by the four corners and squeeze it over another bowl. The clouded stock may be used in making broths and as a foundation for a puree. Heat the cleared soup quickly to the boil and pour into the tureen. SOUP A LA RUSSE. Having cleared your stock according to the foregoing recipe and reheated it, pour it into the tureen and lay carefully upon the surface as many nicely poached eggs as there are people at table. SWEETBREAD SOUP. Boil, blanch, cool, and chop very fine two sweetbreads ; mix with them one-half their bulk of fine crumbs, previously soaked and rubbed smooth with a little cream. Beat up the yolk of a raw egg, and work all with pepper and salt to a paste. Make into small balls with floured hands, and set by for half an hour in a cold place. Strain off a quart of soup from your stock jar, when you have skimmed it. Heat and boil slowly five minutes, skimming it well. Drop in the balls carefully not to break them ; simmer ten minutes gently, and pour into the tureen. CLEAR BROWN SOUP. Clear the stock as directed in recipe for Amber Soup, and stir in enough caramel to color it to your liking, bearing in mind that too much will give a sweetish taste to the liquid. The caramel is made by heating granulated sugar in a tin cup or agate iron saucepan until it bubbles brownly all over. Add, at once, boiling water a tablespoonful for each spoonful of the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. It will keep well in the refrigerator for a week or more. Some palates enjoy the flavor of cloves and allspice in browned soup. The whole spices are used and strained out before the caramel goes in. Allow six cloves and four allspice to a quart of stock. Onion flavor should be imparted by grating a raw onion and squeezing the juice through a cloth into the heating stock. 14 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK JULIENNE SOUP. Cut into small dice and parboil two carrots, two turnips, three stalks of celery, and two small onions. Drain off the water and let the vegetables get almost cold before dropping them into a quart of clear boiling stock. Bring rapidly again to the boil- ing point, cook ten minutes more gently, and turn into a tureen. This is the simplest form of Julienne Soup. There are many varieties. Some shred the vegetables fine and add tomatoes and parsley, in which case it ceases to be a clear soup. The toma- toes will cloud it. The shredded vegetables look well if cut into short lengths. There is neither comeliness nor convenience in long, hair-like shavings that hang from the sides of the spoon when lifted to the mouth. A dash of Worcestershire sauce improves the flavor of this soup. JULIENNE PRINTANIERE. This differs from the ordinary Julienne soup only in being made of Spring (le printemps) vegetables. Peel and cut into short shreds two young turnips and three young carrots. Shred two Spring onions. Heat an ounce of butter or dripping in a frying-pan and add the shredded vegetables. When partly cooked add a quart of clear stock, a tablespoonful each of green pease and asparagus tops ; simmer until the vegetables are cooked, season to taste, and serve with croutons. CELERY CONSOMME ROYALE. Consomme is nothing more than a clear bouillon flavored to suit the taste. A pleasing variety is made by boiling in a quart of good stock four stalks of tender celery until they are ready to fall to pieces. Put away the stock without removing the celery. When perfectly cold take them out, breaking as little as pos- sible, heat the soup, clearing it with white of egg if necessary, strain through a cloth, without pressing, into a clean kettle, and when it boils add the little cubes that give it its name. Cook gen- tly one minute and turn into the tureen. Some authorities ad- THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 15 vise that the cubes be placed in the tureen without cooking in the soup and the hot liquid be poured upon them. The objec- tion to this is that a good handful of the cold royales will cool the soup perceptibly. To make the royales : Heat in one saucepan three tablespoon fuls of milk ; in another the same quantity of clear stock. When the milk is scalding hot, add it gradually to two well-beaten eggs. Mix with the boiling stock a roux made by heating a tablespoonful of butter to a bub- bling boil, and stirring into it a tablespoonful of flour until you have a smooth paste. Season the stock with paprica and salt. Stir the custard made with a beaten egg and milk over the fire for one minute, or until it thickens, and add, still stirring, to the stock. A pinch of soda in the hot milk will prevent curd- ling. Mix stock and custard away from the fire, spread upon a flat dish, and set in a cold place to harden. When cold and stiff, cut with a sharp knife into cubes or diamonds half an inch square, or into strips ; or, if you like, into more fanciful shapes. This is a nice show soup for a dinner party. The custard is better if prepared the day before it is to be used and left on ice. VERMICELLI OR SPAGHETTI SOUP. Break the vermicelli or spaghetti into inch lengths, and cook tender and clear in boiling salted water. Drain this off; spread the vermicelli upon a dish and allow it to get almost cold, when drop into a quart of (cleared) boiling stock ; let it just boil again, and serve. The pipe macaroni may be used in like man- ner, cut into quarter-inch lengths after it is cooked. CLEAR TAPIOCA SOUP. Soak two tablespoonfuls of pearl tapioca in a large cup of cold water four hours, then stir into a quart of well-seasoned boiling clear stock, and simmer ten minutes. Pearl sago may be substituted for tapioca if desired, but should be soaked four hours in cold water, and one hour in hot* before it goes into the soup. 1 6 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK CLEAR SOUP WITH CROUTONS. Cut slices of stale bread into small squares, and fry to a light brown in good dripping or butter. Shake off every drop of fat through a colander, spread upon tissue-paper laid over a hot plate, leaving them thus for five minutes. Put them into the tureen and pour in a quart of boiling consomme. CLEAR SOUP WITH GREEN PEASE. Boil the pease until done, but not broken, in salted water. Drain perfectly dry, put into the tureen, and add the boiling soup. Allow a cup of pease to a quart of soup. CLEAR CELERY SOUP. Cut into inch lengths crisp white celery, and cook tender in boiling salted water. Drain well, put into the tureen, and add a quart of boiling clear stock. GREEN PEA ROYALE SOUP. Mash, while warm, three tablespoonfuls of green pease to a pulp ; work into this a tablespoon ful of soup stock, a teaspoon ful of corn-starch, and the beaten white of an egg. Mix thoroughly and spread upon an earthenware (not tin) pie-plate. Fit above a pudding-dish of hot water, which will just touch the bottom of the plate when at a hard boil, cover, and set in a quick oven. The mixture will be firm in a few minutes. Let it get cold on the plate ; cut into diamonds or squares, and drop them into the hot soup three minutes before it goes to the table. The soup must not boil after they go in, as they are rather friable. CHICKEN CONSOMME, OR BOUILLON. This, the most relishful of the bouillon family, is in great re- quest at luncheons, afternoon receptions, or "high teas," and in the sick-room. One fowl, weighing four pounds, jointed, as for fricassee. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK IJ Four quarts of cold water. Haifa sliced onion. Two stalks of white celery. White pepper and salt to taste. Put the chicken over the fire in an agate-iron or porcelain - lined pot, and, covering with the cold water, set at the side of the range. It should not boil under one hour, and then boil very slowly for three hours. When so tender that it will drop from the bones, add the onion and celery, and cook gently an hour longer. Turn into an earthenware bowl, cover closely, and let it get cold with the chicken and vegetables in it. Now remove the fat from the top ; put the soup again over the fire to melt the jelly from the bones, etc. When liquefied, strain through a colander lined with a bit of mosquito net or coarse muslin, and let all run through that will pass without pressing the cloth. (What will not, can be squeezed into another vessel for broth -stock.) Clear the soup with the unbeaten white and the broken shell of an egg stirred into it while lukewarm; continue to stir while it heats to a quick boil, and strain for the last time, still without squeezing the cloth. Serve hot or ice-cold. There is no middle ground with soups as to degrees of temperature. The chicken meat should be saved for chicken bisque. It will make, also, tolerable croquettes. BROWN CONSOMME. Three pounds of lean beef. (The coarser cuts will do for this purpose.) Two pounds of lean veal. Five quarts of cold water. One fine stalk of celery, cut into inch lengths. One small carrot, cut into dice. One good-sized onion, sliced. Six cloves, six whole peppers, and six allspice. One tablespoonful of parsley. One tablespoonful of " kitchen bouquet." Half a teacupful of butter. Cut the meat into small bits, less than an inch square. Heat half the butter in a frying-pan and fry the vegetables to a fine brown in this. Strain them out and set aside in the colander ; put browned butter into the soup-kettle with the half you have 1 8 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK not used, and when again hot add the meat. Stir briskly over hot coals to make sure that each piece is first coated with the butter, then browned, lastly not scorched. Lift from the fire and cover with cold water. Return to the range and simmer slowly for an hour, after it is smoking-hot. Now put into the pot a gallon more of cold water, bring back, very slowly, to the boil, cover the pot and leave it to seethe and bubble leisurely for at least five hours. At the end of four hours add the browned vegetables, with the spices. By the time the six hours of slow simmering are up you should have about three quarts of strong brown stock besides the meats and vegetables. Do not remove these until the liquid is cold, but do not wait until the fat has hardened upon the surface. Strain them out then, through a colander, return the soup to the fire, with a good tablespoonful of salt, and bring to a hard boil. The salt will throw up the scum to the top. Skim this off and strain the liquid again, now through a coarse cloth, without shaking or squeezing. Keep in an earthenware crock or bowl. This process may sound tedious, but examination of the recipe will show that the amount of time and labor expended in actual work is trifling. Most of the work is done by the soup itself if the fire be properly regulated. As a basis for a fine gravy, and other brown soups, this stock cannot be excelled. Served alone as a nourishing bouillon, it is most satisfactory. BROTHS. Under this head may be gathered such a noble army of tooth- some and economical soups, purees, and potages as would fill half this book were the attempt made to register and give recipes for all of them. They are especial favorites of the thrifty house- mother who would look well after ways and means, yet feed wisely and agreeably her growing family. It cannot be denied that, while clear soups are, as been said already, elegant and conventional, the best of them are deficient in such nourishment THE NATIONAL COO A' BOOK 1 9 as is to be found in what the French call the pot-au-feu y and what we know as " a good, substantial broth." In a well-managed household the family stock-pot need never be emptied except to be washed and re-filled. It is humiliating and depressing to an intelligent caterer to reflect how much that is palatable and nourishing goes into that one of our national in- stitutions familiarly defined as "a swill-pail." This much-per- verted receptacle should receive nothing that can be converted into aliment for human creatures. Excepting always the scrap- ings of the plates used at table and such bones and bits as are found upon them, all " left-overs" should be inspected by the mistress of a house before they are condemned as " no good." Bones, meat-rinds, the heels and crusts of loaves, stale bis- cuits and hard chunks of cheese, cold vegetables of all sorts, the fat of all kinds of meat in a word, odds and ends of every de- scription have capabilities in the eye of the accomplished cook whose own the kitchen is, and to whose interest it is to get the full worth of a hundred and one cents out of every dollar. To cite one item of unconsidered waste, apropos to our family stock-pot : Who, among even notable housekeepers, insists that the water in which rice or macaroni is boiled be set aside in a cool place to make thicker and better to-morrow's broth ? Look next morning at the rice-water Bridget would have thrown into the sink, and you find a tolerably firm jelly, more nutritious than the cereal which was strained out of it. It works well into any kind of white soup, and, joined to the cupful of superfluous liq- uid drained from yesterday's stewed tomatoes, and a couple of cold boiled onions, can be wrought up. by means of a good roux and judicious seasoning, into a really palatable broth for the luncheon, which is often the nursery dinner. Instead of throwing away bones and the outside slices of roast and boiled, the gristly remnants of chops and steaks, the carcasses and stuffing of fowls, the tablespoonful of gravy and the tea- spoonful of white or brown sauce, the single cold potato, or beet, or turnip, or boiled egg left from to-day's meals, study possibili- ties especially broth ward. 2O THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK SCOTCH BROTH. One generous quart of stock made by boiling down the water in which a leg of mutton was cooked until you have half the original quantity. Or by boiling for eight hours the bones left from roast mut- ton, or the "trimmings" sent home by the butcher who pre- pared the roast and chops for the table. If raw meat and bones are used, allow one quart of water to each pound. Be careful to skim all the fat from the stock. Mutton-fat is tallow, unpalata- ble and indigestible. Half a cup of pearl barley, or rice. One medium-sized onion, minced. One tablespoonful of minced parsley. Two tablespoon- fuls of white roux. Wash the barley or rice and soak in cold water one hour. Put the stock over the fire with the onion and bring to a rapid boil. Add the barley (or rice) and simmer for three-quarters of an hour ; put in the parsley and cook five minutes more before stirring in a WHITE ROUX. This same roux is so essential to the right making of thick soups that explanation should be made here of the meaning of the term. Heat one tablespoonful of butter in a frying-pan, and when it hisses stir in boldly a tablespoonful of flour, until the paste is smooth. The flour will not lump. This is the roux. Into this pour, gradually, beating it in well, half a cupful of the hot broth ; pour back into the soup-kettle and let it boil up once be- fore serving. Season to taste. CHICKEN BROTH. The carcass, neck, pinions, stuffing, etc., of a roast or boiled chicken. Or the water in which a fowl has been boiled, simmered down to half the original quantity. Or the gravy left from fricasseed chickens, freed of fat and thinned with a little hot water. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 21 By any of these means get a quart of good stock ; set over the fire to heat quickly, and when it boils add three tablespoon fuls of rice which has been soaked for an hour in cold water ; a small onion, cut up small ; salt and pepj)er to taste, and cook steadily for half an hour, or until the rice is soft. Add a table- spoonful of chopped parsley, and cook ten minutes more. Have ready in another saucepan a cup of milk made scalding hot, and stir into it a tablespoon ful of butter rubbed smooth with a tea- spoonful of corn-starch. Cook three minutes, stirring to pre- vent lumping, remove from the fire and beat in a well-whipi>ed egg. Return to the fire for one minute ; beat up hard, and turn into the tureen. Pour the soup carefully upon this, stirring all the while lest the egg should curdle. A bit of soda no larger than a pea, boiled in the milk, will help to prevent this catas- trophe. ENGLISH BARLEY BROTH. One quart of strong stock made by boiling the bones of a rib- roast, or steak well broken, with a pound of underdone beef for six hours. Or if raw meat is at hand, allow for a pound of chopped lean beef and the cracked cooked bones aforesaid, three pints of water and stew it down in four hours to one quart. (Let it get cold and take off the fat, of course.) One onion, one carrot cut into dice, and one small turnip also cut up small. Haifa cup of barley soaked for an hour, with minced parsley and sweet marjoram, pepper and salt to taste. , Parboil the vegetables, drain them and put into the soup-kettle with the barley and the cold stock. Bring to a slow boil and keep this up for an hour, before the parsley goes in. For this broth you want a BROWN ROUX. Heat a tablespoonful of butter in a frying-pan until it bubbles and browns, but not until it burns. Stir in a tablespoonful of 22 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK lightly browned flour until all is smooth. Pour into the fry- ing-pan gradually, a half-cupful of the boiling broth, and when well mixed, put back into the soup-kettle. Boil up once and serve without straining out the vegetables. A NEW JERSEY BROTH. One quart of good stock, beef, mutton, chicken, or miscellane- ous. One pint of tomatoes, peeled and sliced. One cupful of green pease. One stalk of celery cut into small bits. One small onion, chopped. Two tablespoon fuls of boiled rice. Pepper and salt to taste. Two tablespoonfuls of white roux. Minced parsley, and summer savory (if you have it). The water in which rice has been boiled may be used effec- tively in this broth. Heat the stock and add the vegetables, which must have been parboiled with the exception of the tomatoes. Vegetable ' left-overs ' ' can be utilized here. Simmer all together for half an hour, add the parsley, cook one minute, and stir in the roux as before directed. Simmer five minutes longer, and pour out. WHITE VEAL BROTH. The best use to which this often indigestible meat can be put is soup-making. In this form its best elements the gelatinous come into play, and the dreaded fibres are thrown aside. Three pounds of coarse lean veal, chopped, or a knuckle of veal well-cracked. Three tablespoonfuls of raw rice. Four quarts of cold water. One onion, sliced. Two stalks of celery cut into inch lengths. Put all together over the fire, and cook slowly for six hours. Season with salt, pepper, and kitchen - bouquet, pour into a crock or bowl, and set away until perfectly cold. , Remove the fat, warm the soup to free the meat, etc., of jelly, and strain into a bowl. There should be over two quarts of strong meat-jelly. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 2$ To one quart of this allow three tables poonfu Is of soaked rice ; put over the fire cold, and cook gently forty-five minutes. Have ready in a saucepan a cupful of boiling milk in which has been dropped a pinch of soda, stir into this two tablespoon- fuls of white roux, and pour into the broth. Veal stock is rendered less insipid if the carcass of a chicken be cooked in it. A slice of cold corned ham is also an im- provement. It should be minced, cooked in the stock, and then strained out. The rind of salt pork may be utilized in the same way. VEAL AND SAGO BROTH. Make as above, substituting pearl sago for the rice, and add- ing to the thickened milk the frothed white of an egg. It is excellent for invalids, and may be made yet better if a table- spoonful of rich cream be stirred into each cupful when served. TOMATO AND RICE BROTH. (WITHOUT MEAT.) One pint of tomatoes, cut up, or the juice from a can of to- matoes. Half a cup of rice boiled tender, but not broken, and a good cupful of the water in which it was cooked. One small onion, minced. One cup of milk. Three tablespoon fuls of butter made into a white roux with as much flour. A teaspoon- ful of white sugar. Season with pepper, celery salt, and minced parsley. Add a good pinch of soda to the milk. Stew tomatoes and onion to- gether for half an hour and rub through a colander, into a saucepan. Return to the fire with the boiled rice and rice- water, season to taste, add the sugar, then the roux made liquid with a little of the hot broth ; boil up, stirring well, and pour into a tureen where you have already put the scalding milk and soda. Serve while still foaming. The merit of this broth depends largely upon the seasoning. When rightly compounded, it is delicious. 24 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK CHICKEN BISQUE. This is a good way of using the remains of boiled or roasted fowls. One quart of stock made from the carcasses, etc., of the fowls, well -seasoned. Two tablespoonfuls of white roux. Half a cup of fine dry bread-crumbs. Nearly two cups of minced chicken (very fine). Chopped parsley, pepper, and salt. Heat the stock, add the bread-crumbs, let it boil, put in the minced meat, bring again to a boil, and stir in parsley and the roux. Boil one minute. If you are short of stock, heat a cup of milk, stir in a table- spoonful of butter, then the crumbs, and add to the scalding stock in which the chopped meat has been heated. Boil one minute, take from the fire and beat in a well-whipped egg before serving. Cold turkey and duck may be used instead of chicken, also cold lamb, but not mutton. VEGETABLE BROTH. (WITHOUT MEAT.) One carrot, one turnip, one salsify root; a tablespoonful of minced cabbage ; two potatoes, parboiled and sliced thin ; two stalks of celery ; three tomatoes or a cupful of canned tomatoes ; half a cupful of green pease or Lima beans ; two ears of green corn, or half a cupful of canned corn ; one large onion, sliced. Parsley, salt, and pepper. Three full tablespoonfuls of butter. One large spoonful of brown roux. Cut carrot, turnip, salsify, and celery into dice, mince the cab- bage, cover with hot salted water, and boil with the beans or pease, hard for fifteen minutes. Drain out the vegetables and leave them to cool while you fry the onion to a light brown in the butter in the bottom of the soup-pot. Take the pot from the fire and stir in the onion and butter and all the other ingredients, in- cluding the parboiled potatoes, the tomatoes, and the corn. This last should be chopped fine. Cover with a quart of cold water, and cook gently for one hour. Stir in the parsley and seasoning ; thicken with the roux to prevent the mixture from becoming watery and separating in the tureen, and serve. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK' 2$ You can make a white broth of this by leaving out the toma- toes, heating in a separate vessel a cupful of milk, thickening it with a teaspoonful of corn -starch, and beating into the mixture a couple of eggs just before it goes into the tureen. This should be put first into the tureen, and the vegetable-broth, made as above directed, be stirred in afterward. Otherwise the eggs may " break," and curdle the milk. A good Lenten broth. ANOTHER LENTEN BROTH. Twelve ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced, or a can of tomatoes ; one small onion, sliced and fried to a light brown in butter ; two tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in the same quantity of flour ; one- half cupful of hot boiled rice, very soft ; one teasi>oonful of sugar ; one quart of boiling water ; pepper, salt, and chopped parsley or celery tops. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter into the soup-pot, bring to a boil, and fry the sliced onion. Add the tomatoes, and stir together over the fire until smoking-hot be- fore the boiling water goes in. Stew steadily forty minutes, and put all through the colander back into the pot ; season, bring again to a boil, add the rice ; simmer ten minutes, stir in the floured butter, boil one minute, and pour out. CAULIFLOWER BROTH. (WITHOUT MEAT.) One fine cauliflower ; two tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in one of corn-starch ; one onion ; bunch of parsley ; two blades of mace ; two quarts of water ; two cups of milk ; pepper and salt ; a pinch of soda in the milk. Cut the cauliflower into bunches, reserving about a cupful of small clusters to put whole into the soup. Chop the rest, also the onion and herbs, and put on in the water, with the mace. Cook an hour, and rub through a colander. Return the puree thus obtained to the pot,\md sea- son with pepper and salt. As it boils, stir in the whole clusters, previously boiled tender in hot, salted water, and left to cool. When the soup is again hot, put in the butter and corn-starch ; 26 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK stir until this has thickened ; pour into the tureen, and add the boiling milk. Pass sliced lemon and cream-crackers with it. CORN CHOWDER. Twelve ears of green corn, and two onions sliced ; three large potatoes, or six small, parboiled. Six Boston crackers, well but- tered and soaked five minutes in boiling water. Three table- spoonfuls of butter and one cup of milk. Parsley, pepper, and salt. A pinch of soda in the milk. One beaten egg. One quart of boiling water. Fry the onions in two tablespoonfuls of butter in the soup- kettle. Remove this to the table and take out the onions with a skimmer, leaving the browned butter in the bottom. Put into this a layer of corn cut from the cob, then of crackers, next of sliced parboiled potatoes, seasoning as you go, until all the in- gredients are in. Cover with the hot water, and cook gently for about forty minutes after it begins to boil. Heat the milk in a separate vessel, stir into it a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, and at last a beaten egg. Pour the milk into the tureen, then the chowder, stirring all the while. This broth or chowder may be made in winter with canned corn, but is not nearly so good as when fresh is used. CORN AND TOMATO CHOWDER. One quart of tomatoes, peeled and sliced. One-quarter pound of chopped salt pork. Two onions, sliced. Six ears of corn, sliced from the cob with a sharp knife. Two tablespoonfuls of rolled cracker. One tablespoonful of flour and one of butter. A dash of cayenne or paprica. One pint of boiling water. Fry the chopped pork in the soup-kettle, and, when it begins to'crisp, add the sliced onion and cook to a light brown. Then stir in the flour, and cook, stirring all the time, three minutes. Upon this put tomatoes and corn in alternate layers, seasoning as you go and scattering the rolled crackers over each. Cover with hot water and cook slowly forty-five minutes. Season to taste, stir in the floured butter, boil up well, and serve. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 2? HIGHLANDER'S DELIGHT. Two pounds of veal and three pounds of bones (well-cracked) from neck or knuckle of the calf; one onion, minced fine; one turnip, one carrot, grated. Bunch of sweet herbs, chopped ; half cupful of barley, salt and pepper, one tablespoonful of oatmeal, four quarts of cold water. Put meat, cut into dice, bones, chopped vegetables, and herbs on in the water and boil very slowly six hours. Season and set away in a cold place until next day. Take off the fat two hours before dinner, strain out the soup into a kettle and add the barley, which has been already soaked in warm water two hours, and cooked fifteen minutes in enough boiling water to cover it well. Put in with it the water in which it has been cooked, and simmer all together for half an hour. The oatmeal should have been soaked several hours in a little warm water. Stir it into the soup, and let all boil gently together for one hour before pouring out. This broth should be judi- ciously seasoned. CHICKEN AND CORN BROTH. Even in the country, where old fowls must be disposed of in some way, it is seldom economical to boil them to pieces just to make soup. But if you will save the liquor in which these have been boiled the day before for the table, a delightful broth may be made. One quart of the liquor cleared of fat after it is cold ; one can of corn, chopped ; or eight ears of green corn grated from the cob ; one tablespoonful of butter cut up in one of flour ; one tablespoonful of minced parsley and same of green onion-tops ; pepper and salt ; one cup of boiling milk. Boil corn and liquor slowly together one hour after they begin to bubble. Rub thoroughly through a colander, season, and add herbs. Heat to boiling, stir in the floured butter, simmer five minutes, pour into the tureen, and add the boiling milk. 28 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK VIRGINIA GAME BROTH. Two squirrels (the wild gray squirrel) or two wild rabbits, called " hares " at the South jointed as for fricassee. Two cups of Lima beans; six potatoes, parboiled and sliced; seven ears of green corn, shaved from the cob with a keen knife; six tablespoonfuls of butter, rolled in flour ; one quart of tomatoes, peeled and cut up small ; one-half pound fat salt pork, chopped ; half teaspoonful paprica or cayenne, and twice the quantity of black pepper. Salt to taste. One large onion, minced. Two teaspoonfuls of white sugar ; four quarts of water (boiling). Lay the game, when jointed, in cold water, slightly salted, and leave it there one hour. Then put into a large pot, alternately with the pork and all the vegetables except the tomatoes, cover closely, and stew for three hours very slowly. At the end of that time add the tomatoes and sugar and cook for another hour. Season to taste ; stir in the floured butter, cook ten minutes longer, and dish in a vast tureen. Some cooks add half a cup of bread-crumbs. Under the name of " Brunswick Stew " this was a famous dish at the barbecues of Old Virginia, but it is really a broth. CREAM SOUPS. CREAM OF CELERY SOUP. Two cups white stock. Two cups milk. One bunch celery. Two tablespoonfuls flour. Two tablespoonfuls butter. Wash the celery and cut it into inch lengths. Cook it three- quarters of an hour in enough boiling water, slightly salted, to cover it, and then rub it through a colander. Rub butter and flour together, put them in a little saucepan over the fire, and stir until they bubble. Pour upon them the milk and the stock, which have been previously heated, and stir until they are thick and smooth. Add to this the celery and season to taste. It is a good plan to reserve half a cupful of the celery after it is THE NATIONAL COOK' BOOK 2$ cooked and before it is rubbed through the colander to put into the soup when it is in the tureen. CREAM OF ONION SOUP. The large Bermuda onions or very young Spring onions are best for this. Simmer five tablespoon fu Is of minced onion for one hour in a quart of good stock beef, mutton, or veal, or chicken. Rub then through a fine colander, and put back over the fire with two tables poonfu Is of white roux, stirred gradually into the hot soup. Heat in another saucepan a cupful of milk (with a bit of soda), add this to the stock, beat in the frothed white of an egg, and season with salt, pepper, and minced parsley. CREAM OF TURNIP SOUP. One quart of lamb or mutton broth. Two cups of turnip dice. Use white, young turnips. Cook in the liquor half an hour after the boil begins, and when very tender, rub through a colander. Return to the fire and proceed as with cream of celery soup, only putting in both white and yolk of the egg. CREAM OF LETTUCE SOUP. Shred finely two heads of lettuce the greener the better. Cook for half an hour in a quart of good stock, nib through a colander ; return to the fire, stir into a cup of this two table- spoonfuls of white roux and a tablespoon ful of cold boiled onion, minced fine, and one of minced parsley. Heat a cup of milk in another vessel, season with pepper and salt, stir in a well- whipped egg, and pour this mixture into the tureen, adding fi- nally the lettuce soup. Send around Huntley and Palmer's crisp " dinner biscuits," which the eaters can, if they like, drop into each portion of soup. CREAM OF SORREL SOUP. This is best when made from the more delicate species of sor- rel, such as infests our flower-borders, but the commoner red sorrel of the farm can be used. 30 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK Wash the leaves and stems thoroughly and cut them up with a silver knife. Cook a cupful of the minced sorrel in a quart of stock, rub through an agate-iron (never a tin) colander back into the stock, and put again over the fire. Cook a quarter of an hour longer and treat precisely as you managed the cream of lettuce in the last recipe. The bit of soda in the milk will cause a slight frothiness that adds to the pleasing appearance of the soup. CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP. One can of tomatoes or the equivalent in raw tomatoes. One quart of milk. Three tablespoonfuls of butter and one of corn- starch. Salt and pepper to taste. Quarter teaspoon ful of soda. A tablespoonful of minced parsley. A good teaspoonful of sugar. Cook the tomatoes soft and rub through a fine colander. Re- turn to the fire, season, and stir in the butter rolled in corn- starch, cooking until it begins to thicken. Have ready in another saucepan the milk scalding hot, add the soda; stir in well and pour into the tureen. Pour the tomatoes into this, keeping the spoon busy as you do it, beat up vigorously, and serve at once. CREAM OF ASPARAGUS SOUP. Cut the tops off and parboil by themselves. Cut the stalks into short lengths and cook slowly one hour in a quart of weak stock, with half a minced onion. Strain and press through a colander ; put the soup back on the range and cook the re- served tips very soft in the liquid. Pass again through the strainer, rubbing all the pulp through the meshes. Afterward, proceed as with other cream soups. (See preceding recipes.) SWEDISH CREAM OF GREEN-PEA SOUP. Boil the pea-pods in a quart of weak stock with a sprig of mint for half an hour, when strain them out and put in the pease, also a lump of sugar and a pinch of soda. The latter will preserve the color of the pease. Allow a pint of pease to a quart of stock. Rub to a pulp through a colander when they have THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK' 31 been boiled soft ; thicken this with two tablespoon fu Is of white roux \ season with pepper and salt, and keep hot while you heat a cup of milk in a saucepan, and when it boils jxmr it gradually, beating steadily with an egg-whip, upon two well- whipped yolks. Do not cook this in the soup, but pour into the tureen, and then the pea-broth. Drop a handful of croutons (dice of fried bread) upon the sur- face. CREAM OF LIMA BEAN SOUP is made precisely as above, only omitting the jxxls from the stock. It is very fine. CREAM OF SPINACH SOUP. Two quarts spinach. One quart milk. One tablespoon ful each of flour and butter. Salt and white pepper to taste. Tiny pinch of soda. Wash the spinach thoroughly, stripping each leaf from the mid- rib. Put the leaves on in a double boiler, with the soda, and cook an hour, or until tender. It is not necessary to have any water in the inner vessel. When the spinach is cooked soft rub it through a colander. Make a roux of the butter and flour, add the milk and the pulped spinach, season, and serve. A delicious as well as a pretty soup. CREAM OF BEET SOUP. Select six large, bright-red beets and boil carefully in their skins, lest they bleed white. Scrape off the skins, chop finely and quickly and rub through a colander into a quart of white stock veal, chicken, lamb, or mutton and treat as you would other cream soups, adding a little more floured butter, or roux, as beets are naturally watery and thin-blooded. The soup should l>e of a delicate pink. Season with white pepper, or, better still, with paprica, and salt. 32 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK CREAM OF CORN SOUP. Shave the corn fine from the cob, or if canned corn is used, chop it small, and proceed as with the other cream soups, for which directions have been given. PUREES. POTATO PUREE. (Without Meat.) Boil and mash very soft and fine twelve potatoes. Heat one pint of milk in a saucepan, add a parboiled onion (chopped), and cook slowly ten minutes. Strain out the onion ; thicken the milk with two tablespoonfuls of butter rubbed in one of flour, boil three minutes to cook the flour, and put into the soup-pot with the mashed potato, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, pepper and salt to taste. Cook three minutes, beat up well, and serve. If you can spare a pint of good stock you can leave out the milk, thicken the stock with a white roux, and having cooked the stock and potato together for five minutes, pour the puree into the tureen upon two well-beaten eggs. Put in your egg- beater, incorporate the ingredients with a few swift whirls, and serve. BROWNED POTATO PUREE. Put three tablespoonfuls of good dripping into your soup-kettle and fry in it one dozen potatoes which have been pared, quar- tered, and laid in cold water for an hour. With them should go into the boiling fat a large sliced onion. Cook fast but do not let them scorch. When they are browned add two quarts of boiling water, cover the pot, and simmer until the potatoes are soft and broken. Rub through a colander back into the kettle and stir in a great spoonful of butter rolled in brown flour, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 33 In another saucepan make a sugarless custard of a cup of boil- ing milk and two well-beaten eggs ; take from the fire and beat fast for one minute, put into a heated tureen, beat in the potato, and serve. This is a German puree, and very savory. PUREE OF SPLIT PEASE. One quart of split pease soaked in soft water all night ; one pound of streaked salt pork, cut into thin strips; two pounds of beef-bones cracked well ; two stalks of celery, and one onion, chopped ; salt and pepper to taste ; four quarts of cold water ; a sliced lemon. Put soaked pease, pork, bones, and vegetables over the fire, with the water, and boil slowly for four hours, until the liquid is reduced nearly one-half. Strain through a colander, rubbing the pease into a pure into the vessel below. Season, simmer ten minutes over the fire, and pour over the lemon, sliced and pared and laid in the tureen. If the soup is watery, bind with a brown roux stirred in before the last simmer. PUREE OF MOCK TURTLE SOUP BEANS. One quart of mock turtle soup beans ; one onion chopped ; four stalks of celery, cut small ; two quarts of liquor in which corned beef has boiled; pepper; dice of fried bread; two lemons ; one quart of cold water ; one tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour. Soak the beans over night. In the morning pour on a quart of cold water, and set them where they will heat for an hour without burning. Stir up often from the bottom. At the end of this time add the beef liquor (after tak- ing off the fat), the onions, and the celery. Cook gently three hours until the beans are boiled to pieces. Strain, rubbing through a colander, season, put back into the kettle, boil up, season with pepper, stir in the butter rolled in flour. Simmer five minutes, and pour upon the fried bread in the tureen. Pare the lemons, slice thin, and lay on the surface of the soup before serving. 34 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK GREEN PEA AND TOMATO PUREE. Cook one pint of green pease and the same of tomatoes, and a small onion, one hour in a quart of weak stock. Rub through a colander. Return to the fire with two tablespoon fuls of butter rubbed into one of flour, a teaspoonful of sugar and a teaspoon ful of minced parsley. Boil five minutes, and pour upon a handful of fried bread-dice in the bottom of your tureen. RICE AND CURRY PUREE. Boil, in a quart of heated chicken stock, a half cupful of soaked raw rice, a minced onion, and a tablespoonful of chopped pars- ley, for half an hour, or until the rice is tender. Stir in a good teaspoonful of curry powder ; cook one minute, and turn into a tureen. A pleasing accompaniment to this, or any preparation of curry, is an ice-cold banana, laid with a silver fruit-knife at each place. The eater strips back the skin and takes a slice of the cooling fruit between every few mouthfuls of the pungent curry. This is an East Indian fashion and much in favor with all who have tried it. OX-TAIL SOUP. One ox-tail ; one stalk of celery ; one onion, sliced ; one car- rot, : cut into dice ; two tablespoon fuls of butter ; two quarts of weak stock ; pepper, salt, and chopped parsley ; a sprig of thyme ; one bay leaf. Fry the tail, cut into joints, in the butter ; take them out and fry the onions and the carrots in the same. Cover with the stock and cook slowly for four hours. Season and turn into a covered bowl or crock to get cold. When several hours have elapsed, take off the cake of fat ; warm the stock slightly and strain through a colander, reserving a few joints to drop into the soup. Heat to a boil, color with caramel, and serve. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 35 CALFS HEAD, OR MOCK TURTLE, SOUP. One calf s head ; one cupful of strained tomatoes ; four table- spoonfuls of butter made into a dark roux with a like quantity of browned flour ; five quarts of cold water ; one sliced onion and a grated carrot ; one large tablespoon ful of caramel ; one teaspoonful of allspice ; one saltspoonful of paprica ; a bunch of soup herbs ; salt to taste ; juice of a lemon ; glass of brown sherry. Boil the head until the meat leaves the bones, and let it get cold in the water. Leave it thus until the next day, when take out the head, scrape off the jelly, and extract the bones. Set aside the meat from the cheeks and skull to be cut into dice, and reserve, also, the tongue. Return the jellied stock with the bones, the coarser parts of the meat, and the ears (chopped), the soup herbs, the scraped carrot, the onion (which should pre- viously be fried in butter), and the seasoning. Cook steadily one hour. Take out the bones, strain the soup, thicken with the brown roux ; boil up sharply, drop in the meat and tongue dice, add lemon -juice and wine, and pour upon the forcemeat balls in a hot tureen. The balls are made of the brains, nibbed to a paste with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, stiffened with a little browned flour, bound with a raw yolk, then rolled in browned flour and set in a quick oven until a crust forms that will hinder them from break- ing in the hot liquid. This is a delicious and an elegant company soup. GUMBO. (No. J.) One quart of strong chicken stock ; two slices of corned ham, cut into small bits ; one pint of strained tomatoes ; two dozen okra pods. Paprica and salt to taste. One onion, sliced and fried in a tablespoonful of butter. Cook ham, fried onion, and sliced okra in the stock until the okra is tender ; season and turn out. 36 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK GUMBO. (No. 2.) Joint a tender fowl, wash well, and roll in salted flour, then fry in good dripping with a sliced onion to a light brown. Or you may fry half a pound of sliced salt pork with the onion, strain out the fat and cook the chicken in it, until tender and ready to fall to pieces. Add now a cupful of strained tomatoes, season with salt and paprica or cayenne, and when the boil is again reached, put in two dozen fine okra-pods sliced, and cook half an hour after the boil is reached. The " far-Southerners " do not consider gumbo perfect with- out a teaspoonful of sassafras powder, or two or three teaspoon - fuls of chopped sassafras leaves, an addition that is hardly con- sidered an improvement by the uninitiated palate. GffiLET SOUP. Heat one quart of chicken stock. You can utilize for this the liquor in which a fowl has been boiled, or that in which the car- casses of cooked fowls have been boiled for hours. When it boils, stir in the finely minced giblets of two fowls with a little chopped parsley, cook half an hour and thicken with two table- spoonfuls of brown roux. Season judiciously. This popular soup is made still better if force-meat balls of hard-boiled yolks, rubbed to a paste with a little butter, bound with a raw egg and rolled in browned flour, be dropped in one minute before the soup leaves the fire. LIVER SOUP. A palatable and inexpensive soup is made of one quart of stock, obtained by boiling four slices of corned lean ham, or a corned ham-bone, with a sliced onion in two quarts of water un- til it is reduced one-half. Chop the ''left-overs" of fried or stewed liver fine with a little ham, and add to the stock. Sea- son to taste ; thicken with a-brown roux, and pour upon a hand- ful of croutons in the bottom of the tureen. The heart, that THE NATIONAL COOK ROQK 37 usually comes with the liver, if boiled tender in the ham -stock, may be minced and added. Any slices of fried breakfast bacon left in the pantry, if chopped fine, will improve the flavor. If while on the look-out for " left-overs," you espy a cold boiled, fried, or poached egg on the shelf, mince it, and let it also go into the soup. Season with pepper and minced parsley. You will be surprised to find how good the product of the hunt proves to be. RABBIT OR "OLD HARE" SOUP. One rabbit, jointed as for fricassee. One-half pound of salt pork, minced finely. One large onion, also chopped. One stalk of celery, and chopped parsley. A teaspoonful of Worces- tershire sauce ; a tablespoonful of tomato-catsup ; a glassful of brown sherry ; the juice of half a lemon ; two tablespoon fu Is of good dripping, and a heaping tablespoonful of brown roux. Salt and pepper to taste. One gallon of water. Fry the onion in the dripping, and when lightly browned, add the pieces of rabbit, cover with cold water and cook very slowly for four hours, or until the meat is in rags. Season with salt and pepper. Let all get cold together. Skim off the fat ; strain through a coarse cloth, return to the fire and when it boils thicken with the roux; put in the catsup, wine, lemofi-juice, and, if you fancy, a pinch of ground allspice. If not brown enough, color with a little caramel. Pass Huntley & Palmer's dinner-biscuit with it. You can cook gray squirrel in this way, and indeed tough game of almost any kind grouse, wild ducks, etc. MULLIGATAWNEY SOUP. One qtlart of chicken, veal, or calf s-head broth. One small onion, minced. A pinch of mace. Half a cupful of soaked rice. Juice of a lemon. One generous tablespoonful of brown roux. One teaspoonful of curry powder. Salt to taste. One teacupful of strained tomato-juice. 38 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK Cook the rice half an hour in the broth with the onion and tomato-juice. Stir in seasoning, lemon-juice, and roux, lastly the curry powder. Boil one minute, and serve. Send around ice-cold bananas with this dish. CREAM OF OYSTER SOUP. One quart oyster liquor. Two dozen oysters. One quart milk. Two tablespoonfuls butter. Two tablespoonfuls flour. Juice of half a lemon. Salt, pepper, and a tiny pinch of mace. Heat the milk and the strained oyster liquor in separate ves- sels. -Rub the butter and flour together, cook them in a sauce- pan until they bubble, and pour on them the hot milk, stirring until the mixture is thick and smooth. Add the oyster liquor, drop in the oysters and cook three minutes. Season and serve at once, adding the lemon-juice after the soup is in the tureen. CLAM SOUP is m#de in the same way, using only the soft parts of the clams and cooking them half an hour in the liquor. OYSTER BISQUE. (Deliciotis.) Strain the liquor from a quart of oysters into a porcelain or agate-iron saucepan, and set over the fire. Chop the oysters quite fine and having seasoned the liquor with paprica or cay- enne and salt, stir in the chopped oysters, and bring to a steady boil. Have ready in another saucepan a cupful of hot milk into which put a great spoonful of butter rolled in a teaspoonful (even) of corn-starch, and half a cupful of finely powdered crack- ers. Boil one minute, pour into the tureen, add the oyster soup, and serve. You may, if you like, enrich this soup by beating an egg into the thickened milk. Do not forget to drop a bit of soda into this last while heating it. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 39 OYSTER BISQUE A LA REINE. Make as directed in the foregoing recipe, but add a pint of strained chicken-broth to the oyster-liquor, and stir into the milk and crumbs half a cup of finely minced white chicken meat. Season also with parsley as well as with salt and pepper. The beaten egg must always go into this bisque, than which there is no better. CLAM BISQUE. Make as you would oyster bisque, but cook the chopped clams for fifteen minutes after the boil is reached, and add to the liquor a cupful of good stock, beef, lamb, or veal. Clams are less rich than oysters in themselves. FLORIDA CLAM BISQUE. Drain the liquor from fifty clams and put it over the fire with a pint of veal stock (chicken is even better), a teaspoonful of minced onion, the same of carrot dice, a bay leaf, a stalk of cel- ery and a little chopped parsley. Cook fifteen minutes after it begins to boil, strain out the vegetables and add two tablespoon- fuls of soaked rice to the liquor. Cook twenty minutes, put in the clams chopped fine, and simmer twenty minutes more before putting into a tureen, where you have already a cupful of hot milk thickened with a tablespoonful of butter rolled in corn-starch. This mixture should have been cooked in a vessel set in boiling water for ten minutes before it went into the tureen. You may have a handful of croutons, i.e., fried bread dice, also in the tureen. LOBSTER BISQUE. Meat of one boiled lobster, or a can of preserved lobster ; one quart of milk ; one quart of boiling water ; one cupful of rolled cracker ; four tablespoon fuls of butter ; pepper (cayenne) and salt. Pound the coral and other soft parts of the lobster to a paste, and simmer five minutes in the boiling water ; then rub 40 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK through the colander back into the water. Cut the rest of the lobster-meat into dice, and pour into a saucepan with the cracker-crumbs. Pour the red water over them, and heat to a boil, when add pepper, salt, and the butter. Simmer, covered, half an hour, taking care it does not scorch. Heat the milk, with a pinch of soda, in another vessel, and after the lobster is in the tureen, pour this in, boiling hot. Pass sliced lemon with it. FISH BISQUE. A delicious soup may be made of halibut or any other good white fish that has not too many bones in it. Even fresh cod that has been cooked in two waters will do for this dish. Heat a quart of good stock to a boil. The water in which halibut has been cooked may be used if you have no other, but veal, or beef, or chicken is better. As soon as it boils, stir in the fish, minced finely, and freed from fat, skin, and bones. Add pepper, salt, a little chopped parsley, and a great spoonful of butter. Have in another kettle a cup of milk, heated to scalding, stir into it a tablespoonful of white roux and half a cupful of pounded cracker. Boil up once, pour into the tu- reen. When the fish has cooked five minutes after the butter goes in, stir into the thickened milk and serve. An egg, well-beaten into the milk and crumbs with an egg- whip before the mixture is turned out of the saucepan is an im- provement to this excellent bisque. Cold fish can be thus utilized with satisfactory results. SALMON BISQUE. Salmon "left-overs" or canned salmon steak is very nice treated according to directions given in the last recipe. Pass sliced lemon with it. CREAMED CLAM BISQUE. Chop twenty-five clams fine and cook for half an hour in their own liquor and a cupful of boiling water in which an onion has been cooked and then strained out. Have, in another sauce- THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 41 pan, a cupful of milk and the same of cream, with a bit of soda no larger than a pea. When it boils, stir in two large tablespoon- fuls of butter, cooked to a white roux with one of flour. Cook three minutes, take from the fire and beat in, until you have a creamy mixture, the yolks of three well-whipped eggs. Set this mixture in a pot of boiling water, and stir steadily for two min- utes, then pour into the tureen. Season the chopped clams with paprica, or cayenne, salt, and minced parsley, and turn, smoking hot, upon the custard in the tureen. Serve at once before it can curdle. MARTHA WASHINGTON CRAB SOUP. Two cupfuls of " picked-out ' ' crab meat. Two quarts of boil- ing water in which one pound of corned pork has been boiled one hour. Yolks of two eggs, well beaten. Two cupfuls of milk half cream if you can get it. Salt and cayenne. Let the stock made from the pork get perfectly cold ; skim off the fat and re-heat the liquor ; add the crab meat and cook half an hour. Heat the milk in a separate sauce-pan ; take from the fire and pour gradually upon the beaten yolks. Put this into a bowl and stir in the minced crab with the liquor in which it was cooked. Season to taste. Set in boiling water for five min- utes before serving. Tradition has it that this is the identical recipe used by Mar- tha Washington when at her tide-water home, The White House, in New Kent County, Va. The soup made by it fifty years later is referred to in the following note from ex-President Tyler to a friend with whom he had dined the preceding day. " VILLA MARGARET, TUESDAY. "My DEAR SIR : Will it give Mrs. Cary too much trouble to furnish me with a recipe for making the delicious crab-soup she had served up for dinner yesterday? If not, you would much oblige me by furnishing it to the servant for me. "Truly yours, "J. TYLER." 42 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK F.F.T, SOUP. Fresh-water eels are especially good for this purpose. Four pounds of eels ; three quarts of water ; one chopped onion ; minced parsley ; a blade of mace ; pepper, salt and lemon-juice ; two tablespoonfuls of butter, rolled in flour ; drip- ping. Clean the eels, removing all the fat, and cut into short pieces. Fry a chopped onion brown in plenty of dripping ; wipe the eels dry and fry them in the same. Put into a pot with the onion and mace, cover with three quarts of cold water, and stew slowly two hours. Then season ; stir in the floured butter, simmer three minutes, add the lemon-juice, and pour out. CLAM CHOWDER, (No. J.) One-half pound of fat salt pork ; seventy-five clams ; one onion, parboiled and minced ; one tablespoonful of parsley ; twelve Boston crackers, split and soaked half an hour in a cup of milk, slightly warmed ; cold water, pepper and salt. Chop the pork and sprinkle a layer in the bottom of a pot. Cover this with the clams, also chopped, season, scatter on it minced on- ion, and lay in a coating of the split, soaked crackers. Proceed in this order until the materials are used up ; cover with cold water and bring to a slow simmer. Cook gently forty* five min- utes after the bubble begins. Strain the chowder, but do not shake or press it. Put the clams and crackers into a hot tureen, the liquor back in the pot, stir in a generous tablespoonful of fine crumbs, and, if you have it, half a cupful of tomato-juice. Boil up once and pour over the chowder. CLAM CHOWDER. (No. 2.) Fifty ("long") clams, chopped; eight potatoes, peeled, sliced, and parboiled ; one medium-sized onion, sliced ; two quarts of fresh tomatoes or a one-quart can ; six pilot-biscuits, soaked in milk ; half a pound of fat salt pork, minced ; twelve whole cloves and the same of pepper-corns, tied in a lace or mus- THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 43 lin bag ; salt and paprica or cayenne to taste ; two quarts of cold water. A generous teaspoonful of butter cut up in flour. Fry the pork in your soup-pot, and when it has made enough fat, put in the sliced onion, and cook to a light brown. Pour in the water upon this, add all the other ingredients except the chopped clams and the soaked biscuits, and cook, closely cov- ered and steadily for three hours before clams and biscuits are put into the pot. Cook half an hour longer after the boil re- commences ; stir in the floured butter, boil up well and serve. Pass sliced lemon and crackers with it. It is extremely nice and always popular. CLAM AND OYSTER CHOWDER, A Maryland Tidewater Recipe. Thirty clams. The hard part is thrown away and the soft part chopped. Two large onions, minced ; eight potatoes sliced and parboiled; one quart of tomatoes, peeled and cut small ; thirty fine oysters (drained), served whole. Season with salt, cayenne, and Worcestershire or Harvey's sauce. One pint of cold water ; half a pound of chopped salt pork ; butter. Fry the pork in the soup-pot ; add everything else except the oysters, and cook, covered, for three hours. Stir in then a table- spoonful of butter rolled in browned flour, cook one minute, drop in the oysters, simmer for ten minutes and serve. FISH CHOWDER. (No. J.) Two pounds firm fish, cod, halibut, or haddock ; four pota- toes, peeled, sliced, and parboiled ; one large onion ; one quart of hot water ; one-half pound of fat salt pork, chopped ; two cupfuls of milk and two tablespoonfuls of butter ; six Boston crackers, or " water thin " biscuits. Pepper, salt, and parsley. Put the chopped pork into the soup-kettle and fry crisp. Add the onion and color lightly. Lay in this fat the fish, cut into inch-dice, the sliced parboiled potatoes and bits of the fried 44 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK pork and onion in layers ; season as you go. Cover with boil- ing water and cook half an hour. Heat the milk separately ; butter the crackers well and break them into the milk. When they are soft, cover the bottom of a deep platter with them, pepper and salt them, put the chowder upon them and pour the rest of the milk on top. FISH CHOWDER. (No. 2.) Use the same ingredients as above with the addition of a pint of sliced tomatoes, laid upon the strata of fish, etc. Instead of breaking the crackers up in the milk, heat the butter and milk together, soak the crackers thoroughly in it, and when the chowder is dished, lift them carefully and arrange them like a crust upon the pile. In taking up the chowder, re- serve half a cupful of gravy ; stir into it a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, add what milk you have left, heat for one minute and pour, spoonful by spoonful, over the crackers. A NEW JERSEY CHOWDER* Six mealy potatoes, parboiled and sliced ; one-half pound of sweet firm salt pork, cut into dice ; one good-sized onion, sliced; two cupfuls of milk the richer the better ; two cupfuls of boil- ing water; one heaping tablespoonful of butter rolled in one of flour. Pepper and celery -salt to taste. Chopped parsley. Fry the pork and onion together in a pan. Arrange potatoes, fried pork, and onion in neat layers, and sprinkle with parsley, seasoning all with pepper and salt. Upon the top pour the hot fat from the frying-pan ; cover with boiling water and cook gently half an hour. Take out the potatoes with a skimmer and lay in a vegetable dish. Have ready the milk heated to boiling and thickened with the floured butter ; add to the liquor in the pot, boil one minute and pour over the potatoes. A savory and an economical dish. THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK 45 FAMILIAR TALK* THE DIGNITY OF ECONOMY. Byron, coarse in thought, word, and deed, in spite of gentle blood and genius, called miserliness " the amiable vice of gen- tlemen." Like some other sayings intended to be severely sarcastic, it sets us to searching for the grain of serious truth buried in the bushel of chaff. Economy at its extreme is an honester virtue than the extreme of extravagance, and more humane. It would be a curious study to trace the crooked, unlikely ways by which the eternal principle enunciated by Him whose were, and are, all things that were ever made " Gather up the fragments, that nothing be wasted" has been reversed in general belief and practice. In all the universe of God not one atom is squan- dered. The decay of to-day feeds the growth of to-morrow ; the many littles are wrought, each in its way, time, and place, into the mighty whole. Coming down to human enterprises where public interests are involved, we commend the wise economy that looks narrowly after minute expenditures. No contempt mingles with the admi- ration with which we read that the sweepings of the mint are treasured and appraised, the clothing and shoes of operatives dusted before they leave the rooms in which the coin is filed and burnished." " The management of the concern is faultless," said one of a corporation that counts its gains by the million. " Not a post- age stamp is wasted." It is only when we descend to individual action that lavish- ness becomes fine and frugality mean. He who manipulates hundreds of thousands of dollars may be scrupulous in the matter of wasted pennies. He who counts his earnings by units, rises in the estimation of his fellows when he trumpets the boast that " he may be poor, but he won't be mean ! " 46 THE NATIONAL COOK BOOK I heard, the other day, a young fellow who has his fortune to make, read aloud to a circle an anecdote of the Dowager-Em- press of Germany, when she was Crown Princess, illustrative, said the paper that gave it, of hereditary parsimony, her mother, the Queen of England, being cited as " the stingiest old lady in her realm." The story set forth that the princess, soon after she took possession of her own palace, noted, one day, that a roast chicken which had been taken off the royal table untouched had not reappeared at any subsequent meal, and inquired what had become of it. It was represented to her that all the whole " left- overs " were among the perquisites of the butler-in-chief. " By whose order? " demanded the royal housewife. " By the custom of immemorial age," was the reply. " It should be discontinued," said the princess. " If his sal- ary is insufficient, let him report the fact. He has no right to meddle with what does not belong to him." The outcry from the audience was unanimous, and renewed when an elderly woman asked, quietly, " What is a perquisite? " Webster, when consulted, gave: "An allowance paid in money or things beyond the ordinary salary or fixed wages, for services rendered." "Then," proceeded the protestant, "unless the princess to whom the fowl belonged by right of purchase agreed to allow him the left-over, it was not a perquisite. What was it, then ? Her property, or his ? If he did not buy it, and it was not given to him didn't he steal \\."> " The plain talk brought out the sentiment of the party. It was me^n, it was niggardly, it was vulgar in a woman of wealth and rank to stoop to such a petty economy ! It argued a small soul and a grasping disposition. My old friend spoke but twice, in answer, and with no haste of self-vindication. Once she said, "It is not the value, but the/#