NY PUBL C LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES
3 3333 02374 9738
REFERENCE
THE CENTRAL CHILDREN'S
,ET
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10019
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
When you bake a small thing, have the oven hot,
But for baking big things cool it off a lot.
WHEN MOTHER
LETS US COOK
A BOOK OF SIMPLE RECEIPTS FOR LITTLE FOLK WITH
IMPORTANT COOKING RULES IN RHYME TOGETHER
WITH HANDY LISTS OF THE MATERIALS AND
UTENSILS NEEDED FOR THE PREP-
ARATION OF EACH DISH
By CONSTANCE JOHNSON
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NEW YORK
MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY
1919
Copyright, 1908, by
MOFFAT, YAED & COMPANY
NEW YORK
All rights reserved
Published, September, 1908
Reprinted, May, 1909
Reprinted, December, 1909
Fourth Printing, November, 1910
Ninth Printing, March, 1915
Tenth Printing, February, 1918
Eleventh Printing, May, 1917
Twelfth Printing, June, 1919
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TO MARY ABIGAIL'S FATHER,
WHO WILL DOUBTLESS HAVE TO PKOVE
MANY A PUDDING.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
RECEIPTS
(For chafing-dish or saucepan) PAOE
BOILED EGGS 3
BOILED RICE 4
JELLY WARM-OVER .:..,. ,. : 5
CREAM SAUCE 7
SCRAMBLED EGGS > . , : ,.. > 8
APPLE SAUCE 9
STEWED FRUITS , . H_14
SWEET SAUCES . . . . 15-17
CURLYLOCKS PUDDING 18
SWEET OMELET .21
CEREAL CAKES . . . . 23
PAN CAKES 24
BAKED STEWED PEARS -..,.. 27
BAKING RECEIPTS
BAKED POTATOES 28
BAKED APPLES 29
NEST EGGS 30
TAPIOCA PUDDING 31
SCALLOPED FISH 33
RICE PUDDING 35
CUP CUSTARD . ( . . . . . 37
CHICKEN CUSTARD 39
BROWN BETTY ............. 41
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE!
MEAT LOAF 43
BIETHDAY CAKE 45
HILDA'S JOHNNY CAKE 49
BLUEBERRY MUFFINS 51
KATY'S GINGERBREAD 53
GINGERBREAD PUDDING 55
TEA-PARTY BISCUIT 57
SATURDAY COOKIES 59
USEFUL ODDS AND ENDS
ETUNKET 61
SCHOOL SANDWICHES 63
FAIRY SALAD 64
LEMONADE . 65
COTTAGE CHEESE 67
CLAM BROTH 69
BEEF TEA 71
MILK TOAST 72
BLACKBERRY BREAD ........... 75
ANGEL HASH 76
'JELLY WHIP 77
MOCK WINE JELLY 78
J- J-* A. * O JL
O O C A **..... oo
POPCORN BALLS 86
POPCORN PATTIES 87
CANDIED ORANGE-PEEL 88
RAINY-DAY FUDGE 90
x
MOLASSES CANDY . . 92
PEPPERMINTS 94
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EULES
PAGE.
THINGS TO HAVE 1
WITCH'S TEST . 2
MILK RULE . 6
READY RULE 10
THINGS TO REMEMBER 14
WAITING RULE 20
BAKING RULE 26
SPOONFULS AND CUPFULS 32
STRAW TEST 36
WETS AND DRYS 42
OVEN DOORS 48
SIFTING AND STIRRING 56
BREAD AND BUTTER RULE 62
Ps AND Qs 66
SIMMERING RULE . 70
RULE FOR SERVING COLD . 74
BOILING RULE ... 80
CANDY RULE , ; >, >.- ( . 84
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE!
MEAT LOAF . -.. 43
BIRTHDAY CAKE 45
HILDA'S JOHNNY CAKE 49
BLUEBERRY MUFFINS 51
KATY'S GINGERBREAD 53
GINGERBREAD PUDDING 55
TEA-PARTY BISCUIT 57
SATURDAY COOKIES 59
USEFUL ODDS AND ENDS
ETUNKET 61
SCHOOL SANDWICHES 63
FAIRY SALAD 64
LEMONADE . .65
COTTAGE CHEESE 67
CLAM BROTH 69
BEEF TEA 71
MILK TOAST . . ; 72
BLACKBERRY BREAD ........... 75
ANGEL HASH 76
'JELLY WHIP 77
MOCK WINE JELLY 78
J. .11* A. O _L
COCOA 83
POPCORN BALLS 86
POPCORN PATTIES 87
CANDIED ORANGE-PEEL 88
RAINY-DAY FUDGE 90
N,
MOLASSES CANDY
PEPPERMINTS 94
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EULES
PAGE.
THINGS TO HAVE 1
WITCH'S TEST . 2
MILK RULE . 6
BEADY RULE 10
THINGS TO REMEMBER 14
WAITING RULE 20
BAKING RULE 26
SPOONFULS AND CUPFULS 32
STRAW TEST 36
WETS AND DRYS 42
OVEN DOORS 48
SIFTING AND STIRRING 56
BREAD AND BUTTER RULE 62
Ps AND Qs 66
SIMMERING RULE . 70
RULE FOR SERVING COLD . 74
BOILING RULE ... 80
CANDY RULE . u- ,. 84
vii
PEEFACE
To make something that we can eat ! Surely it is
always delightful to do this, and never quite so nice
as when it is a stormy day, and one is well ten or
twelve years old. My aim has been to give in this
little book a few simple rules and receipts, which may
serve as a beginning, and help small folks to have
their fun without troubling mother and the cook too
much; yet I trust that these directions may prove
useful to them even when they are grown-up house-
keepers.
The selection is made with a view to economy and
a child's diet.
iz
MOTHER LETS US COOK
THINGS TO HAVE
Tablespoons, teaspoons, measuring cup,
Bowls, plates, knives, all polished up.
Egg-beater, lifting knife, baking tin,
Sauce-pans, bread-board, rolling-pin;
A double-boiler, a chafing-dish,
A wooden spoon I know you '11 wish.
A flour sifter, a cutter, too ;
A clock to show when the cooking 's through,
An apron to do the cooking in,
And hands scrubbed clean before you begin!
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
THE WITCH'S TEST
Put eggs in cold water to test them for food.
If they float they are bad, if they sink they are
good.
And some people say that an egg is all right
If you hold it up close to a flame that is bright
And look through it endwise and still see a light.
WHEN MOTHER LETS ITS COOK 3
BOILED EGGS
Fresh eggs Saucepan
Boiling water
Never boil eggs that are not perfectly fresh;
cook them some other way.
Put your fresh eggs, with their shells on, into
a deep saucepan.
Fill the saucepan with water that is actually
boiling, and see that the eggs are covered.
Take the pan from the stove and cover it. It
may be brought to the dining room table, and the
eggs will cook until you are ready to eat them.
Boiled eggs are better cooked in water that
does not continue to boil; but be sure that the
water is boiling hard, when first poured over the
eggs.
Three minutes will be enough for soft boiled
eggs, fifteen for hard.
Serve at once in a covered dish, or wrapped in
a clean table napkin.
[WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
BOILED BICE
1 cup rice Measuring cup
3 quarts boiling Sieve
water Teaspoon
1 teaspoonful salt Deep saucepan
Fork
Measure 1 cupful of rice. Pick it over care-
fully so that there will be no yellow grains or
specks of dirt left in it.
Then put the rice into a sieve or strainer and
wash it. You can do this under the kitchen fau-
cet or by pouring a pitcherful of cold water over
the rice.
Put 3 quarts of hot water into a deep sauce-
pan on the stove (the pan should have a cover)
and when the water boils pour in the rice very
slowly, and add 1 teaspoonful of salt.
Stir it a few times with a fork and then put
the cover on the pan, and let the rice boil hard
for about twenty minutes, or until it is soft.
Try a little with a fork when you think it is
done.
Drain the water off by pouring rice and all
into your sieve.
This is the best way to cook rice.
[WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 5
JELLY WARM-OVER
3 tablespoonfuls cur- Saucepan or chafing-
rant jelly dish
Cold beef or mutton Spoons
Pepper and salt
French mustard
If you have any cold beef or mutton left over
from yesterday, cut it into rather thick slices.
Take your saucepan and put it on a hot part
of the stove.
Put in your saucepan 1 heaping tablespoonful
of butter, and as soon as it is melted add ^ tea-
spoonful of salt and a pinch of red pepper, mix-
ing it well with a spoon. If you like, add 1
teaspoonful of French mustard.
Stir into this 3 generous tablespoonfuls of cur-
rant jelly.
When it is all smoking hot and well mixed, add
your slices of meat.
Cook for a few more minutes until the meat is
heated through and has absorbed some of the
sauce.
Serve in a hot dish at once. Be sure to pour
all the jelly sauce over the meat.
6 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
MILK EULE
For cooking milk two rules I tell,
Milk quickly burns, so stir it well ;
Or cook it in a double pot,
It curdles where the stove's too hot.
WHEN MOTHER LETS TJS COOK 7
CREAM SAUCE FOR ALL SORTS OF THINGS
1 tablespoonful flour Saucepan or chafing-
1 tablespoonful but- dish
ter Spoon
1 cupful milk Measuring cup
1 teaspoonful salt
^4 teaspoonful pep-
per
Put 1 tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan,
and put the saucepan on the stove.
When the butter is melted add 1 tablespoonful
of flour.
Stir every minute, for it burns easily.
When the butter and flour are frothy and well
mixed, pour in 1 cup of milk or cream, drop by
drop, stirring with the other hand.
Do this quickly, but be very careful not to let
any lumps form; the stirring is to prevent this,
and also to keep the sauce from burning.
Cook it till it boils up, and then stir in 1 tea-
spoonful of salt and ^4 teaspoonful of pepper.
The sauce is now ready for use.
This is enough for a dish for three people. It
can be used with warmed-over meats, fish, toast,
or sliced hard-boiled eggs.
8 WHEK MOTHER LETS US COOK
SCRAMBLED EGGS FOE THREE
5 eggs Egg beater
1 cup milk Saucepan or chafing-
1 tablespoonful but- dish
ter Teaspoon
1 teaspoonful salt Tablespoons
% teaspoonful pep-
per
Break 5 eggs into a bowl, being careful not to
drop in any shells.
Add 1 teaspoonful of salt and % of pepper.
Beat for a minute with an egg-beater.
Add 1 cup of milk and beat a little longer.
Have a saucepan (you can also use a chafing-
dish) on a hot part of the stove; put into it 1
tablespoonful of butter and let it melt.
Pour in the mixture and stir slowly.
Pretty soon the egg will begin to stick to the
bottom of the pan; keep scraping it off as you
stir.
When most of the mixture is thick and lumpy,
the scramble is done.
Do not let it get hard.
Serve right away on hot plates ; it is very nice
to have some hot slices of toast ready and pour
the mixture over them.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 9
APPLE SAUCE
Apples Saucepan
Sugar Sharp knife
Butter Apple-corer
Spices Strainer or sieve
Bowl
Choose some nice hard cooking apples, core
them, and peel them with a sharp knife.
Cut them in quarters and lay these in a deep
saucepan.
Sprinkle the apples with granulated sugar, al-
lowing 1 cup for 6 good-sized apples, and add to
this 2 tablespoonf uls of mixed spices, cloves, cin-
namon, ginger, and so forth. If you do not like
spices you need not put this in.
Pour into the saucepan 1 cup of cold water,
and set the pan on a warm part of the stove.
The apples should cook for about fifteen min-
utes, until they are quite soft and the water is
partly boiled away, leaving a syrup.
Take a coarse sieve or strainer, put 1 table-
spoonful of butter in the bottom of it, and strain
the applesauce into a bowl.
Push it through the strainer with a spoon if
necessary.
Set the bowl in a cool place, and serve the
apple sauce cold with milk or cream.
10
.WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
BEADY RULE
This rule above all others heed:
Have ready everything you need.
Before you start be sure to read
The whole receipt, then work with speed.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
11
STEWED FRUITS
When stewing fruits, do not let them boil hard.
They should only simmer.
Cover the fruit with cold water and add sugar
if the fruit is sour.
The saucepan should be put at the back of the
stove and the fruit cooked until tender. This
often takes from 2 to 3 hours.
Never use tin pans to cook fruit.
12 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
STEWED PRUNES
1 pound prunes Saucepan
Put your prunes into an agate saucepan, and
cover them with cold water, allowing 1 quart of
water to each pound of prunes.
Put the pan at the back of the stove.
Cook until the prunes are tender, which will
take about 2^ hours.
Try them with a fork to see if they are soft,
and when done turn into a bowl to cool.
This is enough for 6 people.
They are good served with a little cream.
Dried fruits are cooked like prunes. A little
sugar may be added to the water if you like it
better.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 13
STEWED RHUBARB
Rhubarb Measuring cup
1 cup sugar Saucepan
Knife
Select tender stalks of rhubarb.
Cut oft the green tops with a sharp knife and
throw them away.
Cut the stalks into pieces about 1 inch long.
When you have cut enough to fill a quart meas-
ure put the pieces in a double boiler and barely
cover them with cold water.
Set the pot at the back of the stove to simmer
for several hours.
When you think the rhubarb is tender, try it
with a fork.
Add 1 cup of granulated sugar to each quart
of rhubarb.
Put the pot on a hot part of the stove and let
the mixture boil hard for two minutes.
Pour into a dish to cool.
This is enough for 6 people.
Peaches, apricots, oranges, pears, apples, ber-
ries, and so forth can all be stewed in the same
-way. Berries will not take so long to cook.
Large fruits should be peeled.
14
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
THINGS TO REMEMBER
16 tablespoons make one cup
If milk or water fill it up ;
It takes but 8, heaped full and high,
If what you measure ? s fine and dry.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 15
. SWEET SAUCES
RASPBERRY SAUCE
!/4 cup sugar Vegetable masher
1 cup raspberries 2 bowls
% cup cream Cheese cloth
Measuring cup
Fork
Egg beater
Measure one cupful of ripe raspberries, pick
them over carefully, and wash them if necessary.
Put the raspberries in a bowl with ^ of a cup-
ful of granulated sugar.
Stand them for % of an hour in a warm room.
Spread a piece of cheesecloth over a bowl and
pour the raspberries and sugar and all the rasp-
berry juice into the cheesecloth.
Fold the cheesecloth over, so that the berries
will be in a sort of bag, and mash them with a
wooden masher until all the juice and fine pulp
have gone through the cheesecloth into the bowl.
Put % of a CU P f cream into another bowl
and whip it with an egg-beater until very thick.
Pour the raspberry juice over it and mix care-
fully with a fork.
This can be served with ice cream, plain cake,
cold rice, hominy, farina, custards, etc.
16 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
HOT CHOCOLATE SAUCE
2 cups sugar Sauce pan
1 cupful hot water Measuring cup
2 tablespoonfuls co- Tablespoon
coa Teaspoon
Boiling water
1 teaspoonful vanilla
Measure 2 tablespoonfuls of cocoa and put
them in a cup with 3 tablespoonfuls of boiling
water.
Stir with a spoon until the cocoa is all dis-
solved and the mixture is smooth.
Put 2 cupfuls of granulated sugar into a
saucepan with 1 cupful of hot water.
Stand the saucepan on a hot part of the stove
and let the water come to a boil. Do not stir it.
The syrup should boil until it becomes brittle :
that is until a little dropped in cold water imme-
diately hardens and will break.
Add the cocoa and let the mixture boil until it
is quite thick.
Take the pan from the stove, stir in 1 tea-
spoonful of vanilla, and serve hot.
This is good with ice-cream, cake, and a va-
riety 'of puddings, such as snow pudding, cus-
tard, cornstarch, etc.
5VHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 17j
CUSTARD SATJCE
1/2 pint milk Saucepan
1 egg Tablespoon
Sugar Fork
Vanilla Bowl
Put 1 cupful of milk into a saucepan with 1
tablespoonful of granulated sugar.
Break an egg into a bowl and beat it with a
fork until the white and yolk are well mixed.
Add this to the milk.
Set the saucepan on the back part of the stove
or over a small flame of the chafing dish.
Let it cook until it thickens, stirring gently all
the time.
Do not let it boil.
When it is quite thick, stir in a teaspoonful of
vanilla, and take the pan off the stove.
This sauce is good hot or cold, on the same
things as the hot chocolate sauce.
It can also be used for Floating Island, which
is made by pouring this sauce over slices of stale
cake and just before serving putting on top of it
the beaten whites of two eggs.
18 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US COOK
CURLYLOCKS PUDDING
1 quart strawberries Knife
1 cup sugar Measuring cup
1 tablespoonful Tablespoons
lemon juice Lemon squeezer
3 tablespoonfuls Double boiler or chaf-
cornstarch ing-dish
Cup
Bowls
Pick over 1 quart of strawberries or raspber-
ries, hull them and cut them in half. It is better
to wipe the berries than wash them, but some-
times they have to be washed.
Cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice into
a cup with a lemon-squeezer.
Measure 1 tablespoonful of the juice and put
in the top pan of a double boiler or chafing-dish.
Add to this 1 cup of granulated sugar, and 2
cups of cold water.
Put the pan on a hot part of the stove.
Measure 3 tablespoonfuls of cornstarch, and
put it in a cup half full of cold water.
Stir until the cornstarch is dissolved.
When the sugar-water has come to a hard boil,
add the dissolved cornstarch gradually.
Stir until the mixture is thick and smooth.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
19
Now set the pan onto the lower part of your
chafing-dish or double boiler containing boiling
water.
Put the berries into the cornstarch mixture,
stir them in well and put your double boiler on a
hot part of the stove.
The mixture should cook for 10 minutes.
When done, turn the pudding out into a jelly
mold and put aside to cool.
Serve cold with milk or cream.
This is enough for 6 people.
When a dessert or jelly is to be served cold and
turned out of a mold, the mold should be washed
with very cold water before the mixture is
poured in.
20
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
WAITING RULE
Make your friends wait if there's any delay,
But never your omelet, cakes or souffle,
For friends will not spoil, but the other things
may!
WHEN" MOTHER LETS US COOK 21
SWEET OMELET
4 eggs Chafing-dish or double-
3 teaspoonfuls pow- boiler
dered sugar Teaspoon
% teaspoonful va- Egg-beater
nilla extract Spatula
Teaspoonful butter 2 bowls for mixing
Fork
Take 2 eggs and separate the whites and yolks.
Put the whites in one bowl and the yolks in an-
other.
Add to the yolks 2 whole eggs, 3 generous tea-
spoonfuls of powdered sugar, and y 2 teaspoonful
vanilla. Beat with an egg-beater until very light.
Put some boiling water in the under pan of
your chafing-dish or double boiler. A chafing-
dish is the best, for it is easier to serve the ome-
let in the dish in which it is cooked, and you can-
not do this with an ordinary double boiler.
Be sure that the lamp in your chafing-dish is
lighted.
In the upper pan drop a teaspoonful of butter
and as it melts spread it over the pan with a
spoon so that the sides as well as the bottom are
greased.
Whip the 2 remaining whites with an egg-
22
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
beater until very stiff, and mix them with the
rest of the eggs, very carefully with a fork.
Pour into the buttered pan, cover the pan and
cook it without touching for 15 minutes.
Serve at once, in the same pan.
If you use a double boiler, loosen the sides of
the omelet with a spatula, or flexible knife, so
that it will come away from the pan, fold half
of it over the other half and turn out upon a hot
plate.
This is enough for 3 people.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 23
CEREAL CAKES
Any cooked cereal Iron sauce-pan
Tablespoonful of Turning knife, or
butter spatula
Mixing bowl
Some day when there is cooked oatmeal, or
hominy or rice, left over from breakfast, ask
your mother to let you make it into a lunch dish.
Take a small iron saucepan and put it on the
hot part of the stove. It should get very hot.
Take the cold cereal in your hands and mould
it into little cakes about the size of fish-balls.
Put a piece of butter as big as a sugar-lump
into the hot saucepan, and as soon as it is all
melted, lay the little cakes into the pan.
At the end of one minute lift up one of the
cakes with your turning knife and if the under-
side has a brown crust on it, turn the cake over.
Do the same with each cake, until all are nicely
browned on both sides. They should be eaten
right away, with sugar or maple syrup on them.
24 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US COOK
PAN CAKES
1 teaspoonful baking Fork
powder 1 teaspoon
iy 2 cups flour 2 mixing bowls
2 eggs Measuring cup
1 cup milk Egg-beater
1 teaspoonful salt Flour sifter
Butter Saucepan
Spatula
"Wooden spoon
Take 2 eggs and break them carefully so that
the whites and yolks shall be separate, and put
the yolks in one bowl, the whites in another.
Beat the whites stiff with your egg-beater, and
then beat the yolks.
Sift some flour into your measuring cup until
you have 1% cupfuls.
Add 1 teaspoonful of baking powder and 1
teaspoonful of salt.
Before doing anything else, put your frying-
pan on a hot part of the stove.
Sift your flour mixture into the bowl with the
egg yolks, and stir them together with a wooden
spoon.
Measure 1 cupful of milk, and add this to the
flour and egg ; stir it in a little at a time and beat
the mixture well with the wooden spoon.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 25
There must be no lumps in the batter.
Last of all mix in your beaten egg whites care-
fully with a fork.
Put about l /2 a teaspoonful of butter into your
hot pan, leaving it on the stove.
When the butter is melted pour into the pan
1 tablespoonful of the batter.
Spread this out quickly so that the batter in
the pan will be very thin, and let the cake cook
until it is brown on the under side.
The hotter your pan, the quicker the batter
will cook, and the better your pancake will be.
You can lift up a corner to see if it is done, if
you do this carefully with a spatula.
When the cake is done on one side, turn it
quickly and carefully with the spatula, and
brown on the other side.
Never turn a cake more than once. It spoils it.
When both sides of the cake are done, lift it
out of your pan and put it on a hot plate.
Make the rest of the cakes in the same way,
as rapidly as possible, and serve at once with
sugar and butter, or with maple sugar or maple
syrup, or with cream.
You may have to add a little butter to your
pan if you find it is getting dry.
26
MOTHEK LETS us COOK
BAKING RULE
When you bake a small thing, have the oven hot,
But for baking big things, cool it off a lot.
In a too-hot oven put a pan of water,
That will cool it nicely, or at least it oughter!
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 27
"BAKED" STEWED PEAKS
Pears Baking dish
Spices
Take some small sickle pears, wash them and
put them whole into a deep dish. Sprinkle each
one with a pinch of sugar, a pinch of cinnamon
and a pinch of cloves.
Cover the bottom of your dish with an inch of
cold water, and set in a hot oven to simmer. This
usually takes 3 hours. If the water dries off,
add a little more.
They are done when soft. Serve with cream
or milk.
You can also use hard, green cooking pears,
but these must be peeled.
28
WHEN MOTHER LETS ITS COOK
BAKED POTATOES
6 potatoes
Scrubbing brush
Fork
Choose 6 potatoes of about the same size, and
scrub the dark skin well with a scrubbing brush
and cold water.
Pierce them with a fork.
Put the potatoes in a hot oven and cook them
with their "jackets" on for about 1 hour.
Try them with a fork in about % of an hour
and see if they are soft. If they are, wrap them
in a clean table napkin and serve at once.
Baked potatoes are very nice with butter and
salt. Some people like them with milk.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 29
BAKED APPLES
6 apples Apple-corer
Granulated sugar Baking pan
Butter Cup
Cinnamon Fork
1 cup hot water
Pick out 6 nice, large, cooking apples, green-
ings are the best; core them and put them in a
pan.
Put on top of each as much granulated sugar
as you can pinch between your finger and thumb,
a " pinch" of cinnamon, and a bit of butter about
the size of half a lump of sugar.
Pour about 1 cup of hot water into the pan,
and set in a moderate oven.
It is almost impossible to say how long to
leave them in!
They are done when they are soft and juicy,
probably in about % hour.
Stick a fork into them and try them when you
think they are done.
Put them in a pretty plate or bowl with all
the syrup that has been cooked out of them, and
serve with cream or milk.
They are nice hot or cold.
30 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
NEST EGG
Eggs Mixing bowl
Salt Egg-beater
Pepper Baking bowl
Spoon
Take a nice, fresh egg, and ask the cook to
show you how to break it open carefully, and
separate the white and the yolk, so that the yolk
will not be broken. Leave the yolk in a half
egg-shell, and let the white fall into a mixing
bowl.
Add a pinch of salt to the white, and beat with
an egg-beater until it is very stiff.
Have ready some little bowl or deep saucer
that is pretty enough to put on the table, and yet
will not break in the oven.
Into this dish pour the stiff-beaten white, and
make a little hole in the middle of the white
with a spoon.
In this little hollow place put the yolk, still
unbroken.
Set the dish in a hot oven and cook for two or
three minutes, or until the white is a little brown
and the yolk is firm.
Serve right away.
There must be a separate dish for each egg.
WHEN MOTHEK LETS US COOK 31
TAPIOCA PUDDING
3 tablespoonfuls Mixing bowls
pearl tapioca Tablespoon
1 quart milk Teaspoon
2 tablespoonfuls Baking dish
sugar Egg-beater
1 egg
2 teaspoonfuls va-
nilla
Put 3 tablespoonfuls of pearl tapioca into half
a cup of cold water and leave it for half an hour
or more.
Break an egg into a mixing bowl and beat with
an egg-beater until it is very light.
Add to this 2 tablespoonfuls of granulated
sugar and 2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla extract, and
mix them all together.
Pour over this 1 quart of milk and mix well.
Strain the water from the tapioca and add the
tapioca to the mixture, and pour the whole into
a pretty baking dish of some sort.
Bake for one hour in a moderate oven.
Serve cold in the same dish, with sugar and
cream or milk.
This is enough for six people.
32
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
SPOONFULS AND CUPFULS
Fill to a level spoon or cup,
Unless you're told to heap it up.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 33
SCALLOPED FISH
Cold fish Saucepan
Butter Fork
Flour Spoons
Milk Baking dish
Pepper
Salt
Bread crumbs
Take some cold fish, say enough to make 1
pint, and pick it to pieces with a silver fork. Be
sure to take out every bone.
Make a cream sauce, as you have learned to
do, with 1 tablespoonful of flour, 1 tablespoonful
of butter and 1 cup of milk. Use a saucepan or
double boiler and be careful not to let it burn.
Add 1 teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper.
Put your fish into the saucepan with the sauce,
mix it all up well, and take from the stove.
Take a baking dish and butter the sides and
bottom carefully.
Turn the fish into the baking dish.
Have ready about % a CU P of stale bread
crumbs, add to them a pinch of salt and a smaller
pinch of pepper, mix them all up, and sprinkle
over the fish.
Drop some very small bits of butter on the top
[WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
and put the dish in a pretty hot oven to brown.
This should take about fifteen minutes, but it
might take less or more according to the heat of
the oven.
Take the fish out when the top is brown, and
serve right away.
This can be baked in little dishes or in large
shells.
"WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 35
RICE PUDDING
4 tablespoons rice Mixing bowl
4 tablespoons sugar Strainer or sieve
Nutmeg Enamel baking dish
1 quart milk
Take 4 tablespoonfuls of rice, pick out all the
specks and dried kernels and wash it by putting
it in a strainer or sieve and letting clean, cold
water run over it.
Put the washed rice into a bowl, and add 4
tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar.
Pour over the rice 1 quart of good milk.
Turn the mixture into a baking dish. The
pudding will be creamier if you use an enameled
metal one, but you can use china.
Grate over the top some nutmeg, and set the
dish in a moderate oven.
Cook for about 2 hours. From time to time as
the pudding begins to get brown on top, stir
down the top crust. Do this twice. When the
rice is thoroughly soft it is done.
Eice pudding is better served quite cold.
If you like raisins, get some of the seedless
kind, measure about 2 tablespoonfuls and soak
them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain off
the water and stir them into the pudding before
you put it into the oven.
36
MOTHER LETS US COOK
THE STRAW TEST
With a straw I pierce my cake,
When I think it's cooked enough.
If the straw gets sticky rough,
I must longer bake.
If it come out clean and neat,
Then the cake is fit to eat.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 37
CUP CUSTAKD FOR THEEE
2 eggs Egg-beater
Granulated sugar Saucepan
Salt Grater
Nutmeg Baking dishes
Hot water Baking pan
1 pint milk Mixing bowl
Spoon
Break 2 eggs carefully into a bowl and beat
with an egg-beater for three minutes.
Add y teaspoonful salt and 2 heaping table-
spoonfuls of granulated sugar. Beat with a
spoon for two minutes.
Heat 1 pint of milk in a saucepan until it is
very hot, but not boiling, and mix with the egg
and sugar, beating it again for a minute with
your spoon.
Take 3 small dishes or 1 large one, that will be
pretty and yet stand baking, and pour the mix-
ture in.
Grate a little nutmeg over the top.
Put the baking dishes into a pan, and put the
pan into a moderately hot oven. Before you
shut the oven door pour some hot water into the
pan, carefully, so that none of it will get into the
38 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
custards; the water should come up about half-
way to the top of the custard cups.
Cook until the custards are firm in the middle
and brown on top. If you use the little cups or
dishes this should take about half an hour. The
larger dish will take longer.
Use the straw test.
Take them out of the pan and set them where
they will cool. Serve them very cold.
If you have no pretty dish, fold a clean table
napkin so that it will be the width of the dish ?
lay it around the dish and pin it together.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 39
CHICKEN CUSTARD
1 cup thick chicken Measuring cup
stock Custard cups
1 cup cream or milk Double boiler
'Yolks of 3 eggs Egg-beater
1 teaspoonful salt Teaspoon
Bowl
Some day when the cook has some good, rich
chicken stock in the house, measure out 1 cupful
and put it in the top part of a double boiler.
Add to it 1 cup of cream, or if you have no
cream, 1 cupful of milk into which you have
stirred 1 teaspoonful of melted butter. The
cream or milk must be absolutely fresh or your
custard will curdle.
Put your pan on the stove and cook your milk
and stock until it begins to smoke.
Do not let it come to a boil.
f
While this is cooking, break open 3 eggs care-
fully, and separate the whites and yolks.
The whites can be put away in the ice-box for
future use.
Beat the yolks with an egg-beater until they
are stiff.
When your milk and chicken is ready, take it
40 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
from the stove and add the beaten egg-yolks and
1 teaspoonful of salt.
Mix well with a spoon.
Put the pan into the double boiler and set it
on a hot part of the stove.
Cook until the mixture begins to get thick.
Pour it into custard cups and set in a cold
place to get hard and cold.
Serve cold.
This ought to be enough for 5 people.
It is nice for a hearty supper or lunch dish,
also to serve to invalids.
S
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 41
BROWN BETTY
6 cooking apples Apple corer
1/2 cup molasses Measuring cup
1/2 CU P cold water Baking dish
4 tablespoonfuls Knife
brown sugar
Butter
Bread crumbs
Take 6 large, tart apples, core them and peel
them and cut them into small slices.
Take a baking dish, butter the inside and cover
the bottom with one layer of apple slices.
Sprinkle a layer of bread crumbs over the
apple, then lay more apple over the crumbs, and
so on until you have used all the apple.
There must be crumbs on top.
Measure % cupful of black molasses and 1/2
cupful of cold water.
Add to this 4 tablespoonfuls of brown sugar,
and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the mixture over the apple and crumbs,
and drop four little bits of butter on top of all.
Put the dish in a moderate oven for about %
of an hour, or until it is nicely browned on top,
and the apples are soft. Try them with a fork.
Serve hot with cream or a hard sauce.
42
MOTHER LETS US COOK
WETS AND DRYS
Have one bowl for liquids,
Put drys in another ;
And just before cooking
Mix all up together.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 43
MEAT LOAF
I pound chopped raw Boiling pin and board
beef Mixing bowl
4 white crackers Wooden spoon
1/2 CU P cream or milk Teaspoon
(or some evapo- Measuring cup
rated cream) Baking dish
legg
1 teaspoonful salt
Butter
Take 4 white crackers, any simple unsweet-
ened cracker will do.
Roll them into fine crumbs with your rolling
pin.
Put them in a bowl with 1 teaspoonful of salt.
(Leave out some of the crumbs to put on top
of your loaf.)
Break an egg into the bowl and mix well with
the cracker crumbs, using a wooden spoon.
Put into the bowl 1 pound of finely chopped
raw beef, and mix again.
Measure % cup of cream and pour over the
mixture. (You can use instead 4 tablespoonfuls
of unsweetened evaporated cream.) If you use
milk, add to it 1 tablespoonful of melted butter
before you pour it on the meat.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
Mix the whole together again, and turn into
your baking dish, moulding it into a loaf with a
spoon.
Sprinkle over the top the rest of your cracker
crumbs, and a tablespoonful of butter broken
into little pieces.
Bake in a moderate oven for about 25 min-
utes, until the meat is nicely browned on top.
Serve hot or cold, if possible in the dish in
which the loaf was cooked.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 45
BIRTHDAY CAKE
2 heaping table- 3 mixing bowls
spoonfuls but- Wooden spoon
ter Measuring cup
6 heaping table- Tablespoon
spoonfuls Teaspoon
sugar Egg-beater
1/2 cup milk Baking pan
l l /2 cups flour Flour sifter
1/2 lemon Lemon squeezer
2 eggs Knife
2 teaspoonfuls bak-
ing powder
Take 2 eggs, break them carefully, and put the
whites in one bowl and the yolks in another.
Beat the whites first, so as not to soil your beater
and then beat the yolks.
Put 6 heaping tablespoonfuls of granulated
sugar in a third bowl, add to this 2 heaping
tablespoonfuls of butter, which has been soft-
ened by warming it on the stove.
Beat the butter and sugar together with a
wooden spoon until they are well mixed and
light.
Add the yolks of the eggs and beat again for 5
minutes. Add % teaspoonf ul of salt.
Sift some flour and measure l 1 /^ cupfuls in-
46 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
to the empty bowl. Have ready % cup of
milk.
Cut a lemon in half and squeeze one-half care-
fully, through a squeezer, on the sugar and egg
and butter. Mix them together with a spoon.
Now add your flour and milk a little at a time
and beat the whole until it is quite smooth and
free from lumps.
Before doing anything more examine your
oven and if you want to make a loaf cake have
a moderate oven. If you are going to make little
cakes you will want a hot one.
Butter your tins well, using either a big tin for
loaf cake or a muffin tin for little ones.
Measure 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder and
add them to the dough. Last of all add the
beaten whites of the eggs, mix them in with a
fork, and turn the dough at once into the but-
tered tin.
Never let cake dough stand after the baking
powder is in it.
If you bake it in one loaf it will take about
% of an hour.
Twenty minutes is generally right for small
cakes.
Use the straw test when you think your cake
WHEN" MOTHER LETS US COOK
47
is done, but do not keep opening the oven door.
Do not open it at all for some time after the cake
is in.
it is done turn out onto a plate to cool.
MOTHER LETS US COOK
OVEN DOORS
Never slam the oven door,
Cakes will fall to rise no more.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 49
HILDA'S JOHNNY CAKE
1 egg Measuring cup
1 cup flour Teaspoon
% cup cornmeal Baking tin
a /4 cup sugar Egg-beater
2 teaspoonfuls bak- Mixing bowl
ing powder Tablespoon
% teaspoonful salt Flour sifter
1 tablespoonful
melted butter
% cup milk
Butter or lard for
greasing pan
Measure 1 cupful of white flour and % of a
cup of yellow cornmeal.
Be sure your flour and meal are sifted before
you measure them.
Add y cup of granulated sugar, 2 teaspoon-
fuls of baking powder and ^ teaspoonful of salt.
Mix them up well with a spoon, or sift them
once more all together.
Get your baking tin and grease it carefully.
Be sure that your oven is all right.
Break an egg into a bowl and beat it with an
egg-beater.
Mix it in with the dry things.
50 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOE
Then add about % cup of milk, and 1 table-
spoonful of melted butter.
You may need more milk, you may need less.
You want enough to moisten the flour so that it
will form a dough that you can drop into the pan.
Mix the milk in as fast as you can, but thor-
oughly, so that your dough will be smooth.
Pour into the buttered tin and bake in a mod-
erate oven.
It is better to have a shallow pan ; your dough
should be only about 1 inch thick before it is
cooked.
Bake it about 20 minutes or until it is brown.
Use straw test.
Do not open the oven door for at least ten
minutes after your pan is in the oven.
ll I II 1 1 1 II 1(11 1 1 ] It) I It It IlilL
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 51
BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
1/2 cupful sugar Measuring cup
1 egg 2 mixing bowls
1/2 cupful milk Wooden spoon
Teaspoonful baking Teaspoon
powder Tablespoon
1 tablespoonful but- Muffin tin
ter Flour sifter
1 cupful flour
1 cupful blueberries
1/2 teaspoonful salt
Put 1/2 cupful of granulated sugar into a bowl.
Break 2 eggs into the bowl and beat the sugar
and eggs together with a wooden spoon.
Melt 1 tablespoonful of butter on the stove
and mix it in with the eggs and sugar.
Sift some flour into your measuring cup until
you have 1 cupful.
Add to this i/ 2 teaspoonful of salt and 1 tea-
spoonful of baking powder.
Sift together into the bowl with the eggs and
sugar and butter.
See that your oven is hot and butter your muf-
fin tins.
Measure 1 cupful of blueberries, put them in
a bowl, and pick them over ; wash them if neces-
52 WHEN MOTHER LETS IIS COOK
sary, but it is better only to wipe them with a
cloth.
Measure % cup of milk and add this gradually
to the flour mixture. Beat it with your wooden
spoon as you mix in the milk.
When you have beaten the mixture so that it
is smooth and light, put in the cupful of blue-
berries, and mix it all together thoroughly.
Pour into your buttered tins, filling them half
full.
Bake in a quick oven for about 15 minutes.
Use the straw test. Do not open the oven door
for at least ten minutes after your muffins are
in the oven.
When the muffins are done, turn them out ou
a plate.
WHEN MOTHER LETS ITS COOK 53
KATY'S GINGERBREAD
1 egg Teaspoon
y 2 cup brown sugar Tablespoon
2 tablespoonf uls but- Wooden stirring spoon
ter Measuring cup
Bacon fat Two mixing bowls
1 cup black molasses Egg-beater
2 cups flour Flour sifter
1/2 teaspoonful salt Saucepan
1 teaspoonful cinna- Baking pan
mon Spatula
teaspoonful all-
spice
teaspoonful gin-
ger
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoonful cook-
ing soda
Take a fresh egg and break it carefully into a
large bowl. Beat it with an egg-beater until it
is very stiff.
Pour half a cupful of brown sugar into the
egg and mix well.
Put 2 tablespoonf uls of butter and some bacon
fat into a pan and melt them together on the
stove. Use enough bacon-fat to give you, with
the butter, a half -cupful of melted grease.
Stir this in with the sugar and egg.
54 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
Before you do anything more, be sure that the
oven is hot, and that you have ready a good-
sized shallow baking-pan, smeared on the inside
with butter.
Put a cup of black molasses into the mixture
and beat for two minutes with a wooden spoon.
Take another bowl and sift into it with a
flour-sifter 2 cups of flour, % teaspoonful of
salt, one heaping teaspoonful of cinnamon, y 2
teaspoonful of allspice, and y 2 teaspoonful of
ginger; stir this slowly into the mixture in the
first bowl, and beat for three minutes, if it is
not thick and stiff, sift a little more flour, per-
haps % of a cup, and add it, mixing well.
Dissolve a teaspoonful of cooking soda in a
cup of boiling water, put this quickly into the
other mixture and beat again for three minutes.
Now pour it all into your buttered pan, and
set it carefully into the hot oven. Don't leave
the oven door open longer than you can help.
Bake for about 12 minutes and use the straw
test to see if it is done.
Gingerbread should be carefully loosened
from the pan with a flexible knife, called a spat-
ula, and turned on a big plate to cool. Do not
cut it, but break it.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 55
GINGERBREAD PUDDING
Bake some gingerbread according to the pre-
ceding receipt, but use a small deep tin so that
you will have a thick loaf. Serve this fresh and
hot, with a vanilla sauce. The sauce is made as
follows :
VANILLA SAUCE
Break an egg into a bowl.
Beat it hard with an egg-beater.
Stir into it % pint of milk and one tablespoon-
ful of sugar.
Put into a sauce-pan and cook over a slow fire,
stirring all the time in the same direction.
Take it off when it begins to thicken and be-
fore it comes to a boil.
Add 7 drops of vanilla and stir well.
Serve it hot with the gingerbread.
56
MOTHEK LETS US CODE
SIFTING AND STIRRING
Sift your flour before you measure.
A wooden stirring spoon's a treasure.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 57
TEA-PARTY BISCUIT
1 cup flour Flour sifter
1 teaspoonful baking Measuring cup
powder Wooden spoon
1/2 cup milk or water Teaspoons
y teaspoonful salt Mixing bowl
4 teaspoonfuls but- Flour board and roll-
ter or lard ing pin
Biscuit cutter
Baking tin
Spatula
Sift some flour into a cup until it is full.
Add to this 1 teaspoonful of baking powder
and y of a teaspoonful of salt. Sift again to-
gether into a bowl.
Take 4 teaspoonfuls of butter or lard and rub
it into your flour with your fingers. There must
be no lumps of butter left but the whole mixture
should be dry and crumbly.
Butter a shallow baking tin.
Get out your flour board and sift a little flour
on it. This is to prevent your dough sticking to
the board when you roll it out.
Sift some on the rolling pin, too.
After everything is ready, add your y% cup of
milk to the flour, and mix it in quickly with a
spoon.
58 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
Turn the soft dough onto your board and roll
it out with the rolling pin. Always roll the
dough away from you.
Koll it very lightly, without pressing hard on
the rolling pin.
When you have a sheet of dough about ^
inch thick, cut out round pieces with a cutter.
Use one about as large as a napkin-ring.
Do this quickly.
With a spatula lift the round pieces, carefully
so as not to break them, and lay them on the
buttered tin. They must not quite touch each
other.
Bake in a fairly hot oven for 15 minutes.
The biscuit must be brown on top and about 1
and 1/2 inches high when done.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 59
SATURDAY COOKIES
3 tablespoonfuls but- Saucepan
ter Measuring cup
% cup sugar Tablespoon and tea-
6 teaspoonfuls rich spoon
milk Wooden spoon
1/4 teaspoonful soda Spatula
!/4 teaspoonful salt Mixing bowls
% teaspoonful va- Shallow baking tins
nilla Flour sifter
1 egg Flour board and roll-
V/2 cups flour ing pin
Cooky cutter
Egg-beater
Measure 3 tablespoonfuls of butter and put in
a saucepan on the stove to melt.
Put % of a cup of granulated sugar in a mix-
ing bowl, and add the melted butter, rubbing
them together well with a wooden spoon.
Add to this % teaspoonful of vanilla extract.
Break an egg into another bowl and beat it
with an egg beater until it is quite light.
Add this to the butter and sugar, and beat to-
gether with a spoon.
Before doing anything more, get your board
and rolling pin ready, and butter your baking
tins. See that your oven is hot.
60 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
Dissolve i/4 of a teaspoonful of cooking soda in
a tablespoonful of hot water.
Sift some flour and measure l 1 /^ cupfuls into
a bowl. Sift this again with i/4 of a teaspoonful
of salt.
Add 6 teaspoonfuls of rich milk to your soda
water and add this to your first mixture, at the
same time adding the flour.
Mix it well as you put in the flour and milk, so
that your dough may not be lumpy.
Sift a little flour onto your board and rolling
pin so that the dough will not stick to either, and
turn the dough onto the board.
Roll it out with the rolling pin, until it is very
thin, less than ^ an inch.
Always roll away from yourself.
Now cut the thin sheet of dough with a cooky
cutter, and when it is all cut, lift the pieces care-
fully with a spatula and put them on the but-
tered tins, so that they will not touch each other.
Bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes.
They should get a little brown. Use the straw
test.
Turn the cookies onto a plate to cool.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 61
JUNKET
1 quart milk Mixing bowl
2 tablespoonfuls Tablespoon
powdered sugar Teaspoon
1 teaspoonful vanilla
extract
1 tablespoonful
liquid rennet
Put a quart of milk into a mixing bowl and
stir into it 2 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar
and 1 teaspoonful of vanilla extract.
Measure 1 tablespoonful from a bottle of
liquid rennet, which can generally be bought at a
drug store, or any large grocery store.
Add this to the milk, stir it well, and pour the
whole into little glasses or into cups or a glass
bowl.
Set this in a warm room until the milk has be-
come firm, like custard.
Then put it in the ice chest until you are ready
to eat it.
In summer do not make it more than 2 hours
before you are going to eat it.
It can be served with sugar and cream, or with
any cold fruit or chocolate sauce.
This makes enough for 5 people.
62
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
BREAD-AND-BTJTTER ^
Butter your bread before you slice
If you want your sandwich nice.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 63
SCHOOL SANDWICHES
To make good sandwiches it is necessary to
have bread that is at least a day old, a sharp
knife, and soft butter. Soften your butter by
putting it in a dish at the back of the stove for a
few minutes.
Butter your loaf of bread before cutting off
each slice and cut the slices thin. Lay the but-
tered slices neatly together and trim off the
crusts. Various fillings can be used ; any kind of
cold meat, chopped up fine, cheese, jam, jelly, or
slices of hard boiled egg.
You can make a most delicious sandwich out of
thin slices of brown bread, with a filling of the
cottage cheese on page 67. Cottage cheese mixed
with a little jam is a delicious filling for white
bread sandwiches.
A slice of plain cake and a slice of buttered
bread together make a very good combination.
64 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
FAIRY SALAD
1 head lettuce Dish pan
Sugar Sharp knife
1 orange Cloth
Choose a nice head of lettuce, one that has no
faded leaves and that seems solid.
Carefully pull the leaves from the stem, so that
the tender white ends will come off too.
Cut off the flat white root if it is headed let-
tuce. Most people do not like it.
Throw away any tough or faded leaves and put
the tender fresh leaves into a dish pan filled with
cold water.
Leave the lettuce in this for half an hour or
more, then take it out, and shake off the water
carefully. Sometimes you may need to use a
cloth to dry the leaves.
Take an orange, slice it with a sharp knife and
cut off the skin. Try not to lose any juice.
Put the lettuce leaves into a dish, lay the
orange slices on them, and sprinkle the whole
with y 2 a cup of granulated sugar.
Put the bowl in the ice closet for a short time,
and serve very soon.
If you have a big orange it is better to cut the
slices in small pieces.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 65
LEMONADE
2 lemons Lemon squeezer
10 teaspoonfuls Measuring cup
granulated sugar Teaspoon
4 cupf uls water Pitcher
Knife
Cut two lemons in half and squeeze the juice
into a pitcher with a lemon squeezer.
Add to this 10 teaspoonfuls of granulated
sugar, and stir it until the sugar is dissolved.
Add 4 cupfuls of cold water and mix it well.
This will make 4 glasses of plain lemonade.
If you want more, add the juice of % lemon, 2
teaspoonfuls sugar and 1 cup water for each
glass.
It is very nice to add to the lemonade any fruit
or berries in season.
Cut bananas or oranges or peaches, etc., into
slices. Berries should be crushed with a little
sugar.
1 1 1 till I) It I
66
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
Ps AND as
Two cupf uls make a pint ; in short
Four even cupfuls make a quart.
And folks have found this saying sound-
A pint's a pound the world around.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 67
COTTAGE CHEESE
Pint or more of sour Glass milk bottle or
milk pitcher
Salt Mixing bowl
Tablespoonful fresh Half -yard of white
milk cheese-cloth
If your mother will let you have some sour
milk or cream, it is very easy to make cottage
cheese.
Put the sour milk into a glass milk bottle, or
pitcher, and let it stand in a warm room, until it
begins to curd; that is, until the thick part is
very thick and lumpy, and there is a little thin
liquid at the bottom.
This may take twelve hours, or it may take as
much as two days.
Then stand the bottle at the back of the stove,
to heat slowly for fifteen or twenty minutes,
until the thick part and the liquid are entirely
separate.
Now take a piece of white cheese-cloth, as big
as a table napkin, lay this over a bowl, and pour
the whole mixture into the cloth.
Gather up the corners of the cheese-cloth and
tie them together, making a sort of loose bag.
Let this hang suspended over the bowl for
68
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
twenty-four hours, thus allowing the thin liquid
to drip away, and the cheese to dry.
The water in the bowl can be thrown away, or
given to the dog. It is good for him.
Take the firm ball of cheese out of its bag, put
it in a dish, and just before you want to serve it,
soften it by mixing into it a tablespoonful of
fresh milk into which you have put a pinch of
salt.
This ought to be nicer cheese than you can buy
at any store, and is very good eaten with jam and
bread-and-butter.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 69
CLAM BROTH
>
1 pint soft clams A large soup pot
Salt Strainer
Pepper Bowl
1 tablespoonful but-
ter
Cold water
Put 1 pint of fresh soft clams into a large pot
and pour enough cold water over them to cover
them.
Stand the pot on a hot part of the stove until
the water boils up hard.
Take the pot off and strain the water and juice
through a fine strainer into a bowl.
The clams are very nice to eat just as they are,
with salt and pepper and butter, but if you do not
care for them they can be given to the cat or dog,
who will probably appreciate them.
Put into the broth 1 teaspoonful of salt and %
of a teaspoonful of pepper and 1 tablespoonful
of butter.
Put it back into the pot and stand on the stove
to get really hot again but do not let it boil up.
Serve hot.
This makes enough broth for 8 people.
70
.WHEN MOTHER LETS ITS COOK
SimtERING RULE
Put your soup meat in a pot
Where the stove is not too hot;
Boiling slow with moderate heat
Draws the juices from the meat.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 71
BEEF TEA
1 pound beef Saucepan
1 pint cold water Cheese cloth
Salt and pepper
Take 1 pound of beef, either from the neck or
round where the meat is tough, but juicy and
cheap ; have the butcher or the cook chop it up
for you.
Put it in a saucepan and pour over it 1 pint of
cold water.
Let it stand for one hour to soak.
Put the pan at the back of the stove and let the
meat cook until it is steaming hot.
Stir in 2 teaspoonfuls of salt and % teaspoon-
ful of pepper.
Strain the meat through a piece of cheese-cloth
and let the soup pass into a serving dish or cup
and serve at once.
This makes 2 cups of broth.
72 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
MILK TOAST
Bread Toaster or toasting
Butter fork
2 cupfuls milk Saucepan
Salt and pepper Measuring cup
Knife
First make your toast ; this is best done over a
hot fire, with a toaster, but you can make quite
good toast in the oven.
Cut enough thin slices of bread for your
guests, allowing about two a piece. Stale bread
is better than fresh.
Lay these slices on a toaster, if you have one,
or hold them one at a time on a long fork.
Take off one of the stove covers and toast your
bread over a hot fire until one side is brown, and
then toast it on the other side.
Be sure not to burn it.
If you use the oven, lay the bread in a pan.
If the fire is not hot the toast will be tough and
hard. This is generally the trouble when toast
is made in the oven, or when it is made before
you want to use it.
Butter your toast evenly, and lay it in a hot
dish.
Sprinkle a pinch of salt and one of pepper
over each piece.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
73
Heat 2 cupfuls of milk in a saucepan, until it
steams.
Pour the hot milk over the toast and serve at
once in the same dish.
If you use more than 8 pieces of toast you will
need more milk.
Cream toast can be made by using the sauce
described on page 7 instead of the hot milk. In
this case don't put the salt and pepper on the
toast.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
EUIE FOR SERVING COLD
Jellies and dishes you want cold and nice,
Must first be cooled slowly and then put on ice
For six hours, or more, if you take my advice.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 75
BLACKBERRY BREAD
1 loaf stale bread Sharp bread knife
Butter Broad knife
1 quart blackberries Saucepan
Sugar Spoon
% cup cold water
Take a loaf of stale bread, butter one end, and
cut off a thin slice. The bread must be quite
stale. Continue to butter and slice until you
have used the whole loaf. It is always easier
and nicer to butter your bread before slicing.
Put 1 quart of blackberries in a saucepan with
about 1 cupful of granulated sugar and % cup of
cold water. Simmer the berries until they are
tender, and the juice is running freely.
This will probably take about fifteen minutes.
Stir from time to time. Put a layer of buttered
bread into a deep dish and pour some of the hot
stewed berries over it, then more bread and more
blackberries in layers until all are used.
Put the dish in a cold place until the berries
have cooled and then set on ice for a while.
Serve in the same dish with cream or milk.
Strawberry, raspberry or cherry bread can be
made in the same way. Use more sugar with the
sour berries, less with sweet.
76 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
ANGEL HASH
2 oranges Sharp vegetable knife
2 bananas Mixing spoon
1 cup sugar Measuring cup
% lemon Lemon squeezer
Take 2 fine juicy oranges and cut them, with-
out peeling, into thin slices, across the grain.
Cut them carefully over some dish, with a
sharp knife, so as not to lose any of the juice.
Trim the hard outside skin away and lay the
slices in a pretty glass or china bowl. If you
have any juice that spilled while you were cut-
ting the oranges, pour this in too.
Sprinkle % cup sugar over the oranges.
Take 2 firm bananas, peel off the skin, and cut
the fruit into slices about as thick as your finger,
and lay them on top of the orange slices. If you
have any apples or other fruit, it is nice to add
some slices, but be sure to peel and stone the
fruit, and never let any seeds drop into the dish.
Squeeze % lemon into the dish, and sprinkle
over the whole another % cup of sugar.
Leave the dish in a moderately warm room for
2 hours, then mix up the fruit with a spoon, and
put it on ice. Serve in the same dish.
This is enough for three.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 77
JELLY WHIP
Whites of 3 eggs Mixing bowl
3 tablespoonfuls Tablespoon
powdered sugar Teaspoon
% cup currant jelly
Separate carefully the whites and yolks of 3
eggs. Put the yolks away in a cup for some fu-
ture use.
Put the whites in a bowl and beat with an egg-
beater until very stiff and light.
Get some currant, or raspberry, or strawberry
jelly, and measure about % cupful. Add this to
the egg-whites, one teaspoonful at a time, beat-
ing the mixture between each additional tea-
spoonful of jelly.
When all the jelly is mixed with the egg, beat
it a few minutes more for good luck, and to make
sure that it is all light and fluffy.
Heap it in a dish or into small glasses and
serve it right away.
This should be more than enough for three
people.
Be careful, when putting in the jelly, to add a
very little at a time, or it will make the egg
heavy, so that you cannot beat it.
78 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
MOCK WINE JELLY
1/2 cupful prune Measuring cup
syrup 1 cup
14 box gelatine 1 bowl
1 banana Jelly mold
1 orange Knife
1 cup sugar Wooden spoon
1 lemon Lemon squeezer
Cheese-cloth
Put ^ of a box of gelatine into a cup holding
1/2 a pint of cold water and let it soak for y 2 an
hour.
Take y 2 cup of prune syrup from some stewed
prunes (the receipt for stewing prunes is given
under stewed fruits) and put it in a bowl.
Peel and slice a banana and put the slices in
the bowl.
Peel and slice an orange and add that too.
Measure 1 cup of granulated sugar and add
that.
Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the fruit.
When your gelatine has soaked for y 2 an
hour strain into the bowl through 2 thicknesses
of cheese-cloth and pour over the whole 1 cup of
boiling water.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
79
Put the bowl in a cold place and stir the mix-
ture well with a spoon.
When it is quite cold beat it hard for a few
minutes with your spoon.
Pour the mixture into a cold jelly mold, and
let it stand on ice until it is stiff. This will take
a number of hours.
This is enough for 4 people.
80
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
BOILING ETTLE
Boil your water hard to brew
Tea that 's good, and cocoa too.
Tea itself should not be boiled ;
Boil your cocoa or it's spoiled!
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 81
WAYS TO MAKE GOOD TEA
In order to make good tea you must use water
that is really boiling hard.
First heat your tea-pot by pouring some hot
water into it.
Empty it and put in your tea, 1 teaspoonful
for each cup.
If you want to make four cups of tea, pour 1
cup of boiling water into the pot onto your tea
and let it stand for 3 minutes. Then add the
other 3 cups of boiling water and let it stand for
1 minute.
Serve at once with sugar and cream, or sugar
and slices of lemon.
Never let tea stand on the tea grounds. If you
are not ready to drink the tea when it is done,
pour it into another pot or pitcher through a
strainer.
You can make very good tea by using a tea-
ball. Put your tea into the tea-ball and put the
tea-ball into the individual cups; pour the boil-
ing water over and when the tea is strong enough
remove the tea-ball. This has the advantage of
never letting the tea stand on the leaves or
grounds.
If you want to make a great quantity of tea,
82
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
for a reception or party, a very good thing to do
is to make a number of little cheese-cloth bags
and fill them with tea. These can be put into
your tea-pot and when the tea is strong enough
can be removed, in that way keeping the tea
fresh during a long period of time.
It is also possible to make a very thick tea
syrup, by pouring a small quantity of boiling
water over a large quantity of tea, and after it
has stood for 3 minutes pouring it off into a
tea-pot. This will keep for a day and can be
diluted with hot water whenever a cup of tea is
wanted. Put a small quantity in the cup, and
pour as much hot water over it as is needed.
This water does not need to be boiling, only
hot, as the tea itself was made with boiling
water.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 83
HOW TO MAKE ONE CUP OF COCOA
1 teaspoonful cocoa Tablespoon
1 tablespoonful boil- Measuring cup
ing water Saucepan
1/2 pint milk
1 teaspoonful gran-
ulated sugar
Take a teaspoonful of cocoa, and put it in a
tin cup.
Add 1 teaspoonful of granulated sugar and one
tablespoonful boiling water from the kettle.
Mix it well so that there will not be any lumps
of cocoa.
Pour a little less than y 2 pint of milk into a
saucepan and cook it, stirring all the time until it
is scalded; that is, until a film forms on it and it
just begins to bubble.
Stir the cocoa mixture into this, and cook it
until it boils up.
It burns very easily, so stir it carefully.
Pour into a large cup and serve. To keep the
cup from cracking, put a teaspoon in it before
you pour in the hot cocoa.
84:
;WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
CANDY RULE
When you make candy, no matter what 's in it,
Watch it with care for it spoils in a minute.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK 85
POPPITY CORN
Ears of popcorn Deep saucepan with
A little oil or butter cover
or lard
Ordinary popcorn is made with a corn-popper.
Poppity Corn is made in a deep covered dish on
the stove, and is much fluffier and lighter.
The most important thing is to have fresh pop-
corn. Old corn is hard and small after it is
popped. It is always best to get popcorn on the
ear and shell it yourself.
Take the deep saucepan and put two or three
tablespoonfuls of salad oil, or butter or lard in it,
and 14 teaspoonful of salt. The bottom should
be barely covered.
Put the dish on a hot part of the stove, and
when the oil is very hot indeed throw in a hand-
ful of popcorn, and put the cover on.
While the corn is popping you may shake the
dish a little, but it does not need to be shaken
hard. When the corn is all popped the oil will
be gone, and you can empty the corn onto a plate.
A bowl of popcorn and milk is very good.
A bowl of popcorn with a little melted butter
stirred into it is a dish that many people like.
86 WHEN MOTHER LETS us COOK
POPCORN BALLS
Have a bowl of popped corn all ready.
Put in a saucepan half a cupful of granulated
sugar and 4 tablespoonfuls of water, and place
on a hot part of the stove. Boil this until you
have a thick syrup that will be hard when tested
in cold water.
Put the pan at the back of the stove where the
syrup will keep hot but not boil anymore. Pick
up pieces of popcorn, one by one, and dip them
into the syrup and stick them together, adding
more and more of them until you have made a
ball. Let these harden in a cold place.
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
87
POPCORN PATTIES
Boil together 1 cup of sugar and % cupful of
molasses, until it is thick and waxy when a few
drops are tested in cold water.
Stir into this a quart of popped corn. Have
ready a cold buttered plate.
Spoon up heaping spoonfuls of the mixture
and drop them in little patties onto the plate.
Set in a cold place to harden.
88 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
CANDIED ORANGE-PEEL
Peel of 6 oranges Bowl
2^ cups granulated Saucepan
sugar Spoon
Water Fork
1 teaspoonful salt Sharp knife
Put about 1 quart of cold water into a bowl
and add to it 1 teaspoonful of salt.
Keep the bowl of water in a cold place and put
into it orange peelings as you get them. It is
all right to use what is left from the table.
Scrape off all of the pulp and most of the inner
white skin with a sharp knife.
Leave the peel in the salt water for a few days,
adding more peel. When you have the peel from
about 6 oranges, pour off the salt water and wash
the peel with fresh water so that any salt taste
may be washed away. Cut the peel into short
narrow strips, about 2 or 3 inches long and as
wide as your little finger.
Put the peel into a saucepan and pour over it
1 quart of cold water.
Set the saucepan on a hot part of the stove and
cook the peel until it is soft. This may take an
hour or more.
Try it with a fork to see if it is done, and when
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
it is, take the pan from the stove. Add to the
water and peel about 1 pint more cold water, or
enough to have a quart of water altogether, with
what is left in the saucepan, and put 2 cups of
granulated sugar in with it.
Set the pan on the stove again and let the
water and sugar cook until the water has nearly
boiled away, leaving the peel covered with a
thick syrup.
This will take some time.
Take the pan off the stove.
Put some granulated sugar on a plate and
drop the orange peel, piece by piece, into the
sugar and roll it with a fork so that it will be well
coated.
When the peel is cold it is ready to eat.
It ii in iiin\illllHtlllliAlL
90 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
RAINY-DAY FUDGE
2 cups granulated Measuring cup
sugar Chafing-dish or
1 cup milk saucepan
Butter Knife
Teaspoonful vanilla Stirring spoon
,% pound chocolate, Teaspoon
or 4 heaping Glass of cold water
tablespoons cocoa Greased paper or pan
Measure 2 cups of granulated sugar and put it
in a saucepan with 1 cup of milk. Add a lump
of butter about the size of a lump of sugar.
Put the pan on a hot part of the stove, and
while the milk is heating, cut up *4 pound of
chocolate into little pieces.
If you use cocoa, put 4 heaping tablespoonfuls
right in with the milk, without waiting. Choco-
late and cocoa must both be unsweetened.
When the milk and sugar in the pan begin to
get smoking hot, add your chocolate.
Cook for 15 or 20 minutes, stirring all the
time.
Be sure that the pan is on a hot part of the
stove and that you stir it well so that it will not
burn.
iWhen you think it's done, try it and see. Dip
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
91
a little out with a teaspoon and drop it in a glass
of cold water. If it gets thick and stiff, you may
be sure the rest is done.
Take the pan off the stove, add 1 teaspoonful
of vanilla extract and beat it together with a
spoon for three minutes.
Take your greased paper and lay it on a plate,
or better still, take the baking tin which you have
smeared with butter, and pour over it the hot
fudge.
Leave the fudge in a cold place to harden.
When it is perfectly firm, cut it into squares
with a sharp knife.
It should be about % an inch thick, so do not
try to fill too large a pan.
It is not always necessary to cook fudge for 20
minutes, so it is just as well to try it after 10 or
15 minutes.
This receipt makes nearly a pound of candy.
92 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
MOLASSES CANDY
1 cupful molasses Measuring cup
1 cupful brown sugar Tablespoon
1 tablespoonful vin- Saucepan
egar Pans
2 tablespoonfuls Glass or cup
butter
Take a large saucepan and put into it 1 cupful
of molasses, 1 cupful of brown sugar, 1 table-
spoonful of vinegar, and 2 tablespoonfuls of
butter.
Set the saucepan on a hot part of the stove and
when the mixture boils, look at the clock and let
it boil for about 15 minutes.
Test a spoonful of it in a glass of cold water.
If the mixture becomes hard and breakable at
once, it is done. It should be much harder than
the peppermint syrup.
Hub a shallow baking tin with butter and into
this pour the mixture at once.
Put the pan in a cool place.
As soon as the mixture is cold enough to touch
without burning your fingers, spoon out pieces
as big as your fist and have each person take one
of the pieces.
Pull it apart with your two hands and twist it,
WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
93
and pull it, until it gets a nice light yellow and is
so stiff that you can't pull it any more.
Twist it into long thin ropes and let them get
entirely hard on buttered plates in the ice chest.
Then break into short pieces for eating.
This makes enough for four children to pull.
It is very important to have your hands clean
before you begin pulling the candy.
94 WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK
PEPPERMINT DROPS FOR TWO CHILDREN TO MAKE
2 cupfuls sugar Measuring cup
1 cupful water Saucepan
1 teaspoonful extract Teaspoon
of peppermint Two thick glasses
Brown paper
Measure 2 cupf uls of granulated sugar and
put it in a saucepan.
Add 1 cupful of cold water, and set the pan on
a hot part of the stove.
When it comes to a boil, look at the clock and
boil for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to
time.
When you think it's done, try a little, by drop-
ping half a teaspoonful into a glass of cold
water.
If it is done it will get stringy and hard in the
water.
When you are sure that it is ready, take the
pan from the stove, and pour the syrup into two
glasses.
Pour % teaspoonful of peppermint extract at
once into each glass and let each child stir the
mixture in his glass rapidly with a teaspoon until
the syrup gets thick and creamy white.
Have a large flat sheet of brown wrapping
.WHEN MOTHER LETS TJS COOK
95
j
paper ready on your kitchen table and onto this
drop little round dabs of the mixture as rapidly
as possible.
Don't let the mixture get too cool and stiff by
stirring it longer than necessary.
When entirely hard and cold, the peppermints
can be lifted off with a knife.
This makes about half a pound.
OCT 2 1 W3T
