Salads, sandwiches and chafing-dish dainties, with fifty illustrations of original dishes

Front matter

li' Mil f

ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

OF

Preface To The Second Edition

The favor with which the first edition of this little book has been received by those who were interested in the subjects of which it treats, is eminently gratifying to both author and publishers. It has occasioned the purpose to make a second edition of the book, even more complete and helpful than the first.

In making the revision, wherever the text has suggested a new thought that thought has been inserted ; under the various headings new recipes have been added, each in its proper place, and the number of illustrations has been increased from thirty-seven to fifty. A more complete table of contents has been presented, and also a list of the illustrations ; the alphabetical index has been revised and made especially full and complete.

JANET M. HII,L.

April lo, 1903.

Preface To The First Edition

Thbrb is positive need of more widespread knowledge of the principles of cookery. Few women know how to cook an egg or boil a potato properly, and the making of the perfect loaf of bread has long been assigned a place among the "lost arts."

By many women cooking is considered, at best, a homely art, — a necessary kind of drudgery ; and the composition, if not the consumption, of salads and chafing-dish productions has been restricted, hitherto, chiefly to that half of the race " who cook to please themselves." But, since women have become anxious to compete with men in any and every walk of life, they, too, are desirous of becoming adepts in tossing up an appetizing salad or in stirring a creamy rarebit. And yet neither a pleasing salad, especially if it is to be composed of cooked materials, nor a tempting rarebit can be evolved, save by happy accident, without an accurate knowledge of the fundamental principles that underlie all cookery.

In a book of this nature and scope, the philosophy of heat at different temperatures, as it is applied in cooking, and the more scientific aspects of culinary processes, could not be dwelt upon; but, while we have not overlooked the A B C of the art, our special aim has been to present our topics in such a simple and pleasing form that she who attempts the composition of the dishes

Preface to the First Edition.

described herein will not be satisfied until she has gained a deeper insight into the conditions necessary for success in the pursuit of these as well as other fascinating branches of the culinary art.

Care has been exercised to meet the actual needs of those who wish to cultivate a taste for light, wholesome dishes, or to cater to the vagaries of the most capricious appetites.

There is nothing new under the sun, so no claim is made to absolute originality in contents. In this and all similar works, the matter of necessity must consist, in the main, of old material in a new dress.

Though the introduction to Part III. was originally written for this book, the substance of it was published in the December-January (1898-99) issue of the Boston Cooking-School Magazine. From time to time, also, a few of the recipes, with minor changes, have appeared in that journal.

Illustrations by means of half-tones produced from photographs of actual dishes were first brought out, we think, by The Century Company ; in this line, however, both in the number and in the variety of the dishes prepared, the author may justly claim to have done more than any other has yet essayed. The illustrations on these pages were prepared expressly for this work, and the dishes and the photographs of the same were executed under ouf own hand and eye. That results pleasing to the eye and acceptable to the taste await those who try the confections described in this book is the sincere wish of the author.

JANET M. HII^L.

Contents

^att I.

FAGB

Introduction 3

Introduction to Fish Salads 53

Recipes for Fish Salads 55

Recipes for Various Compound Salads 77

Recipes for Fruit and Nut Salads 89

How TO PREPARE AND USE ASPIC JeLLY 97

consomm* and stock for aspic 98

Part 15.

SANDWICHES

Bread for Sandwiches i,j

The Filling ,ig

Recipes for Savory Sandwiches no

Recipes for Sweet Sandwiches ,,,

xii

Contents

FAGB

Recipes for Bread and Chou Paste 137

How TO BOIL Meats for Sandwiches 140

Recipes for Beverages served with Sandwiches . . 143

Part MH.

Chafing-Dishes Past and Present 151

Chafing-Dish Appointments 153

Are Midnight Suppers Hygienic? 157

How TO make Sauces 158

Measuring and Flavoring 160

Recipes for Oyster Dishes 163

Recipes for Lobster and other Sea Fish .... 169

Recipes for Cheese Confections 182

Recipes for Eggs i88

Recipes for Dishes largely Vegetarian 195

Recipes for R^chauff^s and Olla Podrida .... 202

Xtll

Illustrations

Table laid for Sunday Night Tea . . . ; . Frontispiece

The Tender Lettuce brings on softer Sleep Facing page i8

Cucumber Salad for Fish Course .... " " 28

Cooked Vegetable Salad " " 28

Potato Balls, Pecan Meats, and Cress Salad " " 32

Potato-and-Nasturtium Salad " " 32

Endive, Tomato, and Green String Bean Salad " " 36

Stuffed Beets " " 36

Cress, Cucumber, and Tomato Salad . . " " 41

Tomato Jelly with Celery and Nuts ... " "41

Russian Vegetable Salad " " 48

Macedoine of Vegetable Salad " " 48

Miroton of Fish and Potato Salad ... " "58

Cowslip and Cream Cheese Salad .... " " 58

Russian Salad " " 62

Shell of Fish and Mushrooms " " 68

Shrimp Salad in Cucumber Boat .... " " 68

Shrimp Salad, Border of Eggs in Aspic . . " " 70

Lobster Salad " " 70

Bluefish Salad " " 72

Litchi Nut and Orange Salad " " 72

Moulded Salmon Salad " " 74

XV

Illustrations

Salad of Shrimps and Bamboo Sprouts . . Facing poit 74

Spinach and Egg Salad " " ^4

Marguerite Salad " " 84

Easter Salad " " 86

Country Salad " " 86

Fruit Salad " " 94

Turquoise Salad No. 2 " " 94

Cheese Ramequins " " 106

Individual Souffld of Cheese " "106

Pineapple-Cheese and Crackers .... " "no

Salad of Lettuce with Cheese and Macedoine " " no

Chicken Salad Sandwiches " " 126

Halibut Sandwiches with Aspic .... •• "126

Wedding Sandwich Rolls " "128

Club Sandwich « "128

Bostou Brown Bread " "138

Bread cut for Sandwiches " " 138

Bowl of Fruit-Punch ready for serving . . " " 143

Copper Chafing-Dish with Earthen Casserole " " 149

Chafing-Dish, Filler, etc " "153

Course at Formal Dinner served in Individual Chafing-Dishes " " iS7

Butter Balls with Utensils for Chafing-Dish " " 178

Moulded Halibut with Creamed Peas . . " "178

Yorkshire Rabbit " "186

Curried Eggs " " 186

Mushroom Cromeskies, ready for cooking . " " igg

Prune Toast " "198

XVI

Phrt I.

SHLKDS.

*' Though my stomach was sharp, I could scarce help regretting To spoil such a delicate picture by eating."

Introduction

At their savory dinner set Herbs and other country messes, Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses.

— Milton.

Our taste for salads — and in their simplest fonn wlio is not fond of salads? — is an inheritance from classic times and Eastern lands. In the hot climates of the Orient, cucumbers and melons were classed among earth's choicest productions ; and a resort ever grateful in the heat of the day was " a lodge in a garden of cucumbers."

At the Passover the Hebrews ate lettuce, camomile, dandelion and mint, — the "bitter herbs " of the Paschal feast, — combined with oil and vinegar. Of the Greeks, the rich were fond of the lettuces of Smyrna, which appeared on their tables at the close of the repast. In this respect the Romans, at first, imitated the Greeks, but later came to serve lettuce with eggs as a first course and to excite the appetite. The ancient physicians valued lettuce for its narcotic virtue, and, on account of this property, Galen, the celebrated Greek physician, called it " the philosopher's or wise man's herb. ' '

Salads.

The older historians make frequent mention of salad plants and salads. In the biblical narrative Moses wrote : ' ' And the children of Israel wept again and said, We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick."

In his second Eclogue, Virgil represents a rustic maid, Thestylis, preparing for the reapers a salad called moretum. He wrote, also, a poem bearing this title, in which he describes the composition and preparation of the dish.

A modem authority says, ' ' Salads refresh without exciting and make people younger. ' ' Whether this be strictly true or not may be an open question, but certainly in the assertion a grain of truth is visible ; for it is a well-known fact that " salad plants are better tonics and blood purifiers than druggists' compounds." There is, also, an old proverb : ' ' Eat onions in May, and all the year after physicians may play." What is health but youth ?

Vegetables, fish and meats, "left over," — all may be transformed, by artistic treatment, into salads delectable to the eye and taste. Potatoes are subject to endless combinations. First of all in this connection, before dressing the potatoes allow them to stand in bouillon, meat broth, or even in the liquor in which corned beef has been cooked ; then drain carefully before adding the oil and other seasonings.

Introduction.

Of uncooked vegetables, cabbage lettuce — called long ago by the Greek physician, Galen, the philosopher's or wise man's herb — stands at the head of salad plants. Like all uncooked vegetables, lettuce must be served fresh and crisp, and the more quickly it is grown the more tender it will be. When dressed for the table, each leaf should glisten with oil, yet no perceptible quantity should fall to the salad-bowl. Watercress, being rich in sulphuretted oil, is often served without oil. Cheese or eggs combine well with cress ; and such a salad, with a sandwich of coarse bread and butter, together with a cup of sparkling coffee, forms an ideal luncheon for a picnic or for the home piazza. Indeed, all the compound salads, — that is, salads of many ingredients, — more particularly if they are served with a cooked or mayonnaise dressing, are substantial enough for the chief dish of a hearty meal. Their digestibility depends, in large measure, on the tenderness of the different ingredients, as well as upon the freshness of the uncooked vegetables that enter into their composition.

A salad has this superiority over every other production of the culinary art : A salad (but not every salad) is suitable to serve upon any occasion, or to any class or condition of men. Among bon vivants, without a new salad, no matter how recherche the other courses may be, the luncheon, or dinner party, of to-day does not pass as an unqualified success.

Salads.

While salads may be compounded of all kinds of delicate meats, fish, shellfish, eggs, nuts, fruit, cheese and vegetables, cooked or uncooked, two things are indispensable to every kind and grade of salad, viz., the foundation of vegetables and the dressing.

The Dressing.

Salads are dressed with oil, acid and condiments ; and, sometimes, a sweet, as honey or sugar, is used. A perfect salad is not necessarily acetic. The presence of vinegar in a dressing, like that of onions and its relatives, on most occasions should be suspected only. Wyvem and other true epicures consider the advice of Sydney Smith, as expressed in the following couplet, ' ' most pernicious " : —

" Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown, And twice with vinegar procured from town."

Aromatic vinegars, a few drops of which, used occasionally, lend piquancy and variety to an every-day salad, can be purchased at high-class provision stores ; but the true salad-maker is an artist, and prefers to compound her own colors {i-e., vinegars) ; therefore we have given several recipes for the same, which may be easily modified to suit individual tastes.

Indeed, the dressing of a salad, though in the early days of the century considered a special art, — an art that rendered it possible for at least one noted Royalist refugee to amass a considerable

Use of Dressings.

fortune, — is entirely a matter of individual taste, or, more properly speaking, of cultivation. On this account, particularly for a French dressing, no set rules can be given. By experience and judgment one must decide upon the proportions of the different ingredients, or, more specifically, upon the proportions of the oil and acid to be used. Often four spoonfuls of oil are used to one of vinegar. Four spoonfuls of oil to two, three or four of vinegar may be the proportion preferred by others, and the quantity may vary for different salads.

Though in many of the recipes explicit quantities of oil, vinegar and condiments are given, it is with the understanding that these quantities are indicated simply as an approximate rule; sometimes less and sometimes more will be required, according to the tendency of the article dressed to absorb oil and acid, or the taste of the salad dresser.

Use of Dressings.

The dressings in most common use are the French and the mayonnaise. A French dressing is used for green vegetables, for fruit and nuts, and to marinate cooked vegetables, or the meat or fish for a meat or fish salad. Mayonnaise dressing is used for meat, fish, some varieties of fruit, as banana, apple and pineapple, and for some veg-' etables, as cauliflower, asparagus and tomatoes. Any article to be served with mayonnaise, after standing an hour or more in a marinade, — i. e., French dressing, — should be carefully drained, as,

Salads.

by tlie pickling process, liquid will drain out into the bottom of the vessel and, mixing with the mayonnaise, will liquefy the same.

Arrangement of Salads.

In the arrangement of salads there may be great display of taste and individuality. By a judicious selection from materials that may be kept constantly in store, and with one or two window boxes, in which herbs are growing, any one, with a modicum of inventive skill, can so change and modify the appearance and flavor of her salads that she may seem always to present a new one.

Composition of Mayonnaise.

Mayonnaise dressing is composed largely of olive oil. A small amount of yolk of egg is used as a foundation. The oil, with the addition of condiments, is slightly acidulated with vinegar and lemon juice, one or both, and the whole is made very light and thick by beating. Mayonnaise forms a very handsome dressing, and it is much enjoyed by those who are fond of oil.

Value of Oil.

Pure olive oil is almost entirely without flavor, and a taste for it can be readily acquired ; and, when we consider that it contains all the really desirable qualities of the once-famous cod-liver oil, except the phosphates, and that these may be supplied in the other materials of the salad, it

Boiled and Cream Dressings, etc.

would seem wise to cultivate a taste for so wholesome an article. By the addition of cream, in the proportion of a cup of whipped cream to a pint of dressing, those to whom oil has not become agreeable can so modify its ' ' tone ' ' that they too will enjoy the mayonnaise dressing.

Boiled and Cream Dressings.

For the French and mayonnaise dressings — particularly for the latter — we sometimes substitute a boiled and sometimes a cream dressing. In the first, butter, or cream, is substituted for oil, and the materials are combined by cooking. In the latter, as the name implies, cream is the basis, and this may be either sweet or sour.

Important Points in Salad-Making.

(i) The green vegetables should be served fresh and crisp.

(2) Meat and fish should be well marinated and cold.

(3) The ingredients composing the salad should not be combined until the last moment before serving.

When to 5erve Salads with French or Mayonnaise Dressing.

As a rule, subject, however, to exceptions, light vegetable salads, dressed with French dressing, are served at dinner; while heavy meat or fish salads are reserved for luncheon, or supper, and are served with mayonnaise or cream dressing.

Salads.

When to Serve a Fruit Salad.

A fruit salad, with sweet dressing, is served with cake at a luncheon, or supper, or in the evening ; that is, it may take the place of fruit in the dessert course. A fruit salad, with French or mayonnaise dressing, may be served as a first course at luncheon, or with the game or roast, though in the latter case the French dressing is preferable.

Salads with Cheese.

The rightful place of salads is with the roast or game. Here the crisp, green salad herbs, delicately acidulated, complement and correct the richness of these plats.

Occasionally when the game is omitted and an acid sauce accompanies the roast, a simple salad combined with cheese in some form, preferably cooked and hot, is selected to lengthen the menu. This same combination of hot cheese dish and salad should be a favorite one for home luncheons, when this meal is not made the children's dinner. The salad too in this combination, aided by the bread accompanying it, corrects by dilution the over concentration and richness of the cheese dish. In England neatly trimmed-and-cleansed celery stalks and cheese often precede the sweet course ; but by virtue of its mission as a digester of everything but itself and of the common disinclination to have the taste of sweets linger upon the palate, the place of cheese as cheese is with the coffee.

HOW TO MAKE AROMATIC VINE- GARS, TO KEEP VEGETABLES AND TO PREPARE GARNISHES.

How to Boil Eggs Hard for Garnishing.

Cover tlie eggs witli boiling water. Set them on the back of the range, where the water will keep hot without boiling, about forty minutes. Cool in cold water, and with a thin, sharp knife cut as desired.

To Poach Whites of Eggs.

Turn the whites of the eggs into a well-buttered mould or cup, set upon a trivet in a dish of hot water, and cook until firm, either upon the back of the range or in the oven, and without letting the water boil. Turn from the mould, cut into slices, and then into fanciful shapes ; or chop fine.

Royal Custard for Moulds of Aspic.

Beat together one whole egg and three yolks ; add one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of mace, salt and paprica, and, when well mixed, add half a cup of cream. Bake in a buttered mould, set in a pan of water, until firm. When cold cut in thin slices,