Meals for the million: the people's cook-book

Preface

A marked advance in the prices of provisions of all kinds, and a continued demand for novelty and variety in economical cookery, have led to the publication of this pamphlet.

The author has refrained from the reproduction of recipes included in her former works, with the exception of those for bread, boiled and baked potatoes, roasted and baked meats, and a few dishes for invalids, which she believes cannot too often be repeated. The difficult dishes of so-called "fancy cookery" have been avoided, as has been the use of any but the most ordinary materials.

The price of the book is made low enough to place it within the reach of every one interested in the extension of cheap and wholesome cookery, and the author ventures to hope for it a fair measure of popular approbation.

New York School of Cookery.

January, 1882.

Meals for the Million.

Chapter I. Soups

Cream of Cod (2 qts.). — Remove the skin and bones from cold boiled codfish, and rub it through a very fine colander or a wire sieve with a potato masher ; one cupful will be sufficient for two quarts of soup. Put two tablespoonfuls each of flour and butter in a saucepan, set it over the fire, and stir with a wooden spatula * until the flour and butter are smoothly blended; gradually add one quart each of boiling water and milk, stirring all the time until the mixture is free from lumps and reaches the boiling point ; then stir in the fish, season the soup palatably with salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg, using about two teaspoonfuls of salt and quarter of a saltspoonful each of white pepperf and grated nutmeg. Let the soup boil gently for a couple of minutes and then serve it. If it stands before serving long enough to grow

*A small pudding-stick or paddle made of hard wood, preferable to a metal or wooden spoon for kitchen use.

t Generally kept by grocers at the same price as black pepper, and much better to use in white soups and sauces.

thicker than rich cream use a little hot milk io thin it. Any cold fish may be used in the same way.

Cream Clam Soup (2 qts.)— Wash the shells of twenty-five large or fifty small clams and put them in a saucepan over the fire until the shells open ; take them from the fire, remove them from the shells, saving all the liquor they yield, cut the soft parts away from the hard, and keep them hot in sufficient hot water to cover them ; chop the hard parts and return them to the fire \x\ hot water enough to cover them, boiling them slowly until quite tender. Then add to them the soft parts and all the liquor, together with enough milk to make two quarts of soup ; season it palatably with salt and pepper, smoothly mix with it sufficient cracker dust (/>., crackers pulverized and sifted to a fine powder-) to make the soup as thick as cream ; about three tablespoonfuls will be enough for each quart. Serve hot.

Oyster Sonp. — Oyster soup may be similarly made with strained oyster juice, milk, cracker dust, and seasonings. The oysters should be carefully examined to make sure that no shell adheres to them, and only allowed to heat for a minute in the soup after it is ready to serve.

Rich Clam Soup (2 qts.).— Use one pint of soft clams after they are removed from the shell (they are brought to market in " bunches" or " strings," each bunch being about a pint) ; put them into one quart of cold water and wash them to remove any particles of shell; then strain this water and put it over the fire to heat with the clams in it, and

SOUPS. II

when it approaches the boiling point put it at the back of the fire and let it boil slowly for fifteen minutes; meantime mix over the fire two tablespoonfuls each of butter and flour and a quart of hot milk, as directed for Cream of Cod; then quickly strain into this mixture the broth from the clams, season it, and set it back from the fire while the soft parts of the clams are cut away from the hard ; add them to the soup ; beat the yolks of two raw eggs with half a cup of the hot soup, stir them into the rest of it, and serve it at once.

Bean Soup (4 qts.). — Pick over one pint of dried beans and wash them in cold water ; peel and slice an onion and fry it brown in bottom of a saucepan with a tablespoonful of drippings ; for this purpose ham or bacon fat is preferable. When the onion is brown put the beans in with it, pour on three quarts of cold water, and let these ingredients boil slowly ; every fifteen minutes add half a cup of cold water until a quart has been used. Meantime mix one tablespoonful each of flour and butter to a smooth soft paste, and fry some half-inch bits of stale bread light brown in the frying kettle, or in a frying-pan with a little butter. As soon as the beans are soft, in about an hour, pour them into a sieve set over a large bowl, and rub them through with a potato-masher ; put them again into the saucepan with their broth, stir in the butter and flour, let the soup boil once, and serve it, with the fried bread in it.

Puree of Poultry (2 qts.). — Free from skin and bone a cupful of any kind of cold poultry, chop it fine, and rub it through a sieve with a potato-masher; put into a saucepan over the fire two tablespoonfuls each of butter and flour and stir them until they are light brown; then add two quarts of boiling water, half a cupful at once, stirring all the time, and keeping the mixture smooth ; season highly w^ith salt and pepper, stir in \\\q puree of poultry, let the soup boil once, and serve it. It may be flavored with a tablespoonful of any good table sauce.

Brown Soup (2 qts.). — Make this soup when there is on hand broth, or the pot liquor of boiled beef; free the broth from fat, and if it is not clear clarify it as follows : for each quart mix the white and shell of one egg and one tablespoonful of cold water in a saucepan, pour the cold broth upon them and set the saucepan over the fire, where its contents will gradually approach the boiling point, stirring every two minutes to loosen the egg from the bottom of the saucepan ; as the egg cooks it will rise in the form of a scum ; when it collects upon the surface, and the broth looks clear and bright under it, pour it through a folded towel laid in a colander Over a large bowl ; do not squeeze the towel, but let the broth run slowly through it ; it will then be ready to use.

Peel and cut in half-inch dice one medium size carrot, one white turnip, one small leek, one small onion, and one head of celery ; slowly fry them brown in a saucepan with a tablespoonful of butter, a teaspoonful of sugar, and a saltspoonful of salt. When they are brown pour the clarified broth upon them and slowly boil them tender, removing all scum as fast as it rises. Meantime boil one cupful

SOUPS. 13

of green peas or string beans, if either are in season, in salted boiling water until tender, and then drain them and put them in cold water until they are wanted. When the other vegetables are tender drain the peas or beans from the cold water and add them to the soup. Mix one tablespoonful of arrowroot with half a cup of cold water, stir it into the soup, let it boil once, add one tablespoonful of vinegar, and serve.

Cock-a-leeky (4 qts.). — Remove all feathers from an old fowl, singe it, wipe it clean with a wet towel, draw and truss it, and put it into a large saucepan with one onion peeled and sliced, quarter of a pound of lean bacon sliced, one tablespoonful of sugar and four of butter ; set the saucepan over the fire and turn the fowl occasionally until it is brown all over; then add to it four quarts of boiling water, two teaspoonfuls of salt, one saltspoonful of pepper, and six whole cloves. • Boil gently for two hours, or until the fowl is tender. Then strain the broth and return it to the saucepan ; put into it two dozen prunes, and one bunch of leeks washed and chopped fine ; the chicken is usually cut in inch bits and added, but it may be put in whole to cook with the leeks and prunes for thirty minutes, and then taken from the soup to serve as the meat dish for the dinner. At the end of the half hour see that the seasoning is palatable, and serve the soup. Rice can be substituted for the prunes, and veal for the chicken.

Potato Soup (4 qts.). — Put into a saucepan two ounces of bacon chopped, six onions peeled and chopped, one saltspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of salt and four quarts of hot water, and boil for fifteen minutes; meantime peel and slice one quart of potatoes, add them to the first mentioned ingredients, and boil for three quarters of an hour longer, or until the potatoes are boiled to a pulp ; season palatably, and serve hot.

Pumpkin Soup (2 qts.), — Peel and slice enough pumpkin to fill a pint bowl, put it into a saucepan with one head of celery chopped fine, one tablespoonful of drippings or butler, a teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a saltspoonful of pepper, and two quarts of boiling water; boil until the vegetables can be rubbed through a sieve with a potato-masher; then return the vegetables and the broth in which they were cooked to the saucepan, set it over the fire, stir into it the soft paste of butter and flour described in the recipe for Bean Soup^ boil it once, and serve it with fried dice of bread prepared as for the Bean Soup.

Winter squash makes a very good soup if treated in the same way.

Brown Onion Soup (4 qts.). — Peel and slice six large onions, fry them brown in a saucepan with two tablespoonfuls of drippings or butter, pour over them four quarts of boiling water, season with two teasponfuls of salt and half a saltspoonful of pepper, stir in two cupfuls of grated bread free from crust, and boil slowly two hours, stirring occasionally. Season palatably, and serve hot.

Herb Soup (4 qts.). — Wash and chop small one cupful each of leeks or chives, parsley, lettuce, green cabbage, beet tops or boiled beets, spinach, and sorrel if obtainable ; put them over the fire in

SOUFS. 15

two tablespoonfuls of butter or salad oil, and fry for five minutes; then add two cupfuls of grated bread free from crusts, season with salt and pepper, pour in four quarts of boiling water, simmer two hours, add one tablespoonful of vinegar, and serve.

Chapter II. Fish And Shellfish

Fricassee of Codfish (2 lbs.). — Wash and cut two pounds of fresh codfish in two inch squares, removing skin and bones ; put it over the fire in sufficient cold water to cover it an inch, with one teaspoonful of salt, and let it slowly approach the boiling point ; then take it from the water with a skimmer, lay it on a warm dish, cover it with a towel wet in warm water, and place it where it will keep warm without drying. Strain the water in which the fish was boiled and use one pint of it, together with one tablespoonful each of butter and flour, to make a white sauce, first melting together the butter and flour and then gradually stirring in the water; season the sauce palatably with salt and pepper, put the fish into it and heat it until the flakes begin to separate ; then remove the saucepan from the fire, stir in the beaten yolk of one egg and a tablespoonful of vinegar ; if parsley is obtainable add one tablespoonful chopped fine ; serve at once. Toast, or two inch slices of fried bread may accompany the dish. Three tablespoonfuls of salad oil may be added to the sauce with the vinegar, if desired.

Halibut and bass are excellent v/hen cooked in this way.

Eagoiit of Eels and Onions {2 lbs.). — Wash and parboil two pounds of eels cut in two inch lengths, for fifteen minutes ; dry them on a towel, put them into two tablespoonfuls of hot salad oil or butter, with one cupful of sliced onions, and brown them over a hot fire ; stir in one tablespoonful of flour and let it brown ; add one pint of boiling water, season the ragofit palatably with salt and pepper, and simmer it slowly for twenty minutes, when it will be ready to serve.

Broiled Halibut with Caper Butter. — Wash a slice of halibut, dry it on a towel, dust it with pepper and salt, place it in a double fish gridiron, which has been buttered to prevent the fish sticking to it, and broil it light brown on both sides over a moderate fire. ,

Caper Butter. — Meantime chop a tablespoonful of capers and mix them with a tablespoonful of cold butter, half a saltspoonful of salt and quarter of a saltspoonful of pepper; use this mixture on the fish when it is cooked. Chopped pickles of any kind may be used instead of the capers. Either caper or pickle butter is excellent with any broiled or fried fish. Any fresh fish may be used instead of halibut.

Fried Haddock with Pickle Sauce. — Wash and split a small haddock down the back ; cut first one side and then the other away from the backbone, and divide the fish into suitable pieces for frying; dust the pieces with salt and pepper, roll them in Indian meal, and fry them light brown in sufficient smoking hot fat to cover them ; take them from the fat with a skimmer and lay them on brown paper for a minute to free them from grease. Meantime chop one teaspoonful of onion and one tablespoonful of pickle, put them over the fire for one minute in a tablespoonful of hot butter, add a cupful of vinegar, and as soon as the sauce is hot pour it over the fried fish, which must be placed on a hot dish. The fish may be served without any sauce, but a little acid is a great improvement to any fried fish. A lemon sliced or quartered may be used when that fruit is cheap. Any fresh fish may be fried in this way.

Fish. Roe and Potatoes. — Wash any kind of fish roe in salted cold water, dry it on a towel, put it into a frying-pan containing sufficient hot fat to prevent burning, cover the pan to prevent the spattering of the fat, and brown the roe, first on one side and then on the other ; when it is done lay it on brown paper to free it from fat, and then on a hot dish. Meantime peel half a dozen potatoes, cut them in small balls with a vegetable scoop, or in pieces an inch square ; throw them into salted boiling water, and boil them until a trussing needle or sharp fork will easily pierce them, but do not let them boil soft ; as soon as they are tender drain them and lay them between the folds of a towel until the fish roe is brown. Then put the potatoes into the hot fat where the roe was fried, set the pan over the fire and shake the potatoes about in it until they are brown. Serve them under the fish roe after dusting them over with pepper and salt.

Salt Cod, Lyonnaise Style. — Lay a pound of salt codfish in a frying-pan, cover it with cold water, and set it over a moderate fire ; when the water is hot replace it with fresh cold water, and again heat the fish in it. Repeat this process until the fish is freshened palatably, taking care if there is any skin on it that it shall be uppermost ; if the skin of salt fish is on the bottom of the pan all the salt will be retained by it. Meantime peel and slice a pint of onions, and when the water on the fish is changed for the last time put the onions into another frying-pan, containing two tablespoonfuls of hot fat, and fry them gently ; wheathe fish is heated remove it from the water with, -a skimmer, take oft* the skin and any bones which can easily be reached, and put it into the pan with the onions; brown it slightly on both sides, dust it with pepper, and serve it with the onions over it. In handling the fish avoid breaking it- Salt Codfish, Spanish Style. — Parboil and freshen the fish as directed in the preceding recipe, or soak it in water over night, putting the water warm on the fish. Dry it on a towel without breaking it, dip it in melted butter or.olive oil, dust it with salt and pepper, and broil it in. a fish gridiron. When it is brown on both sides rub it over with butter or oil, lay it on a hot dish, squeeze over it the' juice of a lemon, if lemons are plentiful, or pour over it a tablespoonful of vinegar, and serve it hot. A little parsley is a great addition to the dish.

Salt Codfish with Dutch Sauce. — Freshen the fish as already directed, and keep it hot while a Dutch Sauce is made as follows :

Dutch Sauce. — Mix together in a saucepan over the fire one tablespoonful each of butter and flour until they bubble, then gradually add a pint of boiling water, stirring the sauce until it is smooth ; season it with salt and pepper, put the fish into it and let it heat; then take the vessel containing it from the fire, stir in the yolks of two raw eggs, three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, a few drops at a time^ and one of vinegar or lemon juice ; serve at once.

Herrings stewed with Tomatoes. — Strip the skin from a dozen herrings, pull the flesh from the bones, and put the filets thus made over the fire with a pint of tomatoes peeled and sliced ; add half a saltspoonful of pepper, and stew gently for half an hour; then serve on toast.

Smoked Halibut and Tomatoes. — Freshen to taste a piece of smoked halibut as directed in the recipe of Salt Codfish, Lyonnaise style, and lay it without breaking on a buttered earthen baking dish ; on the top put a tablespoonful of finely chopped onion, dust it with pepper, and pour over it a pint of peeled and sliced tomatoes ; bake it half an hour in a moderate oven, and serve it hot in the dish in which it was cooked. Fresh halibut is excellent cooked in the same way.

Broiled Salt Mackerel. — Freshen a salt mackerel by soaking it over night in water, taking care that the skin lies uppermost. In the morning dry it without breaking, cut off the tip of the head and the tail, place it between the bars of a buttered fish gridiron, and broil it to a light brown ; lay it on a hot dish, and dress it with a little butter, pepper, and lemon juice, vinegar, of chopped pickle.

Devilled Haddock. — Choose a thick smoked haddock, trim off the head and tail, score the thick parts at about inch distances with a sharp knife, rub into the cuts salt, pepper, dry mustard, and a little cayenne pepper, thus seasoning the fish highly; broil it five minutes on each side, in a buttered fish gridiron, and serve it very hot on a hot dish, with a little lemon juice or vinegar.

Herrings and bloaters can be dressed in the same way.

Roast Oysters. — To make a real roast of oysters is very troublesome. The oysters must be laid upon hot coals, after the shells are washed, and allowed to remain until they open, when they are extracted with a measure of success which depends upon the deftness of the manipulator, and served with melted butter, pepper, and salt. An easier way is to arrange them in a large pan, set it over a very hot fire, and turn another pan over it until the oysters open ; there is less exposure to intense heat in following this method rather than the first. The third and easiest way is to arrange the deep shells of oysters in a pan and set them in a very hot oven until they are hot enough to instantly melt a bit of butter; this is then put into each one together with an oyster and a dust of pepper, and the pan is replaced in the hot oven until the edges of the oysters curl ; the shells containing them are then quickly transferred to a hot dish, and they are served at once. Oysters seldom need to be salted. Oysters are best when cooked quickly.

Panned Oysters. — These are almost as nice as roast oysters, and are far easier to prepare. The oysters must be freed from bits of shell, and their liquor strained and saved to make oyster toast. Put one quart of oysters into a shallow frying-pan containing enough hot butter to cover the bottom

22 THE PEOPLE'S COOK-BOOIC.

of the pan, add the oyster-juice, a dust of pepper, and shake the pan until the edges of the oysters begin to curl ; then pour them on buttered toast and serve them at once. All cooked oysters deteriorate by being allowed to stand after they are done ; they should be eaten immediately.

Oyster Toast. — Toast half a dozen slices of bread, and pour over them a sauce made by mixing over the fire a tablespoonful each of butter and flour until they bubble, and then gradually stirring in the oyster liquor, heated, adding if necessary a little boiling water, to make a sauce of the consistency of cream ; the sauce should be allowed to boil for a couple of minutes, seasoned with salt and pepper, and poured on the toast. Milk may be used instead of water if there is not sufficient oyster liquor to make the sauce.

Oyster Fritters (i qt.). — The oysters should be examined for bits of shell, and their liquor strained. Then make a batter by mixing two cups of flour, the yolk of one raw egg, a tablespoonful of salad oil, a dust of cayenne pepper and sufficient oyster liquor to make a batter just thick enough to sustain the drops from the spoon ; plenty of fat should now be heated until smoking; the white of the egg should be beaten stiff and gently stirred into the batter when the fat is hot, together with the oysters, whole or chopped, and it should be put into the hot fat by the large spoonful and fried brown ; the fritters when done should be laid on brown paper for a moment to free them from grease, and then served hot.

Fried Oysters.— The fried oysters of Parkinson, the celebrated Philadelphia caterer, were prepared by dusting them with flour and pepper, dropping them into an equal mixture of lard and salad oil made smoking hot, and serving them the instant their edges began to curl. Some cooks roll them in cracker dust or Indian meal and then fry them. A substantial dish may be made of fried oysters by having ready some mashed potatoes nicely seasoned aind placed around the edge of a hot dish in such a way as to form a wall, and serving the oysters in this dish.

Broiled Oysters. — Make as many nice slices of buttered toast as there are persons to serve ; allow half a dozen oysters for each one ; dip the oysters in melted butter, lay them between the bars of a fine wire gridiron, and broil them over a hot fire until their edges curl ; dust them with pepper, and serve them on the toast.

Fried Scallops. — These delicate shellfish should be rolled in Indian meal or flour seasoned with pepper and salt, and fried brown in plenty of smoking hot fat. Sometimes a few thin slices of fried salt pork are served with them.

Scallops and Eggs. — Boil one pint of scallops gently for five minutes, drain them, tear them apart with a fork, fry them five minutes in hot butter enough to prevent burning, with a palatable seasoning of pepper and salt ; then add to them six eggs, and stir like scrambled eggs for three minutes ; serve on toast.

Scallops and Onions. — Peel, slice, and fry for three minutes half a dozen onions in two tablespoonfuls of hot butter ; add one pint of scallops to the onions, with enough more butter to prevent burning, season them with salt and pepper, fry them ten minutes longer, and serve them hot ; buttered toast is a great addition to this dish.

Clam Fritters. — Use soft clams ; wash them in cold water and strain the water ; put it into a saucepan with the hard part of the clams chopped fine and boil them slowly for an hour ; then drain them and use the broth to make the same kind of batter as that given in the recipe for Oyster F?'itfers^ adding the chopped clams instead of oysters, and fry in the same way.

Stewed Clams. — Use the soft parts of the clams ; make a white sauce by mixing a tablespoonful each of butter and flour over the fire, adding gradually to it a pint of hot milk or milk and water, and season it with salt and pepper ; put in the soft parts of the clams, and simmer them gently for fifteen minutes where the heat is sufficiently gentle to preclude burning. Serve hot.

Clam Chowder (4 qts.). — Small hard-shell clams are best liked for chowder. Wash the shells of fifty, put them over the fire in a saucepan with a pint of water, and cover them until the shells open; then take out the clams saving all the broth, and rinse them in it to remove every grain of sand ; leave the soft parts whole, and chop the hard parts quite fine ; strain the broth through a fine cloth to remove all sand. Peel and cut in half inch dice a quart of potatoes; peel and slice six onions, and six tomatoes, or use canned tomatoes ; cut half a pound of fat salt pork in dice, fry it brown in the bottom of a saucepan or round bottomed iron pot, and take it out with a skimmer, leaving the fat in the pot ; if the fire is hot turn a small plate bottom up in the pot to keep the chowder from burning. Put all these ingredients in the pot in layers, and when half are used put in half a pound of pilot crackers or sea biscuit; then add the rest of the ingredients, putting another half pound of crackers on the top, and pour in the clam broth and sufficient cold water to cover all an inch above the top ; add a seasoning of salt, pepper, and a little marjorum, thyme, and savory in the leaf; let the chowder simmer gently an hour; then add a cup of milk, and serve it. The onions are sometimes fried with the pork.

Stewed Mussels. — When mussels are good their shells are dark and bright, and the fish do not shrink when they are boiled. Before boiling them lay them for two hours in a tub of cold water containing a handful of salt ; this will remove all mud and sand from them ; then wash them in fresh cold water, put them into a pot or saucepan and set them over the fire, covered, until the shells open. The mussels must then be taken from the shells, and carefully freed from the dark fringe upon their edges, the thread-like parts near the joint of the shells, and all mossy or hairy portions ; they will then be ready to use. To stew them heat them in a Dutch sauce made as directed in the recipe for Salt Codfish with Dutch Sauce, and serve them immediately, or simply heat them with butter, pepper, and salt.

Pickled Mussels.— Boil them as directed in the previous recipe, put them in glass jars, and cover them with vinegar heated scalding hot with whole pepper, mace, and allspice.

Boiled Lobster. — Choose a lively lobster, heavy in proportion to its weight ; put it into a large pot containing enough boiling water to entirely cover it, and let it boil fifteen minutes, or until its shell is bright red ; then remove it from the water, and cut it up as soon as it is cool enough to handle. The tail should be broken from the body and split down the centre with a sharp knife ; the intestine running through it can then easily be seen and removed. The large claws should be broken off, and separated with a can-opener with less trouble than by breaking with a hammer, as they can be cut in such a way as to permit the flesh to be taken from them entire. All the soft, hairy fins which lie next to the body must be thrown away. When the body of the fish is opened the red coral and green fat should be saved ; the stomach, a hard, partly bony organ, which lies back of the eyes, should be thrown away. The lobster will then be ready to dress.