BREAKFAST DISHES AND BEVERAGES.
Reading edition
Oatmeal Porridge.
Ingredients—½ lb. of coarse oatmeal.
1 quart of water.
Method.—Put the water on to boil.
When boiling, sprinkle in the oatmeal, stirring all the time.
When it thickens, put it by the side of the fire, and stir occasionally.
Cook it for quite three-quarters of an hour, longer if possible.
When the time can be allowed, three hours will not be too long a time, especially if the porridge is for anyone with a weak digestion.
A better plan is to put the saucepan containing it, after the contents have boiled for ten minutes, to stand in a saucepan of briskly boiling water; it will then cook without danger of burning, and may be left for any length of time; care only being taken that the water in the under saucepan does not boil away.
Whole-meal Porridge.
This may be made in the same way as oatmeal, but it requires even longer cooking.
Dry Toast.
Cut the bread into rather thin slices, and remove the crust.
Toast it slowly, holding it at a little distance from a bright clear fire.
When ready, put it at once into the rack; because, if the toast is placed flat on a table, it loses its crispness.
The crusts may be soaked for plain puddings, or dried and powdered for bread crumbs.
Buttered Toast.
Cut the bread about half an inch in thickness.
Toast quickly in front of a clear fire.
Put the butter on directly the toast is taken off the fork, and spread it quickly.
Put the toast on a hot plate, and take care that it is served hot.
Toasted Bacon.
Cut the bacon in thin slices, and toast it in a small Dutch oven or on a toasting fork until the fat is transparent.
Fried Bacon.
Cut the bacon in thin slices, and fry it in its own fat. It will be cooked when the fat is transparent. It must not be cooked too quickly, or the fat will burn up and be wasted.
Eggs and Bacon.
Toast or fry the bacon, and lay a nicely poached egg on each slice.
Boiled Eggs.
Put the eggs into boiling water, and boil an ordinary sized egg for three minutes; new-laid eggs will take one minute longer. Eggs boiled five minutes will be nearly hard. To make them quite firm, boil them steadily for ten minutes. To make them mealy, boil them for an hour.
Poached Eggs.
Eggs for poaching should be perfectly fresh, or they will not keep a nice shape.
Let the water be quite boiling; add to it a little salt.
Break the eggs into cups, and slip them gently into the boiling water.
As soon as the white is nicely set, remove them with a fish slice.
Trim the eggs neatly, and serve them on hot buttered toast.
An egg-poacher will be found very convenient for cooking eggs this way.
Fried Kidneys.
Ingredients—A few kidneys.
A little butter or dripping.
A little flour.
Some gravy.
Pepper and salt.
Method.—Split open the kidneys lengthwise.
Flour them and fry them slowly in the butter or dripping for about four minutes.
Dish them on pieces of toast.
Pour the gravy into the pan; stir and boil for a minute, and then strain round the kidneys.
Kidneys Toasted.
Ingredients—Some kidneys.
Toasted bread.
Method.—Split open the kidneys lengthwise.
Toast them before a clear fire; when the gravy ceases to drop red they will be sufficiently cooked.
A hot dish should be placed under them to catch the gravy.
Place the toast on the dish and put the kidneys on it, and sprinkle over them a little pepper and salt.
Stewed Kidneys.
Ingredients—2 or 3 kidneys.
½ pint of nice gravy.
1 dessertspoonful of flour.
Pepper and salt to taste.
Lemon juice.
Method.—Mix the flour smoothly with the gravy.
Put it into a stewpan, and boil well for three minutes.
Put in the kidneys cut in slices, and simmer gently for about fifteen minutes.
Add a squeeze of lemon juice; pepper and salt to taste.
Serve on a piece of toast, and pour the gravy over.
Stuffed Kidneys.
Ingredients—3 or 4 kidneys.
½ oz. of butter.
Half a shalot, chopped finely.
1 dessertspoonful of parsley.
1 tablespoonful of bread crumbs.
A few drops of lemon juice.
A little cayenne.
Pepper and salt.
Method.—Toast or broil the kidneys and split them open.
Fry the shalot in the butter.
Mix in the bread crumbs and parsley; add lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and salt.
Lay a little of the stuffing in each kidney and fold it over.
Serve very hot.
Kidneys à la Tartare.
Ingredients—A few kidneys.
½ pint of Tartare sauce.
Method.—Split the kidneys open, and toast or broil them nicely.
Serve on toasted bread with Tartare sauce in a tureen.
Fried Sausages.
Ingredients—Sausages.
A little butter or dripping.
Some toasted bread.
Method.—Prick the sausages with a fork, and fry them with butter or dripping, turning them that they get browned equally.
Serve them on toasted bread, with some nice gravy in a sauceboat.
Some people like the toast soaked in the fat in the pan, but this is a matter of taste.
Baked Sausages.
Prick the sausages, and place them on a greased baking-sheet.
Bake until they are nicely browned.
Serve on toast, with gravy in a sauceboat.
If liked, the toast can be soaked in the fat that runs from the sausages.
Oxford Sausages.
Remove the sausage-meat from the skins, and place it in little rough heaps on a greased baking-sheet.
Bake in a quick oven until browned.
Serve on toast.
Tomatoes stuffed with Sausage Meat.
Ingredients—Some nice ripe tomatoes.
Some sausage meat.
Method.—Cut the stalks from the tomatoes, but do not take out any of the inside.
Heap a little sausage meat on the top of each tomato.
Put them on a greased baking-sheet, and bake in a moderate oven for about fifteen minutes.
Croustards with Minced Meat.
Ingredients—Some stale bread.
Scraps of cold meat.
A little nice gravy.
A little mushroom catsup.
Pepper and salt to taste.
Method.—Cut the bread into slices three-quarters of an inch in thickness.
Stamp it into rounds with a circular cutter.
Mark the middle with a cutter two sizes smaller, and scoop out the inside, making little nests of them, and taking care not to break the bottom or sides.
Fry the cases in hot fat (see French Frying); drain them and put them inside the oven to keep hot.
Mince the meat nicely, removing skin and gristle.
Make a little gravy hot in a stewpan.
Put in the mince, and make it hot without letting it boil.
Flavour to taste with catsup, pepper and salt.
Fill the croustard cases and serve immediately: they should be placed on a folded napkin, and garnished with parsley.
Mince à la Reine.
Ingredients—1 dozen mushrooms.
Some slices of cold meat.
(Cold game or chicken are excellent for this purpose).
6 eggs.
Some rounds of bread, toasted or fried.
1 pint of good gravy.
Pepper and salt to taste.
Method.—Peel the mushrooms.
Wash and dry them well, and cut them in slices.
Put them in a stewpan with part of the gravy, to stew for about thirty minutes, until they are tender.
Mince the meat and make it hot in a saucepan, with enough gravy to moisten it, adding pepper and salt to taste.
Poach the eggs nicely, and fry or toast the bread (fried bread is best).
Put the slices of fried bread on a hot dish; cover each piece with the minced meat, and lay an egg on each.
Pour the gravy and mushrooms round, and serve very hot.
As a decoration, a tiny pinch of finely-chopped parsley might be put on the top of each egg.
Sheep's Head Moulded.
Ingredients—1 sheep's head.
2 hard-boiled eggs.
Pepper and salt.
Method.—Clean, and then boil the head until the flesh will leave the bones easily.
Take out all the bones; cut the meat into pieces an inch in size, and season them well with pepper and salt.
Cut the eggs into slices, and place them round the top of a cake-tin or basin.
Put in the head, and put a weight on it to press it down.
When cold turn it out; serve garnished with parsley.
Veal Cake.
Ingredients—Remains of cooked veal.
Slices of ham.
2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs.
Some nice second stock.
A little gelatine.
Some forcemeat balls.
Method.—Butter well a plain mould or basin.
Decorate it with slices of egg, and balls made of veal forcemeat.
Cut the ham and the veal into neat pieces.
Season them well with pepper and salt, and, if liked, a little chopped parsley.
Place them in the mould, and fill it up with stiff second stock.
If the stock is not stiff enough, mix with it a little melted gelatine.
Cover the mould, and bake for one hour in a moderate oven.
Let it get cold, and then turn it on to a dish.
Brawn.
Ingredients—1 pig's head.
2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs.
2 onions.
6 cloves.
1 blade of mace.
2 dozen peppercorns.
1 sprig of parsley, thyme, and marjoram.
Method.—Clean the head well, and pickle it for three days (see Pickle for Meat).
Then put it in enough cold water to cover it, and boil it gently for three hours or more, until the flesh will leave the bones easily.
Take out the tongue, skin it, and cut it in slices.
Stamp them into fancy shapes with a paste cutter; wet a plain round mould and decorate it with them and the eggs cut in slices.
Remove the meat from the bone, and cut it into large dice.
Take one quart of the liquor in which the head was boiled; put the bones into it, with the peppercorns, cloves, onions, and herbs; boil down for half an hour with the lid off the saucepan.
Then strain one pint of the broth into another saucepan.
Season the pieces of meat with pepper, and a little salt if necessary; put them into the broth.
Let it come to the boil, and then pour it into the decorated mould.
When set, turn it on to a dish.
Scalloped Eggs.
Ingredients—Some eggs.
Bread-crumbs.
A little onion, chopped as finely as possible (this may be omitted, if liked).
A little finely-chopped parsley.
Pepper and salt to taste.
Method.—Grease some deep scallop shells.
Dust them over with bread crumbs, mixed with the parsley and onion.
Put an egg into each shell, and sprinkle with more crumbs, parsley, onion, pepper and salt.
Put them into a brisk oven until set.
Eggs sur le Plat.
Ingredients—4 eggs.
½ oz. of butter.
Pepper and salt.
Method.—Take a dish that will stand the heat of the oven; melt the butter in it.
Break the eggs on to it very carefully.
Pepper and salt them, and put them into the oven until they are set.
They must be served on the same dish.
Buttered Eggs.
Ingredients—1 piece of fried or toasted bread.
1 tablespoonful of gravy.
1 oz. of butter.
Pepper and salt.
4 eggs.
Method.—Break the eggs into a basin, and add to them the gravy, pepper, and salt.
Melt the butter in a small frying or omelet pan; pour in the eggs, and stir quickly up from the bottom of the pan, until the whole is a soft yellow mass.
Spread on the toast, and serve very quickly.
Egg Croustards.
Ingredients—Some slices of stale bread, about ¾ inch in thickness.
Some eggs.
Some nicely-flavoured gravy.
Method.—Stamp out some rounds of bread with a circular paste-cutter.
Mark the middle with one a size smaller.
Then with a knife scoop out the inside, making little nests of bread, taking care not to break the bottom or sides.
Fry these cases in hot fat (see French Frying).
When fried, drain them on kitchen paper, and keep them hot.
Make some water boiling hot in a stewpan; add to it a little lemon juice.
Put into it the eggs broken gently into cups.
Poach until the whites are set, then remove them carefully with a fish slice, and put an egg into each croustard.
Place them on a hot dish, and pour gravy boiling hot over them.
Eggs and Anchovy.
Ingredients—2 eggs.
1 slice of fried or toasted bread.
A little anchovy paste.
1 oz. of butter.
Pepper and salt to taste.
Method.—Let the fried or toasted bread be quite hot (fried bread is the best), and spread it thinly with anchovy paste.
Make the butter quite hot in a frying or omelet pan.
Break the eggs into it, add pepper and salt, and stir very quickly, until they are a soft yellow mass.
Spread it quickly over the toast, and serve immediately.
Eggs in Cases.
Ingredients—4 tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs.
1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley.
Pepper and salt.
If liked, a boiled onion very finely chopped.
6 eggs.
6 paper cases.
Method.—Butter well some paper cases; mix the crumbs, parsley, onion, pepper, and salt together; put a little at the bottom of each case.
Break the eggs gently, and put one egg into each case.
Cover each with some of the crumbs and seasoning, and put the cases in a quick oven to bake until the eggs are set.
Broiled Mushrooms.
Choose nice large mushrooms; peel and wash them, and wipe them dry.
Cut out the stems, and put them, with the top of the mushrooms downwards, on a gridiron.
Put a small piece of butter on each, and broil for ten minutes slowly.
Remove them carefully, as the mushrooms will be by that time full of delicious gravy.
Broiled Dried Haddock.
Soak it in cold water for an hour before using.
Broil it slowly over a clear fire until it is quite hot, turning occasionally.
Rub some butter over it, and serve it at once.
Bloaters.
Cut the bloaters open down the back, and bone them.
Lay them one on the other with the insides together.
Broil them slowly over a clear fire, turning occasionally.
Serve very hot, with a little butter rubbed over them.
If preferred, they may be broiled unboned.
Red Herrings.
Remove their heads and tails.
Slit them open down the back and remove the bone.
Egg and bread-crumb them, and broil them over a clear fire.
If preferred, they may be broiled unboned.
Tea.
Measure a teaspoonful of tea for each person, and one teaspoonful over.
Make the teapot quite hot by filling it with boiling water; let it stand in it for three minutes; then empty the teapot.
Put in the tea, and pour boiling water over it.
Cover it with a tea-cosy, and let it infuse for five minutes before using. The longer it stands, the darker it will get; but for people of weak digestions, it should be used after five minutes' infusion only.
The water should be fresh spring water, and should be used as soon as it boils. Water that has been boiled for any length of time is flat from the loss of its gases.
Coffee.
To have coffee to perfection it should be freshly roasted and ground, as coffee quickly loses its flavour. If this is not possible, use the best French coffee sold in tins. The water should be freshly boiled; the coffee itself should not be boiled, but only infused in the boiling water. Boiling disperses the aroma. It can, however, be made more economically if boiled, and therefore recipes are given for its preparation in this manner. Chicory is generally used with coffee in the proportion of two ounces of chicory to one pound of coffee.
Coffee (Soyer's method.)
Ingredients—3 oz. of coffee.
1 pint of boiling water.
Method.—Put the coffee into a clean stewpan.
Stir over the fire until it smokes, but do not let it burn.
Then pour in the boiling water.
Cover close, and set by the side of the fire for ten minutes.
Strain through thick muslin.
Coffee (another method).
Ingredients—3 oz. of coffee.
1½ pint of boiling water.
Method.—Make a jug hot.
Put the coffee in it, and pour over the boiling water.
Let it stand in a hot place for half an hour.
Then strain through thick muslin.
Café au Lait.
Half fill a cup with nicely-made coffee, and pour in the same quantity of boiled milk.
Coffee (economical method).
Ingredients—¾ lb. of coffee.
2 quarts of cold water.
Method.—Make a bag of rather thick muslin, and put the coffee into it. The bag should be rather large, so that the coffee will have plenty of room.
Tie the ends of the bag securely.
Put it into a saucepan with the water; bring to the boil, and boil steadily for one hour.
Strain through thick muslin.
This will make strong coffee, which can be diluted with boiling water as required.
Coffee made in a Percolator.
Ingredients—3 oz. of coffee.
1½ pint of boiling water.
Method.—Make the percolator hot.
Put the coffee in it, and pour on the boiling water.
Let it stand in a hot place for about ten minutes.
Cocoa.
This is best, especially for invalids, if prepared from the nibs; these should be perfectly fresh.
Put a quarter of a pound of nibs into two quarts of cold water; simmer for five hours and then strain.
When cold remove the fat; heat it as required.
Cocoa may also be made from any of the different preparations.
Make it according to directions given on the canisters, and be very careful to mix it thoroughly. Nothing is so unpleasant as to have the sides and bottom of the cup coated with cocoa.
It is better to prepare it in a small saucepan; it should be boiled for two or three minutes.
It is more nourishing if mixed with milk instead of water.
Chocolate.
This is only a thicker preparation of cocoa, and may be made in the same way.