1 given above.

=RISSOTTO=

(MRS. MASPERO.)

Boil rice until tender, but not soft. The Italian rice must be used, as it does not get soft like the Carolina rice; when the rice is done, drain off the water and steam it dry; then add, while the rice is still on the fire, some mixed grated Parmesan and Swiss cheese. Turn them together lightly until the cheese has softened, then put it into the hot serving-dish, and cover with sauce No. 1 given above.

CEREALS

OATMEAL PORRIDGE

Oatmeal is ground in different grades of coa.r.s.eness, and some brands are partly cooked before they are put up for sale; therefore the time for cooking varies, and it is better to observe the directions given on the packages. Oatmeal requires to be cooked until very soft, but should not be mushy. The ordinary rule is to put a cupful of meal into a quart of salted boiling water (a teaspoonful of salt), and let it cook in double boiler the required time. It is well to keep the pan covered until the oatmeal is cooked, then remove the cover and let the moisture evaporate until the oatmeal is of the right consistency. It should be moist enough to drop but not run from the spoon. It should be lightly stirred occasionally to prevent its sticking to the pan, but carefully so as not to break the grains.

If carefully cooked, the sides of the pan will not be covered with burned oatmeal, and so wasted.

Oatmeal is very good cold, and in summer is better served in that way. It can be turned into fancy molds or into small cups to cool, and will then hold the form and make an ornamental dish.

=CRACKED WHEAT=

Add to three cupfuls of water a half teaspoonful of salt; when it boils add a half cupful of cracked wheat, and let it cook uncovered until the water is nearly evaporated; then add three cupfuls of hot milk; cover and cook until the wheat is soft; then uncover and cook to the right consistency. It should be quite moist. Stir it carefully from time to time while it is cooking, but with care not to break the grains.

Turn into molds to harden, and serve cold with sugar and milk.

=CORNMEAL MUSH=

Sprinkle with the hand a pint of cornmeal into rapidly boiling salted water, stirring all the time. Cook for half an hour; or mix the cornmeal with a pint of milk and teaspoonful of salt and turn it slowly into a quart of boiling water; cook for half an hour, stirring constantly. This may be eaten cold or hot, with milk, with b.u.t.ter and sugar, or with syrup. When cold it can be cut into slices and browned on both sides in a saute-pan, and used as a vegetable dish, or as a breakfast dish, and may be eaten with syrup.

CHAPTER VIII

A GROUP OF RECEIPTS FROM A NEW ENGLAND KITCHEN

(SUPPLIED BY SUSAN COOLIDGE)

Many of the receipts in this little "group" have never before appeared in print. They are copies from old grandmother and great-grandmother receipt-books, tested by generations of use, and become, at this time, traditional in the families to which they belong. They are now given to the public as examples of the simple but dainty cooking of a by-gone day, which, while differing in many points from the methods of our own time, in its way is no less delicious.

=SPLIT PEA SOUP=

Soak one quart of split peas in lukewarm water for three hours. Pour off the water and boil the peas in three and a half quarts of salted water till they are thoroughly soft. Rub through a colander, and throw away whatever does not pa.s.s through. This will keep several days.

Take out the quant.i.ty needed for dinner (allowing a generous quart to three persons); boil in it a small piece of pork, onion, and a little white pepper and salt; strain and serve very hot, with small cubes of fried bread dropped into the tureen.

=BLACK BEAN SOUP=

1 quart of black beans.

4 quarts of water.

The bone of a boiled ham.

6 cloves.

4 peppercorns.

Boil on the back of the range for twelve hours; rub through a colander and set away to cool.

This should make soup for two dinners for a family of six. When served, add a gla.s.s of wine to each tureenful, two or three slices of lemon, and cubes of bread fried in b.u.t.ter.

=CLAM SOUP=

Boil a quart of clams in their own liquor till they are tender; then chop them fine and return to the broth.

Stir together until smooth two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and one and a half of flour, and with them thicken the soup. Add very carefully a pint of milk, stirring to avoid curdling, and add two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, with pepper and salt, after taking the mixture from the fire.

=CLAM CHOWDER=

Cut one half pound of salt pork into slices, and fry them brown; chop two small onions, and cook them with the pork. Stew separately a quart of tomatoes, canned or fresh, and a quart of sliced potatoes. When all are done, put them together with one quart of clams and their juice. Add three pints of water, salt, pepper, a little thyme, a very little flour for thickening, and a handful of small whole crackers. Stew all together for half an hour, and serve very hot.

=FISH CHOWDER=

Three pounds of fresh codfish well boiled and the bones carefully removed. Two onions chopped fine and fried with half a pound of salt pork, cut into small dice. Six potatoes cut small, a pint of water, a little salt and white pepper. Stew for twenty minutes, thicken slightly with a little flour; add a pint and a half of milk, and let all boil up once, stirring thoroughly. Put a handful of oyster crackers into a hot tureen, and pour the mixture over them.

=BROWNED OYSTERS=

Take thirty large oysters (about three pints); wash them in their own liquor. Add to one pint of milk three tablespoonfuls of the oyster liquor, well strained, a very little mace, and a bit of b.u.t.ter about the size of an English walnut, and make the mixture scalding hot. Rub two tablespoonfuls of flour perfectly smooth with a little of the milk; pour in and stir until the whole is thick. Then drop in the oysters; cook five minutes or so, till they are well plumped out, and add a little salt, white pepper, and a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce. Serve on a platter on slices of b.u.t.tered toast.

=FISH AND OYSTERS=

Make a pint or more of white sauce, with flour, b.u.t.ter, and hot milk, carefully stirred till smooth and thick. Pick to fine bits two quarts of cold boiled codfish, and add one pint of oysters chopped fine. Fill a well-b.u.t.tered pudding-dish with alternate layers of the fish and oysters and white sauce, sprinkling a little salt over the layers of cod. Cover the top of the dish with fine bread-crumbs and small bits of b.u.t.ter; baste with a little cold water, and bake till the top is browned.

=SCALLOPED OYSTERS=

Three pints of oysters; a quart of sifted bread-crumbs. Place a layer of crumbs in the bottom of a rather deep baking-dish, then a layer of oysters, and sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Repeat the process till the dish is filled. Cover the top with crumbs and a layer of soft bread broken into bits and placed round the edge of a circle of small oyster crackers. Wet the whole with half a pint of soup stock and a quarter of a cup of oyster liquor. Cover the top generously with b.u.t.ter cut into fine bits. Pour over the whole a gla.s.s of sherry, and bake an hour.