(A NEW ORLEANS DISH)

50 oysters.

1 fowl cut into pieces.

1/2 pound of veal cut into pieces.

1/2 pound of ham cut into pieces.

3 tablespoonfuls of tomato.

1 tablespoonful of drippings.

2 onions.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

1/4 teaspoonful of pepper.

1/4 teaspoonful of powdered thyme.

1/4 teaspoonful of marjoram.

Dash of cayenne.

2 tablespoonfuls of sa.s.safras powder.

Wash well the outside of a fowl (see page 180), and cut it into pieces.

Cut the veal and the ham into small pieces, and dredge all of them well with flour.

Put the onions, sliced, into a pot or large saucepan with one tablespoonful of fat or drippings, and fry until brown; then add the pieces of chicken, veal, and ham. Turn them often, so all will brown evenly; this will take about twenty minutes. When the meat is browned, add two quarts of hot water; cover the pot, and let simmer for two hours. After the first hour add the salt, pepper, thyme, marjoram, and tomatoes. At the end of two hours, if the meat is tender, add the oysters and the oyster juice, and let remain on the fire only long enough to ruffle the gills of the oysters. Take from the fire, and add two tablespoonfuls of sa.s.safras powder, and stir until a little thickened (do not add the sa.s.safras until the pot is removed from the fire).

Serve in a meat-dish with a border of boiled rice. This is a dish much used in the South. It may be served as a chowder, with the meat and liquor together, or may be served separately, using the liquor as a soup.

Powdered sa.s.safras leaves may be obtained at the grocer"s.

=CHICKEN GUMBO=

Cut a chicken into pieces; roll the pieces in flour; put them into a pot with a few slices of salt pork and one sliced onion. Saute them a light brown; then add four quarts of hot water, and simmer it until the chicken is nearly cooked; then add two slices of boiled ham, two quarts of sliced okra, one half can of tomatoes, and one pod of red pepper.

Continue to cook until everything is tender. Season with salt and pepper, and just before serving stir in one teaspoonful of sa.s.safras powder. If sa.s.safras twigs can be had they are better than the powder, and should be added with the vegetables.

This is a favorite Southern dish. It resembles a chowder, and is so hearty as to almost const.i.tute a dinner in itself.

PART II

VERY INEXPENSIVE DISHES

[Sidenote: Cost of living.]

The following receipts are furnished by a lady who for many years solved the problem of providing nourishment for a family of three persons upon a very small income. The average expenditure each day for three meals did not exceed twenty cents _per capita_, or four dollars and twenty cents a week for the family; and great care was taken to secure for this sum the greatest possible amount of nourishment. In families where meat is not considered a daily necessity, this price might be further reduced.

[Sidenote: Care required in cooking cheap cuts of meat.]

It is, of course, very much easier to supply coa.r.s.e qualities of food for a low sum than refined and dainty dishes, but, after all, it is more a matter of the care given to the preparation than of the food itself which produces refined results; for instance, beef, which is very nourishing, is least suited to these requirements, because the less expensive portions, which often contain the most nutriment, cannot be served as daintily as either veal or mutton without a large amount of care and trouble; this it is often difficult to give personally, and almost impossible to secure in a low-priced cook. Still, it is worth while for any housekeeper desirous of obtaining the maximum nourishment at minimum cost, to try the following receipts for using the most inexpensive portion of beef that can be bought, _i. e._, the shin, which costs about eight cents a pound.

=TO PREPARE SHIN OF BEEF=

Take a slice about one inch thick, cut toward the smaller end of the shin, so that the little round bone in the center is quite small. This is fairly manageable, and can by careful cooking be rendered as tender as a sirloin steak. Place the slice in a stewpan, cover it with water, add salt, and set it upon the far end of the grate for three hours, never allowing it to boil. If by that time it is fairly tender, cover it with vegetables cut in very small dice--carrots, turnips, and one large onion; advance the pot nearer to the fire, and let it simmer another hour. Push aside the vegetables, take the meat out carefully, and lay it on the dish; pile the vegetables upon its center, then carefully thicken the liquor, and if necessary brown it with a drop or two of burnt sugar, and pour this gravy over the beef.

ANOTHER WAY

Take about two and a half pounds of the thicker part of the shin, place it in an iron pot with two tablespoonfuls of drippings. Turn it as it browns. When brown enough put it in a stew-pan; add enough water to cover it, a large onion stuck full of cloves, and half a carrot cut into slices. Let it simmer four hours, remove the meat and onion and carrot, thicken the liquor, and serve in a dish large enough to allow plenty of gravy. If, after removing the meat, the liquor appears too rich, pour off the fat before thickening.

[Sidenote: Round Steak.]

Round steak can be used instead of shin for both these receipts, but costs just double the price. It requires far less cooking and calls for less care, and if carefully and slowly stewed for one hour makes a very appetizing dish.

Another very appetizing dish, much used by people of small means in England, is beefsteak pudding, for which it is also possible to use the shin, by stewing it beforehand, and cutting it up when perfectly tender into small pieces; but it is usually made of round steak as follows:

=BEEFSTEAK PUDDING=

Line a pudding-basin with a plain crust made of chopped suet and flour mixed with water, and simply rolled out once an inch thick; cut up a pound of round steak, and sprinkle with flour, pepper, and salt; chop a small onion fine, put all into the lined basin, add a cup of water, cover over with the suet crust, and tie it in a well-floured cloth. Have a saucepan full of water boiling rapidly, and put the basin in, the opening downwards; leave the lid off the saucepan, and let it boil two and one half hours, adding water if it boils away. A sheep"s kidney cut up small adds richness to the gravy.

[Sidenote: Menus.]

Sometimes, where great economy must be practised, and the sum allowed for the entire meal for three people is only sixty cents, it is difficult to remember just such accessories in the way of vegetables as are as inexpensive in their way as the meat, and for this reason the following very modest menus are offered as samples of what can be accomplished in the way of very inexpensive dinners.

=DINNER No. 1=

POTATO b.a.l.l.s, SCOTCH BROTH, TURNIPS WITH WHITE SAUCE, TAPIOCA AND APPLES

This is an excellent winter dinner.

_Scotch Broth._--Buy for four persons one pound or one and a quarter pounds of scrag of mutton; chop it into pieces, and put it into an iron pot with one quart of water, one large onion cut into slices, and a small cupful of pearl barley. Let it simmer for two hours, adding a little water if it becomes too thick. Serve boiling hot with the mutton in it.

This is very inexpensive. The scrag of mutton costs from eight to ten cents; the barley is eight cents a pound--about two cents" worth is sufficient; the onion may be reckoned as one cent. It can be made a little more costly by buying what is called the best end of the neck.

Six or eight chops would weigh the pound and a quarter required, and would cost perhaps twelve to fourteen cents. The chops look somewhat better than the chopped-up scrag, but the nourishing quality is as good in the latter.

_Potato b.a.l.l.s._--Choose large potatoes, and with a scoop cut out small b.a.l.l.s; boil these and serve them sprinkled with chopped parsley.

_Turnips._--Cut into small dice, boil until tender, throw away the water, and serve with a white sauce made of milk, flour, and a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter. Two turnips are sufficient for a dish.

_Tapioca and Apples._--Apples are cheap early in the winter. Three or four at a cent apiece should be pared and cored, and placed in a low baking-dish with two dessertspoonfuls of tapioca, and enough water to cover the whole. Bake in a slow oven. By soaking the tapioca over night a less quant.i.ty will do, say, one and a quarter spoonfuls.

N. B.--Both sago and tapioca are very economical because, when soaked over night, they swell greatly, and they can both be cooked with water, instead of milk, with good results.

=DINNER No. 2=

STUFFED POTATOES, VEAL WITH WHITE SAUCE, PURIFIED CABBAGE, RENNET CUSTARD