Odds and Ends.
It is true that the care of remnants and their preparation for the table is not a slight matter; but in the household where attention is given to this matter there is no waste, and a pleasant change of fare can be made daily. If a housekeeper looks into her larder each morning, and avails herself of the opportunities she finds to make little dishes of the bits of food which she sees before her, the work of caring for the odds and ends may become a pleasure rather than a burden; the preparation of this food giving a bright woman an opportunity to exercise much taste and skill in producing dainty and healthful dishes.
Pieces of cold meat or fish may be divided into small pieces, and warmed in a white or brown sauce; or the sauce and meat or fish may be put in a small baking dish, covered with grated bread crumbs, and then browned in the oven. If there be not enough fish or meat to serve to the entire family, use an extra quantity of sauce, and fill up the dish with either well seasoned mashed potatoes, hominy, rice, or macaroni. Cover lightly with grated bread crumbs, and dot with butter. Bake this for half an hour in a moderately hot oven.
Cold meat or fish may be hashed fine and mixed with potato, rice, or hominy, and a sauce, and made into croquettes.
Bits of cooked ham or sausages may be minced fine and mixed with hashed potatoes; the mixture being then well seasoned and put into a frying-pan, with a little butter or sweet drippings, and browned. If there be a little gravy of any kind, it may be added to any of the above-mentioned dishes.
Nearly all kinds of vegetables may be combined in a salad or a hash.
Tough pieces of meat and bones may be used in making little stews or a little soup stock. All kinds of meats may be combined in making a stew or soup.
A few spoonfuls of almost any kind of meat, fish, or vegetable may be heated in a sauce and spread over a plain omelet, just before rolling it up, thus giving a change in this dish of eggs.
A soft-boiled egg left from a meal may be boiled until hard, and then used in a salad or an egg sauce.
Pieces of bread may be used for puddings and griddle-cakes, and, in the form of dried crumbs, for breading.
Pieces of cake and gingerbread may be used in puddings.
Gravies, sauces, and soups, no matter how small the quantity, should be saved to use in warming over meat, fish, or vegetables.
A few tablespoonfuls of cold rice or hominy are often a pleasing addition to muffins or griddle-cakes. Indeed, it is rarely necessary to waste a particle of food if the proper attention be given to the little details of kitchen management.