A handbook of invalid cooking

by Mary A. Boland

BILLS OF FARE

Mrs. Abel says, in her chapter headed "Bills of Fare": "The following bills of fare are made out for a family of six persons, consisting of a workingman, two women, and three children between the ages of six and fifteen.

"The amount of food, and the proportion in which the great food principles are represented, approximate to that which is demanded by standard dietaries for such a family....

"To keep us in health and in working order, we ought to have a certain amount of what is best furnished by meat, eggs, milk, and other animal products, and we must also have fats, as well as what is given us in grains and vegetables." The following bills of fare are made up with this object in view:

For a family of six; average price, seventy-eight cents per day, or thirteen cents per person.

SATURDAY, MAY

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Soda-biscuit.	Bread Soup.	Browned Flour Soup
Sugar-syrup.	Beef-neck Stew.	with Fried Bread.
Coffee.	Noodles.	Toast and Cheese.
	Cream-of-rice Pudding.

The recipe for Soda-biscuit will be found on [page 242].

Bread Soup. Ingredients, dry bread broken in small bits, water, salt, pepper, onion, and a little fat. Soak the bread in the water for a few minutes. Fry the onion, sliced, in the fat, and add it to the soup, with the salt and pepper.

Or, use milk instead of water, and toasted or fried bread. Boil slowly for five minutes to perfectly soften the bread.

Beef-neck stew, [page 186].

Noodles. Ingredients, three eggs, three tablespoons of milk or water, one teaspoon of salt, and flour.

Make a hole in the middle of the flour, put in the other ingredients, and work to a stiff dough, then cut it into four strips. Knead each till fine grained, roll out as thin as possible, and lay the sheet aside to dry. When all are rolled, begin with the first, cut it into four equal pieces, lay the pieces together, one on top of another, and shave off very fine, as you would cabbage; pick the shavings apart with floured hands and let them dry a little.

To use. Boil the strips a few at a time in salted water, taking them out with a skimmer, and keeping them warm. Strew over them bread crumbs fried in butter, or use like macaroni.

These noodles will keep indefinitely when dried hard. Therefore, when eggs are cheap, they may be made and laid up for the winter. The water in which they are boiled is the basis of noodle soup. It needs only the addition of a little butter, a teaspoon of chopped parsley, and a few of the cooked noodles.

Cream-of-rice Pudding, [page 206].

Browned Flour Soup.

2 Tablespoons of butter or fat.
½ Cup of flour.
2 Pints of water.
1 Pint of milk.
1 Teaspoon of salt.

Cook the flour brown, in the fat over a slow fire, or in an oven. Add slowly the water and other ingredients. Serve with fried bread.

Toast and Cheese. Toast some slices of white or Graham bread, arrange them in a platter, and pour over sufficient salted water to soften them. Grate over enough old cheese to cover the toast. Set it in the oven to melt, and place the slices together as sandwiches. This is the simplest form of "Welsh Rarebit."

SUNDAY, MAY

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Milk Toast.	Beef Stew.	Noodle Soup.
Coffee.	Creamed Potatoes.	Broiled Herring.
	Dried Apple Pie.	Bread.
	Bread and Cheese.	Tea.
	Corn Coffee.

Milk Toast, [page 130]. Beef Stew, [page 186]. Creamed Potatoes, [page 166].

Dried Apple Pie. Make a crust in the following manner: One quart of flour, one teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of butter or lard, or butter and suet, one scant pint of sweet milk, or water, with one teaspoon of soda and two of cream of tartar, or three teaspoons of baking powder.

Sift the flour, salt, cream of tartar, and soda together twice, put it into a chopping-tray, and chop in the shortening, which should be cold and hard, till all is fine and well mixed. Now add the milk a little at a time, still mixing with the chopping-knife. Turn the dough on to a molding-board, and roll it out quickly. When half an inch thick, bake in a sheet or cut it into rounds, and bake in layer cake tins.

When done, split it in two, and spread each half with dried apples, stewed with a little lemon-peel and sugar. Lay the two pieces together, and eat while warm.

Any other fruit may be used in the same way, and if a richer crust is wanted, two tablespoons of fat instead of one may be used.

Corn Coffee. Roast common field corn as brown as possible without burning. Grind coarsely, and steep like coffee. Add milk and sugar, and you will find it a delicious drink.

Noodle Soup, [page 305].

MONDAY, MAY

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Oatmeal Mush, with	Pea Soup.	Bread Pancakes.
Milk and Sugar.	Mutton Stew.	Fried Bacon.
Bread.	Broiled Potatoes.	Tea.
Coffee.	Bread.

Oatmeal Mush, [page 91].

Pea Soup. Ingredients, one pound of peas, one onion, two tablespoons of beef fat, salt and pepper. Additions to be made according to taste. One fourth of a pound of pork, or a ham-bone, a pinch of red pepper, or, an hour before serving, different vegetables, as carrots and turnips, chopped and fried.

Soak the peas over night in two quarts of water. In the morning pour it off, put on fresh water, and cook with the onion and fat until very soft. Then mash or press the peas through a colander or soup-strainer to remove the skins, and add enough water to make two quarts of somewhat thick soup. Season.

Mutton Stew, [page 187].

Bread Pancakes. Make in the following manner: One quart of milk, three eggs, one tablespoon of butter, one teaspoon of salt. Add to this one cup of flour, and two cups of bread crumbs that have been soaked soft in milk or water and mashed smooth. The batter should be rather thick. Bake in small cakes, adding more flour if they stick.

TUESDAY, MAY

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Oatmeal Mush and	Fried Fish, with	Fried Farina Pudding.
Milk.	Mint Sauce.	Broiled Salt Pork.
Buttered Toast.	Fried Potatoes.	Bread. Tea.
Coffee.	Bread.

Mint Sauce. Two tablespoons of chopped green mint, one tablespoon of sugar, one half cup of vinegar. Mix and let stand an hour or two.

Fried Farina Pudding. One pint of water, one pint of milk, one teaspoon of salt, one half pint of farina, two eggs. Mix the flour and eggs smooth with a part of the milk. Heat the remainder to boiling, and stir in the egg and flour. Continue stirring until it thickens, then cook for fifteen minutes in a double boiler. When cold, cut it in slices and fry them brown on a griddle.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Soda-biscuit.	Pea Soup.	Corn Mush and
Baked Potatoes, with	Irish Stew.	Molasses.
Drawn Butter Sauce.	Bread.	Bread and Grated
Cocoa.		Cheese. Tea.

Drawn Butter Sauce. Make according to the rule for White Sauce ([page 130]), except use water instead of milk, and part beef fat instead of all butter.

Irish Stew ([page 186]).

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Oatmeal and Milk.	Broiled Beef Liver.	Lentil Soup, with
Bread and Butter.	Boiled Potatoes	Fried Bread.
Cocoa.	and Carrots, with	Smoked Herring.
	Fried Onions.	Bread.
	Bread and Cheese.	Barley Porridge.

Boiled Potatoes, and Carrots with Fried Onions. Slice hot boiled potatoes and boiled carrots together. Season them with salt and pepper, and pour over them hot fried onions.

Lentil Soup. Made like Pea Soup, [page 307].

Fried Bread. Cut bread into small cubes and fry it in hot fat until light brown.

Barley Porridge. Made with pearl barley soaked over night in water, and then cooked for two hours, or until it is soft. During the last hour add milk instead of water. Flavor with salt and butter.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Buckwheat Cakes.	Giblet Soup.	Codfish Balls.
Fried Bacon.	Baked Potatoes, with	Cheese.
Coffee.	Drawn Butter Sauce.	Bread.
	Bread.	Tea.

Giblet Soup. Giblet soup is made from the heart, liver, and neck of chicken and other fowls, which in city markets are sold separately and very cheap. Clean them very carefully, wash in cold water, cut into small pieces, and boil for two hours with onions and herbs. Then add a little butter, thickening, salt, and pepper.

Codfish Balls (Salt Cod). Codfish is one of the cheap foods that seems to be thoroughly appreciated among us, and good ways of cooking it are generally understood. It must be freshened by laying it in water over night. When soaked, put it into cold water, and bring gradually to the boiling point; then set the kettle back where it will keep hot for half an hour; at the end of that time separate it into fine shreds, add an equal amount of fresh mashed potato, make into balls, and fry on a griddle.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Fried Bacon.	Boiled Corned Beef,	Pea Soup.
Boiled Potatoes.	with	Yeast Biscuit and
Bread.	Horse-radish Sauce.	Butter.
Coffee.	Stewed Cabbage.	Stewed Fruit.
	Bread.
	Barley Porridge.

Boiled Corned Beef. Boil the beef for three hours, very slowly at first, changing the water once if it is very salt.

Horse-radish Sauce. Add grated horse-radish to drawn batter sauce. Simmer a few minutes.

Barley Porridge, [page 309].

SATURDAY, JANUARY

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Fried Bacon.	Browned Flour Soup.	Baked Beans.
Corn Bread.	Stewed Mutton.	Bread.
Coffee.	Mashed Potatoes.	Apple Dumplings, with
	Bread.	Pudding Sauce. Tea.

Corn Bread. (1) Plain. One cup of sweet milk, one cup of sour or buttermilk, or both of sour milk, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of soda, one tablespoon of butter or suet or lard, three cups of Indian meal, and one cup of wheat flour, or all of Indian meal. Mix, pour into a tin, and bake forty minutes.

(2) Richer. The same, with an egg and one half cup of sugar added.

(3) Very nice. No. 1, with the addition of three eggs, one half cup of sugar, and one third of a cup of butter, one cup of meal being omitted.

Browned Flour Soup, [page 305].

Apple Dumplings, with Pudding Sauce. The Dumplings. Make a crust like that used in dried apple pie. Cut it in squares; place sliced apples in the middle, and gather up or pinch the corners. Bake or steam.

Sauce. One pint of water made into a smooth paste with a heaping tablespoon of flour. Cook ten minutes. Strain if necessary, sweeten to taste, and pour it over one tablespoon of butter, and the juice of a lemon, or other flavoring. If lemon is not used, add one tablespoon of vinegar. This can be made richer by using more butter and sugar. Stir them to a cream with the flavoring, and then add the paste.

SUNDAY, JANUARY

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Fried Codfish.	Sheep's-head Stew,	Potato and Onion
Bread and Butter.	with Soda-biscuit	Salad.
Coffee.	Dumplings.	Broiled Salt Pork.
	Baked Potatoes.	Bread.
	Bread and Grated	Corn Mush, with
	Cheese. Cocoa.	Pudding Sauce.

Sheep's-head Stew (see Mutton Stew, [page 187]).

Potato and Onion Salad. Slice some potatoes (fresh boiled and slightly warm are best). Sprinkle them with minced onion, salt, and pepper. Dress with a little melted butter and vinegar.

Pudding Sauce, the same as that for Apple Dumplings.

MONDAY, JANUARY

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Fried Mush and	Soup from Boiled	Boiled Potatoes, with
Molasses.	Beef, with Macaroni.	Butter Gravy.
Bread.	Broiled Beef Flank,	Dried Apple Roly-
Coffee.	with Mustard Sauce.	poly Pudding.
	Bean Purée. Bread.	Bread. Tea.

Mustard Sauce. Make some drawn butter in the following manner:

A heaping tablespoon of butter, or beef fat, is put into a saucepan. When it boils, one heaping tablespoon of flour is added, and stirred as it cooks. To this add gradually one pint of water, one teaspoon of salt, and one fourth of a teaspoon of pepper. If you wish to unite economy and good flavor, use one half teaspoon of beef fat in making the sauce, and add one half teaspoon of butter cut in small pieces just before serving. Add a little mustard, and you have mustard sauce.

Bean Purée. Make like Pea Soup, [page 307].

Dried Apple Roly-poly Pudding. Make the soda-biscuit dough which is used in dried apple pie. Roll it out into a thin sheet, and spread with stewed and flavored dried apples. Roll it into a round or loaf, and bake in a pan containing a little water.

TUESDAY, JANUARY

Breakfast.	Dinner.	Supper.
Fried Potatoes.	Browned Farina	Bean Soup.
Bread.	Soup, with Toast.	Milk Toast.
Coffee.	Stewed Mutton, with	Tea.
	Yeast Dumplings.

Browned Farina Soup. Make like Browned Flour Soup, except use farina.

For other similar bills of fare and recipes, see the Lomb Prize Essay, entitled "Practical, Sanitary, and Economic Cooking," which is published and sold at a low price by the American Public Health Association, and may be bought at any book-store. It is most heartily recommended to nurses who do district nursing as a book which will be found useful among the poor and those possessed of moderate means.

[LITERATURE]