A little cook book for a little girl

by Caroline French Benton

Ham and Eggs, Moulded

Take small, deep tins, such as are used for timbales, and butter them. Make one cup of white sauce; take a cup of cold boiled ham which has been put through the meat-chopper, and mix with a tablespoonful of white sauce and one egg, slightly beaten. Press this like a lining into the tins, and then gently drop a raw egg in the centre of each. Stand them in a pan of boiling water in the oven till the eggs are firm,—about ten minutes,—and turn out on a round platter. Put around them the rest of the white sauce. You can stand the little moulds on circles of toast if you wish. This rule was given Margaret by her Pretty Aunt, who got it at cooking-school; it sounded harder than it really was, and after trying it once Margaret often used it.

FISH

One day some small, cunning little fish came home from market, and Margaret felt sure they must be meant for her to cook. They were called smelts, and, on looking, she found a rule for cooking them, just as she had expected.

Fried Smelts

Put a deep kettle on the fire, with two cups of lard in it, to get it very hot. Wipe each smelt inside and out with a clean wet cloth, and then with a dry one. Have a saucer of flour mixed with a teaspoonful of salt, and another saucer of milk. Put the tail of each smelt through its gills—that is, the opening near its mouth. Then roll the smelts first in milk and then in flour, and shake off any lumps. Throw a bit of bread into the fat in the kettle, and see if it turns brown quickly; it does if the fat is hot enough, but if not you must wait. Put four smelts in the wire basket, and stand it in the fat, so that the fish are entirely covered, for only half a minute, or till you can count thirty. As you take them out of the kettle, lay them on heavy brown paper on a pan in the oven, to drain and keep hot, and leave the door open till all are done. Lay a folded napkin on a long, narrow platter, and arrange the fishes in two rows, with slices of lemon and parsley on the sides.

Fish-balls

One morning there was quite a good deal of cold mashed potato in the ice-box, so Margaret decided to have fish-balls for breakfast. Her rule said: Take a box of prepared codfish and put it in a colander and pour a quart of boiling water through it, stirring it as you do so. Let it drain while you heat two cups of mashed potato in a double boiler, with half a cup of hot milk, beating and stirring till it is smooth. Squeeze the water from the codfish and mix with the potato. Beat one egg without separating it, and put this in, too, with a very little pepper, and beat it all well. Turn it out on a floured board, and make into small balls, rolling each one in flour as it is done, and brushing off most of the flour afterward. Have ready a kettle of hot lard, just as for smelts, and drop in three or four of the balls at one time, and cook till light brown. Lift them out on a paper in the oven, and let them keep hot while you cook the rest. Serve with parsley on a hot platter.

Creamed Codfish

Pour boiling water over a package of prepared codfish in the colander and drain it. Heat a frying-pan, and, while you are waiting, beat the yolk of an egg. Squeeze the water from the fish. Put one tablespoonful of butter in a hot pan, and when it bubbles put in two tablespoonfuls of flour, and stir and rub till all is smooth. Pour in slowly a pint of hot milk, and mix well, rubbing in the flour and butter till there is not a single lump. Then stir in the fish with a little pepper, and when it boils put in the egg. Stir it all up once, and it is done. Put in a hot covered dish, or on slices of buttered toast.