Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes.—Select six sweet potatoes of uniform size. Peel, cut in half lengthwise, brush each piece all over with melted butter and dredge lightly with powdered sugar. Place in a thoroughly buttered bag flat side down. On top of them put pork chops, seasoned, rolled in flour and from which the fat has been partly trimmed. Seal and bake in hot oven on broiler for twenty-five minutes.
Pork chops cooked in this way are as tender as chicken, not hard in fibre as they usually are when fried.
Ham and Scalloped Potatoes.—Peel and slice potatoes very thin. Put a layer in the bottom of a buttered bag and on top of the potatoes a layer of raw ham sliced very thin, and with the most of the fat trimmed off. Sprinkle with a little flour. Add little bits of butter rolled in flour and salt and pepper to season. Proceed in this way until the desired amount is obtained, having the top layer of potatoes sprinkled with flour and bits of butter. Turn in enough sweet milk or cream to come even with the top layer, and bake twenty minutes or until the potatoes are tender. The trimmings from the fat of the ham can be used in place of the butter if preferred. One of the wooden cooking dishes is convenient here.
Ham, Spinach and Lamb Chops.—Place two or more slices of ham in a wood cookery dish. Spread over it the contents of a small can of spinach and on top of the spinach place Frenched lamb chops. Put in greased paper bag, and surround by six potatoes prepared for baking. Close the bag, and bake 45 minutes in a moderate oven. This makes a very easy dinner—as the whole meal can be cooked in the oven without having to be watched—and the mistress of the house can be ready dressed to entertain guests without danger of spoiling her frock by spattering grease.
Stuffed Fresh Ham or Shoulder.—Have the knuckle and bone removed, wash, wipe dry, season with salt and pepper and fill the bone space with a forcemeat to which apples or stewed prunes have been added. Sew or skewer into shape, then lay skin side up in a large, well-greased bag. Add a half cup of water or cider, a few slices of onion, seal and bake for fifteen minutes in a very hot oven, then reduce the heat one-half and bake an hour.
Roast Loin of Pork.—Sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge lightly with flour and put into a greased bag with a half cup of water or tomato. Seal and bake an hour and a half. Serve with apples baked in another bag.
Roast Spare-Rib.—Cut the skin of the spare-rib in checks, season with salt and pepper and put in a well-greased bag surrounded by apples or sweet potatoes cut in halves, and bake three-quarters of an hour.
Baked Sausage With Apples.—Put links of sausage or sausage cakes in greased bag, and surround with well flavored apples cored and cut in halves but not peeled. Stand the apples flesh side down. Seal and bake fifteen minutes.
Baked Sausage and Potato.—Get the best country sausage meat and mould into a little roll. Dust lightly with flour and put into a well-greased bag. Peel enough potatoes to make a wall about the meat and cut them in halves. They should stand with the cut side against the meat. Seal the bag and bake about thirty minutes until the potatoes are tender and brown and the sausage well done. If desired, use the drippings that come from the sausage as the foundation for a cream gravy to serve with the sausage or serve without. Sausage cooked in this way is also nice sliced cold and makes appetizing sandwiches for the school lunch basket.