A Handbook of Cookery for a Small House

by Jessie Conrad

In preparing mushrooms, peel carefully the skin, gently pull the stalk out and lay them dark side down in a little cold water with a good knob of cooking salt, this will remove any grit or insects. Have ready a flat frying pan large enough to take the mushrooms lying flat; lay each one dark side down and boil in butter gently for about seven minutes, turn them over with the blade of a knife and let them continue cooking for another ten minutes to a quarter of an hour; pepper and salt to taste. Or in another way, take a large flat frying pan; put into it about an ounce of butter, two tablespoonfuls of best malt vinegar, place over a quick fire and let it burn slightly. That is to say it is ready when it smokes. Lay the mushrooms as before directed, proceed in the same way, adding only a little finely chopped onion in the centre of each mushroom, place dark side up either on toast buttered or on a flat dish, pour over the butter from the pan and serve very hot. Sprinkle thinly with chopped onion after the mushrooms are in the dish.

Mushroom rissoles make an excellent breakfast dish and may be served in little stone marmites instead of pastry. Carefully wash mushrooms as directed above. Take a little strong beef gravy (not bovril or other meat essence) cut the mushrooms into lengths, each one into four or five, put them into a small saucepan with pepper and salt and enough gravy to cover, stew for an hour. Thicken with a little flour mixed smoothly with water. This can be kept over night and warmed in the morning.

Turnips make a very good dish with roast pork, treated as follows: Carefully peel ten or twelve nice firm turnips, reject the woolly as they are not worth cooking (except for flavouring); cut into slices, then into lengths, then into small squares (the appearance of a dish is as important as the taste); boil gently for about half an hour or until tender, strain and serve very hot with a little melted butter poured over them, pepper and salt to taste.

Carrots, if very young, must on no account be peeled, but only lightly scraped and then cooked in a covered saucepan till tender. Serve very hot with a little melted butter and a little finely chopped parsley sprinkled over them. Care should be taken not to boil too long as these tender young vegetables are apt to become soft and tasteless. When the carrots are older and bigger they should be carefully peeled and cut in rings about one-eighth of an inch thick. There is also this pretty and appetising way to serve carrots. Cook them as above directed and have ready the following in a lined saucepan (double saucepan): a half pint of boiling milk with salt to taste, one and a half level tablespoonfuls of household flour mixed smoothly in a basin with a half ounce of butter. Should the butter be hard and difficult to mix smooth, place the basin on the stove till the butter is soft enough to handle with a firm spoon. When mixed pour the boiling milk straight into the flour and butter stirring all the time, and always the same way; put back into the double saucepan and stir till it boils, add the cooked carrot and serve very hot as an additional vegetable or as a separate dish. Should the sauce be sticky or too thick judgment which will come with experience will quickly show the error to be a little too much flour or careless mixing. This sauce is also useful to compose a lunch dish with, by adding to it some chopped roast chicken and a thin slice of onion instead of carrots. Serve in a rather deep dish with croutons of fried bread or dry toast round the edge. A tin of prawns can be used instead of chicken in which case a small teaspoonful of anchovy sauce may be added at the last, instead of salt, as the prawns may be already a little salt.

Potatoes are to my mind one of the most ill-used vegetables we have. They require simple care to make them a useful and welcome addition to at least two meals in the day. Too often I have found the greatest carelessness in the cooking of a simple potato. Often at an English inn potatoes are impossible, even more so than other vegetables, and yet we English people have the best potatoes in the world! It is indeed a fact that in the case of the poor potato, God sends the food, and the devil the cooks! One common error is to peel the potatoes hours before they are to be cooked and to leave them in water; another to peel them (because the weather is cold) in quite hot water, or, worse still, then shut them down in a saucepan on the side of the stove ever so long before they are required. In this way the potato is spoilt before it has even boiled. It is quite possible to use up even cold potatoes in an appetising manner. None need ever be wasted if the following hints are taken and the sound advice of many years’ experience is followed. For new potatoes pick out those as much of a size as possible, carefully scrape them, remove any eyes, rinse in clear cold water and put into enough boiling water to cover well; add a sprig of mint (in one piece) and a piece of salt put in a saucepan preferably not iron and boil gently till tender which can easily be found by trying them with a fork. When cooked, strain, remove the mint, put into the saucepan a knob of butter while the potatoes are there and serve as quickly as possible with a little finely chopped parsley on them. The object of the butter is not only to improve the taste and appearance but it also helps to prevent the sort of preserved taste one so often gets in hotel cooking. As the potatoes get older it is better to put them to boil into cold water, and directly they are too old to scrape freely, no mint is necessary or advisable. Some potatoes are best strained before they are quite cooked and then shut down in the saucepan to finish in their steam. If the potatoes are not to be used at once (say when a meal is delayed longer than expected for some reason), it is a good idea either to rice them in a ricer or to mash them. In that way they will not have an unpleasant taste and can be kept hot for some time and still be quite palatable.

Often one has some cold potatoes left say from lunch, cut them into slices, put about ½ an oz. of butter into a frying pan and when melted and hot lay each slice of potato flat in the hot butter, fry quickly over a brisk fire till they attain a golden-brown colour. Care must be taken that they do not burn.

Cold potatoes can also be used for hot cakes as follows: Take the remains of any boiled potatoes, break them into a bowl, take a breakfast cup and a half of flour (for this quantity of flour about the value of eight potatoes would be necessary) rub them smoothly into the flour, add two ounces of butter, salt, a little baking-powder (unless self-raising flour is used) mix as for pastry with a little milk (sour will do) and if possible an egg beaten into it, form into small cakes and bake on larded paper in a quick oven, serve hot with sugar and butter to be spread on them.

For fried potatoes care should be taken to follow these directions carefully: Peel your potatoes and cut them into slices about one-half an inch thick, then into strips, each slice let us say into four, let them lay in a bowl of cold water till wanted for frying. Take a large deep frying pan in which you have melted one-fourth pound of best tub lard, place over a quick fire taking care not to let it burn, and when it is ready (which is easily found out by dropping one piece of potato into the fat—it should sizzle at once), take the potatoes out of the water by hand and drop straight into the boiling lard. Turn carefully from time to time with a knife blade. Remove them with a slice into a vegetable dish in which there is a strainer (stone for preference), and place in the oven with an open door till required; but serve as soon as possible. Never put the cover on the dish or allow the oven door to be shut as the potatoes would not then keep quite crisp. Never add salt till ready in the dish, when a little should be sprinkled over the potatoes.

For straw potatoes proceed in the same way; only these will require less time for cooking and will need to be cut very much thinner and smaller.

For soufflé potatoes cut them into thin slices and dry them on a clean cloth. Lay them in a little milk for a moment and then put them into the boiling fat straight out of the milk. If these directions are carefully followed there should be a crisp brown bubble on each side of the slice of the potato. These also must not be covered or have the oven door closed on them.