FRIED CHICKENS.
Next the fried chicken, Maryland style, will be prepared. We will fry the chicken, and then I will tell you about hominy. The Southern cooks use lard for frying, either lard entirely or half lard and half butter; enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan about half an inch. Let the fat get hot, put some flour on a plate, season it with salt and pepper, and roll the pieces of chicken in it. When the fat is hot in the pan and the chicken has been rolled in the flour, put it into the hot fat and fry it brown, first on one side and then on the other. Of course tender chicken is generally used for this dish so that by the time it is fried brown it is done. Fry the chicken until it is tender and brown. Take up the chicken when it is brown, put it on a hot dish; in the frying pan where it was fried, put enough cream to make a good gravy, stirring it constantly. You see there will be flour on the pan off the fried chicken that will thicken the gravy. Season the gravy with salt and pepper, pour it over the chicken and serve it. Some of the colored cooks whom I have seen prepare this dish first dip their chicken in water before rolling it in the butter and flour. That is for the purpose of making more flour stick to it; but there is always this disadvantage, if you do that there will be some particles of water remaining, and when you put it in the hot fat it will sputter very much. You can do that or not as you like. While the chicken is being browned I will tell you how to prepare the hominy. Of course the chicken is to be seasoned with more pepper and salt if you wish, in addition to what you put on in the first place with the flour.
HOMINY.
First pick the hominy over and wash it. Fine hominy is generally used for this dish. Put it over the fire in cold water, a cupful of hominy to about four cupfuls of water. Boil it and stir it often enough to prevent sticking, until it begins to be tender. Boil it for an hour, until it begins to grow tender. Then place it where there is no danger of burning, pour off the water, or leave off the cover of the sauce pan so that the water will evaporate. The hominy will need to cook pretty nearly an hour, and when it is done or nearly done it should be as thick as hasty pudding. If you have a double boiler you can put in very much less water, for there is no danger of burning. I think you would need only about half or a little more than half as much water. Only take care to leave the cover off the kettle if you find that the hominy is going to be thinner than hasty pudding when it is nearly done. If the hominy is used rather coarse, about five minutes before it is done mix a tablespoonful of flour with just enough water or milk to make it a thin liquid, and stir it into the hominy. That will hold it together when it is cold, so that it can be cut into slices. In making hasty pudding you can put that tablespoonful of flour in to hold it together when it is cold. You want to allow long enough for the flour to boil thoroughly; before dishing the hominy when it is tender pour it into an earthen dish or shallow tin pan wet with cold water, and let it get cold and hard. Always make this in advance of your fried chicken. You want the hominy cold and solid so that you can cut it. Cut it in little cakes about an inch thick and two inches square. These little cakes of hominy are to be fried either in the pan with the chicken or in another pan by the side of the chicken, and served on a dish with the chicken.
FRIED FISH.
I have here some fish which I shall fry. We will not try broiled fish, because this has been frozen; we will do that some other day. In frying fish use either Indian meal or flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, to roll the fish in. Fry the fish in lard or the drippings from salt pork. In case you use salt pork, fry it brown. Olive oil is one of the nicest fats for frying fish. You may have your choice whether I fry with lard or oil. We will fry in oil. If you use lard at all you want it to be very nice. In the frying pan I shall put about half an inch of oil; that is less than half a cupful. Put it over the fire and let it get hot, just as I did for the chicken. This is frozen fish that has been thawed. Cut the fish in pieces about two inches square and roll them either in flour seasoned with pepper and salt, or Indian meal, as I told you; put them into the oil when the oil is hot. As soon as the fish is browned nicely it will be done. You can add more seasoning than there is in the flour. Use Indian meal with pork; it is particularly nice.
LECTURE SEVENTH.
Our lesson this morning, ladies, will begin with pea soup with crusts. This soup I shall make with the addition of a little onion. You remember the other day we made pea soup perfectly plain. We shall cook salt codfish stewed in cream, venison with currant jelly, stewed carrots, and cabinet pudding. First the peas will be put on the fire to boil, and I shall begin to make the pudding.