Powdered sassafras leaves may be obtained at the grocer’s.
CHICKEN GUMBO
Cut a chicken into pieces; roll the pieces in flour; put them into a pot with a few slices of salt pork and one sliced onion. Sauté them a light brown; then add four quarts of hot water, and simmer it until the chicken is nearly cooked; then add two slices of boiled ham, two quarts of sliced okra, one half can of tomatoes, and one pod of red pepper. Continue to cook until everything is tender. Season with salt and pepper, and just before serving stir in one teaspoonful of sassafras powder. If sassafras twigs can be had they are better than the powder, and should be added with the vegetables.
This is a favorite Southern dish. It resembles a chowder, and is so hearty as to almost constitute a dinner in itself.
Part II
VERY INEXPENSIVE DISHES
Cost of living. The following receipts are furnished by a lady who for many years solved the problem of providing nourishment for a family of three persons upon a very small income. The average expenditure each day for three meals did not exceed twenty cents per capita, or four dollars and twenty cents a week for the family; and great care was taken to secure for this sum the greatest possible amount of nourishment. In families where meat is not considered a daily necessity, this price might be further reduced.
Care required in cooking cheap cuts of meat. It is, of course, very much easier to supply coarse qualities of food for a low sum than refined and dainty dishes, but, after all, it is more a matter of the care given to the preparation than of the food itself which produces refined results; for instance, beef, which is very nourishing, is least suited to these requirements, because the less expensive portions, which often contain the most nutriment, cannot be served as daintily as either veal or mutton without a large amount of care and trouble; this it is often difficult to give personally, and almost impossible to secure in a low-priced cook. Still, it is worth while for any housekeeper desirous of obtaining the maximum nourishment at minimum cost, to try the following receipts for using the most inexpensive portion of beef that can be bought, i. e., the shin, which costs about eight cents a pound.
TO PREPARE SHIN OF BEEF
Take a slice about one inch thick, cut toward the smaller end of the shin, so that the little round bone in the center is quite small. This is fairly manageable, and can by careful cooking be rendered as tender as a sirloin steak. Place the slice in a stewpan, cover it with water, add salt, and set it upon the far end of the grate for three hours, never allowing it to boil. If by that time it is fairly tender, cover it with vegetables cut in very small dice—carrots, turnips, and one large onion; advance the pot nearer to the fire, and let it simmer another hour. Push aside the vegetables, take the meat out carefully, and lay it on the dish; pile the vegetables upon its center, then carefully thicken the liquor, and if necessary brown it with a drop or two of burnt sugar, and pour this gravy over the beef.