Cookery for Little Girls

by Olive Hyde Foster

Every girl should know how to make good pie crust, and as it is principally a matter of having the ingredients chilled from the ice-box, almost anyone can be successful by taking a little care.

Making Pies

PLAIN PASTRY

Sift one and one-half cupfuls of flour with one-half teaspoonful salt. Chop through this until like meal a half-cupful of chilled lard. Add just enough ice-water to make a stiff dough, and turn out with as little handling as possible on a floured bread-board. Sprinkle on flour enough to keep from sticking to rolling-pin, and dividing into sections, roll to fit the size of the pie-pan. (Perforated tins are preferable.) Add filling, put on thinly-rolled top crust, with a few openings in center to emit steam, and bake about half an hour, after pressing the edges thoroughly together to keep in all juice. If desired shorter, three-quarters of a cupful of lard can be used, but the dough must be kept thoroughly chilled, and it is best made in a cold room.

SETTING THE TABLE

Then, on Thursday morning begin the dinner in plenty of time, so there will be no hurry or confusion at the last moment. The table can be set early, the little maid being shown the silver required. At the right of each plate put the knife, soup spoon and necessary teaspoons; at the left the forks, three if a salad is served. The glass for water is placed to the right of the center, in line with the knife, and the napkin either directly in the center on the service-plate or to the left of the forks. If no flowers are available for table decorations, pile the fruit up attractively for a centerpiece, using the small dishes of nuts and raisins at each end to balance.

The vegetables next should be prepared. Trim off the long green ends of the celery and the discolored outside stalks, (which will make a nice cream of celery soup next day), and then instead of separating the remaining stalks, cut through the whole bunches into quarter sections or smaller. In this way each person gets part of the inside tender heart, and the celery is more attractive.

When dinner is all ready, if there is no maid to help, the easiest way is to have the soup served and placed on the table just before calling out the guests. Then, when ready for the next course, our little cook can remove the soup plates, taking from the right side of each person, and bring on the dinner. When that is over, she must remove all the dishes before each one, clear the table of everything but the water glasses and the decorations, brush the cloth with a folded napkin and a plate to catch the crumbs, and lastly bring in the dessert. Every family has its own way as regards details, but a mother can very quickly get a child into the habit of being neat, careful and quiet about handling dishes. And she must always remember to proffer food on a tray, at the left.