Recipe (for two people)
Sift a level teaspoonful of baking powder and a scant half teaspoonful of salt through a cupful of flour. See that the mixture is thorough. Take lard or butter (butter is best) and work it well into the flour until it crumbles under the fingers. Use plenty of finger work. Now add a very small quantity of milk and work into a dough that is easily rolled and flattened on a floured board. Roll out and cut in round cakes to fit cake tins. Have cakes about a half inch thick. Bake in a moderate oven until light golden in color. In serving have lots of berries—half of them—crushed. Split the shortcakes and butter them, if desired. Above all use thick, rich cream in generous doses. The dish is really best when the cakes are just from the oven—instead of cold.
The same goes for strawberry shortcake and makes the only real genuine old-fashioned shortcake.
XXIV
Chick Evans
TOMATO SOUP
I have a fondness for tomato soup and steak without grizzles. Since almost any one can broil a steak I’ll pass that up and tell you how to play cream of tomato right around the kitchen course in par.
You can take ripe tomatoes, cut them up, stew them and put them through a strainer. You can add a bit of soup stock and seasoning and all that, but the easy way is to take some of Mr. Campbell’s tomato soup and add milk instead of water—only use more soup, per person, than the can label calls for.
Don’t boil it—but when the soup is good and hot give it a bit of informal seasoning and then stir in a lot of stiff whipped cream. Keep back enough of the whipped cream to put a big spoonful of it in the center of each plate.