Chapter II: Part 2

One pint of flour, not quite ½ pint of cream, spoonful of melted butter, 2 eggs beaten and 2 tablespoons of yeast. Mix all well together and set to rise in a warm place. When well risen, stir down, grease your muffin cups, half fill each and set to rise again. When risen bake quickly.

LAPLAND CAKES.

MRS. CHARLES MASON, “ALTO,” KING GEORGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA.

A GREAT-GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON.

_Contributed by her Daughter, Mrs. Edward Jacquelin Smith,
Fredericksburg, Va._

Three eggs beaten very light and stirred in a pint of cream, then mix in 1 pint of flour, beating until perfectly smooth. Grease your shapes, pour in the batter and bake very quickly.

DUTCH TOAST.

MRS. W. H. PULSIFER, ST. LOUIS, MO.

One pt. of milk and 2 eggs, sweeten and add a little nutmeg. Cut in thin slices baker’s bread, dip in the custard and fry brown. Serve hot, and dust either powdered sugar or cinnamon over.

CORN BREAD.

_Contributed by Mrs. Mary Palmer Bispham, Richmond, Va._

To 4 eggs, 1 qt. of milk half sweet and half sour, butter the size of a walnut, and sufficient corn meal to make it the consistency of pound cake batter. A small teaspoon of soda dissolved in a little warm water, a little salt and a small quantity of brown sugar. Beat it well and bake in a quick oven in small earthen pans.

INDIAN AND FLOUR BISCUITS.

MRS. OLIVER HASTINGS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

_Contributed by Mrs. Morris Longstreth, Philadelphia, Pa._

Take ½ pt. Indian meal, and pour boiling water on enough to moisten, then stir in two-thirds cup of molasses and a little salt. Let it stand until cool. Then stir in two-thirds cup of yeast and flour enough to mix with hands. Let it stand until it has risen.

RICE OR HOMINY BREAD.

FROM AN OLD PLANTATION NEAR CHARLESTON, S. C.

_Contributed by Miss Caroline Sinkler, Philadelphia, Pa._

Two cups of cold rice or hominy, softened with hot water, beat in 3 eggs light and add 1 cup sweet milk, 1 cup of flour, 1 spoonful butter. Bake in a buttered pan, and turn out when done. Serve with butter spread over it.

THIN CORN CAKES.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

One cup of Indian meal, 1 cup of boiling water, 1 large tablespoon of butter, salt spoon of salt. Beat well 8 or 10 minutes, spread on tin sheets, and bake a rich brown.

EGGS.

SCRAMBLED EGGS.

_Contributed by Mr. Francis Rawle, Philadelphia, Pa._

Use only a silver chafing dish, and stir with a silver spoon. Let the eggs be broken in the chafing dish, but do not beat or stir them until they begin to get warm. Respect their integrity until the last. Do not put any butter in the dish until eggs have become heated. Use only best butter, one tablespoonful. Pepper and salt can be added at the beginning, or with the butter.

FRICASSEED EGGS AND ONIONS.

GODERICH, LAKE HURON.

_Contributed by Mrs. W. A. Glasgow, Jr., Philadelphia._

Slice 6 hard boiled eggs. Cut a large onion (mild) in thin slices. Put them in a frying pan with 3 tablespoonsful of butter, and stir until delicately brown. Add 2 tablespoonsful flour; pepper, salt, and nutmeg if desired; cup rich milk. Stir and boil in a few minutes. Now add egg and set saucepan over hot water until eggs are reheated. Serve.

A LARGE OMELET.

FOR MRS. BURD, FROM HER AFFECTIONATE ELIZA POWEL,
OCTOBER 13, 1810.

_Contributed by Mr. and Mrs. John Cadwalader, Philadelphia, Pa._

Beat 12 eggs, yolks and whites, to a froth, add 2 middling sized onions, handful of fresh parsley, chop very fine and mince. Beat these ingredients into the eggs, pepper and salt to your taste. Fry it in boiling hot butter, five minutes is long enough over a brisk fire. The eggs will form into a pancake in the frying pan; when done, double it lightly in half, and dish it up hot to your table. (The French frequently add a little garlic, or fresh leeks.)

CHEESE AND EGGS.

MARGARET CAMERON, GODERICH, LAKE HURON.

_Contributed by Mrs. W. A. Glasgow, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa._

Soak 1 cup of dried bread crumbs in fresh milk. Beat into this 3 eggs, add 1 tablespoonful of butter and ½ lb. of grated cheese. Strew upon the top sifted bread crumbs, and bake in the oven a delicate brown.

EGGS DIVORCON.

MADE BY THE CHEF OF THE ARLINGTON HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D. C.

_Contributed by Mrs. James Anders, Philadelphia, Pa._

Have in a deep saucepan boiling water, with a pinch of salt, and have at hand one fresh egg, crack carefully not to break the yolk, and after poaching one minute and a half, lift off with a skimmer and lay on puree of onions, and spread over a tablespoon of Bearnaise sauce; the other egg must be fried, but with a knife see that you will fold the white right over the yolk. Cook for a minute, then remove and place on puree of spinach, spreading some tomato sauce over, and serve, so you have two different kinds of eggs.

SOUPS.

OYSTER SOUPS.

(These are old and tried receipts.)

Good oysters and plenty of them, being a necessary ingredient--unlike the penurious old lady in Fredericksburg, Va. (that home of hospitality and good living), who on one occasion was dispensing oyster soup from the head of her table. The oysters were few and far between. The old negro butler stood attention. With the personal pride they all felt in those days in whatever concerned their master and mistress, he grasped the situation, and as she used the ladle to find an oyster that had strayed, he bent over in his eagerness, forgot to whisper and said: “Dar one, misstis.”

OCHRA SOUP.

MRS. ETTING, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

_Contributed by Mrs. Meredith Bailey, Philadelphia, Pa._

One-half shin beef, boil 6 hours, or until thoroughly done. Strain it, season with salt and white pepper and small white onion chopped fine; ¼ peck of ochras cut very thin, ¼ peck tomatoes, pared and chopped. Boil these in a sauce pan 2 or 3 hours, stirring them constantly with a large _wooden_ spoon, then pour them into soup, adding chopped parsley. Boil 2 or 3 hours.

BLACK BEAN SOUP.

_Contributed by Mrs. Charles A. Farnum, Philadelphia, Pa._

One and one-half pint of beans if you do not soak them over night, 1 pint if you do, 1 teaspoon summer savory, 1 onion, if you like, a small bit of pork and boil with a beef bone, turkey or chicken bones. Put in your soup dish 1 lemon sliced, 4 eggs boiled hard and sliced, ½ tumbler wine, ½ of a large cup tomato catsup.

BEEF SOUP--(THE VERY BEST).

_Contributed by Mrs. Charles B. Maury, Washington, D. C._

Get a good shin of beef and break the bones well. Put on fire in 1 gallon of cold water and let simmer slowly for 6 hours, boil until scum ceases to rise, skimming well. Then add 2 turnips chopped fine, 2 carrots, 2 Irish potatoes, and in season ½ doz. ears of corn cut from cob adding cob and let remain until you thicken soup. Tomatoes and ochra are always the greatest improvement, 1 pint of each. The more tomatoes the better, either canned or fresh. Just before dinner thicken with about 1 teacup of flour well mixed with cold water. Browning the flour gives a better flavor. Boil a few minutes after adding flour.

BRUNSWICK STEW.

A TYPICAL OLD VIRGINIA RECEIPT.

_Contributed by Mrs. Junius B. Mosby, Richmond, Va._

Six quarts of water in an iron pot, 2 medium size chickens, 2 slices bacon. Boil until meat is falling to pieces. Take out and chop fine, putting meat and bones back in pot. Add 6 large tomatoes, 1 pint butter beans, 6 medium size onions, season with salt, red and black pepper to taste. After this has cooked for 1 hour, add 6 Irish potatoes cut in slices. One-half hour before serving add 6 ears corn with grain split, and ¼ lb. of butter. Best to cook in thick iron pot and constantly stir to prevent burning.

BOUILLON.

_Contributed by Mrs. Charles Broadnax Maury, Washington, D. C._

Six pounds of lean beef cut fine, 6 quarts of water and boil from four to five hours, then add 1 carrot, 1 turnip and 1 very small onion, and boil until carrot and turnip are thoroughly done. Take off fire and set aside until next morning, remove the grease and add white of 1 egg. Put on fire until heated, adding salt to taste, strain it, and put enough burnt sugar and water to color it like brandy.

TURTLE SOUP.

_Contributed by Miss Charlotte Mitchell, New Orleans._

Put meat in a pot of water and boil. Cut one lemon and remove seeds, 1 potato, 1 onion, 1 can tomatoes, some bay leaves and parsley. Boil all together for 3 hours, brown 3 tablespoons of flour to which has been added a little of the soup and a little butter. After this is added boil slowly for 2 hours. Have in tureen a hard boiled egg chopped fine, slices of lemon and chopped parsley. Season soup with Worcestershire sauce and salt, then strain into tureen.

RECIPE FOR BLACK BEAN SOUP.

HARVEY’S RESTAURANT, WASHINGTON, D. C.

One pint of black beans or turtle beans, 1 small onion, 4 quarts of water, 1 small chicken, or ½ large one, or else 1 lb. beef and a slice of middling bacon. When the soup is nearly done chop up the meat which has been boiled in it. Season it with pepper and salt and make it into balls. Roll them in white of egg and dry them on the stove. When the soup is ready to be served, strain off the beans, add a wineglass of walnut or tomato catsup and a wineglass of good sherry with 4 hard-boiled eggs chopped and the meat balls to the soup.

PARKER HOUSE SOUP.

MISS RICE, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

_Contributed by Miss Josephine B. Meeks, Philadelphia, Pa._

Three quarts of beef stock, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 beet, 2 small onions cut fine. Add to this 1 can tomatoes, or 3 quarts of fresh raw tomatoes. Boil all together 1 hour, then strain it. Put 5 oz. of butter in a pan, heat it until light brown, remove it from the fire and stir into it 5 tablespoons of flour, mix well and add it to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and add 1 dessertspoonful of sugar. Put soup on fire and stir it until it boils 5 minutes, skimming all the while.

MODE OF MAKING SARAH DAVIS’ WHITE DAHL SOUP.

GODERICH, LAKE HURON, CANADA.

_Contributed by Mrs. W. A. Glasgow, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa._

One-half pint dahl, 3 pints cold water, 2 blades of celery or 1 teaspoon celery seed (tied in muslin), 3 sprigs parsley, 1 blade mace, ½ dozen pepper cones, 1 onion, 1 oz. flour, 1 oz. butter, ½ pint milk, 4 tablespoons of cream, salt and pepper to taste. Put cream in just before serving, and do not allow it to boil afterwards. Wash dahl, put into sauce pan with cold water, celery, parsley, mace, pepper cones and sliced onions. Boil one hour, or until dahl is soft. Rub through a sieve with a wooden spoon as much of pulp as possible, also liquid. Into an empty sauce pan put flour and butter. Rub together till smooth over fire and add milk, stirring well until it thickens. Add soup from the other vessel, season with pepper and salt and boil up once.

ONION SOUP.

AN OLD VIRGINIA RECEIPT.

_Contributed by Mrs. James T. Halsey, Philadelphia, Pa._

Cut up 12 large onions. Boil them in 3 quarts of milk and water equally mixed. Put in a piece of fowl, or veal, and a piece of bacon with pepper and salt. When the onions are boiled to a pulp thicken with a large spoonful of butter mixed with 1 of flour. Take out meat and serve it up with toasted bread cut in small pieces in the soup.

CRAB SOUP.

_Contributed by Miss Charlotte Mitchell, New Orleans._

Fifteen crabs thrown into boiling water alive. When cooked pick out the meat, stir it into 2 quarts of water in which a pound of bacon has been boiled. Add 1 pint of rich milk heated, to which has been added 2 well beaten yolks. Pour into crab soup, cook a few minutes without boiling. Season with salt and red pepper.

MUSHROOM SOUP.

_Contributed by Mrs. James Crosby Brown, Rosemont, Pa._

One cup of mushrooms, 1 cup of chicken stock, 1 cup of milk, 1 tablespoonful of corn starch, 1 teaspoonful of butter, yolk of 1 egg, ½ teaspoonful of salt. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly in cold water. Do not peel, cut them into thin slices (up and down with the gills). Put the milk and stock in a double boiler and when hot add the mushrooms and salt. Cook slowly about five minutes or until tender, then stir in the corn starch, which has been moistened with a little cold water. Cook several minutes, then add the yolk of an egg lightly beaten. Serve with croutons and the butter broken into small pieces. If desired, the soup may be pressed through a fine sieve just before the yolk of egg is added.

TURTLE SOUP.

_Contributed by Miss Charlotte Mitchell, New Orleans._

First make a stew of the turtle cut into small pieces and put in the pot with 4 tablespoons of lard. Let simmer, uncover pot and add 4 onions, 4 pods of garlic, parsley, thyme and pepper chopped fine. Let this fry for a few minutes, then add 1 can of tomatoes, soup meat and sufficient water for soup, and let all boil as with an ordinary soup. When ready to serve add ½ glass of sherry, thicken with a little flour, finally add slices of 1 lemon. This soup can be made browner in color by adding 4 tablespoons of well burnt sugar.

BLACK BEAN SOUP.

GRANDMOTHER HANNAH BURROWS.

_Contributed by Mrs. F. S. Burrows, Philadelphia, Pa._

One qt. of beans boiled until tender; add 1 qt. of tomatoes, boil two hours and strain. Add 1 tablespoonful corn starch, pepper, salt, 1 tablespoonful of butter and a few cloves. Just before serving add brandy and sherry to taste and a few slices of lemon.

GENERAL BURNSIDE’S CLAM SOUP.

_Contributed by Miss Annie Hammond, Providence, R. I._

Two qts. clams, 2 onions, 3 qts. water. Boil 2 hours and then strain. Scald 1 qt. milk thickened with a spoonful of flour, seasoned to taste. Chop the clams fine and remove the black out of the stomachs.

CALF’S HEAD SOUP.

GRANDMOTHER LARNED’S RECEIPT--AN OLD RHODE ISLAND RECEIPT.

_Contributed by Mrs. Frank A. Brastow, Haverford, Pa._

Boil the head and put in 8 quarts of water till the meat separates from the bones. Tie up in a bag a handful of summer savory, ½ the quantity of sage, 2 tablespoons of allspice, 1 of cloves, 2 large onions and a little mace, and boil in soup. Strain out the bones and let it stand over night. Skim off all the fat, cut the meat in small pieces, put in 2 teaspoons of black pepper. A little cayenne a little while before it is done. Rub ¼ lb. of butter with 3 tablespoons of flour quite smooth and let it boil 2 minutes. Add a pint of port wine and give it another boil.

RICH BROWN SOUP.

_Contributed by Mrs. Charles A. Farnum, Philadelphia, Pa._

Take 6 lbs. of the lean of fresh beef cut from the bone, stick it over with 4 doz. cloves, season with a teaspoon of salt, the same of pepper, the same of mace and a grated nutmeg. Slice ½ doz. onions, fry them in butter, chop and spread them over the meat. After you have put it in the stew pot, pour in five quarts of water and stew very slowly five or six hours. When the meat is dissolved into shreds, strain and return the liquid to the pot. Add 6 wineglasses of claret or port wine. Simmer again slowly for about half an hour. When the soup is reduced to 3 quarts it is done.

CRAB SOUP.

MRS. LEWIS MINOR, NORFOLK, VA.

_Contributed by Mrs. James T. Halsey, Philadelphia, Pa._

Take 1 full grown fat chicken, cut it up in small pieces and put it bones and all into a gallon of cold water. Let it boil slowly until reduced to 2 quarts. Then strain it and return it to the pot adding 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and a pod of red pepper. Take 2 doz. large fresh crabs, pick all the meat carefully and add to soup. Let it boil up and add ½ lb. of sweet butter rubbed with a tablespoon of flour. When it comes to a boil again add 1 pint of sweet cream and 1 pint of milk. Let it boil once and serve.

CHICKEN SOUP.

Wash 1 large chicken, cut up in pieces carefully removing all skin and fat; place over fire in 2 quarts of water adding 1 lb. of bacon, 1 large onion chopped fine, some pepper and salt, a few blades of mace, a handful of parsley.

CLAM SOUP.

MRS. JOHN MARKOE, PHILADELPHIA (1820).

_Contributed by Mrs. William Ruckman Philler, Philadelphia, Pa._

Boil down an old fowl or a knuckle of veal, or what is cheaper, a set of calf’s feet, till you have a quart of jelly. There should be an onion, some mace, pepper and salt boiled with it. Strain off the liquor, let it cool and then take off the fat. Put 50 sand clams washed (the middle size are best) into a pot over the fire till they open. Strain the liquor which you will find in the pot, and add it to the meat jelly. Put in the clams also, and let all boil an hour and a quarter. Then add ½ pint good cream or milk, a piece of butter as big as a walnut, mixed with a little flour. Stir these well in the soup. Have ready in a tureen the yolks of 2 eggs beaten and some chopped parsley, pour the soup in, a little at first till the eggs are well mixed, and then the remainder.

PEPPER POT.

MRS. RACHEL WALKER CRESSON (1779) PHILADELPHIA, PA.

_Contributed by Miss Anne H. Cresson, Germantown, Pa._

Four lbs. of the three different kinds of tripe. Soak in salt water an hour or two. Put on with 6 qts. of water, with salt and half of a little red pepper. Boil until thoroughly tender. It will take nearly all day. Leave in the water over night, out of the pot. Cut the tripe in small pieces; flour it well and put it back in the liquor which has been reheated. Add 2 small potatoes cut in pieces; 1 doz. cloves, 1 doz. allspice, 1 heaping tablespoonful each of sweet marjoram, summer savory and sweet basil. Boil 2 hours. About half an hour before serving add dumplings made by mixing flour, shortening, salt and water; make not too stiff and of the size of marbles. Thicken the soup with butter and flour rubbed together. The soup should be about as thick as rich cream when done.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP (ORIGINAL).

GEN. DABNEY H. MAURY, RICHMOND, VA.

_Contributed by Mrs. James T. Halsey, Philadelphia, Pa._

Take the head and haslets of a calf (dead). Take out the brains, put them into 3 gallons of water, and boil down to 3 quarts. Put into the water, after boiling it down, a bunch of parsley, thyme and an onion chopped fine, 1 large teaspoon of allspice, 1 of cloves, 1 of mace and 1 of nutmeg, black and red pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt. When the head and haslets are sufficiently boiled, take them out and mince the meat, and return it to the pot with ½ pint of sherry and a teacup of walnut and tomato catsup. Make a thickening of brown flour with a tablespoon of vinegar and 1 of butter. Garnish tureen with fritters made of the brains and 6 eggs, chopped parsley and pepper.

OCHRA SOUP.

AN OLD VIRGINIA RECEIPT.

_Contributed by Mrs. James T. Halsey, Philadelphia, Pa._

Get 2 double hands full of ochra, wash and slice it thin, add 2 onions chopped fine, put it into a gallon of water at an early hour in the morning. It must be kept steadily simmering, but not boiling; put in pepper and salt. At 12 o’clock put in a handful of lima beans; at half-past 1 o’clock add 3 young squash, cut in small pieces a chicken or knuckle of veal, a bit of bacon or pork that has been boiled, 6 tomatoes, peeled. When nearly done, thicken with a spoonful of butter mixed with one of veal. Have rice boiled separately to serve with it.

NEW ORLEANS COURT BOUILLON.

_Contributed by Miss Charlotte Mitchell, New Orleans._

Fry 3 chopped onions in a tablespoon of butter--then add a cup of tomatoes, 3 or 4 whole cloves, pepper, salt and toast. Let them stew together for 30 minutes. Then add 1 tablespoon flour with about ½ pint of claret. Let it boil, stirring constantly all the time for 5 minutes, until the flour is thoroughly cooked. Strain sauce and return it to the fire in a saucepan. Lay in the fish in slices, let them simmer gently until cooked, which will require from 6 to 10 minutes, according to thickness. Have ready in a deep dish slices of toast enough to cover bottom of dish. When done lay slices of fish on toast, add the remaining 1 pint of claret to the sauce. Pour it over the fish and the Court Bouillon is ready to serve. A fish of 5 or 6 pounds is the size used for this.

CALVES’ HEAD SOUP.

MRS. JULIA BRECKINRIDGE, VA.

Put head in water to soak, then in salt water to boil (take brains out and tie in bag to boil). Strain liquor, cut all meat and brains in dice, 6 potatoes cut small, dumplings made of flour, water and lard, small, add red pepper, 3 bunches of pot-herbs, sweet marjoram tablespoon, 4 hard boiled eggs cut fine. Meat balls (meat chopped fine with salt, pepper and flour) fried in butter, sherry to taste.

CHICKEN SOUP.

MRS. FRANCIS BROOKE, “ST. JULIAN,” KING GEORGE CO., VA.

_Contributed by Mrs. James T. Halsey, Philadelphia, Pa._

Take a fat chicken, 5 pints of water, a slice of middling chopped fine. The soup must be put over a slow fire to simmer instead of boiling the whole morning until about a half hour before dinner, then let it boil. For thickening use a pint of cream, a tablespoon of butter and 1 of flour and a bunch of thyme. The thickening must be put in before it boils and the thyme taken out.

NOTE.--This recipe came from one of the old and most typical Virginia homes, “St. Julian,” in Virginia. It was the recipe of my great-great-great aunt, Mrs. Francis Brooke, and is more than a century old.--Sue Mason Maury Halsey.

BEAN SOUP.

MRS. GEORGE NEWBOLD LAWRENCE, NEW YORK.

Put 1 pint of kidney beans into 2 quarts of water, boil them 3 hours, then pour off the water, mash the beans through a colander with a wooden masher, then throw them back into the water in which they were boiled, add a piece of butter the size of an egg, a little salt and red pepper. Let it boil a quarter of an hour. Add a wineglass of white wine.

PALESTINE SOUP.

_Contributed by Mrs. Charles A. Farnum, Philadelphia, Pa._

Peel and cut into fine pieces 2 onions, 2 turnips, 2 carrots and 2 potatoes. Put into a stew pan or soup pot with ⅛ lb. of butter and the same quantity of lean ham and a bunch of parsley chopped fine. Put this over a brisk fire ten minutes, then add a good tablespoon of flour, mixing it in well. Add 1 quart of meat stock made the day before), ¼ pint of boiling milk. Stir until boiling, season with pepper and salt and a good teaspoon sugar. Rub all through a sieve and put back in the pot, but only let it boil up once, skim well and serve with small piece of fried bread on napkin.

PEPPER POT.

_From Ellen Gallagher, Philadelphia, Pa., who lived
with Mrs. William H. Horstman, her son, and grandson, and
great-granddaughter--four generations of reference._

Use a tripe and a knuckle of veal, let them boil all day separately, strain the tripe liquor into the veal liquor and strain off the fat. Season with salt, pepper, sweet marjoram, pot-herbs, and potatoes cut very fine, and drop in flour balls or dumplings, and let boil five minutes.

CRECY SOUP.

MRS. MORRIS R. STROUD, PHILADELPHIA, PA., 1875.

_Contributed by Mrs. Meredith Bailey, Philadelphia, Pa._

To a knuckle of veal and slice of beef, put 7 quarts of water. Boil all day to 3 quarts. Strain off next day, put in soup, bones and vegetables and boil 6 hours, then strain next day, skim off all the fat. Add 1 cup of split peas, boil until dissolved, then add 1 can of tomatoes, boil an hour. Add 3 tablespoonsful of flour and strain through a fine sieve. Flavor with Worcestershire Sauce.

BISQUE OF CLAMS.

_Contributed by Mrs. Thomas B. Sims, Bryn Mawr, Pa._

For 1½ pints of soup, take 1 doz. large clams, stew them 15 minutes in their own liquor, to which water is added to make three gills. Boil 3 gills of cream or rich milk. Stir 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 of flour in a small saucepan until it bubbles. Then pour boiling milk in, stirring all the time. Stand aside, squeeze each clam with a lemon squeezer and you will find but an empty skin remains. Strain clams and liquor to the white sauce already made, pressing as much juice out as possible. Stir well, bring all to a boil and remove from fire. While you beat the yolk of an egg with 2 tablespoons of the soup stir to rest and season to taste. Take care the soup is boiling when egg is added, but does not boil afterward.

PHILADELPHIA FAMOUS OLD PEPPER POT.

_From a Daughter of the Old Higgenbottom Family._

Knuckle of veal, 6 lbs. of best mixed tripe. Boil them well covered with water in separate large pots, three hours at least. When cold skim all grease off, and put the two liquors in one large pot. Cut the tripe up in pieces the size of a large dice, also some of the veal. Take 6 large white potatoes and 4 onions. Make a dough rolled out as for shortening, and make little balls of it in the hand the size of a large pea. When the soup is boiling drop them in, a couple at a time. Thicken the soup a little with flour paste. Season to taste with salt, pepper and pot-herbs, half a box of sweet marjoram, half a box of thyme. The soup when all cooked, should be very full of the above things.

CHESTNUT SOUP CLEAR.

USED BY LORD RAGLAN, RAGLAN CASTLE, ENGLAND.

_Contributed by Mrs. Joseph Coleman Bright, Green Hill Farm,
Overbrook, Pa._

Scald and peel 2 doz. large chestnuts, put in a pan ½ lb. butter and 3 tablespoons olive oil, let it get to boiling point (be careful not to burn). Put in your chestnuts and brown them to golden color. This should be carefully watched, it should only take 2 minutes to brown them. Lay them on a paper in the oven to dry. Now take a quart of good consomme well seasoned with celery essence and cayenne pepper. Put your nuts in the tureen, and pour the boiling soup over. Soup must be boiling to bring the flavor out of the chestnuts.

OCHRA GUMBO--AN OLD CREOLE RECIPE.

MRS. EUGENE PALMER, NEW ORLEANS.

_Contributed by Mrs. Robert Lindsay Pollard, Austin, Tex._

Fry slowly together 1 sliced onion and a tablespoon of dripping or a slice of salt pork. Add a pound of lean beef cut in small pieces and stew quickly. Dredge a heaping tablespoon of flour and cook until brown. Add 3 pints of boiling water, 1 pint of sliced and peeled tomatoes and 1 pint of sliced ochra. Cover and simmer for 1½ hours, adding pepper and salt to taste. Chicken may be used instead of beef, or crabs, or shrimp. In the latter case these should be previously boiled and the meat picked out and added last. A little chopped ham is always an improvement. Serve with boiled rice. The gumbo should be very thick when served.

CALF’S HEAD SOUP.

MRS. THOMAS PRATHER, LOUISVILLE, KY. (1810).

_Contributed by her great-grandniece, Mrs. Alice C. Slaughter,
through Miss Alice W. Richardson, Louisville, Ky._

Put the calf’s head in 1½ gal. of water, let it boil until the meat drops from the bones, then take it out and chop very fine. Take out the brains and mix with them one pint of claret, a wineglass of madeira and teaspoon of salt. With the chopped meat put an onion chopped, handful of parsley, a teaspoon of allspice, ½ teaspoon of cloves, one of black pepper, little sage and thyme and teacup of walnut catsup. Work a little browned flour into a piece of butter, and add just before you take off the soup.

OYSTER GUMBO.

MRS. LAWTON, NEW ORLEANS, LA.

One large heaping spoonful of lard. When boiling, stir in one small cup of flour and let it brown well, stirring all the time to keep from burning. Then add a large onion, sliced. Let that brown. Have one chicken cut up as for stew and fry in lard and onion mixture, then add as much water as you would for a tureen of soup. This must cook for five hours. One hour before serving put in 100 oysters with their liquor, and just before serving stir in 2 tablespoons of gumbo filee (a powder made from sassafras). As this lumps easily, stir a small quantity at a time in a cup of the liquid. The soup must boil up once after the filee is put in, and then add salt and pepper to taste. This quantity serves 10 people.

“MAMMY LACKEY’S” MOCK TURTLE SOUP.

MRS. CATHERINE LEAF SMITH, READING, PA. (1800).

_Contributed by Miss Katherine Smith, Philadelphia, Pa._

One gallon cold water, 1 calf’s head, 1 knuckle of veal, 1½ lbs. veal cutlet, 1 even teaspoonful of cloves and allspice mixed, ½ teaspoonful of mace, 1 large potato, 1 onion, dash of sweet marjoram, 1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley, two hard boiled eggs, ½ pint wine, enough good plain pie crust dough to make 3 or 4 doz. balls the size of a marble, salt, pepper, flour, butter and lard. Cut potato into dice, cut onion into very small pieces, tie spice into cloth. Wash head in cold water to remove blood. Take out the brain, remove from it all the veins, and put it into cold water until used. Boil the head in one gallon of cold water, and if the kettle is large enough the knuckle of veal may be boiled at the same time. If not, it can be cooked when the head is taken out. As the water boils off, enough must be added to keep the same quantity, otherwise there will not be enough. When the head falls apart take it out of the kettle, and set aside to cool. If the knuckle of veal had been boiled with the head, the soup may now be strained through a fine sieve. Add potato, onion, spice, dough balls, pepper and salt to taste, and allow it to cook slowly. As soon as the head is cool enough skin the tongue and cheeks, remove all bone, skin, veins, etc. Cut tongue and meat into dice. The meat on the knuckle is not used. Chop veal cutlet in meat chopper, season with salt, pepper and a little sweet marjoram; roll into balls twice as large as the others, and fry brown in lard and butter. Keep these hot. Mash yolks of two hard-boiled eggs with very little flour, and make into balls. When the dough balls rise to the top of soup they have cooked enough. Take out spice. Add meat, brains cut into pieces, parsley, and a few cloves if the soup does not taste of the spices. Thicken with butter and flour to make a rich soup. Just before serving add force meat balls, egg balls and wine. Do not skim off the surface.

CREAM OF MUSHROOMS.

_Contributed by Mrs. C. Stuart Patterson, Philadelphia, Pa._

If hothouse mushrooms are used they require cooking for nearly or quite 2 hours. When cooked, put the mushrooms in a vegetable press and squeeze the juice into the water in which they have been boiled, add to this small pieces of butter, and a pint of cream, smoothly thickened with a little flour, or better still, rice flour. Two tablespoonfuls of sherry may be added if desired. Pour into cups and serve with whipped cream on top.

FISH.

RECIPE FOR TERRAPIN.

TAKEN VERBATIM FROM “AUNT” MARY SHARP (OLD MARYLAND COOK).

_Contributed by Mrs. Robert C. Wright, Haverford, Pa._

Put de tarrypins inter er tub er col’ water, an’ let ’em wash deyselves. Den pore off dat water, an’ put some mo’ in, an’ let ’em wash deyselves agin. Den drap ’em erlive inter biling water, an’ let ’em bile till ther feets is easy skunned, tunning ’em over eve’y now an’ agin. W’en de feets is loose an’ easy, took from de shell, take ’em out and put ’em on er dish. Save er litl’ er de water dey was biled in an’ streen it. W’en de tarrypins gets cooled off, pick ’em, but be keerful not ter break de gall. Split de entruls an’ cut ’em up ’bout er inch long. W’en de meat is all cut up, th’ow in er litl’ raid pepper, black pepper, salt an’ mace. Put ’em in er stewpan wif jes ’bout nuff er de water dey was biled in ter kiver’ em, an’ den stew ’em slow fer er littl’ more’n er quarter hour. Den put in some browned flour mixed up wif butter stirred in, near ’bout er quarter pound butter, an free (3) tablespoonfuls flour ter er mejum size tarrypin. Put de wine in jes as de tarrypins is took outen de stewpan fer de table.

TERRAPIN BROWN STEW.

MR. JOE MCALLISTER, SAVANNAH, GA.

_Contributed by Mrs. Gulielma Harrison, Brandon, Va._

Have the terrapins boiled with onion, cloves and mace and celery seed. Add bread and black pepper and salt. When nearly done put them into a chafing dish into which you have mashed 2 large spoonfuls browned flour, 2 of butter, and a teaspoon of powdered allspice. Boil until quite thick, add a glass of wine. Eat with lemon juice.

PLANKED FISH.

MRS. MORRIS R. STROUD, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

(A method of planking shad used by the Piscataway tribe in Maryland.)

_Contributed by Mrs. W. Hinckle Smith, Bryn Mawr, Pa._

A pile of cord wood is made about 3 ft. high, 4 ft. wide, and 8 to 20 ft. long, according to the number of shad to be planked. When this has been reduced to a bed of coals, the shad, which have been previously cleaned and split down the back, are fastened with nails to oak planks about 2 ft. wide, 4 ft. long, and 3 in. thick. These planks like wine of ancient vintage, are all the better for long keeping. After the impalement the planks are set up edgewise before the fire, and while cooking the shad are continually basted with a mixture of butter, baking grease and Worcestershire sauce, with the addition of salt and pepper. Meantime, the roes are being prepared on another and smaller fire. When all is ready they are served with clam chowder and fresh spring vegetables. Many years ago old Jack Anderson, a relic of the days of slavery, used to say: “Well, I tell you, when dey’s done, marse, you jes’ cook an’ baste, an’ baste an’ cook twel dey smells so good you cain’t wait no longah, den dey’s done.”

FISH PIE.

MRS. J. A. HEWLETT, BROOKLYN, N. Y.

_Contributed by Mrs. James Crosby Brown, Rosemont, Pa._

About 1 qt. cold boiled fish, 1 pt. of milk, 1 large tablespoonful of butter, 1 onion, 1 teaspoonful of corn starch or flour, a little green celery or parsley. Add salt and pepper. Drop the onion into the cold milk and when it comes to a boil take out the onion, add corn starch mixed first with a little cold milk, butter and seasoning. Put a layer of sauce into the dish first, then fish, and repeat until all is used. Cover the top with bread crumbs and bake half an hour or more, according to oven.

MRS. HABERSHAM’S BROWN TERRAPIN STEW.

MRS. FRANK B. SCREVEN, SAVANNAH, GA.

Eight terrapin, diamond back, or 6 yellow terrapin, 1 teaspoon sugar, carameled, 1 tablespoon vinegar, with pepper, salt to taste, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 6 or 8 tablespoons of parched flour, 1 tumbler best sherry, 1 qt. jelly terrapin was cooked in, 1 saltspoon powdered allspice, 1 pinch cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon. Put butter in a deep pan on stove and melt it, add slowly the flour in which the allspice has been thoroughly sifted, spoonful by spoonful, stirring hard all the time. Heat the jelly in another pot and add little by little to the mixture until it boils and becomes smooth like starch. Then add sugar, and vinegar to sauce. Then the terrapin meat and eggs, taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Lastly pour in wine and serve with lemon. Boil terrapin for this stew with bunch of herbs and 2 onions. (For 16 people.)

TERRAPIN (MARYLAND STYLE).

The recipe of John Erwin, a negro cook from Maryland, who served suppers and dinners in Philadelphia before the Civil War--1859, 1862, 1863, 1864.

_Contributed by Mrs. Lelia Andrews Smith, Philadelphia._

Wash 4 terrapins in warm water, then throw them into a pot of boiling water, let them boil till the shells crack, then take them out, remove the bottom shell. Cut each quarter separately, take the gall from the liver very carefully, pick out the eggs and put the pieces of terrapin in a stewpan, use the water they were boiled in and if not enough to cover them add some more water, a little salt, cayenne and black pepper, a little mace and butter the size of a large egg. Then let it stew slowly for ¾ of an hour. Make a thickening of flour and water, stir in a few minutes before you take it off the fire and add 3 or more glasses of wine, add the eggs as you serve it. More wine and spices can be added if desired.

STUFFED CRABS.

MRS. MORRIS R. STROUD, PHILADELPHIA, PA. (1877).

_Contributed by Mrs. Meredith Bailey._

Cook the crabs 20 minutes. When cold, cut them in two parts, clean the shells well and keep. Take out and hash the meat. Make Bechamel sauce with cream, not too thick; add 1 onion hashed fine, and fry in butter. Spice strongly with cayenne pepper, mustard, spices and nutmeg. Cook crabs in this sauce 10 minutes, add crumbs, and thicken with yolks of eggs. Bechamel Sauce.--Mix cold and well together in a saucepan 2 oz. of butter, 1 tablespoonful flour, add 1 pt. of milk, set on fire, stir constantly. When turning rather thick, take off. Beat a yolk of egg with teaspoon of water. Turn it into the sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

SHRIMP PILLAU.

MRS. HUGER, SAVANNAH, GA.

Take 1 qt. of rice, boil grainy, while hot add a heaping tablespoonful of butter, 1 pt. of milk, mace, pepper and salt to taste. Have 2 plates of pickled shrimp, put alternate layers of rice and shrimp, letting the first and last layers be of rice. Beat up the yolk of an egg, put it over the rice and bake.

LOBSTER AND CRAB FARCEE.

MRS. MORRIS R. STROUD, PHILADELPHIA, PA. (1877).

_Contributed by Mrs. Meredith Bailey, Philadelphia, Pa._

Take off the shell carefully of a boiled lobster or crabs. Chop a piece of onion fine with a little butter. When it is partly fried add a teaspoonful of flour. Chop your lobster fine, put in the pan and stir it until partly fried. Add ½ pt. of milk or cream, and stir again. Stir frequently to keep from burning. Add pepper and salt. Lay the pieces of shell in a pan, fill with the mixture, and bake in an oven.

SALMON PUDDING.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

One can of preserved salmon, 3 eggs, 4 tablespoons of butter melted, ½ cup fine bread crumbs, pepper, salt and minced parsley. Mince the fish and drain off all the liquor for sauce. Rub in the butter and work in the crumbs and add the seasoning, and last of all add the beaten eggs. Put in a buttered pudding mould and set in a dripping pan full of hot water, keep the water at a fast boil, filling up as it evaporates. Cook for one hour. Set the mould in cold water a moment when you take it from the oven. Serve on a platter with the following sauce. One cupful of milk heated to a boil, and thicken with a tablespoon of corn starch. Add 1 egg beaten light, and stir in the liquor from the fish and 1 large spoon of butter. Season and let it cook for 3 minutes in hot water, then add the juice of a lemon and some capers. Pour over the mould of pudding and serve. Cut the pudding in slices.

TO FRY FISH.

W. R. COOK, STEWARD, “FISHHAWK,” WASHINGTON, D. C.

_Contributed by Mrs. Charles B. Maury, Washington, D. C._

Beat up an egg in a little water until it is thoroughly mixed, then dip fish in batter. Then roll in batter and fry in very hot fat.

CRAB RAVIGOTE.

_Contributed by Mrs. Joseph Neff, Philadelphia, Pa._

Boil crabs, put aside to cool, then pick. Mix meat with thick Remoulade sauce and fill shell. Cover meat with mayonnaise, and decorate with anchovy fillets and sliced pickles. Serve with sprig of parsley and sliced lemon. Remoulade Sauce.--Mix together in a bowl 2 tablespoonfuls of chopped anchovies that have been preserved in capers and oil. Add 1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful of mustard. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix all with a pinch of scraped garlic, salad oil and a few drops of malt vinegar.

TO COOK TERRAPIN.

MRS. GOODFELLOW.

Mrs. Goodfellow was quite celebrated in Philadelphia about 100 years ago. She was at the head of a famous cooking school class where young ladies of the representative families learned the art of cooking, it being considered then the last touch to their education preparatory to entering society. Boning a turkey gave one a diploma at this celebrated school.

_Contributed by Mrs. Francis Taylor Chambers, Philadelphia, Pa._

To 1 large sized terrapin take ¼ of a pound of butter, ½ a gill of cream, the same of wine, cayenne pepper, salt and flour to your taste; a little water must be mixed with it to prevent your butter going to oil. Just before you take them up stir in the cream. The boiling of the terrapin depending on the size.

BOSTON FISH-BALLS.

_Contributed by Mrs. Charles P. Searle, Boston, Mass._

One pint bowl salt fish picked up very fine, 2 pint bowls of potatoes, pared whole and raw. Put the fish and potatoes together into cold water, and boil until the potatoes are wholly cooked, remove from the fire and drain off all the water, then mash with a potato masher, add a piece of butter the size of an egg, two well-beaten eggs and a little pepper. Mix well with a wooden spoon, and then sprinkle some flour upon your moulding board, and also some on the hands, and take small piece of the fish mixture and roll in the hands to about the size of a small egg. Then fry in hot fat as you would doughnuts.

TOSSED-UP CODFISH.

Pick fish to pieces. Half a pint of thin drawn butter, half pint of sweet milk, three hard boiled eggs chopped fine, one tablespoonful of butter, pinch of red pepper. Heat until nearly boiling, then throw in the fish and boil up once. Serve on buttered toast.

FISH IN MOULD (NORWEGIAN RECIPE).

_Contributed by Mrs. J. F. Minis, Savannah, Ga._

Boil 1 large firm-meated fish (rock fish) not quite done. Skin and take out bones, putting the bones, skin and head back, to boil down strong. Have 1 cup of milk, 3 cups of cream. To 1 large soup plate of fish meat put 2 tablespoonfuls of potato flour, pound ½ hour, adding a little nutmeg and a tiny bit of mace. As you pound add a tablespoonful at a time of the milk, cream and fish essence. Put in a mould. Put greased paper over the top, bake in cool oven in a pan of water. Turn out of mould, dress with rounds of truffles, make pink shrimp or lobster sauce to serve.

SABOT A LA CREME AU GRATIN.

MRS. BRADLEY T. JOHNSON.

_Contributed by Mrs. John Poe, Baltimore._

Boil a fresh cod or rock weighing 4 to 5 pounds. Pick out all bones, season lightly with white pepper and salt. Put aside till the sauce is ready. Sauce.--One quart milk, mix smoothly with ¼ lb. flour, put in 5 small onions, a sprig of thyme, a bunch of parsley, tied together, add a little grated nutmeg, a teaspoon of salt, ¼ teaspoonful white pepper. Place on a quick fire, stir all the time until it forms a paste, then take off and stir in ½ lb. butter, yolks of 2 eggs. Mix well together and pass through a sieve. Pour some of the sauce in a baking dish, and a layer of fish alternately, sprinkle top with bread crumbs and grated cheese. Bake in oven ½ hour.

LOBSTER CUTLETS.

_Contributed by Mrs. M. Kim Miller, New York._

One lobster cut in dice, butter size of an egg, tablespoon flour, 2 yolks of eggs, ½ pint milk, pepper, salt and ¼ nutmeg. Put butter in pan, add flour, when thick add milk, then seasoning, and last lobster. When cold dip in egg and bread crumbs and fry.

COLD CRAB RAVIGOTE.

_Given by the Chef of the famous old Bellevue, Philadelphia, Pa._

One pt. best crab meat, 2 large fresh ripe tomatoes, 1 large green pepper, 1 red pepper same kind. Chop the tomatoes and peppers fine. Be sure to take out all the seeds in peppers. Tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Mix all together with mayonnaise enough to have them quite wet and moist. Season to taste with salt and a dash of paprika. Fill each shell heaping full of the mixture and garnish the top with 2 anchovies, a small piece of cut pickle and lemons. The anchovies can be dispensed with if preferred. Serve in six shells.

CODFISH BALLS.

MRS. GILBERT (1800).

_Contributed by Mrs. W. Hinckle Smith, Philadelphia, Pa._

Put the fish (not the canned) to soak in cold water, changing the water at bedtime. In the morning boil fresh potatoes, and with a fork beat them very smooth with a piece of butter about the size of an egg. Pick all the bones out of the fish, and mix with the potatoes, beating with a fork. Then beat to a froth 1 egg and beat that in. Also season with pepper and salt, _no milk_. Have them rolled lightly into balls, and fry to a light brown in _boiling_ lard. Drop them in just as you send in breakfast. Five minutes is long enough for them to cook. Serve on dish with sprigs of parsley between.

TERRAPIN.

_Contributed by Mrs. M. Kim Miller, New York._

Put in boiling water and remain until claws become soft. After cooling open and use liver, meat and eggs to 1 terrapin, the yolks of 3 hard boiled eggs mashed fine with 1 tablespoonful of flour, a little cream, salt and pepper, cup of wine. Put in saucepan ¼ lb. butter, let melt and then put in terrapin. When warmed through put in dressing and boil once. Add wine after it boils.

TERRAPINS.

MRS. JOHN MARKOE, PHILADELPHIA, PA. (1790).

_Contributed by Mrs. Wm. D. Winsor, Philadelphia, Pa._

Boil the terrapins until the shells are easily separated, the time depends on the size of the terrapins. To 2 quarts of picked terrapin, put ½ lb. butter; work it up well with a tablespoonful of flour, add the pounded mashed smooth yolks of four hard-boiled eggs, pepper and salt. Put 1 pint of cream on the fire, heat it, _not boil_. Stir in gradually the butter, flour and egg, cook five minutes, then add terrapin only long enough to heat well, all slowly done. Then add 1 pint of wine, if you like them thick, add more flour and butter mixed.

TURBOT A LA CREME.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

Take a haddock about 4 lbs., boil it until the bone will come out, and the skin come off quite easily. Boil 1 qt. of milk and stir into it 4 tablespoonsful of flour, a little salt, 1 egg, a piece of butter the size of an egg. Put into a bag 1 onion cut fine, 1 teaspoonful of pepper, 1 of nutmeg, a few sprigs of parsley, 1 tablespoon of thyme, and boil in the milk to extract the flavor before adding the flour, butter, etc. Butter a dish, put a layer of fish, then one of the mixture, and so on until the dish is filled. Sprinkle over the top bread crumbs and a little grated cheese and some butter. Bake until brown.

TERRAPIN WHITE STEW.

_Contributed by Mrs. Gulielma Harrison, Brandon, Va._

Have 3 terrapins boiled; when done take a portion of the liquor, rub into a smooth paste the yolks of 6 hard boiled eggs and 2 tablespoonsful of fresh butter. To this add the terrapin and liquor in a chafing dish, add 2 wineglasses of wine, ½ grated nutmeg, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 lemon rind cut thin, a little cayenne pepper and ½ pint of cream. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

KEDGEREE.

_Contributed by Miss K. Willcox, Westport, Conn._

Equal quantities of boiled fish and boiled rice, for a half pound of each use two hard boiled eggs, a grain of cayenne pepper and a grain of curry powder, ½ tablespoonful of cream, 2 oz. of butter and little common pepper and salt. Remove the bone and skin from the fish, and put it in a saucepan with butter. Add the rice and whites of two hard boiled eggs, cutting the whites into small pieces. Then add the cream, the curry powder and the cayenne. Toss this over the fire until it becomes very hot, then take it off and pile it very high on a very hot dish. Smooth with a knife, and rub the yolk through a sieve on the top and serve.

FISH CHOWDER.

MRS. NEIL ROBINSON, NEWPORT, R. I.

For 6 persons use a fish weighing 4 lbs., 1 qt. sliced potatoes, ¼ lb. salt pork, 2 good-sized onions, ½ doz. crackers, 2 qts. of water, 1 pt. milk, 1 tablespoonful of flour, salt and pepper to taste. Cook fish first. Put potatoes on in qt. of water and boil 10 minutes. Cut pork into bits and cook until brown, then onions sliced very fine. Fry slowly, spread pork and onions on fish and cover until ready. Stir the flour into fat remaining in pan and cook until brown, then add the milk and boil up once. Now add a quart of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Then turn milk from the pan, split the crackers and let boil up once.

TO FRY FISH IN FLOUR BATTER.

W. R. COOK, STEWARD, “FISHHAWK,” WASHINGTON, D. C.

_Contributed by Mrs. Charles B. Maury, Washington, D. C._

Mix the flour up in a little water, and put an egg in and beat it all up together, not very thick. Then season with pepper and salt. Put the fish in the batter, and have a hot pan of lard. Then it is all prepared for frying.

DEVILED CLAMS.

_Contributed by Mrs. M. Kim Miller, New York._

One hundred clams chopped fine, 1 cup bread crumbs soaked in milk, ¼ lb. butter, teaspoon sweet marjoram, red and black pepper and 1 onion chopped fine. Let this cook until thickens, then cool and fill shells. Dip in egg and bread crumbs and fry in deep boiling lard.

TO DRESS FISH WITH BROWN SAUCE.

_Contributed by Geo. W. Anderson, Savannah, Ga._

Take a well cleaned fish, and lay it in a pan on slow fire. Flour it well, add pepper and salt, mace and cloves with parsley, and sweet marjoram chopped fine. This to taste and according to size of fish. Half a pound of butter, with 8 Bermuda onions, nicely fried (not scorched), 2 wineglasses of port or white wine, and wineglass of catsup, or ½ glass of Worcester sauce.

FISH A LA CREME.

_Contributed by Mrs. Allen Maury, Ashland, Virginia._