Chapter XIII: Part 13

Hominy grits; a mutton-chop, with tomato-sauce.

DINNER.

A chicken broth, quite thick with rice, and some pieces of chicken
in it.

Wafers.

_Dessert_: A raw egg, arranged as in receipt on page 322, with
sherry wine.

TEA.

Milk-toast.

BREAKFAST.

Oatmeal porridge. The second joint of a leg of chicken cooked on
the coals and served with pease around it.

DINNER.

Beef broth, thick with tapioca. Graham wafers.

_Dessert_: Boiled parched rice, with cream.

TEA.

Corn-meal mush, with cream and sugar.

PREPARED FOODS FOR INVALIDS, ETC.

I am indebted to Dr. Franklin, of St. Louis, for this little chapter. Appreciating his experience in the uses of prepared foods for invalids, I asked his advice about certain ones, when he kindly sent me a written opinion, which I insert _verbatim_. Dr. Franklin says:

“In the dietetic treatment of the sick, notwithstanding that
well-meaning and unwise friends often injure their patients by
solicitations to take more food, it is often one of the great
difficulties to induce the invalid to partake sufficiently of what
is suitable, remembering that the body is nourished by the
assimilation of the food, and that the assimilating power is weak,
and can not be overtaxed. But the desire of food, and, indeed, the
assimilation, depend in a considerable degree on the manner in
which it is presented. It should not only please the eye and
gratify the palate, but should be varied in kind and method of
preparation.

“_Liebig’s Extract of Meat_ is an economical and valuable
preparation. It is valuable in nearly all cases of _physical_
debility and extreme emaciation, especially after profuse losses of
blood in collapse from wounds; for patients suffering from severe
and prolonged fevers in the last stage of consumption; in bad cases
of indigestion, when the stomach rejects all solid food; and as an
article of diet for nursing-mothers, etc.

“In cases of extreme exhaustion, the extract may be mixed with
wine. As it is stimulating, it may take the place of tea and
coffee, and will be less liable than they to produce derangement of
the digestive organs. An advantage with this extract is that it can
be readily prepared.

“_Valentine’s Extract of Meat._--This is one of the best articles
of the kind for the sick-chamber, and is not only simple of
preparation, but is the most nutritive of all the beef essences. As
a medicinal agent, it will be found of great value to the sick,
and for persons (children as well) with weak constitutions.[K]

“These beverages, in common with any nutritive soups, offer to the
patient whose general bodily functions are more or less suspended a
fluid and assimilable form of food. It is to this adaptation of
nourishment to the condition of the body that we must, in part at
least, ascribe their beneficial results. They have a remarkable
power of restoring the vigorous action of the heart, and
dissipating the sense of exhaustion following severe, prolonged
exertion, and may be recommended in preference to the glass of wine
which some take after watching, preaching, prolonged mental effort,
etc.

“Rice (whole or ground), barley, etc., may often be advantageously
added to thicken beef tea.

“_Gillon’s Essence of Chicken._--A similar preparation may be more
readily made by using this essence of chicken, which may be
procured from any homeopathic chemist. This simply requires
diluting with hot water in the proportion stated upon each tin
case.

“_Oatmeal Porridge._--When properly made, this is both wholesome
and nutritious, and especially suitable when a patient does not
suffer from water-brash, acidity, or from any form of bowel
irritation. It has long been the staple food of the Scotch, and
produces good muscular fibre and strong bone. It is a very
nourishing diet for growing children. The common oatmeal is not
equal to the Scotch oatmeal; however, it is not always easy to
obtain the latter.

“_Pearl Barley_ forms an excellent meal. It should be boiled for
four hours, so tied in a cloth that room is left for the grain to
swell. Only so much water should be added from time to time as to
feed the barley and supply the waste of evaporation, lest the
strength of the barley should be boiled out. It may be served with
milk, or (if the patient can digest them) with preserves, jelly, or
butter.

“_Macaroni-pudding._--Three ounces of macaroni should be soaked for
forty minutes in cold water, then added to a pint of boiling milk.
This should be stirred occasionally, while it simmers for half an
hour; two eggs are then added, beaten with a dessert-spoonful of
sugar; also, if desired, a flavoring of lemon. This may then be
baked in a pie-dish for twenty minutes.

“Vermicelli may be used instead of macaroni, but requires only
twenty minutes’ soaking.

“Part of a loaf of stale bread, boiled, and served with butter and
salt, or with preserves, affords a change of wholesome food.
Bread-pudding made with eggs and milk, either boiled or baked, may
be used, made according to the receipt used at Westminster
Hospital, viz.: Bread, one-quarter of a pound; milk, one-quarter of
a pint; sugar, one-quarter of an ounce; flour, one-quarter of an
ounce; one egg for every two pounds. A pudding may be made in the
same way of stale sponge-cake or rusks, to diversify the diet.

“_Neave’s Food._--Many years’ experience in the use of Neave’s
Farinaceous Food justifies the recommendation of it as an excellent
article of diet for infants, invalids, and persons of feeble
digestion. Competent chemical analysts have found the preparation
to contain every constituent necessary for the nourishment of the
body, and this has been abundantly confirmed by what we have
frequently observed as the result of its use. For infants it should
be prepared according to the direction supplied with the food,
taking care not to make it too thick; it also makes a very
agreeable and highly nutritious gruel.

“One precaution is necessary: Neave’s food should be obtained fresh
and in good condition; if exposed too long, it deteriorates. Under
favorable circumstances it keeps good for from six to twelve
months. It may generally be procured in good condition from the
leading homeopathic druggists.

“Ridge’s, Hard’s, and other farinaceous foods have their
advantages, and are preferred by some patients.

“Those foods that are pure starch, as ‘corn flour,’ so called, and
all those which thicken in like manner, contain but a small
proportion of nutriment, being less sustaining and also more
difficult of digestion than ordinary stale bread. They are very
unsuitable for young infants and children suffering from diarrhea,
indigestion, constipation, flatulence, atrophy, or aphthæ.

“In all cases, food which contains traces of bran, and also gluten,
gum, sugar, cellulose, and saline matter, especially the
phosphates, in proportion to the starch, are to be preferred. I
prefer the Ridge’s food for nursing infants, but either may be used
according to adaptability.

“_Sugar of Milk._--A preparation of cow’s milk and sugar of milk
forms a still lighter food, and one which, in the case of very
young infants, should be used to the exclusion of farinaceous food.
Cow’s milk may be assimilated to human milk by dilution with water
and the addition of sugar of milk. Cow’s milk contains more oil
(cream) and caseine, or cheese matter, but less sugar, than
woman’s. When necessary to bring up a child by hand from birth,
sugar of milk is more suitable to begin with.

“Formula: One ounce of sugar of milk should be dissolved in
three-quarters of a pint of boiling water, and mixed as required
with an equal quantity of fresh cow’s milk. The infant should be
fed with this from the feeding-bottle in the usual way. Care must
be taken to keep the bottle, etc., perfectly clean.

“_Alkershrepta_ (Chocolate).--One of the most delicate and
nutritious beverages is made from this preparation of the cocoa. It
is prepared from the best cocoa-bean, the highly nutritious natural
oil of which is not extracted, as in the ordinary soluble
chocolates, but so neutralized as not to derange the stomach of the
most delicate. Its nutritious and mildly stimulating qualities, its
purity, and the facility with which it is prepared for use--_not_
requiring to be boiled--recommend it as an excellent substitute for
tea and coffee. Directions for its preparation accompany each
package.

“_Delacre’s Extract of Meat Chocolate._--This agreeable article
combines in one preparation, and under a most agreeable form, a
large proportion of tonic and nutritive principles. It contains
both the properties of chocolate and beef. It is a useful tonic and
nutritive agent for invalids and convalescents, and for persons of
delicate constitutions. It contains three per cent. of La Plata
Extract of Meat, and every square represents the nutritive
constituents of one and a quarter ounces of beef. It is employed as
ordinary chocolate. Full directions accompany each box.

“_Welluc’s Biscotine._--A most excellent, healthy, and invigorating
food for infants and invalids. It is prepared from sweetened bread
and other nutritious substances, reduced to a fine powder, so as to
render them easily soluble in water or milk. As an article of
common diet for infants, particularly those suffering from delicate
constitutions or with looseness of the bowels, it will be found to
give health and strength with more certainty than the _crude_
substances now in use, and not, like them, liable to sour on the
stomach.”

SOME DISHES FOR “BABY.”

No particular diet can be recommended for the infant that is so unfortunate as to be deprived of its natural nourishment. What agrees with one is quite unsuccessful with another. Different kinds of diet can only be tested. Children’s little illnesses are often the result of food which, in their case, is unassimilating and indigestible; and it is often better to attempt a change of food than to resort to medicines.

City babies generally thrive poorly with cow’s milk. Some can stand it, however, diluting it with a third water, adding a slight thickening of rice, well boiled and mashed, and also a little sugar. Others thrive well on goat’s milk, when no other kind will answer. The Borden condensed milk serves like a charm with very young infants in cold weather; but in warm weather its excessive sweetness seems to cause acidification when taken. In New York, where it may be obtained fresh, without sweetening, I have heard that it is more satisfactory.

Some babies are ruddy and strong with an oatmeal diet (oatmeal porridge strained and mixed with the milk). I have already mentioned this as especially successful in Ireland and Scotland. However, in the warm climate of many of our cities in summer I have known the oatmeal diet to cause eruptions or boils. It is almost a crime to undertake to bring up children artificially in warm summer climates. Many a heart-ache is caused when, failing to supply the natural food, nothing would seem to agree with the baby.

PAP.

Put a little butter into a saucepan for the purpose of keeping the mixture from sticking. When it is hot, pour in a thin batter of milk and flour, a little salted; stir well, and boil gently about five minutes; then add a little sugar. If the child is over three months old, an egg may be mixed in the batter for a change.

WHEAT-FLOUR AND CORN-MEAL GRUEL.

Tie wheat flour and corn meal (three-quarters wheat flour and one-quarter corn meal) into a thick cotton cloth, and boil it three or four hours. Dry the lump, and grate it as you use it. Put on the fire cream and water (one part cream to six parts water), and when it comes to a boil, stir in some of the grated lump, rubbed to a smooth paste with a little water. Salt it slightly. Judgment must be used as to the amount of thickening. For a young infant, the preparation should be thin enough to be taken in the bottle; if the child is older, it may be thicker. If the child is troubled with constipation, the proportion of corn meal should be larger; if with summer complaint, it may be left out altogether.

ROASTED RICE

boiled and mashed is a good infant diet in case of summer complaint.

CORN-MEAL GRUEL

is undoubtedly the best relaxing diet for infants, and may be used instead of medicine.

FOOD FOR INFANTS WITH WEAK DIGESTIVE ORGANS.

OATMEAL GRUEL (_Dr. Rice, of Colorado_), No. 1.

Add one tea-cupful of oatmeal to two quarts of boiling water, slightly salted; let this cook for two hours and a half, then strain it through a sieve. When cold, add to one gill of the gruel one gill of thin cream and one tea-spoonful of sugar. To this quantity add one pint of boiling water, and it is ready for use.

BEEF (_Dr. Rice_), No. 2.

Scrape one-half pound of beef, and remove all the shreds; add one-half pint of water, and three drops of muriatic acid. Let it stand one hour; then strain it through a sieve, and add a small portion of salt.

HOW TO SERVE FRUITS.

The French deserve much praise for their taste in arranging fruits for the table. They almost invariably serve them with leaves, even resorting to artificial ones in winter.

In the following arrangements, I have some of their dainty dishes in mind.

STRAWBERRIES.

The French serve large fine strawberries without being hulled. Pulverized sugar is passed, the strawberry is taken by the thumb and finger by the hull, dipped into the sugar, and eaten. The Wilson strawberry, however, which seems to be our principal market strawberry, certainly requires stemming, and deluging with sugar before serving.

MIXED FRUITS.

Always choose a raised dish for fruits. Arrange part of the clusters of grapes to fall gracefully over the edge of the dish. Mix any kind of pretty green leaves or vines, which may also fall, and wind around the stem of the dish. Although the colors of the fruits should blend harmoniously, and the general appearance should be fresh and _négligé_, arrange them firmly, so that when the dish is moved there will be no danger of an avalanche.

WATER-MELONS.

A water-melon should be thoroughly chilled; it should be kept on the ice until about to be served. It may be simply cut in two, with a slice cut from the convex ends, to enable the halves to stand firmly on the platter. When thus cut, the pulp is scooped out in egg-shaped pieces with a table-spoon and served; or it may be cut as shown in figure, when slices with the rind attached may be served.

CANTALOUPE MELONS.

Put it into the refrigerator until just before serving, to become thoroughly chilled; cut it as in figure here given, removing the seeds. Arrange four or five grape leaves on a platter, upon which place the melon.

CURRANTS.

Serve currants in rows of red and white, with a border of leaves around the outside, as shown in annexed cut.

CURRANTS OR OTHER FRUITS ICED.

Beat the white of an egg barely enough to break it. Dip in selected bunches of fine currants, and while moist roll them in pulverized sugar. Place them on a sieve to dry. This makes a refreshing breakfast dish.

Plums, cherries, grapes, or any other fruit may be iced in the same way.

HOW THEY EAT ORANGES IN HAVANA.

A fork is pierced partly through the centre of an orange, entering it from the stem side; the fork serves for a handle, which is held in the left hand, while with a sharp knife the peel and thin skin are cut off in strips from the top of the orange to the fork handle; now, holding it in the right hand, the orange can be eaten, leaving all the fibrous pulp on the fork.

FRESH PEACHES.

Choose large, fresh, ripe, and juicy peaches; pare, and cut them into two or three pieces. They should be large, luscious-looking pieces, not little chipped affairs. Sprinkle over granulated sugar, put them into the freezer, and half freeze them; this will require about an hour, as they are more difficult to freeze than cream. Do not take them from the freezer until the moment of serving, when sprinkle over a little more sugar. Serve in a glass dish. Canned peaches may be treated in the same manner.

PINE-APPLES.

When pine-apples are picked and eaten fresh in their own climate, they seem to dissolve in the mouth, and the fibrous texture is hardly perceived. Not so at our tables. Here I have sometimes partly resolved that they are not much of a luxury after all, especially when the slices are so tough as to require the knife and fork. They are better cut into dice, saturated with sugar, and piled in the centre of a glass dish, with a row _à la Charlotte_ of sponge-cake slices, or of ladies’-fingers around the sides.

BEVERAGES.

PUNCH (_Mrs. Williams_).

Rub loaf-sugar over the peels of six lemons to break the little vessels and absorb the ambrosial oil of the lemons. Then squeeze out all the juice possible from six oranges and six lemons, removing the seeds; add to it five pounds of loaf-sugar (including the sugar rubbed over the peels) and two quarts of water, with five cloves and two blades of mace (in a bag); simmer this over the stove about ten minutes, making a sirup.

This sirup will keep forever. It should be bottled and kept to _sweeten_ the liquors, whenever punch is to be made.

Mix then one pint of green tea, a scant pint of brandy, one quart of Jamaica rum, one quart of Champagne, and one tea-cupful of Chartreuse. When well mixed, sweeten it to taste with the sirup; pour it into the punch-bowl, in which is placed an eight or ten pound piece of ice. Slice three oranges and three lemons, removing the seeds, which put also into the punch-bowl.

MILK PUNCH (_Mrs. Filley_).

Ingredients: Four quarts of Jamaica rum, three quarts of water, five pints of boiling milk, three pounds of loaf-sugar, twenty-four lemons, two nutmegs.

Cut thin slices, or only the yellow part of the rinds of the twenty-four lemons. Let these thin parings and the two grated nutmegs infuse for twenty-four hours in one quart of the rum. It should be put in a warm place.

At the end of the twenty-four hours, add to the juice of the twenty-four lemons (freed from seeds) the water, sugar, rum, and also the rum containing the lemon-peel and nutmeg. Put all into a large vessel. When the sugar is dissolved, add the five pints of boiling milk while the mixture is being stirred all the time. It will curdle, of course. Then cover it, and let it stand still one hour, when filter it through a bag, until it is as clear and bright as a crystal. It may take three or four hours. Pale rum should be used. This quantity will make enough to fill about one dozen quart bottles. Cork them well, and keep them standing. It may be used at once, but it will not be in perfection until it is a year or two old. It will keep forever. The bag may be made three-cornered with a yard square of rather coarse Canton flannel.

This punch is nice to serve with mock-turtle soup, or it may be used for making Roman punch. Like sherry, it is a convenient beverage to offer, with cake, to a lady friend at any time.

ROMAN PUNCH.

Make or purchase lemon ice. Just before serving, put enough for one person at table into a saucer or punch-glass, and pour over two table-spoonfuls of the milk punch, made as in the last receipt. A course of Roman punch is often served at dinner parties just after the roast. There is no better, cheaper, or easier way of preparing it than this.

CLARET PUNCH.

Cut up the yellow part of one lemon, and let it soak for three or four hours in half of a quart bottle of claret; add then the other half of the wine. Sweeten to taste, and add one bottle of soda. Put a clove into each glass before pouring out the punch.

EGGNOG.

Ingredients: Six eggs, half a pound of sugar, half a pint of brandy or whisky, three pints of cream whipped to a froth.

Beat the yolks of the eggs and the sugar together until it is a froth; add the brandy or whisky, next the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth, and then the whipped cream.

SHERRY, CLARET, OR CATAWBA COBBLERS.

Put four or five table-spoonfuls of the wine into a glass with half a table-spoonful of sugar; one or two thin slices of orange or lemon may be added. Fill the glass with finely chopped ice. Now pour this from one glass to another once or twice, to mix well. Put then two or three strawberries, or a little of any of the fruit of the season, for a garnish. The beverage can not be completed without the addition of two straws.

LEMONADE.

Rub loaf-sugar over the peels of the lemons to absorb the oil; add to the lemon-juice the sugar to taste. Two lemons will make three glassfuls of lemonade, the remainder of the ingredients being water and plenty of ice chopped fine.

TOM AND JERRY.

Ingredients: Four eggs and six large spoonfuls of powdered sugar beaten together very light (a perfect froth), six small wine-glassfuls of rum, and one pint of boiling water.

Stir the water into the mixture, and then turn it back and forth into two pitchers, the pitchers being hot, and the glasses also hot. Grate nutmeg on the top of each glass, and drink immediately.

MINT-JULEP.

Bruise several tender sprigs of fresh mint in a tea-spoonful of sugar dissolved in a few table-spoonfuls of water. Fill the glass to one-third with brandy, claret, sherry, or any wine preferred, and the rest with finely pounded ice. Insert some sprigs of mint with the stems downward, so that the leaves above are in the shape of a bouquet. Drink through a straw.

MILK PUNCH AND EGG-AND-MILK PUNCH (see page 326).

BLACKBERRY CORDIAL.

Ingredients: Two quarts of blackberry juice, two pounds of loaf-sugar, half an ounce of powdered cinnamon, half an ounce of powdered allspice, half an ounce of powdered nutmeg, quarter of an ounce of powdered cloves.

Boil it all together two hours. Add, while hot, one pint of fourth-proof pure French brandy. Bottle it.

CURRANT WINE.

To two quarts of the currant-juice (after the currants are pressed) add one quart of water and three and a half pounds of sugar. Let it stand in an open jar until it stops fermenting; then draw it off carefully, bottle, and cork it securely.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR (_Miss Nellie Walworth_).

Pour one quart of vinegar over three quarts of ripe black raspberries in a china vessel. Let it stand twenty-four hours, then strain it. Pour the liquor over three quarts of fresh raspberries, and let it infuse again for a day and night; strain again, and add one pound of white sugar to each pint of juice. Boil twenty minutes, skimming it well. Bottle when cold. When it is to be drunk, add one part of the raspberry vinegar to four parts of ice water.

SUITABLE COMBINATION OF DISHES.

There are dishes which seem especially adapted to be served together. This should be a matter of some study. Of course, very few would serve cheese with fish, yet general combinations are often very carelessly considered.

SOUP.

Soup is generally served alone; however, pickles and crackers are a pleasant accompaniment for oyster-soup, and many serve grated cheese with macaroni and vermicelli soups. A pea or bean soup (without bread _croutons_) at one end of the table, with a neat square piece of boiled pork on a platter at the other end, is sometimes seen. When a ladleful of the soup is put in the soup-plate by the hostess, the butler passes it to the host, who cuts off a thin wafer-slice of the pork, and places it in the soup. The thin pork can be cut with the spoon. Hot boiled rice is served with gumbo soup. Well-boiled rice, with each grain distinct, is served in a dish by the side of the soup-tureen. The hostess first puts a ladleful of soup into the soup-plate, then a spoonful of the rice in the centre. This is much better than cooking the rice with the soup.

Sometimes little squares (two inches square) of thin slices of brown bread (buttered) are served with soup at handsome dinners. It is a French custom. Cold slaw may be served at the same time with soup, and eaten with the soup or just after the soup-plates are removed.

FISH.

The only vegetable to be served with fish is the plain boiled potato. It may be cut into little round balls an inch in diameter, and served in little piles as a garnish around the fish, or it may be the flaky, full-sized potato, served in another dish. Some stuff a fish with seasoned mashed potatoes, then serve around it little cakes of mashed potatoes, rolled in egg and bread-crumbs and fried. Cucumbers, and sometimes noodles, are served with fish.

BEEF.

Almost any vegetable may be served with beef. If potato is not served with fish, it generally accompanies the beef, either as a bed of smooth mashed potatoes around the beef, or _à la neige_, or as fried potato-balls (_à la Parisienne_), or, in fact, cooked in any of the myriad different ways. At dinner companies, beef is generally served with a mushroom-sauce. However, as any and all vegetables are suitable for beef, it is only a matter of convenience which to choose. Horse-radish is a favorite beef accompaniment.

CORNED BEEF

should be served with carrots, turnips, parsnips, cabbage, or pickles around it.

TURKEYS.

Cranberry-sauce, or some acid jelly, such as currant or plum jelly, should be served with turkey. Many garnish a turkey with sausages made of pork or beef. Any vegetable may be served with a turkey; perhaps onions, cold slaw, turnips, tomatoes, and potatoes are the ones oftenest selected.

CHICKENS.

Fried chickens with cream dressing are good served with cauliflower on the same dish, with the same sauce poured over both. A boiled chicken is generally served in a bed of boiled rice. A row of baked tomatoes is a pretty garnish around a roast chicken. It is fashionable to serve salads with chickens.

LAMB

is especially nice served with green pease or with spinach; cauliflowers and asparagus are also favorite accompaniments.

PORK.

The unquestionable combination for pork is fried apples, apple-sauce, sweet-potatoes, tomatoes, or Irish potatoes. Pork sausages should invariably be served with apple-sauce or fried apples. Thin slices of breakfast bacon make a savory garnish for beefsteak. Thin slices of pork, egged and bread-crumbed, fried, and placed on slices of fried mush, make a nice breakfast dish; or it may garnish fried chickens, beefsteak, or breaded chops.

MUTTON.

The same vegetables mentioned as suitable for lamb are appropriate for mutton. The English often serve salad with mutton.

VEAL.

Any vegetable may be served as well with veal as with beef. I would select, however, tomatoes, parsnips, or oyster-plant.

ROAST GOOSE,

apple-sauce, and turnips especially.

GAME.

Game should invariably be served with an acid jelly, such as a currant or a plum jelly. Saratoga potatoes, potatoes _à la Parisienne_, spinach, tomatoes, and salads, are especially suitable for game.

CHEESE

is served just before the dessert. It is English to serve celery or cucumbers with it. Thin milk crackers or wafer biscuits (put into the oven just a moment before serving, to make them crisp) should be served with cheese; butter also for spreading the crackers, this being the only time that it is usually allowed for dinner. Macaroni with cheese, Welsh rare-bits, cheese omelets, or little cheese-cakes, are good substitutes for a cheese course.

SWEET-BREADS.

Sweet-breads and pease--this is the combination seen at almost every dinner company. They are as nice, however, with tomatoes, cauliflowers, macaroni mixed with tomato-sauce or cheese, or with asparagus or succotash.

ROMAN PUNCH

is generally served as a course just after the beef. It is a refreshing arrangement, preparing one for the game which comes after. In England, punch is served with soup, especially with turtle or mock-turtle. One often sees Roman punch served as a first course just before the soup.

CANTALOUPE MELONS

are served just after the soup at dinner. This is especially French; however, this melon is more of a breakfast than a dinner dish. The water-melon is served the same time as fruit at dinner.

SERVING OF WINES.

At dinners of great pretension, from eight to twelve different kinds of wines are sometimes served. This is rather ostentatious than elegant. In my judgment, neither elegance nor good taste is displayed in such excess. Four different kinds of wine are quite enough for the grandest occasions imaginable, if they are only of the choicest selection. Indeed, for most occasions, a single wine--a choice claret or Champagne--is quite sufficient. In fact, let no one hesitate about giving dinners without any wine at all. Proper respect for conscientious scruples about serving wine would forbid a criticism as to the propriety of serving any dinner without it. Such dinners are in quite as good taste, and will be just as well appreciated by sensible people; and it makes very little difference whether people _who are not sensible_ are pleased or not.

If three wines are served, let them be a choice sherry with the soup, claret with the first course after the fish, and Champagne with the roast. If a fourth is desired, there is no better selection than a Château Yquem, to be served with an _entrée_. If Champagne alone is used, serve it just after the fish. Many serve claret during the entire dinner, it matters not how many other varieties may be served; others do the same with Champagne--for the benefit of the ladies, they say. I believe, however, Champagne is considered with more disfavor every day. In England, punch is served with turtle or mock-turtle soup. A receipt may be found for one of their best punches (see page 339). I consider it, however, a decided mistake to serve so strong a beverage, especially at the beginning of a dinner. A fine ale is often served with the cheese-and-cracker course at family dinners, when wine is not served.

As a rule, I would say that the white wines, Sauterne, Rhine, etc., are served with raw oysters, or just before the soup; sherry or Madeira, with the soup or fish; Champagne, with the meat; claret, or any other of the red wines, with the game. Many prefer claret just after the fish, as it is a light wine, and can be drunk instead of water. If still another wine is added for the dessert, it is some superior sherry, port, Burgundy, or any fine wine. Very small glasses of _liqueurs_, such as maraschino and curaçoa, are sometimes served at the end of a dinner after coffee.

In France, coffee (_café noir_) is served after the fruit at dinner, a plan which should be generally followed at dinner parties at least. It is always well to serve cream and sugar with coffee, as many prefer it.

PROPER TEMPERATURE IN WHICH WINES SHOULD BE SERVED.

Sherry should be served thoroughly chilled.

Madeira should be neither warm nor cold, but of about the same temperature as the room.

Claret should be served at the same temperature as Madeira, never with ice; it should remain about forty-eight hours standing, then decanted, care being observed that no sediment enter the decanter.

Champagne should either be kept on ice for several hours previous to serving, or it should be half frozen; it is then called _Champagne frappé_. It is frozen with some difficulty. The ice should be pounded quite fine, then an _equal_ amount of salt mixed with it. A quart bottle of Champagne well surrounded by this mixture should be frozen in two hours, or, rather, frozen to the degree when it may be poured from the bottle.

TREATMENT OF WINES.

Connoisseurs on the subject of wine say much depends upon its treatment before it is served; that it is invariably much impaired in flavor through ignorance of proper treatment in the cellar; and that a wine of ordinary grade will be more palatable than one of better quality less carefully managed. They say wine should never be allowed to remain in case, but unpacked, and laid on its side. Above all, wine should be stored where it is least exposed to the changes of temperature.

All red wines should be kept dry and warm, especially clarets, which are more easily injured by cold than by heat. Consequently, on account of the rigor of our winters, clarets are better stored in a closet on the second floor (not too near a register) than in a cellar. Champagnes and Rhine wines stand cold better than heat, which frequently causes fermentation. The warmer sherry, Madeira, and all spirits are kept, the better.

CHOICE OF BRANDS.

_Champagne._--Perhaps the choicest brands of Champagne are Pomméry (dry, supposed to mean less sweet), Giesler (sweet), Veuve Cliquot (sweet), and Roederer (sweet). The best of the cheaper Champagnes are Charles Roederer, Heidsick, Montebello, and Krug.

_Claret._--Choicest brands: Châteaux La Rose, Château La Tour, Château Lafitte, or Château Margeaux. Best cheaper brand, St. Julien.

_Sauterne._--Best: Château Yquem, La Tour Blanche. Best cheaper, Haut-Sauterne.

_Burgundy._--Best brands: Clos Vougeot, Chambertin, Chablis, and Red Hermitage.

_Sherry._--Best brand, Amontillado.

_Hock._--Best brands: Steinberg Cabinet and Marcobrunner. Best sparkling wine, Hochheimer.

The American dry wines are most excellent, and might be more patronized by those who know no other wine than that of foreign manufacture. The Missouri Catawba and Concord wines are especially good; so are some of the California wines. The Ohio Catawba is quite noted.

BILL-OF-FARE TABLE.

Bills of fare can be easily made by selecting more or less dishes, and serving them in the order indicated in the table. The dishes are to be garnished as explained in receipts.

1st Course.--Raw oysters, little clams, Roman punch.

2d Course.--Soup (_potages_): any kind of soup or soups.

3d Course.--Hors-d’œuvres (cold): sardines, pickled oysters,
cucumbers, radishes, preserved herrings, anchovies, cold slaw.
These dishes are considered as appetizers, and are served just
after the soup. It is a French custom. Melons are served as a
course after soup also.

4th Course.--Fish (_poissons_): any kind of fish or shell-fish.

5th Course.--Hors-d’œuvres (hot). The hot hors-d’œuvres are the
light entrées, such as croquettes, all kinds of hot vols-au-vent,
or patties (not sweet ones, however), sweet-breads, brains, etc.

6th Course.--Relevés: the relevés or removes, are the substantial
dishes. Roast joints, _i. e._, of beef, veal, lamb, mutton, or
venison, roast or boiled turkeys or chickens, fillet of beef,
braised meats, ham, sometimes game.

7th Course.--Roman punch.

8th Course.--Entrées: cutlets, all kinds of vols-au-vent, or
patties (not sweet); sweet-breads, fricassees, scollops,
casseroles, poultry or game en coquille, croquettes, salmis,
blanquettes; any of the meats, or game made into side-dishes.

9th Course.--Entremêts: dressed vegetables served alone, such as
cauliflower, asparagus, artichokes, corn, spinach, boiled celery,
string-beans (_haricots verts_), or French pease on toast, etc.,
macaroni, dressed eggs, fritters.

10th Course.--Rôtis: game of any kind.

11th Course.--Salade: any kind of salad; a plain salad is often
served with the game.

12th Course.--Cheese, macaroni dressed with cheese, cheese omelet,
cheese-cakes; cheese and salad are often served together.

13th Course.--Entremêts, sweet: any kind of puddings, jellies,
sweet fritters, sweet pastries, creams, charlottes, etc.

14th Course.--Glaces: any thing iced; ice-creams, water ices,
frozen puddings, biscuits glacés, etc.

15th Course.--Dessert: fruit, nuts and raisins, candied fruits,
bonbons, cakes, etc.

16th Course.--Coffee, and little cakes, or biscuits (crackers).

TO PREPARE COMPANY DINNERS.

It is very simple to prepare a dinner served _à la Russe_, as it matters little how many courses there may be. If it were necessary to prepare many dishes, and to have them all hot, and in perfection at the same minute, and then be obliged to serve them nearly all together, the task might be considered rather formidable and confusing. But with one or two assistants, and with time between each course to prepare the succeeding one, after a very little practice it becomes a mere amusement.

The soup, or the stock for the soup, and the dessert, should be made the day before the dinner.

A bill of fare should be written, and pinned up in the kitchen. Every thing should be prepared that is possible in the early part of the day; then, after the fish, chickens, birds, etc., are dressed and larded (if necessary), they should be put aside, near the ice. If sweet-breads are to be served, they should be larded, parboiled, and put away also. The salad (if lettuce) should be sprinkled with water (not placed _in_ water), and put in a cool, dark place in a basket, not to be touched until the last three minutes.

The plates and platters for each course should be counted, examined, and placed on a table by themselves. However, the arrangement of the dishes was explained in the chapter on setting the table.

After this, the kitchen should be put in order, and the tables cleared of all unnecessary things. Then every thing needed for the courses to be cooked should be placed in separate groups at the back of a large table, so that there may be no confusion or loss of any thing at the last minute. If there are sweet-breads, have them egged and bread-crumbed; if pease are to be served with them, place them in a basin at their side, properly seasoned. If there is macaroni with cheese, have the proper quantity desired already broken on a dish, with a plate of grated cheese and a tin cup, with the necessary amount of butter to be melted, side by side. If there is a fillet of beef to be baked and served with a mushroom-sauce, have the fillet in the baking-pan already larded, the mushrooms in the basin in which they are to be cooked, at the side; also the piece of lemon and the spoonful of flour ready. The stock will be in the kettle at the back of the stove. By-the-way, in giving a fine dinner, there should always be an extra stock-pot, separate from the soup, at the back of the stove, as it is excellent for boiling the sweet-breads or the macaroni, and making the sauces, etc.

If a simple salad of lettuce is to be served, have the oil, vinegar, pepper and salt, and the spoonful of finely chopped onion, in a group all ready. If a _Mayonnaise_ dressing is to be served, that should be made in the morning.

Look at the clock in the kitchen, and calculate the time it will take each dish to cook, and put it to the fire, so that it will be finished “to a turn” just at the proper minute.

During dinner, one person should attend to placing out of the way all the dishes brought from the dining-room, and, if necessary, should wash any spoons, platters, etc., which may be needed a second time. She should know beforehand, however, just what she is to wash, as every one must know exactly her own business, so that no questions need be asked at the last moment. The cook can attend to nothing but the cooking, at the risk of neglecting this most important part.

As the course just before the salad is sent into the dining-room, begin to make the salad, having every thing all ready. First, pick over the lettuce-leaves, wash and leave them to drain, while you prepare the dressing. It should _just_ be ready when its turn comes to be sent to table.

If the dinner company is very large, and there are many dishes, the cooking of them may be distributed between two persons, and perhaps the second cook may use the laundry stove; but with a little practice and the one or two assistants, one cook can easily prepare the most elaborate dinner, if it is only properly managed before the time of cooking. She should, of course, never attempt any dish she has not made before. A _bain-marie_ is very convenient for preserving cooked dishes, if there is some delay in serving the dinner.

Of all things, never on any occasion serve a large joint or large article of any kind on a little platter, as nothing looks so awkward. Let the platter always be at least a third larger than the size of its contents.

I give several bills of fare. They are long enough and good enough for any dinner party. Guests do not care for better or more, if these are only properly cooked. They can be easily prepared in one’s own house, and this is always more elegant than to have a list of a hundred dishes from a restaurant.

A WINTER DINNER.

Oysters on the half-shell. Amber soup. Salmon; sauce Hollandaise. Sweet-breads and pease. Lamb-chops; tomato-sauce. Fillet of beef, with mushrooms. Roast quails; Saratoga potatoes. Salad: lettuce. Cheese; celery; wafers. Charlotte-russe, with French bottled strawberries around it. Chocolate Fruit Ice-cream. Fruit. Coffee.

The same bill of fare in French is as follows:

MENU.

Huîtres. Consommé de bœuf clair. Saumon; sauce Hollandaise. Ris de veau aux petits pois. Côtelettes d’agneau à la purée de tomate. Filet de bœuf aux champignons. Cailles grillées aux pommes de terre. Salade. Fromage; céleri. Charlotte-russe aux fraises. Plum-pudding glacé. Fruits. Café.

This is a bill of fare seen very often at dinner parties. It is not difficult to prepare, as there are only five of the courses which are necessarily prepared at dinner-time. The oyster course is very simple, and may be placed on the table before the guests enter the dining-room. This soup may be made the day before, and only reheated at the time of serving. The Saratoga potatoes may be made in the morning; and if the _charlotte-russe_ is not purchased at a restaurant, it may be made the day before. So, after the quails are broiled or roasted, the cook has nothing more to do but to make the salad, which is an affair of three minutes, and the coffee, for which she has a long time, the coffee having been ground and in readiness in the coffee-pot two or three hours before dinner. The four last courses before the coffee are easily purchased outside. The cheese might be a Neufchatel or a Roquefort. The _charlotte_ and the ice-cream can come from the confectioner’s. The fruit is on the table during the dinner as one of the decorations.

DINNER BILL OF FARE.

Roman punch. Giblet soup. Little vols-au-vent of oysters. Smelts; tomato-sauce. Scolloped chickens (_en coquille_); Bechamel sauce. Saddle of venison; potatoes à la neige. Breasts of quails in cutlets, with French pease. Salad of lettuce. Cheese omelet. Pine-apple Bavarian cream. Vanilla ice-cream, and ginger preserve; little cakes. Fruits. Coffee.

MENU.

Punch à la Romaine. Bouchées d’huîtres. Les éperlans frits; sauce tomate. Coquilles de volaille à la Bechamel. Selle de venaison à la purée de pommes de terre. Filets de cailles aux petits pois. Salade de laitue. Omelette au fromage. Le Bavaroix. Glace à la crème de vanille. Dessert. Café.

* * * * *

DINNER BILL OF FARE (_Spring_).

Macaroni, clear soup, with grated cheese. Salmon; lobster-sauce; cucumbers. Chicken croquettes; tomato-sauce. Sweet-breads in cases, or in silver scallop-shells; sauce Bechamel. Fillet of beef, with mushrooms. Roman punch. Snipe; potatoes à la Parisienne. Mayonnaise of chicken. Asparagus, with cream dressing. Ramequins. Champagne jelly en macédoine, with whipped cream. Neapolitan ice-cream; little cakes. Fruits.

MENU.

Potage au macaroni clair. Saumon aux concombres; sauce homard. Croquettes de volaille; sauce tomate. Ris de veau en papillotes, à la Bechamel. Filet de bœuf aux champignons. Punch à la Romaine. Bécasses; pommes de terre à la Parisienne. Mayonnaise de volaille. Asperges à la crème. Ramequins. Macédoine de fruits. Glace de crème à la Napolitaine. Dessert.

* * * * *

DINNER BILL OF FARE (_Winter_).

Oysters served in block of ice. Julienne soup (can purchase it canned). Soft-shell crabs. Sweet-breads; tomato-sauce. Braised pigeons, with spinach. Fillet of beef; sauce Hollandaise. Roman punch, in lemon-skins. Fillets of ducks, larded; poivrade-sauce; salad of vegetables. French canned string-beans (_haricots verts_) sautéd with butter, served on toast. Macaroni, with cheese. Maraschino Bavarian cream. Chocolate-pudding, iced. Fruits. Coffee.

MENU.

Huîtres. Potage à la julienne. Écrevisses frites. Ris de veau; sauce tomate. Pigeons à l’écarlate. Filet de bœuf; sauce Hollandaise. Sorbet. Filets de canards; sauce poivrade; salade de légumes. Haricots verts sautés au beurre. Macaroni au Parmesan. Le Bavaroix au maraschino. Pouding de chocolat glacé. Fruits. Café.

DINNER BILL OF FARE (_Winter_).

Mock-turtle soup (can be purchased canned). Boiled white-fish, garnished with potatoes au naturel and olives; sauce Hollandaise. Fried oysters; cold slaw. Casserole of sweet-breads; cream-sauce, decorated around the base with green pease. Roast wild turkey, chestnut stuffing; Saratoga potatoes. Fried cream. Spinach on toast, garnished with hard-boiled eggs. Salad; lettuce, with small, thin diamonds of fried ham. Cheese; wafers; celery. Little cocoa-nut puddings in paper cases. Ice-cream and cakes. Fruit. Coffee.

MENU.

Potage à la tête de veau en tortue, or potage fausse tortue. White-fish; sauce Hollandaise. Huîtres frites. Casserole de ris de veau aux petits pois. Dinde sauvage rôtie. Beignets de bouillie, or crème frite. Épinards aux œufs. Salade. Soufflé. Glace de crème au chocolat. Fruits. Café.

* * * * *

DINNER BILL OF FARE (_Winter_).

Oysters on half shell. Amber soup. Fish croquettes (pear-shape), garnished with parsley. Rice casserole, filled with blanquette of chicken. Roast beef (ribs rolled), with a circle of mashed potatoes à la neige and water-cresses. Canvas-back ducks; celery. Roman punch. Reed-birds cooked in sweet-potatoes. Poached eggs on anchovy toast. Salad. Coffee; Bavarian cream. Nesselrode pudding. Fruits. Café.

MENU.

Huîtres. Consommé de bœuf clair. Croquettes de poisson. Blanquette de volaille. Bœuf rôti à la purée de pommes de terre. Canards; céleri. Punch à la Romaine. Œufs pochés aux croûtes d’anchois. Salade. Bavaroix au café. Pouding à la Nesselrode. Fruits. Café.

* * * * *

DINNER BILL OF FARE (_Summer_).

Clear amber soup. Fried cuts of fish, with tomato-sauce. Sweet-breads and cauliflowers (cream dressing over both). Croquettes of chicken (in form of cutlets), with pease. Roast lamb; caper-sauce; spinach. Green corn served in husks.[L] Sliced tomatoes, with Mayonnaise dressing. Cheese; wafers; cucumbers. Maraschino Bavarian cream, and fresh strawberries. Ice-cream. Fruits.

MENU.

Consommé de bœuf clair. White-fish à l’Orlay. Ris de veau aux choux-fleurs. Croquettes de volaille aux petits pois. Agneau rôti aux épinards. Mayonnaise de tomate. Fromage; concombres. Bavaroix au maraschino. Glace de crème au chocolat. Dessert.

A SIMPLE DINNER FOR FOUR PERSONS (_Menu_).

Soup, with fried bread (_aux croûtons_). Chicken, with rice (see page 177). Macaroni, with tomato-sauce (see page 210). Lettuce, with Mayonnaise dressing. Corn-starch pudding (page 275), with a circle of peach marmalade around.

Necessary--a soup-bone, a soup-bunch, with plenty of parsley, a large chicken, half a pound of macaroni, a half-pint can of tomatoes, three-fourths of a tea-cupful of rice.

Make the _Mayonnaise_ dressing with three eggs in the morning. Use the whites of the eggs for the corn-starch pudding, which make at the same time, and put away in a mold to harden. Also put aside the rice to soak in cold water.

Five hours before dinner, put on the soup-bone, with the neck of the chicken also, as every little adds. An hour before dinner, cut up the soup-bunch, saving part of it for the tomato-sauce, as one or two sprigs of the parsley and a small onion. Put the remaining vegetables (frying the onion) into the soup, leaving only a sprig of parsley for the chicken. Cut up the pieces of chicken, which fry or _sauté_ brown in some hot drippings; put them then into a stew-pan. Add to the drippings (about a table-spoonful) a tea-spoonful of flour, and, when rubbed smooth, a pint of hot water, a ladleful of the soup taken from the soup-kettle, and a sprig of parsley chopped fine. Add this now to the fried pieces of chicken in the stew-pan; let them simmer until about five minutes before dinner.

For the soup, cut some bread into rather large dice, say three-quarters of an inch square; fry, or rather _sauté_, them in a little butter, turning all sides of the bread to allow it to become brown. Place the dice in the open oven, or at the back of the range, to become perfectly dry before the dinner-hour. Half an hour before dinner, put the macaroni to boil in another ladleful of stock mixed with some salted boiling water. Now make the tomato-sauce: make it as in receipt, and place it at the side of the fire or in the _bain-marie_ until the macaroni is done. Put on the rice to boil for about fifteen minutes in a little salted boiling water.

Just before serving the dinner is the busiest time. Strain the macaroni, and mix it with the sauce; put it into the oven for a few minutes to soak. Strain the soup, remove all the grease, and season it with pepper and salt. Put the bread dice, or _croûtons_, into the soup-tureen, pour over the soup, and send it to table. Take out the pieces of chicken, which arrange neatly on a warm platter; strain the stock in which it was boiled, remove all the fat, add the rice to it, season with pepper and salt, and let it simmer on the fire until it is time to be served, and then pour it over the chickens, and send them into the dining-room. The lettuce is next washed and dressed; afterward the pudding is turned from the mold, and decorated with the circle of peach marmalade.

ENGLISH AND FRENCH GLOSSARY.

SOUPS.

Amber or clear soup Consommé de bœuf clair. Soup, with bread Potage aux croûtons. Soup, with vegetables Consommé aux légumes. Macaroni soup Consommé au macaroni. Noodle soup Consommé aux nouilles. Vermicelli soup Consommé aux vermicelles. Spring soup Potage printanier. Julienne soup Potage à la julienne. Asparagus soup Potage d’asperge. Ox-tail soup Potage aux queues de bœuf. Chicken purée Potage à la purée de volaille. Chicken soup Consommé de volaille. Mock-turtle soup Potage à la fausse tortue. Oyster soup Potage aux huîtres. Bean soup Potage à la purée d’haricots. Onion soup Soupe à l’ognon. Vegetable purée Purée de légumes. Tomato soup Potage aux tomates. Potato soup Potage à la purée de pommes de terre. Sorrel soup Soupe à l’oseille.

FISH.

Salmon, sauce Hollandaise Saumon, sauce Hollandaise. Salmon, with lobster-sauce Saumon, sauce homard. Salmon, with parsley-sauce Saumon, sauce au persil. Salmon, with egg-sauce Saumon, sauce aux œufs. Salmon, with potatoes Saumon aux pommes de terre. Slices of salmon Tranches de saumon. Middle cut of salmon Tronçon de saumon. Salmon cutlets, with pickles Côtelettes de saumon aux cornichons. Salmon, with cucumbers Saumon aux concombres. Sardines, broiled Sardines grillées. Smelts, fried Éperlans frits. Little trout, fried Petites truites frites. Trout, in shells Truite en coquilles. Salmon-trout Truite saumonée. Trout cooked au court bouillon Truite au court bouillon. Codfish, with caper-sauce Morue à la sauce aux câpres. Codfish, with Bechamel sauce Morue à la Bechamel. Codfish, with potatoes Morue aux pommes de terre. Eels au gratin Gratin d’anguilles. Eels en matelote Matelote d’anguilles. Fresh mackerel, with maître-d’hôtel butter Maquereau frais à la maître-d’hôtel.

OYSTERS.

Oysters in shells Huîtres en coquille. Oysters fried Huîtres frites. Oyster fritters Beignets d’huîtres. Oyster patties Petits vol-au-vent d’huîtres, ou bouchées d’huîtres.

SAUCES.

White sauce (made with stock) Sauce à la Bechamel. Pickle-sauce Sauce aux cornichons. Egg-sauce Sauce aux œufs. Caper-sauce Sauce aux câpres. Anchovy-sauce Sauce aux anchois. Shrimp-sauce Sauce aux crevettes. Lobster-sauce Sauce homard. Oyster-sauce Sauce aux huîtres. Parsley-sauce Sauce au persil. Cauliflower-sauce Sauce au chou-fleur. Madeira-wine sauce Sauce au vin de Madère. Currant-jelly sauce Sauce aux groseilles. Tomato-sauce Sauce tomate. Mushroom-sauce Sauce aux champignons.

MEATS.

Roast fillet of beef Filet de bœuf rôti. Fillet of beef, larded Filet de bœuf piqué. Fillet of beef, with mushrooms Filet de bœuf aux champignons. Braised beef Bœuf braisé. Braised beef, with vegetables Bœuf braisé à la jardinière. Beef hash Hâchis de bœuf. Beefsteak, with mushrooms Bifteck aux champignons. Beefsteak pie Pâté de biftecks. À-la-mode beef Bœuf à la mode. Pickled tongue Langue de bœuf à l’écarlate. Mutton tongues Langues de mouton. Saddle of mutton (roast) Selle de mouton rôtie. Shoulder of mutton, stuffed Poitrine de mouton farcie. Mutton stew Ragout de mouton. Mutton cutlets, broiled Côtelettes de mouton grillées. Mutton cutlets, breaded Côtelettes de mouton panées. Mutton cutlets, with pease Côtelettes de mouton aux petits pois. Sheep’s kidneys Rognons de mouton. Lamb cutlets Côtelettes d’agneau. Lamb croquettes Croquettes d’agneau. Veal cutlets, with mushrooms Côtelettes de veau aux champignons. Veal cutlets, with tomato-sauce Côtelettes de veau, sauce tomate. Fricandeau of veal Fricandeau de veau. Liver, broiled Foie de veau grillé. Pork cutlets, with pickles Côtelettes de porc aux cornichons. Cold ham Jambon froid. Blanquette of veal Blanquette de veau.

SWEET-BREADS.

Sweet-breads, with macaroni Ris de veau à la Milanaise. Sweet-breads, with tomato-sauce Ris de veau à la sauce tomate. Sweet-breads, with pease Ris de veau aux petits pois. Sweet-breads, larded Ris de veau piqué. Sweet-bread fritters Beignets de ris de veau. Sweet-bread croquettes Croquettes de ris de veau.

POULTRY AND GAME.