Chapter VII: Current Events

"For 'tis a chronicle of day by day."
--_Shakespeare._

1. What large gun is often heard in Washington?
2. What kitchen divinity has been declared
a fraud?
3. What European ruler was interested
in "The Congo"?

_Answers_

1. Cannon (Joseph G.).
2. Cook (Dr. Frederick.)
3. King Leopold.

Refreshments were next served in school lunch boxes. Candy, in boxes representing books, was given as prizes.

QUERIES
AND
ANSWERS

This department is for the benefit and free use of our subscribers. Questions relating to recipes, and those pertaining to culinary science and domestic economics in general, will be cheerfully answered by the editor. Communications for this department must reach us before the first of the month preceding that in which the answers are expected to appear. In letters requesting answers by mail, please enclose addressed and stamped envelope. For menus remit $1.00. Address queries to Janet M. Hill, editor BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL MAGAZINE, 372 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass.

In answer to inquiry 1590 I send my recipe which I have used for years.

Blitz Kuchen

7 round tablespoonfuls
butter
7 heaping teaspoonfuls
sugar
A heaping pint of
flour
Pinch of baking
powder
Pinch of salt
4 eggs
Grated rind of 1
lemon
¼ pound chopped almonds
2 tablespoonfuls sugar
Ground cinnamon to
taste

Butter and sugar are stirred to a cream. Add eggs without beating same, lemon and salt; stir well, then add flour mixed with baking powder; mix well and spread very thin on buttered tins. Sprinkle before baking with the almonds and two tablespoonfuls sugar mixed with the cinnamon. Bake in moderately hot oven to a medium brown. Cut in diamond shapes immediately on taking from the oven and while on tins. Remove quickly from tins.

MRS. WM. WINTER

* * * * *

Your correspondent, who presents Query No. 1590, in the April magazine, has the German incorrect in her question. The recipe called for is undoubtedly Blitz Kuchen or Quick Coffee Cake. I enclose my recipe, which makes a delicious cake.

Blitz Kuchen

½ a cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder
1½ cups of flour
½ a teaspoonful of salt
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
4 tablespoonfuls of
crushed nuts

Sift sugar, baking powder, flour and salt into bowl. Add butter, and work into dry ingredients as in making pie crust. Beat eggs and add with milk. Add enough more flour to make a rather stiff batter. Spread about one-half inch deep in buttered pans. Sprinkle top with granulated sugar and nuts. Bake about one-half hour in moderate oven.

ANNE C. RANKIN,
_Supt. Dom. Science Wausau Pub. Schools_.

* * * * *

QUERY 1623.--"Recipe for a very rich Chocolate Ice Cream. A cream eaten lately, which we wish to duplicate, was almost as dark in color and as rich as a chocolate sauce or chocolate frosting."

Rich, Dark-Colored Chocolate Ice Cream

Melt six ounces of chocolate over hot water (in a double boiler), add one cup of sugar and half a cup of boiling water and stir and cook directly over the fire until smooth and boiling. Scald three cups of milk; stir into the milk two tablespoonfuls of flour smoothed with milk to pour; stir until the milk thickens, then add the chocolate mixture; cover and let cook fifteen minutes. Beat the yolks of three or four eggs; add half a teaspoonful of salt and one-fourth a cup of sugar; beat again and stir into the hot mixture; stir until the egg is cooked a little; add one cup of rich cream and strain into the can of the freezer. When cold add one tablespoonful and a half of vanilla extract and freeze as usual.

* * * * *

QUERY 1624.--"Please publish a Time Table for cooking different vegetables, and for cooking meats, both well and rare done. Under meats, include fowl, game and fish, well done."

Time Table for Cooking Vegetables

Asparagus 20 to 25 minutes
Beans, String or Shell 1 to 3 hours
Beets, new 1 to 2 hours
Beets, old 4 to 6 hours
Beet Greens 1 hour or longer
Brussels Sprouts 15 to 20 minutes
Cabbage 30 to 80 minutes
Carrots 1 hour or longer
Cauliflower 20 to 30 minutes
Celery 2 hours or longer
Corn 5 to 15 minutes (actual boiling)
Macaroni 20 to 60 minutes
Onions 45 minutes to 2 hours
Oyster Plant 45 to 60 minutes
Parsnips 30 to 45 minutes
Peas about 20 minutes
Potatoes, white 20 to 30 minutes
Potatoes, sweet 15 to 25 minutes
Rice 20 to 30 minutes
Squash 20 to 30 minutes
Spinach 15 to 20 minutes
Tomatoes, stewed 15 to 20 minutes
Turnips 30 to 45 minutes
Coffee 3 to 5 minutes

Time Table for Baking Meat and Fish

Beef, ribs or loin, rare, per pound 8 to 10 minutes
Beef, ribs or loin, well done, per pound 12 to 16 minutes
Beef, ribs, rolled, rare 12 to 15 minutes
Beef, ribs, rolled, well done 15 to 18 minutes
Beef, fillet, rare 20 to 30 minutes (hot oven)
Beef, fillet, well done 1 hour
Mutton, leg, rare, per pound 10 minutes
Mutton, leg, well done, per pound 14 minutes
Mutton, forequarter, stuffed, per pound 15 to 25 minutes
Lamb, well done, per pound 15 to 20 minutes
Veal, well done, per pound 18 to 22 minutes
Pork, well done, per pound 20 minutes
Venison, rare, per pound 10 minutes
Chicken, per pound 15 to 20 minutes
Turkey, 8 to 10 pounds 3 hours
Goose, 8 to 10 pounds 2 hours or more
Duck, domestic 1 hour or more
Duck, wild 15 to 30 minutes (very hot oven)
Grouse about 30 minutes
Small Birds 15 to 20 minutes
Pigeons, potted or en casserole 3 to 6 hours
Ham 4 to 6 hours
Fish, whole 45 minutes or longer
Small Fish and Fillets about 20 minutes
Baked Beans with Pork 6 to 8 hours

Time Table for Broiling Meat and Fish

Steak, 1 inch thick 4 to 10 minutes
Steak, 1½ inches thick 8 to 15 minutes
Lamb or Mutton Chops 6 to 10 minutes
Spring Chicken 20 to 30 minutes
Squabs 10 to 12 minutes
Shad, Bluefish, etc. 15 to 30 minutes
Slices of Fish 12 to 15 minutes
Small Fish 5 to 12 minutes

Boiling Meat and Fish

Fresh Beef 4 to 6 hours
Corned Beef, rib or flank 4 to 7 hours
Corned Beef, fancy brisket 5 to 8 hours
Corned Tongue 3 to 4 hours
Leg or Shoulder of Mutton 3½ to 5 hours
Leg or Shoulder of Lamb 2 to 3 hours
Turkey, per pound 15 to 18 minutes
Fowl, 4 to 5 pounds 2 to 4 hours
Chicken, 3 pounds 1 to 1½ hours
Ham 4 to 6 hours
Lobster 25 to 30 minutes
Codfish and Haddock, per pound 6 minutes
Halibut, whole or thick piece, per pound 15 minutes
Salmon, whole or thick piece 10 to 15 minutes
Clams and Oysters 3 to 5 minutes

* * * * *

QUERY 1625.--"Recipe for Tomato Aspic for salads and a well-seasoned Cream of Corn Soup."

Tomato (Aspic?) Jelly

Let two cups of canned tomato, a sprig of summer savory, sprig of parsley, a slice of onion, half a stalk of celery, and a piece of green or red pepper pod simmer together fifteen or twenty minutes, then strain the whole through a fine sieve; add one-fourth a two-ounce package of gelatine, softened in one-fourth a cup of cold water, and salt as needed, and turn into molds to harden.

Tomato Jelly, Macedoine Style, for Salad

1-1/2 cups of canned tomato
1 slice of onion
1/8 a clove of garlic
1/4 a pepper pod
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt
1/4 a "soup bag"
1/3 a package of gelatine
1/3 a cup of cold water
1/2 a cup of cooked string beans
3 olives
1 teaspoonful of capers
1 truffle
Cooked yolks of 2 eggs

Let the first six ingredients simmer, together, about fifteen minutes, then add the gelatine that has been softened in the cold water; stir over ice water until the mixture begins to thicken, then add the beans and olives, cut in fine bits, the capers, the truffle or its equivalent in trimmings, chopped fine, the yolks sifted, or the equivalent of the yolks in chopped chicken tongue or ham. Mix thoroughly and turn into molds. Serve with lettuce and mayonnaise dressing.

Tomato Aspic

To a pint of rich and highly-flavored beef, chicken or veal broth add a cup of cooked tomatoes, with salt and pepper as needed, also one-third a package of gelatine softened in one-third a cup of cold water and the crushed shells and slightly beaten whites of two eggs; stir constantly over the fire till boiling; let boil three minutes; then draw to a cooler place to settle; skim and strain through a napkin wrung out of boiling water; turn into molds and let chill.

Good Flavored Cream of Corn Soup

A good flavored corn soup may be made of two parts milk flavored with a little onion and parsley, thickened with flour and one part corn purée; but a richer flavored soup results when chicken or veal broth is combined with the milk and a little cream, half to a whole cup to two quarts of soup is used.

Recipe for Cream of Corn Soup

Score the kernels in each row with a sharp knife and with the back of the knife press out all of the pulp. Melt three (level) tablespoonfuls of butter, in it cook two slices of onion and two branches of parsley until the onion is softened and yellowed; add three tablespoonfuls of flour, a dash of black pepper and half a teaspoonful of salt; stir and cook until frothy, then add three cups of milk and stir until boiling; add the corn pulp and let boil five minutes. Add more seasoning if needed. Vary by the use of broth or cream.

* * * * *

QUERY 1626.--"Recipe for a very appetizing dish consisting of a poached egg set above a round of toast and another of ham with a yellow sauce over the whole. Also a recipe for Sponge Cake for Jelly Roll. One given in the magazine was a failure."

Eggs Benedict

Split and toast the required number of English muffins. Have ready poached eggs and some very thin rounds of broiled ham, one of each for each half muffin. Dip the edges of the toasted muffins in boiling, salted water, and spread lightly with butter; set a slice of hot ham above the toast and the poached egg above the ham and pour Hollandaise sauce over the whole.

Hollandaise Sauce

For six eggs, beat half a cup of butter to a cream, then beat in, one at a time, the yolks of four eggs, with a dash of salt and of pepper; add half a cup of boiling water and two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice and cook over hot water, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

Sponge Cake for Jelly Roll

We should be glad to know which recipe for sponge cake published in this magazine did not turn out successfully. We have given recipes for many grades of sponge cake, but all have been used by us repeatedly with good results. Any recipe for good sponge cake may be used for a jelly roll, but some formulas will give a dry and others a moist cake. The first of the following recipes is for a small, inexpensive cake.

Recipes for Sponge Cake for Jelly Roll