Chapter II: MACAROONS. 5 ozs. sweet almonds, 5 ozs. castor sugar, 2 eggs
Blanch the almonds and flake them in a nut mill. Whisk the eggs to a stiff froth adding the sugar a teaspoonful at a time. Add the almonds, and stir lightly. Drop the mixture, a dessertspoon at a time, on to well-oiled paper, or, better still, rice-paper. Shape with a knife into small cakes and put the half of a blanched almond into the centre of each. Bake in a moderate oven.
12. SPONGE CAKE.
Take the weight of two eggs in castor sugar and flour.
For a richer cake take the weight of two eggs in sugar and the weight of one only in flour.
Well grease the cake-tin, and sprinkle with castor sugar until thoroughly covered, and shake out any that remains loose.
Well whisk the eggs with a coiled wire beater. They must be quite stiff when done. Add the sugar, a teaspoon at a time, while whisking. Or separate the yolks and whites, beating the yolks and sugar together and whisking the whites on a plate with a knife before adding to the yolks. Lastly, dredge in the flour. Stir lightly, but do not beat, or the eggs will go down. Pour mixture into tin, and bake about one hour in a moderate oven.
13. SULTANA SCONES.
1 oz. cane sugar, 3 ozs. nutter, 1 lb. flour, 1/4 lb. sultanas, a short 1/2 pint water.
Mix the flour and sugar; rub in the nutter; add sultanas; make it into a dough with the water; roll out about 1/2 in. thick; form into scones; bake in a moderate oven.
14. SUSSEX CAKE.
1 lb. flour, 6 ozs. nutter, 1/4 lb. sultanas, 1/4 lb. castor sugar, grated lemon rind.
This cake is included especially for the non-users of milk and eggs. Of course it does not turn out quite like the orthodox cake; some people might even call it "puddeny," but it is not by any means unlike the substantial household cake if the directions are minutely followed and the baking well done. But if any attempt is made to make it rich, disaster follows, and it becomes as heavy as the proverbial lead. Made as follows, however, I am told it is quite common in some country places:--Beat the nutter and sugar to a cream. Upon the amount of air incorporated during this beating depends the lightness of the cake. Beat the flour into the creamed nutter. Now add enough water to make cake of a consistency to not quite drop off the spoon. Put the mixture into a greased hot qr. qtn. tin. Put in a very hot oven until nicely brown. This will take from 20 minutes to half an hour. Cover top with greased paper, and allow oven to get slightly cooler. The baking will take from 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
XI.--JAM, MARMALADE, &c.
Jam simply consists of fresh fruit boiled with a half to two-thirds its weight of white cane sugar until the mixture jellies.
Nearly every housekeeper has her own recipe for jam. One that I know of uses a whole pound of sugar to a pound of fruit and boils it for nearly two hours. The result is a very stiff, sweet jam, much more like shop jam than home-made jam. Its only recommendation is that it will keep for an unlimited time. Some recipes include water. But unless distilled water can be procured, it is better not to dilute the fruit. The only advantage gained is an increase of bulk. The jam may be made just as liquid by using rather less sugar in proportion to the fruit. A delicious jam is made by allowing 1/2 lb. sugar to every pound of fruit and cooking for half an hour from the time it first begins to boil. But unless this is poured immediately into clean, hot, dry jars, and tied down very tightly with parchment covers, it will not keep. Nevertheless, too much sugar spoils the flavour of the fruit, and too long boiling spoils the quality of the sugar. A copper or thick enamelled iron pan is needed.
The best recipe for ordinary use allows 3/4 lb. sugar to each pound fruit. Put the fruit in the pan with a little of the sugar, and when this boils, add the rest. Boil rather quickly for an hour. Keep well skimmed. Pour into hot, dry jars, and cover.
1. FRUIT NUT FILLING.
For small, open tarts, the following mixture is a good substitute for the lemon curd that goes to make cheese cakes. Peel, core and quarter some juicy apples. Put in a double saucepan (or covered jar) with some strips of lemon peel (yellow part only) and cane sugar to taste. Cook slowly to a pulp and, when cold, remove the lemon rind. Grate finely, or mill some Brazil nuts. Mix apple pulp and ground nut together in such proportions as to make a mixture of the consistency of stiff jam. Fill tarts with mixture and sprinkle top with ground nut. It must be used the same day as made.
2. JAM WITHOUT SUGAR.
To every pound of fresh fruit allow 1/2 lb. dates. Wash the fruit, put it in the preserving pan, and heat slowly, stirring well to draw out the juice. Wash and stone the dates. Add to the fruit, and simmer very gently for 45 minutes. Put immediately into clean, hot, dry jars, and tie on parchment covers at once.
3. LEMON CURD.
1 lb. lump sugar, 3 lemons (the rinds of 2 grated), yolks of 6 eggs, 1/4 lb. butter.
Put the butter into a clean saucepan; melt, but do not let it boil. Add the sugar, and stir until it is dissolved. Then add the beaten yolks, and, lastly, the grated lemon rind and juice. Stir over a slow fire until the mixture looks like honey and becomes thick. Put into jars, cover, and tie down as for jam.
4. MARMALADE.
To 1 large Seville orange (if small, count 3 as 2) allow 3/4 lb. cane sugar and 3/4 pint water. Wash and brush oranges, remove pips, cut peel into fine shreds (better still, put through a mincer). Put all to soak in the water for 24 hours. Boil until rinds are soft. Stand another 24 hours. Add the sugar, and boil until marmalade jellies. If preferred, half sweet and half Seville oranges may be used.
5. VEGETABLE MARROW JAM.
Peel the marrow, remove seeds, and cut into dice. To each pound of marrow allow 1 lb. cane sugar; to every 3 lbs. of marrow allow the juice and grated yellow part of rind of 1 lemon and 1/2 a level teaspoon ground ginger. Put the marrow into the preserving pan, sprinkle well with some of the sugar, and stand for 12 hours. Add the rest of the sugar, and boil slowly for 2 hours. Add the lemon juice, rind, and ginger at the end of 1-1/2 hours.
XII.--SALADS, BEVERAGES, &c.
1. SALAD.
Lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and cress, cucumber, olive or walnut oil, lemon juice.
Wash the green stuff and finely shred it. Peel the cucumber, skin the tomatoes (if ripe, the skins will come away easily) and cut into thin slices. Place in the bowl in alternate layers. Let the top layer be lettuce with a few slices of tomato for garnishing. Slices of hard-boiled egg may be added if desired.
For the salad dressing, to every tablespoonful of oil allow 1 of lemon juice. Drip the oil slowly into the lemon juice, beating with a fork all the time. Pour over the salad.
2. SALAD.
Beetroot, mustard and cress, olive or walnut oil, lemon juice, cold vegetables.
Chop the cold vegetables. French beans and potatoes make the nicest salad. To every 2 cups of vegetables allow 1 cup of chopped beetroot. Mix well together, and pour over salad dressing as for No. 1. A level teaspoonful of pepper is added to a gill of the dressing by those who do not object to its use.
3. FRUIT SALAD.
Take sweet, ripe oranges, apples, bananas, and grapes. Peel the oranges, quarter them, and remove skin and pips. Peel and core the apples and cut into thin slices. Wash and dry the grapes, and remove from stalks. Skin and slice the bananas.
Put the prepared fruit into a glass dish in alternate layers. Squeeze the juice from 2 sweet oranges and pour over the salad.
Any other fresh fruit in season may be used for this salad. Castor sugar may be sprinkled over if desired, and cream used in place of the juice. Grated nuts are also a welcome addition.
4. LEMON CORDIAL.
12 lemons, 1 lb. lump sugar.
Put the sugar into a clean saucepan. Grate off the yellow part of the rinds of 6 lemons and sprinkle over the sugar. Now moisten the sugar with as much water as it will absorb. Boil gently to a clear syrup. Add the juice from the lemons, stir well, and pour into clean, hot, dry bottles. Cork tightly and cover with sealing-wax or a little plaster-of-Paris mixed with water and laid on quickly. Add any quantity preferred to cold or hot water to prepare beverage, or use neat as sauce for puddings.
5. LIME CORDIAL. The same as for Lemon, but use 13 limes.
6. ORANGE CORDIAL.
The same as for Lemon, but use 3/4 lb. sugar.
A detailed list of Fruit and Herb Teas will be found in the companion volume to this, "Food Remedies."
7. WALLACE CHEESE.
1 qt. milk, 6 tablespoons lemon juice.
Strain the lemon juice and pour it into the boiling milk. Lay a piece of fine, well-scalded muslin over a colander. Pour the curdled milk into this. When it has drained draw the edges of the muslin together and squeeze and press the cheese. Leave it in the muslin in the colander, with a weight on it for 12 hours. It will then be ready to serve.
This cheese is almost tasteless, and many people prefer it so. But if the flavour of lemon is liked, use more lemon juice. The whey squeezed from the cheese is a wholesome drink when quite fresh.
XIII.--EXTRA RECIPES.
1. BARLEY WATER.
1 dessert spoon Robinson's "Patent" Barley, 1/2 a lemon, 3 lumps cane sugar.
Rub the lumps of sugar on the lemon until they are bright yellow in colour and quite wet. (It is the fragrant juice contained in the yellow surface of the lemon rind that gives the delicious lemon flavour without acidity.) Mix the barley to a thin paste with a little cold water. This is poured into a pint of boiling water, well stirred until it comes to the boil again and then left to boil for five minutes, after which it is done. Add the sugar and lemon juice.
2. BOILED HOMINY.
Take one part of Hominy and 2-1/2 parts of water. Have the water boiling; add the hominy and boil for fifteen minutes; keep stirring to keep from burning.
3. BROWN GRAVY.
1 dessert-spoon butter, 1 dessert-spoon white flour, hot water.
Melt the butter in a small iron saucepan or frying pan and sprinkle into it the flour. Keep stirring gently with a wooden spoon until the flour is a rich dark brown, but not burnt, or the flavour will be spoilt. Then add very gently, stirring well all the time, rather less than half-a-pint of hot water. Stir until the mixture boils, when it should be a smooth brown gravy to which any flavouring may be added. Strained tomato pulp is a nice addition, but a teaspoonful of lemon juice will suffice.
4. BUTTERED RICE AND PEAS.
1 cup unpolished rice, 3 cups water, 2 cups fresh-shelled peas, 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, butter size of walnut.
Put the rice on in the water and bring gradually to the boil. Boil hard for five minutes, stirring once or twice. Draw it to side of stove, where it is comparatively cool, or, if a gas stove is used, put the saucepan on an asbestos mat and turn the gas as low as possible. The water should now gradually steam away, leaving the rice dry and well cooked.
Steam the peas in a separate pan. If young, about 20 minutes should be sufficient; they are spoiled by over-cooking.
Add the cooked peas to the cooked rice, with the butter, parsley, and lemon juice. Stir over the fire until the mixture is thoroughly hot.
Serve with or without tomato sauce and new potatoes.
5. CONVALESCENTS' SOUP.
1 small head celery, 1 large onion, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley, P.R. Barley malt meal, Mapleton's or P.R. almond or pine-kernel cream, 3 pints boiling water.
Well wash the vegetables and slice them, and add them with the parsley to the boiling water. (The water should be distilled, if possible, and the cooking done in a large earthenware jar or casserole. See notes _re_ casseroles in Chap. IV.) Simmer gently for 2 hours, or until quite soft. Then strain through a hair sieve. Do not rub the vegetables through the sieve to make a purée, simply strain and press all the juices out. The vegetable juices are all wanted, but not the fibre. To each pint of this vegetable broth allow 1 heaped tablespoon barley malt meal, 1 tablespoon nut cream, and 1/2 lb. tomatoes. Mix the meal to a thin paste with some of the cooled broth (from the pint). Put the rest of the pint in a saucepan or casserole and bring to the boil. Add the meal and boil for 10 minutes. Break up the tomatoes and cook slowly to a pulp (without water). Rub through a sieve. (The skin and pips are not to be forced through.) Add this pulp to the soup. Lastly mix the nut-cream to a thin cream by dripping slowly a little water or cool broth into it, stirring hard with a teaspoon all the time. Add this to the soup, re-heat, but do _not_ boil, serve.
This soup is rather irksome to make, but is intensely nourishing and easy of digestion. The pine-kernel cream is the more digestible of the two creams. Care should be taken not to _cook_ these nut creams. If the soup is for an invalid care should also be taken that, while getting all the valuable vegetable juices, no skin or pips, etc., are included. The vegetable broth may be prepared a day in advance, but it will not keep for three days except in very cold weather. (When it is desired to keep soup it should be brought to the boil with the lid of the stockpot or casserole on, and put away without the lid being removed or the contents stirred.)
6. FINE OATMEAL BISCUITS.
2 ozs. flour, 3-1/2 ozs. Robinson's "Patent" Groats, 2 ozs. castor sugar, 2 ozs. butter, 2 eggs.
Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, then the flour and groats, which should be mixed together. Roll out thin and cut out with a cutter. Bake in a moderate oven until a light colour.
7. FINE OATMEAL GRUEL.
1 heaped tablespoon Robinson's "Patent" Groats, 1 pint milk or water.
Mix the groats with a wineglassful of cold water, gradually added, into a smooth paste, pour this into a stew-pan containing nearly a pint of boiling water or milk, stir the gruel on the fire (while it boils) for ten minutes.
8. MACARONI CHEESE.
1/4 lb. macaroni, 1-1/2 ozs. cheese, 1/2 pint milk, 1 teaspoon flour, butter, pepper.
The curled macaroni is the best among the ordinary kinds. Better still, however, is the macaroni made with fine wholemeal flour which is stocked by some food-reform stores. Parmesan cheese is nicest for this dish. Stale cheese spoils it.
Wash the macaroni. Put it into fast-boiling water and keep boiling until _very_ tender. Drain off the water and replace it with the 1/2 pint of milk. Bring to the boil and stir in the flour mixed to a thin paste with cold milk or water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Grate the cheese finely.
Butter a shallow pie-dish. Put the thickened milk and macaroni in alternate layers with the grated cheese. Dust each layer with pepper, if liked. Top with grated cheese. Put some small pieces of butter on top of the grated cheese. Put in a very hot oven until nicely browned.
9. MANHU HEALTH CAKE.
1/4 lb. butter, 1/2 lb. castor sugar, 1/2 lb. Manhu flour, 1 oz. rice flour, 6 ozs. crystallised ginger, 4 eggs.
Cream butter and sugar, adding eggs, two at once, not beaten. Beat each time after adding eggs, add rice flour, ginger, and lastly flour. Bake in moderate oven.
10. MANHU HOMINY PUDDING.
1-1/2 teacupfuls of boiled Hominy (see below), 1 pint or less of sweet milk, 1/2 teacupful of sugar, 2 eggs (well beaten), 1 teacupful of raisins, spice to taste.
Mix together and bake twenty minutes in a moderately hot oven. Serve hot with cream and sugar or sauce.
11. PARKIN.
2 ozs. butter, 2 ozs. moist sugar, 6 ozs. best treacle, 1/2 lb. medium oatmeal, 1/4 lb. flour, 1/2 oz. powdered ginger, grated rind of 1 lemon.
Some people prefer the addition of carraway seeds to lemon rind. If these are used a level teaspoonful will be sufficient for the quantities given above. The old-fashioned black treacle is almost obsolete now, and is replaced commercially by golden syrup, many brands of which are very pale and of little flavour. To make successful Parkin a good brand of pure cane syrup is needed. I always use "Glebe." This is generally only stocked by a few "high-class " grocers or large stores, but it is worth the trouble of getting. Some Food Reform Stores stock molasses, and this was probably used for the original Parkin. It is strongly flavoured and blacker than black treacle, but its taste is not unpleasant. For the sugar, a good brown moist cane sugar, like Barbados, is best. Put the treacle and butter (or nutter) into a jar and put into a warm oven until the butter is dissolved. Then stir in the sugar. Mix together the oatmeal, flour, ginger and seeds or lemon rind. Pour the treacle, etc., into this, and mix to a paste. Roll out lightly on a well-floured board to a 1/4 inch thickness. Bake in a well-greased flat tin for about 50 minutes, in a rather slow oven. To test if done, dip a skewer into boiling water, wipe, and thrust into the Parkin; if it comes out clean the latter is done. Cut into squares, take out of tin, and allow to cool.
12. PROTOSE CUTLETS.
1 lb. minced Protose, 1 lb. plain boiled rice, 1 small grated onion, 1/2 teaspoon sage.
Mix the ingredients with a little milk; shape into cutlets, using uncooked macaroni for the bone, and bake in a moderate oven about 45 minutes.
13. PROTOSE SALAD.
1 breakfast-cupful Protose cubes, 1/3 breakfast cup minced celery, 1 hard-boiled egg, 3 small radishes, juice of 2 lemons.
Cut Protose into cubes, chop the hard-boiled egg, slice the radishes. Add to the minced celery. Pour over these ingredients the lemon juice and allow the mixture to stand for one hour. Serve upon fresh crisp lettuce.
14. RISOTTO.
3/4 lb. rice, 1/2 lb. cheese, 4 large onions.
Slice and fry the onions in a stew-pan in a little fat; when brown, add 1-1/2 pints water and the rice. Let it cook about an hour, and then add the grated cheese.
This dish may be varied with tomatoes when in season.
15. ROYAL NUT ROAST.
1/2 lb. pine kernels, 2 medium-sized tomatoes, 1 medium onion, 2 new-laid eggs.
Wash, dry and pick over the pine kernels and put them through the macerating machine. Skin and well mash the tomatoes. Grate finely the onion. Mix all together and beat to a smooth batter. Whisk the eggs to a stiff froth and add to the mixture. Pour into a greased pie-dish. Bake in a moderate oven until a golden-brown colour. It should "rise" like a cake. It may be eaten warm with brown gravy or tomato sauce, or cold with salad.
16. STEWED NUTTOLENE.
Slice one half-pound nuttolene into a baking dish, adding water enough to cover nicely. Place it in the oven, and let it bake for an hour. A piece of celery may be added to give flavour, or a little mint. When done, thicken the water with a little flour, and serve.
17. WELSH RAREBIT.
Cheese, butter, bread, pepper.
Cut thin slices of cheese and put them with a little butter into a saucepan. When well melted pour over hot well-buttered toast. Dust with pepper. Put into a very hot oven for a few minutes and serve.
18. YEAST BREAD.
7 lbs. flour, salt to taste (about 3/4 ounce), 1 ounce yeast, 1-1/2 quarts of warm water.
Put the flour into a pan or large basin, add salt to taste, and mix it well in. Put the yeast with a lump of sugar into a small basin, and pour a little of the _warm_ water on to if. Cold or hot water kills the yeast. Leave this a little while until the yeast bubbles, then smooth out all lumps and pour into a hole made in the middle of the flour. Pour in the rest of the warm water, and begin to stir in the flour. Now begin kneading the dough, and knead until the whole is smooth and damp, and leaves the hand without sticking, which will take about 15 to 20 minutes. Time spent in kneading is not wasted.
Set the pan in a warm place, covered with a clean cloth. Be careful not to put the pan where it can get too hot. The fender is a good place, but to the side of the fire rather than in front. Let it rise at least an hour, but should it not have risen very much--say double the size--let it stand longer, as the bread cannot be light if the dough has not risen sufficiently.
Now have a baking-board well floured, and turn all the dough on to it. Have tins or earthenware pans, or even pie-dishes well greased. Divide the dough, putting enough to half fill the pans or tins. Put these on the fender to rise again for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake in a hot oven, about 350 degrees (a little hotter than for pastry).
Bake (for a loaf about 2 lbs. in a moderate oven) from 30 to 40 minutes. Of course the time depends greatly on the size of the loaves and the heat of the oven.
The above recipe produces the ordinary white loaf. Better bread would, in my opinion, result from the use of a very fine wholemeal flour such as the "Nu-Era," and the omission of salt.
XIV.--UNFIRED FOOD.
The true unfired feeder is an ideal, _i.e.,_ he exists only in idea, at least so far as my experience goes! To be truly consistent the unfired feeder should live entirely on raw foods--fruit, nuts and salads. But most unfired feeders utilise heat to a slight extent, although they do not actually cook the food. In addition, most of them use various breadstuffs and biscuits which, of course, are cooked food. "Unfired" bread is sold by some health food stores, and is a preparation of wheat which has been treated and softened by a gentle heat.
Cereals should never be eaten with fruit, but may be eaten with salads and cheese. The mid-day meal of the unfired feeder should consist of nuts or cheese and a large plate of well-chopped salad with some kind of dressing over it; olive oil and lemon-juice or one of the nut-oils and lemon-juice. Orange-juice or raw carrot-juice may be used if preferred. When extra nourishment is desired a well-beaten raw egg may be mixed with the dressing. Fresh cream may also be used as dressing.
Fruit is best taken at the evening meal, from 1-1/2 to 2 lbs. Nothing should be taken with it except a little nut-cream or fresh cream and white of egg.
Distilled water is a great asset to the unfired feeder, because it softens dried fruits so much better than hard water. It can be manufactured at home, or the "Still Salutaris" bought through a chemist or grocer. The "Still Salutaris" water is about 1/3 per gallon jar. If the water is distilled at home, a "Gem" Still will be needed. (The Gem Supplies Co., Ltd., 67, Southwark Street, London S.E.). It is best to use this over a gas ring or "Primus" oil stove. The cost of the water comes out at about one penny per gallon, according to the cost of the fuel used.
Distilled Water should never be put into metal saucepans or kettles, as it is a very powerful solvent. A small enamelled kettle or saucepan should be used for heating it, and it should be stored in glass or earthenware vessels only. It should not be kept for more than a month, and should always be kept carefully covered.
For salads it is not necessary to depend entirely upon the usual salad vegetables, such as lettuce, endive, watercress, mustard and cress. The very finely shredded hearts of raw Brussel sprouts are excellent, and even the heart of a Savoy cabbage. Then the finely chopped inside sticks of a tender head of celery are very good. Also young spinach leaves, dandelion leaves, sorrel and young nasturtium leaves. The root vegetables should also be added in their season, raw carrot, turnip, beet, onion and leek, all finely grated. A taste for all the above-mentioned vegetables, eaten raw, is not acquired all at once. It is best to begin by making the salad of the ingredients usually preferred and mixing in a small quantity of one or two of the new ingredients. For those who find salads very difficult to digest, it is best to begin with French or cabbage lettuce and skinned tomatoes only, or, as an alternative, a saucerful of watercress chopped very finely, as one chops parsley.
1. COTTAGE CHEESE.
Allow the juice of two medium-sized lemons to 1 quart of milk. Put the milk and strained lemon-juice into an enamelled pan or fireproof casserole and place over a gas ring or oil stove with the flame turned very low. Warm the milk, but do not allow it to boil. When the milk has curdled properly the curds are collected together, forming an "island" surrounded by the whey, which should be a clear liquid. Lay a piece of cheese-cloth over a colander and pour into it the curds and whey. Gather together the edges of the cloth and hang up the curds to drain for at least thirty minutes. Then return to the colander (still in cloth) and put a small plate or saucer (with a weight on top) on the cheese. It should be left under pressure for at least one hour. This cheese will keep two days in cold weather, but must be made fresh every day in warm weather. The milk used should be some hours old, as quite new milk will not curdle. The juice from one lemon at a time should be put into the milk, as the staler the milk the less juice will be needed. _Too much_ juice will prevent curdling as effectually as too little.
This cheese is greatly improved by the addition of fresh cream. Allow two tablespoonsful of cream to the cheese from one quart of milk. Mash the cheese with a fork and lightly beat the cream into it.
_Note_. Cheese-cloth, sometimes known as cream-cloth, may be bought at most large drapers' shops at from 6d. to 8d. per yard. One yard cuts into four cloths large enough for straining the cheese from one quart of milk. Ordinary muslin is not so useful as it is liable to tear. Wash in warm water (no soap or soda), then scald well.
2. DRIED FRUITS.
These should be well washed in lukewarm water and examined for worms' eggs, etc. Then cover with distilled water and let stand for 12 hours or until quite soft and swollen. Prunes, figs, and raisins are all nice treated in this way.
3. EGG CREAM.
2 tablespoons fresh cream, the white of 1 egg.
Put the white of egg on to a plate and beat to a stiff froth with the flat of a knife. (A palette knife is the best.) Then beat the cream into it. This makes a nourishing dressing for either vegetable salad or fruit salad. Especially suitable for invalids and persons of weak digestion.
4. PINE-KERNEL CHEESE.
Wash the kernels and dry well in a clean cloth. Spread out on the cloth and carefully pick over for bad kernels or bits of hard shell. Put through the macerator of the nut-butter mill. Well mix with the beaten pulp of a raw tomato (first plunge it into boiling water for a few minutes, after which the skin is easily removed). Raw carrot juice, or any other vegetable or fruit juice pulp may also be used.
5. RAW CARROT JUICE.
Well scrub a medium sized carrot and grate it to a pulp on an ordinary tinned bread grater. Put the pulp into a cheese cloth and squeeze out the juice into a cup.
6. TWICE BAKED BREAD.
Cut moderately thin slices of white bread. Put into a moderate oven and bake until a golden colour.
Granose biscuits warmed in the oven until crisp serve the same purpose as twice-baked bread, _i.e.,_ a cereal food in which the starch has been dextrinised by cooking. But the biscuits being soft and flaky can be enjoyed by those for whom the twice-baked bread would be too hard.
XV.--WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AND UTENSILS.
If possible sieve all flour before measuring, as maggots are _sometimes_ to be found therein; also because tightly-compressed flour naturally measures less than flour which has been well shaken up.
1 lb. = 16 ozs. = 3 teacupsful or 2 breakfastcupsful, closely filled, but not heaped.
1/2 lb. = 8 ozs. = 1 breakfastcupful, closely filled, but not heaped.
1/4 lb. = 4 ozs. = 1 teacupful, loosely filled.
1 oz. = 2 tablespoonsful, filled level.
1/2 oz. = 1 tablespoonful, filled level.
1/4 oz. = 1 dessertspoonful, filled level.
4 gills = 1 pint = 3-1/2 teacupsful, or nearly 2 breakfastcupsful.
1 gill = 1 small teacupful.
10 unbroken eggs weigh about 1 lb.
1 oz. butter = 1 tablespoon heaped as much above the spoon as the spoon rounds underneath.
USEFUL UTENSILS.
BAKING DISHES.--Earthenware are the best.
BREAD GRATER.--The simple tin grater, price 1d., grates bread, vegetables, lemon rind, etc.
BASINS.--Large for mixing, small for puddings, etc.
EGG SLICE.--For dishing up rissoles, etc.
EGG WHISK.--The coiled wire whisk, price 1d. or 2d., is the best.
FOOD CHOPPER.--See that it has the nut-butter attachment.
FRYING BASKET and stew-pan to fit.
FRYING AND OMELET PANS.--Cast aluminium are the best.
GEM PANS.
JARS.--Earthenware jars for stewing.
JUGS.--Wide-mouthed jugs are easiest to clean.
JELLY AND BLANC MANGE MOULDS.
LEMON SQUEEZER.--The glass squeezer is the best.
MARMALADE CUTTER.
NUT MILL.
NUTMEG GRATER.
PALETTE KNIFE.--For beating white of egg, scraping basins, etc.
PASTE BOARD and ROLLING PIN.
PESTLE and MORTAR.
PRESERVING PAN.--Copper or enamelled.
RAISIN SEEDER.
SAUCEPANS.--Cast aluminium are the best.
SCALES AND WEIGHTS.
SIEVES.--Hair and wire.
STILL.--For distilling water.
STRAINERS.
TINS.--Cake tin, qr. qtn. tin, vegetable and pastry cutters.
XVI.--MENUS.
The menus given below do not follow the conventional lines which ordain that a menu shall include, at least, soup, savoury and sweet dishes. The hardworking housewife can afford neither the time nor the material to serve up so many dishes at one meal; and the wise woman does not desire to spend any more time and material on the needs of the body than will suffice to keep it strong and healthy. Lack of space will not allow me to include many menus. I have only attempted to give the barest suggestions for two weeks. But a study of the rest of the book will enable anyone to extend and elaborate them. Three meals a day are the most that are necessary, and no woman desires to cook more than once a day. If possible the cooked meal should be the mid-day one. Late dinners may be fashionable, but they are not wholesome. If the exigencies of work make the evening meal the principal one, let it be taken as early as possible.
WARMING UP.
It often happens that while the father of a family needs his dinner when he comes home in the evening, it is necessary to provide a mid-day dinner for the others, especially if children are included. Many housewives thus go to the labour of preparing a hot dinner twice a day, but this may be avoided if the following directions are carefully carried out:--Prepare the mid-day meal as if the father were at home, and serve him first. Put his portion--savoury, vegetables and gravy--in one soup plate, and cover it immediately with another. Do the same with the pudding, and put both dishes away in the pantry. A good hour before they are wanted put into a warm oven. (If a gas oven is used, see that there is plenty of hot water in the floor pan.)
When quite hot the food should not be in the least dried up. This is ensured by having the oven warm, but not hot, warming up the food slowly, and, in the first place, covering closely with the soup plate while still hot, so that the steam does not escape. I have eaten many dinners saved for me in this way, and should never have known they were not just cooked if I had not been told. Of course, a boiled plain pudding or plum pudding can be returned to its basin and steamed and extra gravy saved and reheated in the tureen.
SUNDAY AND MONDAY.
The cook needs a day of rest once a week as well as other people. And this should be on a Sunday if possible, so that she may participate in the recreations of the other members of her family. This is more easily attainable in summer than in winter, for in hot weather many persons prefer a cold dinner. But even in winter, soups, vegetable stews, nut roasts, baked fruit pies, and boiled puddings can all be made the day before. They will all reheat without spoiling in the least.
Monday is the washing-day in many households, and no housewife wants to cook on that day. In flesh-eating households cold meat forms the staple article of diet. The vegetarian housewife cannot do better than prepare a large plain pudding on the Saturday, boil it for two hours, put it away in its basin, and boil it two hours again on Monday; with what is left over from Sunday, this will probably be sufficient for Monday's dinner.
BREAKFASTS.
A sufficient breakfast may consist simply of bread and nut butter, with the addition of an apple or other fresh fruit. A good substitute for tea and coffee is a fruit soup. Where porridge and milk are taken, this would probably not be needed. Eggs, cooked tomatoes, marmalade, and grated nuts are all welcome additions.
HIGH TEAS.
If tea is taken, let it be as weak as possible. Do not let it stand for more than three minutes after making, but pour it immediately off from the leaves into another pot. See that the latter is hot.
Some of the simpler savoury dishes (omelets, etc.) may be taken at this meal if desired. Also lentil and nut pastes, salads, Wallace cheese, raisin bread, oatcake, sweet cakes and biscuits, jams, etc.
DINNERS.
SUNDAY.--Hot nut roast and brown gravy; steamed potatoes and cabbage; fruit tart and custard.
MONDAY.--Cold nut roast and salad; bubble and squeak; plain pudding and golden syrup.
TUESDAY.--Haricot rissoles and tomato sauce; baked potatoes; milk pudding and stewed fruit, or apple and tapioca pudding.
WEDNESDAY.--Lentil soup; jam roll.
THURSDAY.--Lentil soup; fig pudding.
FRIDAY.--Hot pot; roasted pine kernels; steamed potatoes and cauliflowers; railway pudding.
SATURDAY. Irish stew; boiled rice and stewed prunes.
SUNDAY. Vegetable stew; batter pudding; steamed potatoes and cauliflower; summer pudding.
MONDAY. Stewed lentils; baked tomatoes or onions, and sauté potatoes; milk pudding and stewed fruit.
TUESDAY.--Stewed celery or other vegetable in season; roasted pine kernels; mashed potatoes; apple dumplings.
WEDNESDAY.--Barley broth; treacle pudding.
THURSDAY.--Barley broth; Bombay pudding.
FRIDAY.--Macaroni and tomatoes; chip potatoes; nut pastry.
SATURDAY.--Toad-in-the-hole; baked potatoes; jam tart.
NOTE. The same soup is indicated on two consecutive days in order to save labour. Few persons object to the same dish twice if it is not to be repeated again for some time. And unless the family be very large, it is as easy to make enough soup for two days as for one.
INDEX.
Almonds, Roasted Apple, Charlotte Dumpling Sandwich and Tapioca Apples, Stewed Artichoke Asparagus Barley Broth Cream of Barley Water Batter Pudding Beef Tea Substitute Beet Beverages Blancmange Bombay Pudding Bread, Cold Water Egg Gem Hot Water Raisin Shortened Twice Bated Bread and Fruit Pudding Broad Beans Broccoli Biscuits Browning for Gravies and Sauces Brussels Sprouts Bubble and Squeak Buttered Eggs Rice and Peas Cabbage Cake Mixture Cherry Cocoanut Corn, Wine and Oil Cakes Lemon Cake, Madeira Manhu Seed Short Sponge Sultana Sussex (without eggs) Cakes, Small Carrot Juice (Raw) Casserole Cookery Cauliflower Celeriac Celery Soup Cheese Chestnut, Boiled Pie Rissoles Savoury Soup Chocolate Jelly Cocoanut Biscuits Cornflour Shape "Corn, Wine and Oil" Cake Cucumber Currant Sandwich Curries Curry Powder Curried Eggs German Lentils Vegetables Custard, Boiled Hogan Date Pudding Devilled Eggs Distilled Water Dried Fruits Egg Boiled for Invalids Egg Bread Egg, Cream Buttered Curry Devilled Poached on Tomato Sauce Scrambled with Tomato Fancy Biscuits Fig Pudding French Beans French Soup Fruit Nut Filling Fruit Salad Fruit Soup Gem Bread German Lentil Curry Ginger Nuts Gravy, Brown and Thick Green Peas Haricot Beans, Boiled Rissoles Soup Hogan Custard Hominy, Boiled (Manhu) Pudding Hot Pot Irish Stew, Vegetarian Jam Vegetable Marrow Without Sugar Roll Sandwich Jelly, Chocolate Orange Raspberry and Currant Leek Lemon Cordial Curd Sauce Short Cake Lentil and Leek Pie Paste Rissoles Soup Lentils, Stewed Lime Juice Cordial Macaroni Cheese Soup and Tomato Macaroons Manhu Health Cake Marmalade Meat Substitutes Menus Milk Pudding Mincemeat Mushroom and Tomato Nettle Nut Cookery and Lentil Roast Roast, Royal Paste Pastry Rissoles Roast Nuttolene, Stewed Oatcake Oatmeal Biscuits Gruel Omelet, Plain Savoury Sweet soufflé Onions, Baked--Fried--Steamed Orange Cordial Jelly Parkin Parsley Sauce Parsnips Pastry, to make Pastry, Nut Puff Short Pea Soup Pine Kernels, Roasted Pine Kernel Cheese Plain Pudding Plum Pudding (Christmas) Poached Eggs on Tomato Potatoes Baked, Chips, Fried, Mashed, Sauté, Steamed Potato Soup P.R. Soup Protose Cutlets Salad Radish Railway Pudding Raisin Loaf Raspberry and Currant Jelly Rice, Boiled and Egg Fritters Savoury Buttered and Peas Risotto Sago Soup Sago Shape Salad Sauce, Brown Egg Lemon Parsley Tomato White Savoury Dishes Scarlet Runner Scones, Sultana Sea Kale Soup, Barley Celery Chestnut Convalescent's Soup, French Fruit Haricot Lentil Macaroni Pea Potato P. R. Sago Tomato Vegetable Stock Spinach Stock Summer Pudding Sunday and Monday Swede Tomato Sauce Soup Stuffed Toad-in-the-hole Turnip Treacle Pudding Trifle Unfired Food Useful Utensils Vegetable Curry Marrow Stuffed and Nut Roast Pie Stew Stock Vegetables, to Cook Wallace Cheese Warming Up Weights and Measures Welsh Rarebit Xmas Pudding Yeast Bread Yorkshire Pudding (see Batter)
Concerning Advertisements.
The Publisher of the "Healthy Life Cook Book" desires to make the advertisement pages as valuable and helpful as the subject-matter of the book. To this end, instead of following the usual plan of first "catching" the advertisement, and then requesting the author of the book to "puff" it, he only solicits advertisements from those firms that the author already deals with and here conscientiously recommends.
T. J. Bilson & Co.
I have dealt with this firm for some years with perfect satisfaction. They stock all the goods mentioned in this book, and I should like to draw special attention to their unpolished rice and seedless raisins, both of which are exceptionally good. To those about to invest in a Food-Chopper I would recommend the 5/- size. The other is inconveniently small.
Emprote.
Emprote and the other proteid foods produced by the Eustace Miles Proteid Foods Ltd., is a valuable asset to the vegetarian beginner, who too often tries to subsist upon a dietary deficient in assimilable proteid.
Energen.
The Energen Foods are another very useful asset to the vegetarian suffering from deficiency of proteid in his dietary and those who are unable to digest starchy foods.
Food Reform Restaurant.
I have often enjoyed meals at the above restaurant. They cater, and cater well, for the ordinary Vegetarian, but with a little care in the selection of the menu, abstainers from salt, fermented bread, etc., can also obtain a satisfactory meal.
"The Healthy Life."
I cannot "conscientiously" recommend _The Healthy Life_, as I happen to be one of its Editors and therefore might be biassed. I may, however, mention the valuable work contributed to it by Dr. Knaggs and Mr. Saxon.
"Herald of Health."
This Magazine may be said to be the pioneer among "food-reform" papers and I owe to it my own introduction to most of the more advanced ideas about food-reform. It never fails to be interesting and instructive.
The Home Restaurant.
The Home Restaurant is run throughout by women and may therefore be said to represent the Women's Movement in Food-Reform! I would especially recommend its homemade cakes and biscuits.
Mrs. Hume--Loughtonhurst.
I have spent several holidays with Mrs. Hume and enjoyed them thoroughly. She provides an excellent vegetarian menu and will make unfermented bread and procure distilled water for those food-reformers who desire them.
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The Healthy Life Cook Book, 2d ed.Chapter II: MACAROONS. 5 ozs. sweet almonds, 5 ozs. castor sugar, 2 eggs
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