Chapter VII: Part 7

The individual timbales may be used as a garnish for some vegetable dish, giving meat value to it. Decorate timbales with egg daisies, carrots, or anything desired.

=Rice and Lentil Timbales=

Line a well oiled mold with a ¾ in. layer of boiled rice. Nearly fill the center with mashed lentils, cover with rice, steam or bake 20 m. to ½ hr. Unmold carefully, garnish, serve with cream, brown, mushroom or any suitable sauce.

Mashed peas may take the place of lentils, with sauce of celery, onion or tomato cream.

=Lentil Roast=

1 pt. lentils
½ cup raw nut butter
a few bread crumbs, or
¼ cup browned flour No. 1
1 small onion chopped
salt
sage
1 egg
⅝-¾ cup water

Cook and mash lentils, add nut butter and onion which have been cooked with salt ½ hour in the water, then the browned flour or the crumbs, sage and beaten egg; more salt and water or crumbs if necessary for right consistency. Press into well oiled mold or brick-shaped tin, bake, covered, in pan of water about 1 hour or until firm. Dry in oven 10 m., out of water if necessary. Let stand in warm place 5 m. Unmold on to platter, garnish. Serve with sauce 6, 16, 18, 54 or 57.

Flavorings of roast may be varied or omitted.

1 cup chopped nuts might be used in place of raw nut butter.

1 cup stewed tomato may be used for liquid.

For people with good digestion, the lentils may be ground through a food cutter instead of being put through the colander.

=Chick Peas Roast=

Substitute chick peas for lentils in lentil roast.

=Peas Roast=

1 pt. mashed, dry, split or whole green peas, 1 to 2 eggs or whites of eggs only, or a little fresh cracker dust. Bake as lentil roast until firm only. Serve with tomato cream sauce or almond cream, tomato or celery cream sauce. Peas require no flavoring, but celery or celery salt may be added, serving with plain cream sauce.

=Sister Boulter’s Red Kidney Bean Loaf=

Cook and crush or grind red kidney beans, add salt and sage, mold. Serve cold, sliced, with or without oil, or use for sandwiches. A few crumbs may be added if necessary, the loaf baked, and served hot with any suitable accompaniment.

=Purées of Legumes=

Add sufficient water, nut or dairy cream or milk to mashed beans, peas or lentils to make of the consistency of a thick batter. No sauce is required.

=★ Rich Baked Beans=

Wash beans and get them into boiling salted water, in the bean pot, as quickly as possible. For each pint of beans use 1¼ to 1¾ teaspn. of salt. Add plenty of water at first, perhaps three times the quantity of beans. Put into a hot oven until they begin to boil, then reduce the temperature to such a degree as will keep them just simmering for from 12 to 24 hours. The old-fashioned New England baked beans were kept in a brick oven for three days, and each day they were better than the last.

Do not stir the beans after the skins begin to break. When necessary to add more water, pour it boiling over the top and let it settle in gradually. A gentle shaking may be helpful. After they are swollen and softened they should not have too much water on at a time, nor be baked too fast; if so, they will be “mushy.”

They are most generally liked slightly juicy when served--not too wet nor too dry, but just “juicy.” They may be served with the Salad Entrée dressing, Improved Mayonnaise or French dressing, with oil or lemon juice or with Chili sauce, but they all spoil that delightful bean flavor in the rich, thick juice. Beans have a characteristic flavor which is destroyed by the addition of anything but salt and water. Molasses, cream, nut butter and tomato are all good in their place, but that is not in baked beans if we attain to the keenest enjoyment of the bean flavor. We get the rich red color, without the rank molasses taste, by prolonged baking. Cream and milk deaden the flavor, and nut butter and tomato change it.

Those who taste our baked beans for the first time exclaim, “I would not have believed it,” and it is hard for them to believe that there is no meat in them.

Bake Red Kidney and other varieties of beans the same as white beans.

For those who think they must have the molasses, use 1 teaspn. molasses (or 2 teaspns. for a very strong molasses flavor) 2 teaspns. oil and 1½-1¾ teaspn. salt to each pint of beans.

=★ Western Baked Beans=

Boil beans in salted water until the skins are broken. Put into a pudding dish with plenty of water and bake in a slow oven until dry and mealy and delicately browned over the top.

=Baked Split Yellow Peas=

1 qt. (1½ lb.) split peas
1-2 tablespns. browned flour
½ cup strained stewed tomato
3-3½ teaspns. salt

Wash peas, put into bean pot, add browned flour, tomato and salt which have been mixed together, then turn over them two or three times their quantity of boiling water. Stir well. When boiling, regulate the heat of the oven so as to keep them gently simmering for from 5 to 7 hours. Do not stir after they are first put to cooking. They require greater care than beans to keep them from breaking. However, if they do not keep their shape they will be of a jelly-like consistency not at all objectionable. May add 2 large onions sliced fine.

=Baked Split Yellow Peas No. 2=

1 qt. peas
¼ cup roasted nut butter
1 cup tomato
3-3½ teaspns. salt

Rub nut butter smooth with tomato and add with salt and boiling water to peas. Raw nut butter and browned flour may be substituted for the roasted nut butter.

=★ Baked Split Green Peas=

Wash peas and put into a baking dish with 1 teaspn. of salt to each pint of peas and 2 to 2½ times the quantity of water. Cook on top of the stove until tender (about 1 hour), then put, covered, into a slow oven and bake until dry and mealy all through, which will not be long if there was not too much water in them. Peas lose their delicate flavor and develop a strong taste if cooked too long. If this amount of water is too great, use a little less. Serve if desired in the dish in which they were baked, with sauces given for mashed peas. A mint and celery flavored raw nut butter sauce is nice with them.

When desired very smooth they may be put through a colander. They may be used in soups and in all dishes where mashed peas are required.

=Baked Lentils--great favorites=

Stew lentils with salt, with or without chopped onion, until nearly tender.

Add a little cream, turn into a baking dish and finish in the oven. Serve juicy.

A little thick cream poured over the lentils during the last of the baking gives a nice crusty finish to the top.

=Stewed Beans=

Put red kidney and other beans with tough skins into boiling unsalted water and cook until nearly but not quite tender before adding the salt. Common white, Lima and all beans with tender skins must be put into boiling salted water at first. After a short time of rapid boiling let beans just simmer until tender, then add a little heavy cream and stand back where they will keep hot but will not boil, for a half hour or longer. A little raw nut butter may be cooked with them sometimes, or, cocoanut cream may be substituted for dairy cream.

Red kidney and some of the richer varieties may be served with boiled rice or in a mashed potato border.

=Stewed Split Green Peas=

Cook peas in salted water ¾ to 1 hour, add cream, heat and serve. Two parts stewed dried or green sweet corn to one of peas, may be added sometimes.

=Flowering Beans=

which have no equal in flavor, should be put into a large quantity of cold water, brought to the boiling point, boiled for 10 m., drained and put to cooking in boiling unsalted water. Add salt when nearly tender. Try them.

=Stewed Beans in Bean Sauce=

Mash a few of the stewed beans, add cream, or milk and butter with the water from the beans, more salt if necessary; blend well, pour over remainder of beans, heat. Serve on toast or as preferred.

=Stewed Lentils--for people with good digestion=

Cook lentils with raw nut butter, onion, garlic, browned flour and salt, until tender, rich and juicy. Serve without mashing with boiled rice or with some of the large sizes of macaroni, cooked.

Lentils may be cooked plain with salt and seasoned with cream or butter at the last.

=Ragout of Chick Peas--especially delicious=

Soak the peas over night. Cook and cook and cook in the water they were soaked in. When about half done add garlic, onion, a very little browned flour, tomato and salt. Serve with dressing, rice, dumplings--steamed or baked, or on toast.

=Cabbage Leaf Rolls of Lentils=

1 cup lentils
1 cup rice
2 tablespns. raw nut butter
onion
sage
salt
1 loose head of cabbage
a little tomato if desired

Boil cabbage leaves in salted water 5-8 m., or sprinkle with salt, pour boiling water over and let stand 20 m. to ½ hour. Refresh with cold water, drain.

Cook lentils till beginning to get tender but not until broken, drain and save water.

Cook rice in salted water until swollen but not soft (about 15 m.), drain if necessary and save the water. Mix lentils, rice, sage, chopped onion, raw nut butter and salt smooth with a little of the lentil water. Put a tablespoonful of this mixture in the center of each cabbage leaf. Fold the sides of the leaf over and roll into croquette shape. Pack close in layers in an oiled baking dish. (A flaring granite pan would do nicely.) Pour the rice water and lentil water over, with a little tomato if desired, and add enough boiling, slightly salted water to cover. Press a plate over the rolls, cover and bake ¾ to 1 hour in a moderate oven.

Drain, save liquid, remove plate, invert dish on to chop tray, leaving rolls in a mound. Thicken liquid slightly and turn over rolls or serve separately. Garnish mound.

Dairy butter may be used in place of raw nut butter.

=Savory Hash=

Equal quantities mashed lentils and boiled rice or chopped potato, seasoned with sage or onion. Add water or cream and salt. A few soaked and chopped dried olives may be added to the hash.

“The pea and the lentil are roasted in the Mediterranean countries and form there a regular article of food. In India peas are parched in hot sand. The chick-pea, as found by experiment, can be parched over coals in a few moments and thus be made edible. The taste reminds one of pop corn and roasted chestnuts. A slight bitterness is present, due, probably, to the skin which does not slip off in roasting as does the skin of the peanut. When this skin is removed before roasting, as it may be by a half hour’s soaking, the product is improved.

“Our common split pea is also palatable when parched. Parched peas are too hard for any but the strongest teeth, and, as used in India, they are ground and cooked after parching. The roasted chick-pea is also used as a substitute for coffee.”--_Mary Hinman Abel, Farmers’ Bulletin No. 121, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture._

EGGS

“Milk and eggs should not be classed with flesh meat. In some cases the use of eggs is beneficial.”

“While their use will become more and more unsafe as disease in animals increases, they should not be discarded entirely, when other foods to supply the needed elements cannot be obtained. Great care, however, should be taken to obtain milk from healthy cows and eggs from healthy fowls that are well fed and well cared for.”

Though eggs are, to some extent, stimulating, they do not contain the poisonous, excrementitious matter found in the flesh of dead animals; and no animal life is destroyed by their use.

As eggs, at present, form so important a part of the Vegetarian dietary, care should be taken to prepare them attractively and palatably.

Suggestions

Only strictly fresh eggs should be used for any purpose. There is danger in stale eggs.

The beaten raw egg is usually considered the most digestible, but there are some with whom lightly cooked eggs, as “Eggs in the Shell” agree best, and still others upon whom the soft yolk acts almost like poison, who can take omelets or scrambled eggs better, where the whites and yolks are thoroughly mingled (when cooked in not too large a quantity of oil).

Occasionally we find a person with whom the white of the egg disagrees; but very seldom.

Try taking the beaten white of an egg when you have a sour stomach. It is very soothing, also, to an irritated, sensitive stomach.

The white of an egg relieves the pain and prevents inflammation when applied quickly to a burn or scald.

A few sliced Brazil nuts or filberts or broken pieces of other nuts added to omelets or scrambled eggs aid mastication.

Salt should not be put into the water for poaching eggs; it renders them less digestible.

The cooked yolk of the egg is most digestible when cooked long enough to be dry and mealy, and the white when just jellied.

Never use milk in scrambled eggs or omelets. The casein of the milk hardens with cooking and renders the eggs tough; besides, the flavor of the eggs is much finer with water, and omelets are lighter. Cream spoils the flavor though it does not toughen the egg as does milk.

Always bake soufflés, puff omelets, cakes, all things to be made light with egg, slowly, and well from the bottom, so that they will stay up, after rising. Serve soufflés and puff omelets as soon as done.

For custards or any thickening, beat eggs just sufficiently to mingle, not to a foam.

Drop yolks of eggs in cold water to keep them from drying up when whites only are desired, and lift carefully from the water with a teaspoon when ready to use.

Add a trifle of salt to whites of eggs before beating; they will be lighter.

Stand yolks of eggs in half the shell on a wrinkled towel while waiting to prepare the whites for egg creams and other dishes.

When eggs are used freely in breads, cakes or puddings, other proteid foods will not be required, so they need not add to the expense of the meal.

=Eggs In the Shell, or Curdled Eggs=

The objection to the “soft boiled” egg is that the white is hard while the yolk is soft. To obviate this difficulty, put from 1 to 4 eggs into boiling water, 1 pint for each egg (cover if the dish is broad and shallow; if deep, leave uncovered), and let stand off from the fire for from 5 to 10 minutes according to the age of the eggs. Fresh laid eggs will cook in a shorter time than those several days old.

When a larger number of eggs is required, use a smaller proportion of water and let them stand on the back of the range where the water will be below the boiling point, for 5 minutes.

The most accurate way to obtain the desired result is to keep the water at the temperature (by the thermometer) of 168 to 170 degs. for 10 minutes; never allowing it to go above 170 nor below 168. The flavor of eggs cooked in this way is as much more delicate and delightful as is the consistency.

=Roasted Eggs=

Prick the shells of the eggs several times at the pointed end to prevent their bursting during cooking, set them on the large end in the hot sand or ashes under the camp fire, cover with leaves, hot sand and embers and cook for 10 minutes. When opened they will be smooth and of a velvety consistency. The same result may be obtained by putting eggs in the hot ashes under the grate of the kitchen range.

=Poached Eggs=

In an oiled, shallow pan have unsalted boiling water deep enough to be at least ½ in. above the eggs. Slide the broken eggs (only fresh laid eggs will poach nicely) into the perfectly boiling water, singly, or all from one large dish. Set pan on asbestos pad, cover and leave where the water will keep hot but will not boil, until the eggs are jelly-like. Remove carefully from the water with a small oiled skimmer and cut off the ragged edges with a biscuit cutter. Nothing is more offensive to the eye than a rough ragged poached egg.

Besides the usual toast, poached eggs may be served on cream toast, round slices of broiled trumese, on hash or creamed vegetables, or in shallow nests of boiled rice, mashed potato or spinach. Do not forget the garnish, as there is no place where a spray of parsley gives a better effect than on poached eggs.

Or, place oiled muffin rings in the pan of water and break an egg into each ring; take up with griddle cake turner and remove the ring.

The most nearly perfect of all, however, are eggs poached in the Buffalo Steam Poacher after the following method:

Have the lower part of the poacher ⅔ full of _boiling_ water; set the _well oiled_ poacher cups, each containing an egg, into their places; cover, let stand over the hot fire just a moment to allow the cover to become filled with steam, then set off from the fire. Leave, covered tight, for 6 m., when you will have eggs beautifully jellied all through, which (if the cups were oiled sufficiently will slide out on to whatever you wish to serve them on.)

Sometimes poach eggs in thin cream or in milk and butter, lay on to slices of toast, halves of biscuit or large thin wafers, and pour the cream around.

=Poached Yolks of Eggs=

Drop yolks, one at a time, into rapidly boiling water; keep them rolling, by rapid boiling, for at least 10 m.; then stand where they will boil more slowly till done, 20-25 m.

=Poached Whites of Eggs=

To be cut in fancy shapes for garnishing.

Break whites of eggs into thoroughly oiled cup or bowl, set in pan of hot water, with something to keep the dish from touching the bottom of the pan, and leave over the fire until the white is set.

=Poached Beaten Eggs=

Beat eggs to a foam with water, or any desired addition, and cook in steam poacher.

=Creamed Eggs=

Break eggs into a shallow baking dish, cover with thin cream and bake in a moderate oven; sprinkle with salt and dot with parsley leaves before serving. Or, bake or steam singly in ramekins or custard cups. Rye bread crumbs may be sprinkled in the bottom of the dish and over the eggs for variety, also ground pine nuts.

=Rice with Poached Eggs=

Steam rice in shallow dish; when done, make depressions for the required number of eggs; break one into each hollow, set dish in steamer for 2 m., or till whites are set, sprinkle with chopped parsley and send to table. Creamed potatoes may be substituted for rice sometimes, and either may be baked in the oven by covering with a pan.

=Poached Eggs--Creamed Celery=

Put nicely poached eggs on rounds of toast and arrange in a circle on a chop tray; fill the center with celery in cream sauce. Garnish with leaves of spinach.

=Hard Boiled Eggs=

Put eggs into warm water, bring to just below the boiling point, 200 degs. and keep at that temperature for about 30 m. Drop for a moment into cold water before removing the shells. Or, when necessary, boil rapidly for 10-20 m.

Hard eggs agree with some stomachs better than soft ones.

=Italian Eggs=

Cut hard boiled eggs in halves lengthwise, lay on to cutlets of corn meal porridge and pour Italian sauce around.

=Creamed Eggs on Toast=

Serve halves or quarters or slices of hard boiled eggs on toast with cream sauce, plain, or flavored with celery or onion, with chopped parsley sprinkled over. Plain or tomato drawn butter may be substituted for cream sauce.

=Eggs and Macaroni=

Cook macaroni in 2-in. lengths, in salted water with onion and garlic or garlic only. Drain and arrange in nest fashion on chop tray. Lay whole, shelled eggs in center, pour cream of tomato sauce around and over nest. Sprinkle with parsley. Drawn butter or cream sauce may be used.

Or, cut eggs in halves, crosswise, remove yolks and mix to a paste with melted butter, salt, onion juice and chopped parsley. Fill whites with the mixture and arrange on bed of macaroni. Pour sauce over. The roast gravy or some of the mushroom sauces may be used.

=Eggs With Sauce=

Hard boiled eggs, whole or in halves, may be served with cream, cream of tomato or mint sauce, or with sauce Imperial or fruit sauces or jellies; with mint sauce on broiled nutmese.

=Stuffed Eggs=

Cut hard boiled eggs in halves, lengthwise, remove yolks and add to them bread or roll crumbs soaked in cream, a little chopped parsley and salt. Rub all together until smooth, add raw egg (or yolk only) to bind, fill spaces in the whites of eggs and press the halves together. Add beaten whole egg to the mixture remaining, dip eggs into it, roll in crumbs and heat in oven or steamer, covered, until just warmed through. Serve with any desired sauce.

A little onion juice may be added to the yolk mixture, or nutmese or trumese cut very fine, with or without chopped mushrooms. Mashed potato may be substituted for bread crumbs.

The eggs may be served as a garnish for green peas or on slices of toast with or without sauce.

=Eggs with Ripe Olives=

3 eggs
12 (or more) olives, chopped coarse
French dressing
chopped parsley

Cut eggs in halves crosswise, remove yolks and mix with olives and dressing, return to the whites, stand on leaves of lettuce and sprinkle with parsley. Pour dressing around. Improved Mayonnaise dressing is suitable also. May garnish with whole olives.

=Pickled Eggs=

_Pickle_--2 parts each of lemon juice and water, ⅓ part sugar, salt and a little celery salt. Heat to boiling, pour over hard boiled eggs with a few slices of red beet. Let stand 24 hours.

=Eggs à la Salade=

Cut hard boiled eggs in halves lengthwise, remove yolks, rub through wire strainer and mix to a smooth paste with Improved Mayonnaise dressing (flavored with onion or garlic if desired), fill the whites and press the halves together. Lay in nests of shredded lettuce dotted with the dressing.

Or, rub whites through strainer, place around the inside of nests of shredded lettuce; mix yolks with dressing, shape into small eggs and place in nests.

=Shirred Eggs=

Butter and crumb individual dishes, break 1 or 2 eggs into each, set over pan of hot water in oven and bake until eggs are set. The dish may be rubbed with a cut clove of garlic.

If preferred, sprinkle oiled griddle with crumbs, set buttered muffin rings on it, pressing them down firmly, and drop an egg into each ring. Bake. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, serve on toast with any desired sauce.

=Scrambled Eggs.=

Put oil in pan and heat very hot but not smoking. Turn in eggs which have been broken and salted but not beaten. As they set, draw carefully from the bottom of the pan with a spoon without turning over. When all are set but not hard, slide quickly (leaving the shining side up) on to a plate or platter. The dish must be all ready, as a moment’s delay will overcook the eggs.

_Another Way_--Take from 1 teaspn. to 1 tablespn. of water (never milk) for each egg; beat, and scramble as above.

Do not stir, just draw the eggs from the bottom of the pan. Cream may be used but the flavor is inferior to the water scramble. Nut cream may be used instead of water.

=To Scramble a Large Quantity of Eggs=

Break 3 or 4 dozens of eggs into an oiled agate or aluminum kettle, add salt and water, beat slightly and set kettle into hot water. Stir occasionally at first, then more often as eggs begin to set.

Do not try to keep warm long, but make fresh lots as required.

=★ Tomato Scrambled Eggs=

Take ¾-1 teaspn. thick tomato pulp to each egg, with salt. May flavor with onion.

=★ Sour Milk Scrambled Eggs=

1 tablespn. thick sour milk to each egg, salt; cook till just done.

=Various Scrambles=

Simmer sliced celery or onion in oil a few minutes before adding eggs. Or, add asparagus tips, green peas, mushrooms, a little boiled rice or a few broken nuts or bits of trumese or nutmese to eggs before scrambling.

The yolks only may be scrambled.

=★ Cream Sauce Scramble=

Add 3 eggs to each half-cup of hot cream sauce; mix until done. Garnish with sliced tomato. Mushrooms may be added to the cream sauce before the eggs. Any desired sauce may be used.

=Florentine Scrambled Eggs=

Spread nicely scrambled eggs on rounds of moistened toast and place a broiled or baked half of tomato on top. Garnish with parsley or spinach leaves or with lettuce and fringed celery.

=Egg Croquettes=

_Sauce_--

1 tablespn. butter
2-2⅔ tablespns. flour
1 cup milk or thin cream
1 teaspn. onion juice
1 teaspn. salt
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped

The whites of eggs may be rubbed through a wire strainer or a ricer. Make sauce the usual way; cool; add the eggs and shape into croquettes, egg, crumb and bake. A few cooked chopped fresh or dried mushrooms may be added with the eggs.

=Egg and Rice Croquettes=

2 cups boiled rice
¼ cup cream
oil or melted butter
3-4 hard boiled eggs, chopped or the whites riced
grated onion or finely-sliced celery, or both
chopped parsley

Shape, heat in oven, serve with cream sauce, with or without peas or celery.

OMELETS

The making of an omelet is very simple, requiring just a little practice, and it is by far the most attractive way of serving eggs.

It is better to make several small omelets of 3 or 4 eggs each than one very large one. Six eggs is the most that can be handled at all properly.

Use 1 teaspn. to 1 tablespn. of water to each egg. The water may be omitted entirely.

Eggs may be beaten a very little, or until light and foamy.

Omelet pans should not be used for anything else. To keep them smooth, rub with soft pieces of paper or a cloth after using, and occasionally scour them with salt. Do not wash them. Keep in warm, dry place.

Omelets should be served immediately, when made.

=Plain French Omelet=

3 eggs
1-3 tablespns. water
½ teaspn. salt

Beat. Have butter or oil in pan to well cover the bottom. Heat hot, but not to smoking or brownness. Turn the eggs in and with a spatula (or a thin bladed knife) lift the set portions, allowing the liquid part to run underneath. When all is set, jelly-like, not hard, roll quickly from one side into the form, as one writer says, of an “oval cushion.” Hold omelet for a moment over the fire to take a delicate cream color underneath. Turn on to a hot platter, the under side up, garnish and serve.

If an omelet is quite thick it may be folded over just double.

It should be a little soft on the top before folding.

The perfect shape is higher in the center and pointed at the ends.

Olive oil, in the pan, gives a flavor much enjoyed by many.

If the oven is just right, setting the pan in the oven a moment before or after folding puffs the omelet nicely.

The plain omelet may be varied by mixing some garnish with the eggs and spreading it over the top before folding, or serving it around the omelet on the platter.

When the material is to be folded in, leave the center of the omelet a little thinner.

Accompaniments to omelets must be well seasoned and flavored.

Sweet omelets with fruits make nice desserts or luncheon dishes.

=Omelet Variations=

=Apple and Onion=--Garnish omelet with apple and onion sauce.

=Apricot=--Stewed, dried apricots folded in omelet.

=Asparagus=--Season asparagus tips with butter and salt; lay between folds of omelet and on the top, or, pile at one side of the omelet. The butter may be omitted and a rich cream or egg cream sauce poured over the tips and around the omelet.

=★ Banana Cream=--Heat, do not boil cream and sugar; add banana cut into small dice; cover omelet (which has had a little sugar beaten with the eggs), fold, serve with wafers. Do not heat the cream after adding the banana.

=Corn, a great favorite=--Use 1½ tablespn. nicely seasoned, rather dry stewed corn (no water) for each egg. Mix well and cook as plain omelet. Use 1 tablespn. grated fresh corn for each egg. Creamed dried corn may be used.

=Crumb=--2 eggs, 2 tablespns. bread crumbs, ¼ cup milk, salt. Beat eggs together or separately.

=Fine Herbs=--Finely-chopped fresh thyme, tarragon and chives; or, parsley, thyme and marjoram, beaten with the eggs. Lemon butter sauce may be spread over the omelet after it is on the platter.

=Gooseberry=--Spread omelet with not too sweet stewed gooseberries.

=Imperial=--Serve with Sauce Imperial.

=Jelly=--Spread with jelly before folding; or garnish with spoonfuls; or unmold a small flat mold of jelly beside the omelet on the platter and serve with it. Garnish with geranium or spinach leaves.

=Mayonnaise=--Spread or garnish with Improved Mayonnaise dressing.

=★ Mushroom=--Cook mushrooms, fresh, in their own juices, in a double boiler with butter and salt. Cover half the omelet before folding and garnish the folded omelet with some of the most perfect mushrooms. Pour the liquid around. Chopped mushrooms may be used on the inside if prepared in the same way.

=★ Another=--Broil the mushrooms, pour melted butter over and use in the same way as above.

=Nut=--Add a few broken or coarse chopped nuts to egg mixture and garnish top with halves of nuts.

=Onion=--Add grated or finely-sliced onion and chopped parsley to egg mixture. Cook omelet very soft. Or, simmer sliced onions in oil till tender (not brown), add egg mixture and cook. Or, simmer onions in oil, drain oil into omelet pan, cook omelet and cover with onions before folding.

=Onion and Tomato=--Simmer onions in oil, add a little drained, stewed tomato and salt, heat and serve around omelet.

=Oyster Plant=--Cover omelet with stewed oyster plant in slices with a little of the liquor seasoned with butter, cream or cream sauce, before folding.

=Parsley=--Chopped parsley in omelet mixture and omelet served with parsley butter.

=Peas-green=--Same as oyster plant omelet. The dried chick peas, cooked and richly seasoned as on p. 194, make a delightful accompaniment.

=Peas-mashed=--1 tablespn. of mashed peas and ½ tablespn. of water to each egg. Salt.

=Prune=--Prunes stewed in a small quantity of water so that the syrup is rich; pitted, quartered and folded into omelet.

=Rice=--Mix boiled rice with eggs, cook soft, serve with tomato sauce if desired.

=Tomato=--Drain stewed tomatoes, season well with butter and salt, or salt only. Serve in and around omelet. Or, thick tomato pulp may be added to the egg mixture. Serve omelet plain or with cream sauce.

=Trumese Salad Entrée=--Lay strips of trumese salad entrée on half of omelet; fold, turn on to platter, pour dressing around, garnish with parsley or spinach leaves.

=Omelet with Okra in Almond Cream Sauce--delicious=

¾ tablespn. almond butter, ⅓ cup water, salt, mix, boil; add ⅔ cup drained stewed okra, heat. Serve in and around 3-egg omelet.

=Vegetable Pudding Omelet=

Put hot creamed vegetables--asparagus, peas, peas and carrot, or any preferred, in bottom of pudding dish. Cover with omelet mixture, bake in moderate oven till eggs are just creamy and delicately browned; serve at once.

=Puff Omelet=

2 eggs
2 tablespns. water
salt

Mix yolks, salt and water; beat the whites to a stiff froth with a little salt, and chop into them the yolk mixture. Turn into a hot well oiled pan and set on an asbestos pad back from the direct heat of the fire. Cover and cook until the top will not stick when lightly touched with the finger. It should take from 15 to 20 m. If cooked too rapidly the omelet will fall. Fold, or slide on to a hot dish without folding. Serve plain or with any desired accompaniment.

Sauces 16, 18, 44, 50 or 75 are all suitable for the puff omelet.

If the oven is not too hot, the omelet may be baked, but it should be set on something to keep it from the bottom of the oven and may need to have a pan turned over it. May score across the top with a hot iron when omelet is not folded.

One egg only, makes a nice little omelet. It may be baked in a large muffin ring (or two small) on a griddle and served on a thin slice of toast, with or without cream sauce.

These omelets are delightful and one requires but little practice to attain perfection in them. They will admit of the same variations as the French omelet.

Fruit juices with a little sugar may be substituted for the water sometimes. The water may be omitted.

Omelet may be tinted with tomato, spinach or other colors for variety.

A delightful omelet may be made by mixing 2 teaspns. of pine nut, almond or steamed nut butter with the water.

=Foam Omelet=

Mix beaten yolks with ⅓ less water than for the puff omelet; cook until delicately jellied, spread stiffly-beaten whites near the edge of half the omelet; set on top grate of oven to warm. Fold and serve at once. Omelet may be dotted with jelly before putting the whites on. Half the beaten whites may be mixed with yolks as in puff omelets.

=Savory Puff Omelet=

2 eggs
2 tablespns. cream of nut butter
2-4 tablespns. chopped, thoroughly soaked, dried olives
chopped parsley

Add olives and parsley to yolk mixture and fold in beaten whites.

=Orange Omelet=

2 eggs
2 tablespns. orange juice
2 teaspns. sugar
salt
bits of orange pulp with sugar

Beat yolks, add 2 teaspns. of sugar, then orange juice and then the stiffly-beaten whites. Cook, spread half of omelet with orange pulp sprinkled with sugar, fold, serve.

=Another=

Add orange juice and grated rind with a little vanilla to yolks, then beaten whites as usual. When baked, fold and dust with powdered sugar.

=Grape Omelet=

Use grape juice instead of water in puff omelet. Fold and dust with powdered sugar.

=Unroasted Nut Butter Omelet. Choice=

2 teaspns. steamed nut butter
1½ tablespn. water
2 eggs

Mix nut butter, water, yolks and a little salt; add stiffly-beaten whites and cook as puff omelet. 1½ tablespn. of cooked cream of raw nut butter may be used if more convenient.

=Almond Butter Omelet=

1 teaspn. almond butter and ½ tablespn. water to each egg; combine and cook as above.

BREAD AND BAKED OMELETS

Bread and baked omelets may be served with gravies, sweet sauces or jelly, or with green peas or asparagus, or may have corn, peas, etc., mixed with omelet before baking. They may be made of milk, cream or water. Water makes the lightest and most delicate omelets. Stale, not dry, crumbs are used.

=Baked Omelet=

2 eggs
½ teaspn. flour
2 tablespns. water
1 teaspn. oil
salt

Beat all together or beat the whites of eggs separately, and bake in a slow oven until set. Fold or serve without folding. A few chopped nuts may be added when desired.

=Bread Omelet=

Pour 1 cup boiling water over 1 cup bread crumbs; let stand until soft. Beat 6 eggs just enough to mix them, add moistened bread crumbs, salt and a little chopped parsley. Turn into hot oiled omelet pan and bake on top of stove or in oven. This omelet may be baked in muffin rings on a griddle as may many omelets. Try molasses sauce with it.

=Bread and Milk Omelet=

Soak 1 cup of bread crumbs in 1 cup of sweet milk; add yolks of 3 eggs with salt, then the stiffly-beaten whites. Cook as puff omelet. Serve with or without jelly in the center.

=German Crumb Omelet=

6 eggs
1 cup water
1 cup fine bread crumbs
1 tablespn. corn starch
salt
a little chopped onion and
parsley

Beat yolks of eggs, add corn starch blended with water, then crumbs, salt, onion and parsley. Chop in stiffly-beaten whites. Bake in oven.

=Miss Chaffee’s Cracker Omelet=

⅔ cup of cracker crumbs, fill cup with milk; when crumbs are soft, add well-beaten yolks of 3 eggs, then stiffly-beaten whites.

Cook as puff omelet. Fold and serve.

=Bread Omelet Pie=

Soak 1 cup soft bread crumbs in 1 cup hot milk or water, add 1 tablespoon of oil or butter, 1 teaspn. each chopped onion and parsley, salt, and 2 well beaten eggs. Have hot, in baking dish, a thin layer of nicely seasoned drained tomato, or trumese seasoned with oil and lemon juice, or any desired filling; cover with the omelet and bake until just set.

=Breaded Tomato Omelet=

¾ cup of crumbs soaked in 1 cup strained tomato. Add yolks of 3 eggs, 2 or 3 tablespns. cream, salt, chopped parsley and stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Bake.

=Corn Starch Omelet. Extra Good=

3 eggs
1½ tablespn. corn starch
½ teaspn. salt
½ cup milk

Beat yolks of eggs, corn starch and salt together; add milk gradually; beat and chop in the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Cook as puff omelet.

=White Sauce Omelet. Unequaled=

1 cup rich milk
1 tablespn. oil or butter
5 eggs
2 tablespns. flour
½ teaspn. salt
1 teaspn. sugar

Heat butter, add flour, then hot milk and salt; pour over beaten yolks of eggs, add sugar, fold in stiffly-beaten whites; turn in to well oiled omelet pan and cook as puff omelet.

This recipe is copied almost verbatim from “A Book for a Cook,” by permission of the Pillsbury Flour Mills Company.

=Omelet Soufflé=

6 eggs
3 tablespns. powdered sugar
1 tablespn. lemon juice

Beat the yolks of the eggs with the sugar, add the lemon juice, chop in stiffly-beaten whites, heap in buttered baking dish; bake in slow oven till set. The yolks of 4 eggs only may be used.

Top of soufflé may be dusted with sugar before baking.

=★ Omelet Soufflé No. 2=

1 cup flour
1 pt. milk
1 tablespn. sugar
1 tablespn. oil or butter
5 eggs
¾ teaspn. salt

Mix flour, butter and sugar, pour boiling milk over, stirring. Boil well.

When partially cool add yolks of eggs, then the stiffly-beaten whites with salt; bake in a slow oven; serve plain or with maple syrup, honey, or hard sauce.

=Egg Timbales=

4 eggs
½ teaspn. salt
a few drops of onion juice
1 cup water, milk or thin cream

Beat eggs, salt and onion juice until blended only; add liquid gradually. Divide equally among 6 well buttered timbale molds (common cups will serve the purpose). Stand in a pan half filled with hot water and bake in a moderate oven about 20 m., or till firm to the touch. Turn out carefully on heated platter and pour bread or tomato sauce around. 5 or 6 eggs are sometimes used.

A teaspn. of chopped parsley with or without onion, a few peas or a little stewed corn may be added to eggs before putting into cups.

The timbales may be served on rounds of toast or of broiled trumese or nutmese.

=Rice and Egg Timbales=

4-6 hard boiled eggs
2 cups boiled rice
¼ cup oil
½-1 cup finely-sliced celery
1 tablespn. chopped parsley
salt

Slice eggs and chop a little, leaving coarse; mix with rice, celery, parsley, oil and salt and press into well oiled mold; set in pan of water in oven, cover and bake ¾-1 hour. Unmold and serve with cream sauce. Celery may be omitted and creamed celery or creamed peas served with the loaf. Individual molds may be used.

=Scalloped Eggs and Potatoes=

4 cold boiled potatoes
4 hard boiled eggs
1 pt. white sauce
crumbs
chopped parsley
salt

Put alternate layers of sliced potatoes and eggs in serving dish, sprinkle with salt, pour white sauce (with parsley stirred through it) over. Cover with oiled crumbs and bake. Sage, savory, onion or celery salt may be added.

=★ Scalloped Eggs and Celery=

2 large bunches celery 5 hard boiled eggs 1 pt. cream sauce

Slice and cook celery and arrange in layers with the cream sauce and sliced hard boiled eggs, in oiled baking dish with the sauce on top. Sprinkle with oiled crumbs, bake.

=Eggs in Perfection=

For luncheon or for an invalid

Poach yolk of egg and rub through coarse strainer; beat white stiff with a trifle of salt and place in mound on a gilt edged plate or small platter; dot with riced yolk, sprinkle with salt, press slightly salted, green tinted, whipped cream through pastry tube in small roses on to the top. Serve immediately with wafers or long strips of zwieback.

This dish gives both the yolk and white in their most digestible form. A little thick tomato pulp may be added to the white. The cream may be dropped on with a teaspoon.

UNCOOKED EGG DISHES

Egg creams, in their great variety, are the most delightful ways of serving uncooked eggs, both for desserts and for invalids.

For preparing them, the ingredients and all utensils and dishes should be as nearly ice cold as possible.

The white of the egg should be beaten very stiff. The milk and cream should have been sterilized.

The creams must be prepared just at the time of serving as they become liquid and lose their creamy consistency very soon.

Set the glass or dish of cream on to a small plate with a doiley, and if possible lay a delicate flower or leaf beside it.

The recipes are given for one egg but several may be prepared at once, when required, by using a cake bowl for beating.

Lemon juice added to the white renders it stiffer, but other juices and liquids soften it, so small quantities of them should be used and they should be mixed in very lightly.

High colored fruits and juices should be poured between layers of the egg, not mixed with it.

=Lemon Egg Cream=

Sprinkle a trifle of salt on to the white of an egg in a bowl and beat with a revolving egg beater to a very stiff froth; then add 1 tablespn. of sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Remove the egg beater, chop in lightly 2 teaspns. of lemon juice and remove ⅓ of the beaten white to a cold plate. Add the yolk and another teaspoon of lemon juice to the white remaining in the bowl. Chop them in lightly and quickly, not mixing very thoroughly. Drop this egg mixture into a cold glass and on top of it lay the white which was taken out. Serve at once.

All of the white may be beaten with the yolk if preferred. The whites of 2 eggs and yolk of one may be used.

A company of ladies to whom I once served this cream as a dessert pronounced it “the most delicate boiled custard” they had ever tasted.

=Raspberry Egg Cream=

Beat the white of 1 egg to a stiff froth with 1 teaspn. of sugar, chop in the yolk with 1 tablespn. of cream, drop a spoonful or two into a glass, then pour over a little rich red raspberry juice or drop on a few crushed or stewed berries. Continue this until all the egg is used. Serve at once.

A little lemon juice may be mixed with the raspberry if desired. The cream may be omitted. A part of the white may be left for the top. Strawberry, grape, currant and other juices may be substituted for raspberry. Pineapple and orange juices can be mixed with the egg: they are improved by combining with lemon juice.

=Banana Egg Cream=

Combine 1 or 2 tablespns. of fresh banana pulp and 1 tablespn. of cream with a beaten egg, leaving a part of the white on top if desired.

=Vanilla Egg Cream=

Beat the white of an egg with 1-2 teaspns. of sugar, reserving a little for the top; chop in the yolk with 1 tablespn. of cream and a delicate flavoring of vanilla; serve in a glass, with white on top of yolk mixture.

Or, for a change, beat the white and yolk separately, add half the sugar and cream to each, flavor yolk with vanilla, pile white in a dainty glass dish and pour yolk mixture over it. A little of the white may be chopped with the yolk.

=Almond Egg Cream=

Use 1 teaspn. almond butter, mixed to a thick cream with water, in place of dairy cream, in preceding recipe. Vanilla may be omitted.

=Maple or Honey Egg Cream=

Beat the white of an egg, add ⅔-1 tablespn. of maple syrup or of honey (malt extract sometimes); chop in yolk and if desired, 1 tablespn. of cream.

=Caramel Egg=

Beat white of 1 egg, add 2 teaspns. of sugar, beat, chop in yolk; pour over, stirring, the hot liquid made from boiling 1½-2 tablespns. of cereal coffee in ¾ cup of water to which 1 teaspn. of melted cocoa butter has been added. Liquid may be added cold, with a few drops of vanilla instead of cocoa butter.

=Egg and Milk=

Take 1-2 teaspns. of sugar and 3 tablespns. of milk, with the beaten egg in vanilla cream.

=Egg and Hot Milk=

Beat whole egg with 1-2 teaspns. of sugar until creamy; add a few drops of vanilla and pour over ½ cup boiling milk, stirring.

=Carbonated Egg=

Beat an egg, all together, with salt, add 1-3 tablespns. of cream and as much carbonated water as desired.

Fruit juices may be used, with or without dairy or nut cream.

The carbonated water may be used with the beaten egg only.

MUSHROOMS

The delightful flavors of mushrooms make them a valuable adjunct to the vegetarian dietary, whether or not they are classed with meat foods.

No one need to be in ignorance as to the edible ones with the many reliable books now published in regard to all varieties. But if you have not studied the subject, consult some one who is a judge before you use those you have gathered. Or, use only canned ones or those sold in the markets. Many cases of sickness have come from using mushrooms partially decayed, rather than from poisonous varieties; so be sure to reject those not entirely sound.

Mushrooms will not admit of many combinations without losing character. The simplest ways of preparing them are the best. It is a waste of time to peel any of the varieties except the puff ball.

Puff ball mushrooms are all edible when gathered at the white stage.

Overcooking toughens mushrooms. 5-20 minutes is sufficient time for any, except, perhaps, when cooked in a double boiler, then a half hour may not be too long.

Cream with water develops the flavors better than milk. Butter when used gives the same result.

When necessary to wash mushrooms, rinse up and down in cold water, rub the caps quickly, shake and drain in a colander. Often they will require rubbing only, with a soft flannel. Always cut off a thin slice from the end of the stalk and throw it away.

When the caps only are to be used in a dish, chop the stems and imperfect caps and cook for soups and sauces. Mushrooms are not expensive, as a few fresh or dried ones go a long way for flavoring. Unless plentiful, do not use mushrooms in timbales or roasts but in the sauces, where they will count. In the recipes, fresh ones are meant unless canned ones are mentioned.

GRAPE FRUIT
MUSHROOM GLOBE AND DISH, P. 219
CREAMED MUSHROOMS]

=Broiled Mushrooms=

Remove stems, place in fine wire broiler, turn the gills first to the fire for 5 m., then the other side. Put a small piece of butter in the center of each mushroom, sprinkle with salt, broil 5 m. Lay carefully on to pieces of toast or thin toasted wafers or slices of broiled trumese, skin side up, and serve at once. Melted butter may be poured over mushrooms on toast instead of putting butter into them while broiling. Caps are sometimes dipped in salt and olive oil and broiled after standing in a cold place for an hour. The heat should not be too intense for broiling.

=Baked Mushrooms=

Cut off part of stems, lay tops down in shallow baking pan, dust with salt, put a small piece of butter in each mushroom, bake 20 m. in hot oven. Serve in pan, or on toast with sauce from pan poured over.

=Steamed Mushrooms=

Put mushrooms in saucepan or double boiler with salt and no water. Cover close, cook 20-30 m. Add hot cream or butter mixed with a little flour, heat. Serve on toast, cutlets of corn meal porridge, rice cutlets or slices of broiled trumese. Butter, 2 tablespns. to the pound of mushrooms, may be added when put to cooking and no milk or cream used.

=Stewed Mushrooms=

Cut mushrooms into sixths or eighths or slices. Cook in small quantity of water 10-15 m., add cream, or milk and butter, enough to moisten toast. Heat, serve on toast.

=★ Creamed Mushrooms=

Stew mushrooms in a larger quantity of water, add cream, and thicken to the consistency of very heavy cream. Serve in dainty shells of pastry crust, or on toast or wafers, surrounded with green peas or not.

A small quantity of mushrooms will go a long way in this way.

=Mushroom Stew=

Add cooked fresh or dried mushrooms to thickened consommé. Serve over rice or macaroni or in rice border.

=Stewed Canned Mushrooms=

Drain mushrooms, if large cut into quarters and put into rich egg or cream sauce without further cooking.

Canned mushrooms (except home canned) are esteemed more for the feeling between the teeth than for their flavor and are at their best in pies, scallops and creams.

=Dried Mushrooms=

Wash dried mushrooms well, soak 4-12 hours in water or milk, simmer for 5 m. only, in the liquid in which they were soaked. Use in soups, sauces or stews, in small quantities, as the flavor is very rich.

=Pickled Mushrooms=

Soak mushrooms pickled in salt, for 24 hours, changing the water several times; drain, and if to be cooked in batter dry between the folds of a towel. Use cutlets of trumese batter with them, or with soaked dried mushrooms.

=Puff Balls=

Pare and cut puff ball mushrooms into half-inch slices. Simmer in butter or olive oil, with or without dipping in egg, and season with salt. Or, stew and serve as other mushrooms.

=Mushrooms in Rice Rings=

Shape cups of steamed or boiled rice in muffin rings, fill with creamed mushrooms or Boundary Castle sauce, protose and mushrooms à la crême, thin, or with mushroom stew.

=Sister McBurnie’s Chop Seuey=

shredded cabbage
shredded celery
chopped onion
mushrooms in quarters or eighths
cream, salt
a little butter if used

Put into close covered vessel in oven, bake 25-35 m. Onion may be omitted.

=Mushrooms à la Crême=

Use all mushrooms in recipe for celery and mushrooms à la crême p. 115, or all fresh mushrooms in trumese and mushrooms à la crême p. 165.

=Fresh Mushrooms--Under Glass Globe with Cream=

Cover the bottom of a porcelain dish with toast. On the toast pile mushrooms, gills down, several rows high, sprinkling with salt. Pour ⅓-½ cup of cream on to the mushrooms, cover with the globe or bell and simmer on the top of the stove 20-30 m.

The cover is removed after the plate is placed before the guest. This quantity is served for luncheon when the dish is the principal one of the meal. For a single course, a smaller portion of toast would be required and not more than 4 or 5 mushroom caps.

The dishes may be baked in the oven.

=Mushroom Timbales=

1 cup stewed mushrooms in pieces
1 tablespn. butter
1 tablespn. chopped onion
1 tablespn. chopped parsley
2 level tablespns. flour
salt
½ cup consommé or milk
2 yolks of eggs
1 tablespn. milk

Simmer onion in butter, add parsley, flour, and milk or consommé. Remove from fire, add yolks of eggs beaten with the tablespn. of milk, salt and mushrooms. Fill small molds which have been garnished as desired, bake in pan of water 20 m. or until set. Unmold on to rounds of toast, surround with thick mushroom sauce.

The timbales may be made of canned mushrooms and served with rich cream sauce.

=Mushroom and Oyster Plant Pie=

_Sauce_--

2½ tablespns. melted butter
2½-3 tablespns. flour
1½ cup water (part mushroom liquor if any)
½ cup cream
salt