oiiB'^at: smiEHiSiPiiffimaas ffmtayfm ttm| >yi W CT mmms BREAKFAST REPERTORY. WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST; WITH MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED DIFFERENT BREAKFASTS, AND FULL DIRECTIONS FOR EACH. BY M. TARBOX COLBRATH. : 1 " INTERLEAVED. BOSTON: JAMES H. EARLE, 178 Washington Street. 1882. Copyiiglit, 1882, By James H. Earle. BOSTON W. F. BROWN 4 COMPANY, PRINTERS 218 FRANKLIN ST \^■i TO HOUSEKEEPERS. M. T. C. PREFACE. The ivriter sends this Breakfast Repertory on its mission with the earnest hope that it may aid housekeepers in answering that oft-repeated ques- tion — What shall we have for Breakfast? Every little while the good housekeeper gets into inextricable difficulties with this vexed ques- tion, and what to get for this meal seems to em- barrass her more than to arrange for two or three dinners. Knowing that this general complaint of breakfast difficulties exists, the writer hopes to succeed in producing a directory that will help these perplexities of the most important meal of the day, and suggest over one hundred practical breakfast bills of fare, adapted to various persons and circumstances. 10 PREFACE. To the young housekeeper who has entered upon her new duties without experience ; to those whose breakfasts are stereotyped after one fashion, and of which they heartily tire, these suggestions may prove of service. I have endeavored to make ea.eh plan so phiin that a novice can work with certainty/ of success. Besides furnishnig this extensive collection of breakfast fares, the wriLC^' aims to convince house- keepers of the evil eftects of neglecting this meal ; also, of the benefits resulting from a warm and nuti'itious breakfast. Each breakfast I have endeavored to suggest on common-sense principles ; have made nourishment the chief aim of eating ; have avoided provoking the appetite beyond nature ; have ignored nothing but what is absolutely unfriendly to health, and have advised each fare in a practical manner, so that the stomach may not be offended. I have aimed to inspire a respect for made-over dishes, which are sometimes so convenient for this meal, but which are served by many housekeepers in such an indifferent manner that the stomach takes offence, but which by patience and skill can be made appetizing. PREFACE. 11 M}^ motto will be, never to attempt too much, but ever bear in mind that it is not the multiplicity of dishes, but the excellent and life-giving* qualities of a breakfast that vitally concern a family ; that a few wholesome and well-cooked dishes are more satisfying, and preferable to many indifterently cooked. Only home-made food will be patronized, as it is of vital importance that evpry :;rticle of food in- troduced at the table should be pure ; and to avoid hurtful admixtures, a personal inspection of its preparation is important, else we know not what we eat in this age of adulteration. A rigid adherence to the combination of each fare is not urged, but to deviate as circumstances dictate, and from each one to contrive and invent for yourselves as convenience requires, yet making- it a matter of study to serve together dishes which are especially suited to each other. Be assured you will derive much benefit from the experience of combining and contriving for j^ourselves. To have your favorite breakfasts in memoran- dum is sometimes a great convenience in cases of absence, sickness, or otherwise. For recording them each division is interleaved. 12 PREFACE. No directory for the morning meal has yet been published, so far as the writer has yet been a]>le to investigate, consequently she trusts this offer- ing will be gladly received. SECTION I. WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST, I. REASONS FOR A GOOD BREAKFAST. I OFFER the opinion of an experienced and suc- cessful plijsician, whose protection I shared at an early age, and by whom I was scrupulously re- stricted from early morning walks, before break- fast, — a custom then among juveniles, it being the prevailing opinion that the early morning air was the healthiest, most bracing, and purest. He did not agree with the boarding-school theory which prescribed long walks before breakfast as a means of promotino- health, — but ever arirued the con- trary as the ftict, — that languor and exhaustion were sure to follow such exercise, especially when taken by persons of delicate organization or those liable to sudden colds. Assured that many con- sumptions and other diseases were contracted from the exposure of an empty stomach to the damp and poisonous influence of the morning air, he ever counselled those whose vocation called them 16 AVHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. out early to first brace up the stomach with a warm and nourishing breakfast, for at no period of the day was the air more tainted than at sun- rise, in which it was a dangerous risk to take much exercise before the stomach had been fortified with a warm breakfast. Breakfast, coming after the longest fast in the twenty-four hours, should supply the great waste that goes on from supper till dinner. In this country this meal consists frequently of tea, coffee, and a small proportion of bread and butter. This is not enough for those who need a breakfast for muscular exertion or real activity. It does not give the strength that is needed to last until din- ner, and the system is sure to suffer. It only allays the appetite, and is insufficient for the sup- ply of bodily waste during the long interval between supper and dinner, — perhajDS a late one. As in pecuniary matters, when the outlay of the body exceeds the income, we may be sure the day of retribution will come, — that we shall sooner or later suffer. Those who go to their calling early should not only be fed with a nutritious breakfast, but should be served in sufficient season, that they may not eat hurriedly or insufficiently. Should we allow our cattle or horses to start out for half a day REASONS FOR A GOOD BREAKFAST. 17 without being properly fed, we should stand a chance of hearing a remonstrance from philanthro- pists on " cruelty to animals." Can we work on a worthless breakfast more than they ? We should fitly feed our hungriness, for energy and morality have a great deal to do with what we are fed. A good breakfast is of vital importance to the temperance public. When our food sustains us properly, we do not have that " sinking feeling" which compels many to seek in the dram-shop that power which they ignorantly think can be obtained to give them the required strength to perform their work. We may be assured that real strength can be secured from the ris^ht kind of food and cook- ery, which means, in plain discourse, that a plenty of pure, nourishing, and well-cooked food w^ill supply us with all the stimulation and strength w^e 'require, and are a safeguard against lager beer and whiskey. " Poor rations are demoralizing, and drive many to intemperance. When man does not get the stimulating nourishment w^hich his nature craves, he becomes demoralized, and resorts to the dram-shop to supply the want of good and stimulating food." WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. II. WHAT ANIMAL FOOD TO EAT. The Bible's bill of animal food for man's diet is the best, purest, most delicate, and most popular that has ever been introduced, all civilized people, with few exceptions, living up to it (many unwit- tingly, though ?). How fortunate that God decided the animal food question. He well knew what animal food was unsanitary, and quickly foresaw, that if man was left unrestrained in this matter, great confusion and fatal consequences w^ould re- sult. Had no danger existed, there would have been no need of an exact and imperative prohibition and allowance, wherein has been established more complete sanitary eating than physiologists could have effected for ages, had they been the author. Without this Bible restriction of animal food, it would have been no easy matter for them to convince man that he could not eat of any kind of flesh in the animal kingdom that pleased him. That God intended for man to eat animal food is evident from the plain directions which He has given. His instructions are, that the animals to be eaten by him must be pure, and allows only WHAT ANIMAL FOOD TO EAT. 19 those for his diet that are fastidious eaters, and require for their subsistence clean and vegetable food, which makes their flesh pure, wholesome, delicate, refined, dainty, and easily digested. Can any one fail to see the wisdom, carefulness, and hygiene in God's allowance of animal food for His people found in Lev. xi. and Deut. xiv. ? Surely, He cares for our bodies as well as for our souls. For convenience, I copy hereinto the cataloofues of wholesome and unwholesome ani- mals recorded in the Bible. Wholesome Anbials. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying. These are the beasts which ye shall eat anions: all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat." " These are the beasts which ye shall eat. The ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart, and the roe- buck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois-, and every beast that parteth the hoof and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that shall ye eat." " These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters. 20 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. Whatsoever hath scales and fins m the waters, in the seas, in the rivers, them shall ye eat." There can be no doubt but this category of fish for food by Moses is the most wholesome. They are not very oily, but delicate and easily digested. The Great Naturalist's zoological marks so plainly discriminate the wholesome from the unwhole- some animals, that the eye of the unlearned can readily make the distinction. No o:eneral catalosfue is o-iven in the Bible for wholesome birds, yet the same principle is ob- served as for quadrupeds, — they must subsist on clean food. " Of all clean birds ye may freely eat." Unwholesome Animals. The Bible plainly teaches that the animals which the great Law-giver forbade man to eat are not clean eaters, but live on carrion and prey, eating their food in filth, which makes their flesh un- wholesome and not fit for man's food. "Nevertheless, ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof, as the camel, because he cheweth the cud but divideth not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. And the hare and the coney, for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, therefore they are unclean WHAT AXIMAL FOOD TO EAT. 21 unto you. And the swine, though he divide the hoof, yet he cheAveth not the cud, he is unclean unto you ; ye shall not eat their flesh." "Whatsoever hath no fins and scales, in the seas and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing njliich is in the icaters, they shall be an abomination unto you ; 3^e shall not eat of their flesh." Unwholesome Birds. Carnivorous birds, as well as quadrupeds, are forbidden. "And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls, they shall not be eaten. The eagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey, and the vulture, and the kite after his kind, and the owl, and the nighthawk, and the cuckoo, and the great and the little owl, and the swan, and the pelican, and the gier-eagle, and the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you." Creeping Things. "These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth. The weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, and the ferret, and the chameleon, and 22 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. the lizard, and the snail, and the mole, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, it shall not be eaten." '^ This is the law of the beasts, and the fowl, and of every living thing that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth." The laws for animal food hold a very prominent part in the revelation given to Moses. Wonder- fully few accessions have been made by succeeding generations to his list of edible animals, and with only a few exceptions his animal food laws have been kept by all subsequent civilized people. Only starvation would tempt a civilized man to accept a slice of turkey-buzzard, dog, ca;t, or horse (although the latter is one of the most fastidious feeders). These animals, with many others that shock the palate, were not any more forbidden, or held in greater aversion by Moses, than swine's flesh. Yet many of us, in this en- lightened Christian age, in this triumphant civil- ization of the nineteenth century, are living in a senseless disregard of one of Moses' animal food laws, and of all the animals forbidden none have been so persistently eaten by Christians as swine's flesh ! To the reader it must be plain that swine were WHAT ANIMAL FOOD TO EAT. 23 no more forbidden by the law than other un- wholesome animals, but that the greater sensation, then as now, was produced by the people's per- sistence in eating them. Their physical record now stands worse than ever, and if they were human, the popular anti-fat remedy would be at once advised. Surely, pork is now fearfully dangerous, and our latest medical advices agree with Moses, the law-giver, in disallowing it. That good and faithful Physician, who is wiser than any of us, well understood the hygienic bearings of animal food, when He allowed only the flesh of those animals for man's diet that was the least trying to his stomach and health. From his hygienic meat laws we learn the general prin- ciples of diet, — that whatever we eat and drink should be pure and easy of digestion ; likewise, that the safest way is to eat and drink on these Bible principles. Although pork is largely used throughout all Christendom, yet I cannot judiciously give it a place in this breakfast director}^ There will be no danger of starvation if it is dispensed with. The world is full of good things, so we can easily repudiate it. Just as good, and much more wholesome dishes can be sfotten without it. ^o to' baked beans, a la New England, no pork sausage. 24 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. no lard, no " delicate cured hams," no frogs' legs, " because they taste like chicken," and no other animal food will be introduced, that is not included in Moses' catalosfue of wholesome animal food. Fats. When God created the human stomach. He knew just what machinery to place in it, and there is no better evidence of the need of fat as food than that furnished by nature, which has pro- vided the pancreatic juice for the special purpose of its digestion. For hundreds of years man could not divine how fat was digested. After much laborious study, he has lately found out that God planned the pancreas at the first for its diges- tion. The coarse sort of fats, such as train and goose oil, pork and lard, should be eschewed, being very trying to most stomachs. It is allowed by physicians that the delicate fats found in beef, mutton, fowl, eggs, butter, cheese, milk, and del- icate fish afibrd all that is necessary to maintain the animal heat and working power of the body, ordinarily. These, too, should be used wisely — only what our wants require, it being a matter of individual peculiarity, some being able to digest more fat than others. WINTER AND SUMMER BREAKFASTS. 25 III. WINTER AND SUMMER BREAKFASTS. The two great divisions of food are nitrogenous, or flesh-forming, and carbonaceous, or heat-giving. Sub-divisions are made by physiologists, but these two cover the ground sufficiently for this purpose. Fix in your mind that the nitrogenous articles of food produce blood and flesh, and that the non- nitrogenous or carbonized, produce heat, and you will have a key that will unlock many of the mysteries of diet. Our food contains more or less, of these elements. Some have no nitroo-en, some no carbon, and some both properties in va- rious proportions. Winter Breakfasts. The three kinds or classes of food, the special oflace of which is to support animal heat and produce fat, are the oils, the sweets, and the starches, and these have little or no influence in promoting strength, muscle, or endurance. Fat is one of the most powerful agents in the produc- tion of animal heat. From this we learn that the object of eating is to strengthen and keep us warm. Carbon, or 26 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. charcoal, when burned in our grates, gives out heat. When taken into the system, in the form of food, the burning process that it undergoes there a'ives to us a warmth which is called vital heat. It keeps up the fire of life. It is this which sustains human life, and it must be pro- duced by the internal combustion of the carbona- ceous elements of the food we eat. In vain would the softest seal-skin or blanket enwrap our bodies without that warmth which comes from within. Consequently, the keener the cold weather, the more carbonized or heat-producing food we re- quire to keep up the fire of life. On a sharp winter's morning, the breakfast we eat decides our efficiency for execution through the da}^ The heating material taken at supper has been appropriated during the night, and if the system is not supplied by a carbonaceous, as well as a nitrogenous breakfast, our whole being will be so badly influenced through the forenoon, that neither the dinner nor the supper will repair it ; but when properly fed, with food containing both these ele- ments, such as meats, grains, fats, sweets, and starch, our vital action vrill be sustained in full force, so that we can work vigorously for at least five hours before another reinforcement of strenofth WINTER AND SUMMER BREAKFASTS. 27 and warmth from food is needed. We all know that, so long as a person feels cold all through his body, no work is done to advantage. As the cold weather approaches, it is absolutely necessary that we gradually change the cooling breakfast of the hot weather to a more nutritious and heat-pro- ducing one — more meats, fats, sweets. Summer Breakfasts. Were we to pursue the plan of eating the heat- producing breakfasts in summer which we found beneficial to our well-being in winter, a highly feverish state of blood would be produced, and inflannnatory diseases created. In the spring, a gradual change in the nature of diet is necessary. Less fats, sweets, and starch, as in line flour, are needed. Continue the muscle-making food, such as the darker portion of grains, milk, lean meats, fowl, and fish. Fish contain a small proportion of heating power, and in summer are well adapted to the wants of the system. Banish from your breakfast buckwheat cakes and molasses. Use more of the entire product of the grain (except the hull). Use the early salads and cooling vege- tables which succeed each other in their season. The delightful berry and melon, which contain no carbon at all, should be freely eaten at breakfast. 2S WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. Those who pursue this plan feel no real loss of health, and find it far more aoTeeable than druo-s and doctors' bills. Physiologies are now plenty. They furnish us with a knowledge of the elements of the human body. Their tables, showing the nature or ele- ments of both the animal and veg^etable diet' de- sio^ned for the subsistence of 'man will o^ive one a new sense of tlie relation of food to health. THE GENUINE BREAKFAST. 29 IV. THE GENUINE BREAKFAST. How pleasant those homes where genuine break- fasts are appreciated; where cooking morality is of importance, and the food is aesthetically prepared. Feeling assured of a satisfying bill of flire, with what cheerfulness the fiimily respond to the news of the morning repast. Who can deny the comforts, luxury, and moral benefit of this meal in one's own cheerful breakfast-room, where the cutlets are sweet to the senses, the baked pota- toes dainty and mealy, the biscuits of an ethereal nature; where the coffee is fragrant and delicate, and possessed of such charms that spirituous bev- erages have no temptation; where the cream comes safely from the cow to the pitcher; and where each dish brings health and pleasure. Such a breakfast is absolutely perfect, because attractive, wholesome, nutritious, simple, and easily digested, leaving the stomach comfortable, the head so clear, the spirits so light, and the vital forces so supplied that amiable visages, clear financiering, speculation, and imagination are the speedy compensation. Beside, the stomach, when 30 AVHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. in this beautiful condition, is a moral force ; and if (as is sometimes said) many of the evils of the world are traceable to bad and scanty food, with this kind of breakfast one should not fail to be a better man or woman throughout the day. THE COUNTERFEIT BREAKFAST. 31 V. THE COUNTERFEIT BREAKFAST. A HOME without a good breakfast — how shall we describe it? Instead of the sunny courtesy with which a man comes to a faultless breakfast, he who has no assurance of a satisfying morning repast, comes like a man v/ho has had bad news broken to him, and most likely with a " breach of peace " pictured on his face. Yet, if this man had the same assurance of an attractive breakfast of wdiich the courteous one was confident, he might have excelled him in politeness. Pity the sorrows of those who are not especially favored with a genuine breakfast, that stimulates the bod}^ lightens the spirits, clears the thought, gives moral force, and recompenses by generally resisting the foes of life, for he who is badly and scantily fed in the morning has not the moral safeguard through the day of him who has been w^ell fed at breakftist. When so much depends on this meal, is it not surprising that so many treat it indifferently ? A broiled beefsteak, a digestible breakfast-cake, a dainty baked potato, a clear cup of coffee, are especial wonders in many families, who have 32 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. never dreamed that a square and satisfying break- fast has much to do with the prosperity of humanity. In this enlightened republic, instead of breaking fast with a plenty of simple and nourishing food, how many begin the labors of the day with a scanty, unattractive, and indigestible breakfast, which exhausts instead of supplying the forces ! Bacon or pork served swimming in grease, — steak fried or broiled till the life has srone out of it, and consequently so tough and hard that one could eat and enjoy a side of leather about as easily, — cold potatoes warmed over in fat that suggests the longevity of both fat and the vessel in which it was preserved, — a hastened corn-cake so rank with soda that the stoni^ach is made un- happy through the day, — a choice mutton-chop transformed beyond recognition, — muffins burned to a cinder, by forcing them with too hot an oven, — scrambled eggs, and griddle-cakes made leath- ery for want of promptness, — the coffee, alas! for that precious cup, that benefactor of mankind, so invaluable to many for its gentle stimulating powers, and especially designed for sustenance instead of dangerous wine, — this indispensable comfort so muddy and bitter that you cannot recognize its first principles ; and to complete its transformation, the milk served in an unsanitary THE COUNTERFEIT BREAKFAST. 33 pitcher ! These are familiar breakfasts in many families. Dangerous breakftists these. They do not fitly feed hunger. The hungry body vainly tries to recuperate in its efibrts to digest this wretchedly- cooked food not " convenient " for it, so that what might have been done had the food been rightly cooked, remains undone. Determination, appli- cation, and patience will enable one to serve a very difierent morning meal, with a little earlier rising, if necessary, for a breakfast gotten in "no time " usually drifts its own way. There is much truth in those old proverbs which say that "necessity knows no law," and that "hunger will make a hungry monkey eat pepper." This land is flowing with ivhiskey and lager. He who has not been fitly fed at breakfast is unsafe, for before noon the inward craving is sure to make a demand, which must be satisfied ; and the saloons become an easy resort for eking out a poor breakfast. A man disappointed in this meal can easily console his hummer with somethino^ to drink. Breakfast Avas insufiicient to give him strength ; he must have something to make up the want, and he foolishly believes he can quickly get it from a glass of 34 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. whiskey or beer, which gives him spasmodic strength for a brief time, but when the reaction comes leaves him worse ofi than ever. Is it not wise ix) teach that a breakfast unfailingly good, with all the elements that stimulate and nourish the body, has its moral as well as physical benefit ? SECTION^ II. MEASURES, SODA AND SOUR MILK. 37 II. MEASURES. The measures for this breakfast book are half- pint cups, tea and table spoons. As these vary in size, the safest way is to have one particular cup and spoon for cooking measures, which have been proved by a sure standard. For a cupful the ordinary breakfast-cup is used, that holds half a pint. Two cupfuls mean a pint. A cupful means half a pint. A teaspoonful means just rounding full and not heaped. SODA AND SOUR MILK. Great numbers wdio profusely use soda, for light- ening bread, are ignorant of its nature, and not aware that it is ruinous to the human stomach when not neutralized by an acid. When the soda and acid are used in just the right proportions to neutralize each other, they are not considered in- jurious to health, provided they are pure. In olden times sour milk was exclusively used for neutralizing soda. In later times cream-tartar 38 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. has been much used instead, as a greater conven- ience. At present it cannot be depended upon, on account of its adulteration ; consequent!}^, cautious people are falling back on sour milk again, feeling confident of its purity. Meantime, somehow, many have lost the knack of compounding soda and sour milk as accurately as their predecessors, who never used too much, neither too little soda, but always the right quantity. My mother's table was always furnished with some kind of sour-milk bread, which was invariably the same, — always just right. AN OLD-SCHOOL HOUSEKEEPER will tell you that this chemical operation should be performed with caution, demanding knowledge and care ; also, that the safest way is to use smoothly-loppered or nicely soured milk instead of partly soured, the exact proportions being one teaspoon of soda to one pint of sour milk. Should you have to resort to milk when only partly soured, the exact amount of soda now de- pends on the acidity of the milk, and you cannot I so accurately proportion your soda as for nicely soured or loppered milk or cream- tartar, which is, or should be, always the same. The safest way now, is to add a part of the measure of cream- SODA AND CREAM-TAKTAR. 39 tartar [o your milk that you would use for the same quantity of sweet milk. The addition of this to the partly soured milk will make it the right acidity for the usual measure of soda. You cannot use the whole measure of cream-tartar, which is two teaspoonfuls to a pint of sweet milk, as the measure of soda (one teaspoonful) is only enough to sweeten a part of each acid. This mode relieves you of guessing, which many adopt who have not the skill of guessing just right the required amount, and usually err by getting an .overdose of soda ; hence the effect, — cakes of a golden hue, smelling strong of soda. In the receipts for sour-milk breakfast-cakes, I would have it distinctly understood that I have adopted the following rule as a general one : One teaspoonful of soda to one jpint of nicely soured or loppered milk, SODA AND CREAM -TARTAR. Pure cream-tartar and soda have no equal for making convenient breakfest-cakes. For very small cakes, such as griddles, muffins, waffles, and various breakfast-cakes, it is quite usual to lighten them with these ingredients, by adding both in a dry state, finely pulverized, to the flour, and siftino- them with it. The acid and soda 40 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. readil}^ unite and produce the desired gas for liofhteninof the bread. This is now considered the better and surer way, as the success of these light- ening ingredients depends on their equal distribu- tion throughout the flour. When thoroughly incorporated with the flour, you avoid finding those lumps of soda in various parts of the bread, which give it a yellow color and disagreeable flavor. To neutralize each, use one teaspoonful of soda to two of cream-tartar. These proportions have been accurately allowed by chemists, HOME-MADE YEAST. It is a convenience to know how to make good yeast when you cannot buy it. If you have not sweet old yeast to start the new with, you can create some by making of flour and water a thin batter, and letting it stand in a warm place till fermented. This will be as efiective as old yeast for starting the new and fresher, giving a sweet and pleasant flavor to the bread. When yeast is entirely new, you get sweeter bread than when started with old and half-decayed yeast, which produces an unpleasant flavor with a certainty. When it has a tart smell and a watery appearance on the surface it is too stale to use. Home-made dried yeast-cakes are not reliable, HOME-MADE YEAST. 41 and do not make bread of the first quality. Potato yeast is reliable, and considered better than that made in the usual way. The dough made from it does not sour as readily, but will remain perfectly sweet until it has increased twice the original quantity, requiring a little extra time for rising. Bread made from this yeast is sweet, light, and does not dry quickly. Yeast made from the following receipt will keep four weeks in hot weather, in a cold place : — Two quarts of water. One cup of hops. Four good potatoes. One cup of sugar. One dessert-spoon of ginger. Half a cup of salt. Boil the hops half an hour in the two quarts of water. Peal, boil, and mash the potatoes very fine. Strain the hop- water through a fine strainer and mix with the potato, sugar, ginger, and salt. When blood-warm stir in a cupful of sweet and lively yeast, or a cake of compressed, dissolved in warm water. Keep it covered in a warm room five or six hours, when it is usually sufiiciently effervesced. While getting light give it a good beating several times. When sufficiently light. 42 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. pour it into sweet glass jars, cork tight, and keep it in a cool cellar or place. Less sugar and salt may be used in cold weather, as these are desis^ned to arrest excessive fermenta- tion. The ginger is intended to keep the yeast from souring. The quantity directed does not affect the flavor of the bread. Some use flour to thicken yeast, but it will keep longer without. Those who have once used these directions are un- willing to relinquish them. BREAKFAST FARES. Breakfast is usually quickly and hurriedly pre- pared, requiring undivided attention. For a cook to worry her brain trying to think of half a dozen or more different dishes for this meal, seems a serious mistake. Commonly, three or four nicely-cooked dishes after the grain course will answer better in every way. In the following bills of fare for breakfasts, this number of newly- cooked dishes is suggested, w^hich will greatly lessen the labor of the housekeeper, and save her from that disapproving conscience which she is sure to experience when a greater number is at- tempted, and the result is an array of half-spoiled dishes. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 43 Eiicli bill of fare offers all the chemical elements required for nutrition, consisting usually of veo-e- table and animal food, leaving the quantity to be regulated by the appetite and individual necessity. Each dish is plainly prepared, so that the distinc- tive characteristics of the food may be retained. In the temperate zone instinct demands a varied diet adapted to the rapid changes of the climate. The different bills of fare sus^o^ested, 2:ive the in- dividual an opportunity for the selection of such a breakfast as the season and the necessity demand. The grain course is suggested as a first course, a plan now being adopted to prevent the immoder- ate use of animal food, to which many are given, and which is condemned by Hygiene. Fruit is suggested as last, yet this is not arbi- trary. It does not matter what place it occupies, if only this wise sanitary custom of eating fruit in the morning is observed. SECTION III. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 47 III. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. Beefsteak deserves the highest rank among breakfast fares. This Bible and chemically sanc- tioned food, purposely designed for man, is very satisfying to the stomach, and possesses great strengthening powers. To replenish the animal sph'its there is no food like beef, and when kept till properly tender, and properly cooked, nothing- will give the stomach less trouble. It is iron which gives the red color to flesh. Beef is not wantinof in this life-o^ivino; element, which oives a decided verdict in its favor. 48 AVHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 1. Cracked Wheat. Beefsteak. Macaroni. Eggs on Toast. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. CRACKED WHEAT. Wheat as food is the most important of the grains, because it is more available for all the wants of the system than any of the other grains. It is said to be as nearly a perfect natural food as milk, containing everything in itself to support life, being composed of the same elements as the human body, and in about the same proportions. Sifting and Bolting lessen these properties to a serious extent. The l)ran, Avhich is thrown away, contains about forty per cent of the nutri- ment of the grain. The miller robs it of its gluten and albumen, which make muscular strength ; of its mineral and phosphatic prop- erties, which nourish bone, muscle, and brain. The only way now for us to secure this grain in perfection, and restore brain, bone, and muscle, is to cook it unground. It is delicious as well as w^holesome when eaten with a dressing of cream BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 49 or milk, fi'uit, sugar, or sirup, and is much used by those who understand the philosophy of grains. Cracked wheat is only in perfection when cooked in a double boiler, for it is an essential rule that grains of all kinds should never be stirred while cooking. This rule cannot be ob- served when cooked in a single boiler. When done, each grain should be charmingly light and porous, distinct, yet jelly-like. When watery, it is not palatable or attractive, and spoils the nice flavor and richness of the milk. The water should be boiling in the outside boiler, and boiling Avater put into the inside boiler. To nearly a quart of boiling water put a teaspoonful of salt, and a half- pint cupful of cracked wheat. Boil three hours or more, or till done. Grains are very unwhole- some and disagreeable when underdone. For breakfast it should be cooked the day pre- vious, and reheated in the morning, as there is not time then to give it the long cooking it needs. When reheated for breakfast, do not remove it from the inner boiler, but fill the outer boiler w^ith l)oiling water, and let it boil till heated through. Do not add w^ater to the inner boiler. Many pre- fer it cold. It takes the mould, and should be poured into it while hot, or before the starch is set, which makes a handsome dish when served cold. 50 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BEEFSTEAK. Never fry a beefsteak. People who know what really good cooking is, do not fry l)eefsteak. When fried in fat, it is both vulgar and indigesti- ble. Broiling, which suddenly hardens the sur- face, and keeps the juice within the steak, is the most eligTl)le style for cooking beefsteak, and those who wish to invigorate themselves adopt it. The appearance of beefsteak is injured by pounding it. If you suspect it is tough, the bet- ter method is to cut several parallel strokes across it on each side, with a sharp knife, not cutting through, but lightly cutting the surface. The quick heat will unite the incisions again, and when cooked you will hardly perceive them. If there is much fat, trim it off, else it will drop on the coals and smoke. A lioht wire o^ridiron, tliat can be turned quickly, is best. Have a clear and hot fire, that will last through your l^roiling. For a minute, hold each side to the fire, to car])onize the surface before the broiling begins. This method saves the juice of the meat. When car1)onized, expose it to a slower heat and broil it. Turn frequently, but do not stick a fork into it while broiling, or the juice will escape. Broil your steak lightly or BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 51 rare, but not mw. Have your outside a good meat brown, your inside a nice red. Never salt steak while broiling, as it extracts the juice. When done, sprinkle it h'ghtly with salt, lay it on a hot dish, Avith a few small pieces of butter, but do not have it swimming in l)utter, as the juice is supposed to be inside the steak. Pepper should be an individual application, if you do not know the desire of your guests. Set the platter in the oven a moment, to melt the butter. To be nice, it must be served hot. EGGS ON TOAST. Have in a spider boiling hot water, yet not lit- erally boiling, and enough to cover an egg, when broken into it. Add a teaspoonful of salt. Place as many muffin rings in the water as is needed. Break each egg into a cup, then turn it gently into a rinof. Let them cook without boilins^. When delicately cooked, or till the eggs are cov- ered with a white film, remove the rings, and lay each egg on a slice of toast. This method gives a much handsomer dish than when dropped the usual way. Toast your bread in season for the eggs when done. Have ready a pan of hot water. Dip each slice quicklj^, only moistening, not soak- ing it, and place in the platter for the eggs. 52 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. MACARONI should be washed and broken into lengths of live or six inches. Put into a plenty of hot water previously salted. Boil half an hour, or until tender. Meanwhile, for the average quantity, scald half a cup of rich milk, and, while hot, add a table-spoon of butter, which pour over the mac- aroni, when ready to be served. In the winter, when potatoes are poor and unwholesome, this dish makes a very welcome substitute. COFFEE. The coffee, jmr excellence, is an equal mixture of Java and Mocha, one giving strength, the other flavor and aroma. Coifee connoisseurs prefer roasting their own coffee, or having a personal supervision of it. First, let your coffee get well dried and heated, then put it where it will roast. It should have undivided attention, and be stirred constanll}^ till done. If left half a minute, the kernels next the kettle may burn black, and these will spoil all the rest. To have good coffee, it must be evenly roasted a dark, rich brown. Black, burnt coffee has a bitter flavor, instead of being finely flavored, like nicely-roasted coffee. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 53 After your coffee is roasted, the next important feature is the grinding, which should be mod- erately fine. If ground too fine and powdery, it is hard to make it clear ; if too coarse, you lose much of the streno^th and aroma. It should be freshly ground each time it is used. Coffee should be kept in a dry place, in a tin can, or glass jar, tightly closed. The next thing is the cleanliness of your coffee- pot, of which many never suspect the importance, and do not empty their coffee-pot of dregs till obliged to. Coffee is just as imperfect as other food that has been cooked in an unwashed vessel. The coffee-pot should not be allowed to become coated with coffee dregs, but carefully washed every time it is used, in hot suds, rinsed, wiped dry, and set on the stove, where it will get per- fectly dry. It seems a waste of time to write out a recipe for making coffee, as most housekeepers have their favorite method. Messrs. Blot and Delmon- ico were very emphatic about the impropriety of boiling coffee, preferring it made in a French filter. Without any disrespect to either, the Avriter differs from their sanctioned opinions, and gives her experience of the coffee question. The ordinary coffee-pot was always used in my 54 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. family. To clear the coffee, an egg, with the shell crushed, was stirred into a cup of moderately ground coffee before putting it into the coffee-pot, when a quart of boiling water was poured to both, the coffee-pot tightly closed, and boiled eight or ten minutes. A cupful was then poured out, to clear the spout from dregs, pouring the same back again. While clearing, which should take six or seven minutes, set on the back of the stove, where it can be kept hot. It is a mistake not to let coffee wait a few minutes after clearing the spout. With good cream, this was as delicious coffee as need be ; and I would say that you do not have coffee in perfection unless you have good cream. No matter how nice your coffee, how well roasted, or how boiled, if you do not have cream for an accompaniment, you do not have delicious and perfect coffee. Never decant coffee, for much flavor is lost by pouring it from one vessel to the other. Observe the following rules, and, without new inventions, they will give you good coffee. Buy good coffee. Roast it an even brown. Have a clean coffee-pot. Serve it in the vessel in which it was boiled. Boil quickly. Have cream, if you can ; else hot, but not boiled milk. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 55 BREAKFAST No, 2. Sirloin Beefsteak. Gravy au naturel. Buttered Toast. Baked Apple Sauce. Cocoa. Ripe Fruit. This simple and easily digested breakfast is a very valuable one for those who need much nour- ishment in a small compass. The accompaniments can be changed to suit one's taste and condition. SIRLOIN BEEFSTEAK. Take three slices of beefsteak, one a sirloin, and two from the round, as the round yields more juice than any other cut. Broil them rapidly and lightly. When cooked, place the choice sirloin in the middle of a platter, and add a little butter. With a meat-squeezer, press the juice entirely from the rounds over the sirloin. Serve at once. The essence of rare beef thus expressed is con- sidered a better tonic by some physicians than beef tea prepared the usual way. 56 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BUTTERED TOAST. Yevy few know just how to toast bread nicely. Though simple and easy it often gets spoiled, and is seldom seen without symptoms of burning. The bread must not be too fresh. To make but- tered toast in perfection, you want a very light stale loaf of raised bread. You need a clear lire, and it is best when only one slice is toasted at a time, holding it at just the distance from the fire to brown nicely and without scorching. The whole surface of each side should be a golden brown. The perfect way is to butter each slice when taken from the fire, and serve immediately, being in perfection only when freshly done. When not convenient to serve immediately, pile the toast as you finish it on a plate, cover it with a deep tin, and keep it in an open oven till served. BAKED APPLE SAUCE. Fill a baking dish with nice juicy apples, peeled, cored, and quartered. Strew sugar over them. Fit a plate closely over the dish, Avhich set in a larger pan, with hot water in the bottom, about an inch in depth. Set it in the oven, and bake till clear and tender. If they are not very juicy, put BEEFSTEAK BKEAKFASTS. 57 two ta])les})oons of water to them. Prepare the day previous for breakfast, — very nice. COCOA. In this age of adulteration, w^ise and cautious people, who like to know what they drink, use cracked cocoa, or shells and cocoa mixed. To half or three-quarters of a cup of cracked cocoa, add one quart of boiling water, and cook tw^o and a half or three hours. When sufficiently boiled, add sufficient hot water to make up for the evapo- ration and to make it the right strength. Add sufficient milk, and let the whole come to a boiling point, but do not let it boil, as boiled milk gives an unpleasant flavor ; or, you can heat the milk separately, adding a part to the cocoa pot and the rest to the cream pitcher, from which supply to your taste. The perfection of cocoa is its liberal supply of milk. 58 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 3. Whole Wheat and Milk. Rump Beefsteak. Baked Potatoes. fJaised Biscuits {light as a foam). Coffee. Ripe Fruit. WHOLE ^VHEAT. This tempting dish can be eaten with a dressing of cream, milk, sugar, or sirup. Fruit sirups are a delicious dressing for it, — also, it is nice eaten as a veo-etable with meats. Select the white wheat, if it can be obtained, as it cooks more readily and looks more inviting. Wash it well, turn off all that rises to the surface of the water, then drain it dry. If there is any foreign matter, it should be picked out. Put it into an inner boiler, with five or six times its measure of boiling water. Add boiling water to the outer boiler and cook six or eight hours, or until all have opened out similar to the kernels of popped corn. For breakfast it should be cooked the day previous, and reheated like cracked wdieat. BKEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 59 RUMP BEEFSTEAK. The ])est cuts are from the middle of the rump, ^vhich has much flavor, and is preferred by many. "Broil lightly your beefsteak — to fry it, Argues contempt of Christian diet." BAKED POTATOES. Americans are very fond of baked potatoes as an accompaniment to steak. When in perfection, mealy, and of the first quality in flavor, they are unrivalled. Unless they can be presented in this dainty condition, it is far better that they should be disguised and made palatable by some artifice which the French resort to ; for unless these tubers are in mealy perfection, they are not easily disrested. However well baked, their excellence depends on their being served immediatel3% as they quickly lose their lightness, and " the glory of a baked potato is its mealiness." RAISED BISCUIT, light as a foam, ''The lighter the better, altho' many do not think so." This is Prof. Blot's philosophy. '' Lightness is a most important quality in warm biscuit, as it enables them to be 60 V/HAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. more easily acted upon by the digestive fluids," which v/ill force a rapid passage through light biscuit, but can penetrate a rubber ball about as easily as heavy baked ones. What is so rare as light, white, and thin-crusted home-made raised biscuit for breakfjist? Yet this luxury can be easily attained if the dough is well raised. In warm weather, raised dough can be kept for two or three days for morning biscuit, if covered with a damp cloth and set in a cold place, where it will not sour. In cold weather, if set in a cool place, where there is no danger of freezing, it will keep the same length of time. Certainly this is a convenience, and many think it improves the dough, if it can be kept sweet. If you are a novice, you must learn at the out- set that you cannot have good biscuit or bread without the best quality of flour, fresh and lively yeast. It is advisable to use compressed yeast, as it is best when it can be had fresh. Too much salt destroys the nice flavor of bread, too little makes it insipid. Liquid yeast is sometimes quite salt ; in this case you must be cautious about salting your bread. Compressed yeast requires salt in the bread. A little too much heat injures biscuit, and too little ruins them. If the oven is .too hot, they BEEFSTEAK BREAKFAPTS. ^'1 Avill bake outside before the heat penetrates the centre, consequently you have them heavy and underdone in the middle. Unless the oven is hot enough the biscuit will spread. One that does not bake at the bottom will be likely to spoil your bis- cuit. A great deal depends on the oven. For morning biscuit, mix dough at nine o'clock in the evening. Scald your milk, and there will not be the danger of its souring. If not conve- nient to use milk, use all or a part water, and rub a teaspoonful of butter into the flour. RULE. One quart of sifted flour. One pint of warm milk. Half a cake of compressed, Or half a cup of liquid, yeast. One teaspoonful of salt. Make a hollow in the flour and add the salt. Dissolve yeast if compressed in a little of the wet- ting, and with the milk pour into the hollow. Mix till it becomes a dough. Dredge your mould- ing board evenly with flour. Lay your dough upon it and knead twenty-five minutes. In knead- ing, use just flour enough to keep the dough from stickins: to the hands. The great mistake in mak- 62 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. ing dough is getting it too stiff with flour. When the fingers can be pressed into it without sticking, your bread is kneaded enough. Learn to get the right consistency, without too much flour, which should be soft as possible Avithout sticking. Twenty-five minutes are long enough for the first kneading and ten for the second. When kneaded, return to the bowl, which should be earthen, as it is a better protection from cold than tin. Cover warm, and place where no draft of cold air can strike across it, for if allowed to be chano-ins: temperature while fermenting, it will hinder its rising, and your dough will be heavy. To rise Avell, it needs an even temperature of seventy degrees. In the morning, as soon as you go into your kitchen, with a spoon push the dough down from the top and sides of the pan, and let it rise again. When light, knead it ten minutes, lightly, avoid- ing much flour. When kneaded, cut little bits for your biscuit, mould with your hands into small rounds, without using any flour. Set them a little distance apart, in a lightly-l)uttered pan, cover with a cloth, and set where they can have an even temperature of eighty or eighty-five degrees. When risen to twice their size, they are ready for the oven. Bake fifteen or twenty minutes. When BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 63 done, let them remain a few minutes, with the oven door open, to dry off the moisture and ripen, and prevent them from being sticky. You now have the secret of light biscuit. Nowadays many cooks rush their biscuit through in half or three-quarters of an hour for breakfast, which accounts for their being half- risen, half- baked, sticky and doughy in the mouth. May you see the folly of this, and rise in season to give your biscuit time to rise, bake, and dry off, else you will never have them light. BREAKFAST No. 4. Cracked Wheat. Beefsteak. Fried Hasty Pudding. Tomato Sauce. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. Those who bow to Hygiene need have no fears of this breakfast, and, when well gotten, an epicure will not object to a second trial. FRIED HASTY PUDDING. This hygienic mush is rarely found in perfection, but half raw and lumpy. When corn-meal hasty 64 WHAT TO GET FOE BREAKFAST. pudding is made on purpose to fry for breakfast, it makes the slices stronger to mix a tablespoonful of flour with one quart of meal. Be careful to use no more flour. For frying, it should be made quite stiff*, and when for breakfast, it should be made the day before. A Scotch kettle is the best for making hasty pudding. First, stir a large portion of the meal to be used in cold water till there are no lumps. Stir this gradually into boiling water, which has been salted. If more is needed, stir in enough to make it the right consistency. Do not get it too hard and stiff*. After the meal is all in, it needs an hour's cooking or simmering, or it will taste raw. When done, mould it in a nice brick-loaf pan. From this shape you can cut handsome slices, which should be about three-quarters of an inch in thickness, or strong enough not to break. Fry on a griddle, well greased with beef drippings. TOMATO SAUCE. Pour boiling water over well ripened tomatoes, to remove the skins. When skinned, cut into a stew-pan, and stew briskly half an hour. Do not cook them too long, as it injures their peculiar taste. Salt them, adding a little pepper and but- ter, if aofreeable. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 65 "We need not eat the tomato with fear and trembling, as many are wont to do. There is no evil about it, and Avhen we don't take care of our- selves it will take care of us. It is a deliHitful substitute for calomel, and we may wonder how the ancestral liver could have been kept comforta- ble w^ithout this anti-bilious food. That it is in- valuable, and one of the most healthful esculents in the vegetable kingdom, is the popular opinion. Its healthful qualities do not depend on its mode of preparation, and it may be eaten twice or thrice per day with like advantage, cooked or uncooked, Avith or without a dressinof, and to the utmost that the appetite requires. Its healthful qualities con- sist in its slight acidity, wdiich makes it as impor- tant as fruit, and when the diet is largely meat and bread, it is inestimable." RIPE FRUIT. In the present age, you do not have an a la mode breakfast unless fruit is served. Fruit is a gra- cious sanitary provision by our Heavenly Father, to cleanse the blood of too much carl)on ; there- fore it is a very wdse fashion. For breakfast, it may be eaten when most agreeable, first or last. All kinds of fruit are admissible to the breakfast table that are thoroughly ripe. The undeveloped ()6 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. juice of fruit is very unwholesome. For this rea- son, it would be the height of folly to eat it unripe. Fruits should be eaten as they grow. Spoil not this merciful contribution of Nature by disguising its pure and natural flavor. BREAKFAST No. 5. Oatmeal Mush. Beefsteak. Fried Cracked Wheat. Dried Apple Sauce. Bread and Butter. Coffee. This breakfast is w^ell patronized by hearty chil- dren, and in some families is purposel}^ prepared for their benefit. It should often be repeated. OATMEAL MUSH. You are not up to the times if 3^ou do not advo- cate oatmeal at your breakfast-table. " Prof. Liebig has chemically demonstrated, that oatmeal is almost as nutritious as the very best English beef, and that it is richer than wheat bread in the elements that go to bone and muscle." If this be true, surely every family should vote BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 67 that they will give it a place at their hreakfast- table. With many it is so popular it is found at this morning meal the year round. At the best appointed tables it is served as a first course for breakfiist, the same as cracked vs^heat. 'Tis said to be best relished if eaten previous to the rest of the meal, beside being a convenient arrangement for the preparation of the rest of the breakfast. When nicely cooked, it is charmingly porous. Many spoil it by soaking it over night, and fre- quently stirring it while cooking. The only safe and perfect way of cooking it is in a double or farina boiler. If you give it a regular place at your breakfast table, you will save time and money by providing one expressly for cooking oatmeal. You will find it a great improvement on the old way of cooking, for you w^ill get a superior dish, with no waste or burning, neither made pasty, as by the stirring process. You may be sure of nicely-cooked oatmeal, when steamed in a double boiler. The w^ater should be boiling in the outside boiler, and boiling water put into the inside boiler. Use one measure of meal to three meas- ures of water. Add salt to the water. Sprinkle the meal into the water, stirring only a few mo- 68 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. ments ; then close the vessel, aiid boil one hour and a half. Oatmeal, served in a half-raw state, is both unwholesome and disao^reeable. FRIED CRACKED WHEAT. Cracked wheat for frying should be moulded in a brick-loaf baking-pan, which gives you hand- some slices. When cold, slice it about three- quarters of an inch thick. Fry it on a griddle, in beef drippings, the same as hasty pudding. Do not soak it in fat, only using enough to keep from sticking to the pan. DRIED APPLE SAUCE. Thoroughly wash dried apples. Put them to soak in cold water, more than will cover them, as they absorb a great deal. Soak the old-fashioned dried apples for several hours. Simmer them steadily in a preserving-kettle in the same water in which they were soaked, till cooked. Never stir them, but when they rise, press them down with a spoon. Keep them closely covered. When tender, add nice brown sugar, and simmer fifteen minutes longer. To be nice looking, they should retain their form somewhat, yet must be perfectly done. The delicate, sliced dried apple can be substituted, which requires only twenty minutes' BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 69 soaking, and not as long cooking. Either are nice, when green apples fail. RAISED LOAF BREAD. There are no better rules for mixing, kneading, and raising bread, than those given in Breakfast No. 3 for raised biscuit. The measures there given can be doubled or trebled, to suit circum- stances. LIGHT BREAD is of great importance. The saliva and gastric juice penetrate it easily, and digestion is facili- tated. When dense and solid, these juices fail to act thoroughly, which is necessary to change bread into good blood. Undigested bread corrupts and decays, poisoning the blood as certainly as when eaten already spoiled. KNEADING raised bread is very important, making it evenly porous and easier of digestion. To be scientific, the thorough kneading should be done before the dough is raised, — before the gas is established; and it follows that as soon as mixed it should be thoroughly kneaded twenty-five or thirty minutes. If the thorouoh kneadins^ is done after the bread 70 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. is raised, much of the gas you have taken the trouble to produce is pressed out of it. For raising dough, summer heat, or about seventy degrees, is most favorable. When the temperature is lower than this, the fermentation is so slow that there is danger of acidity before the gas has sufficiently formed. In an emergency, or haste, a temperature of ninety degrees can be used by lessening the re- quirable time, which is six or eight hours. In this case, the process must be watched, or it will sour. If you find it rising too fast, it can be arrested by setting it on the ice, or in a cool place. When sufficiently raised, it should be kneaded ten minutes only, using as little flour as possible ; then make it into loaves, put them into slightly- buttered pans, and raise the second time till nearly double their first size. If there is any danger of acidity, it is safer to bake a little sooner, for if the yeast has been thoroughly mixed with every part of the dough by kneading, the bread will be passably light, if the fermentation is a little less than the rule (doubling the dough). BAKING. It is a very nice point for a novice to decide, when the oven is the right temperature. An ex- BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 71 perienced baker knows this without any rules. An inexperienced one can test the heat hy holdmg the hand in the oven long enough to count twenty. If the hand cannot bear the heat this lenoth of time, the oven is too hot, and the bread will bake outside before the heat has reached the centre, and it cannot rise. If not hot enough, your bread will lack s^veetness. When right, put your bread into the oven, and let it stand at this figure eight or ten minutes, that the heat may penetrate the very centre before the outside bakes. This will heat the loaf all throu2:h alike, and raise it evenly before crust-bound. Then increase the heat, and bake from forty min- utes to an hour, the time depending on the size of the loaf. Generally, we do not bake bread thor- oughly. It should have a decided brown crust on each side. Always take bread out of the pans as soon as done, and lean it against a pan, where the pure air can pass around it. Never lay it on the table, as it will absorb the odor of the table. If the crust gets too hard, wring out a bread cloth (which should be a fresh one) in cold water, and wrap the bread in it. Never put bread away till cold. When warm, it absorbs the air about it, wiiich should be pure as from the outside world, if possible. 72 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. An old-fashioned hanging shelf in a dry, clean, and well-ventilated cellar, is the nicest place to keep bread. It should be kept wrapped in a fresh and thick bread-cloth. If you cannot have this, or a similar convenience, the next best way is to keep it in a stone jar, which should be washed in hot water once or twice per week. Never let failures discourage 3^ou. No part of cooking education is more useful, if turned to proper account, than the discipline of. failure. The success of bread-making depends on effort and experience. These will soon make you skil- ful, and you will feel as confident of success as in making a cup of tea. You may feel sure there is no luck about it. To be successful, care is re- quired, as in anything else. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTP. BREAKFAST No. 6. Hominy and Milk. Beefsteak. Rye Muffins. Lyonnaise Potatoes. Baked Sweet Apples. Coffee. Grapes. HOMINY AND MILK. There are many ancestral dishes which should be perpetuated. They should be warmly recom- mended to children if we wish to preserve the vigor of our race. Hominy is one of the old-time preparations which should not be forgotten. It should be washed in two or three waters as you wash rice. Fine hominy requires four measures of water to one of hominy. Put it into an inner boiler and allow it to swell for half an hour ; then l)oil slowly for three-quarters of an hour. Like all mushes, it should be salted very- lightly. It is better to put the salt into the water before adding the grain. When nearly done, if too thin, uncover, and boil till about the con- sistency of hasty pudding. 74 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. RYE MUFFINS. One cup and a half of lye meal. One cup of flour. Two teaspoonfuls of sugar. Two cups of sweet milk. Three ei>^o's. One saltspoon of salt. No soda or cream tartar. Mix the salt with rye meal and flour Add the sugar to the eggs and thoroughly beat them, then pour into the flour. Add the milk, bringing it to a batter quickly, beating a few minutes longer. Bake in stone muffin cups three-quarters of an hour or more. Rye cakes require more baking than other cake. These are very light and nice. LYONNAISE POTATOES. Cut cold boiled potatoes into dice. When in the stew-pan, add cream enough to keep them moist, and simmer till hot. They should be of a light color. When hot, mix in a little chopped parsley and butter. Serve immediately while hot. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 75 BAKED SWEET APPLES. Put them into a tin gem pan. Bake them in a moderate oven. Do not have them overdone, but retain their form. For breakfast, they must be baked the day previous. GRAPES. "This fruit is a medicine as well as a luxury, and should be highly prized. The free use of the grape has a most salutary effect upon the system, diluting the blood, removing obstructions from the liver and kidneys, and enabling the blood to circulate in the remotest vessels of the skin, also, a healthful effect on that compound affliction, dys- pepsia. From two to four pounds per day may be eaten with benefit. These remarks apply to the fruit when perfectly ripe ; when unripe, like all unripe fruit, it deranges the digestive organs." 76 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 7. Oatmeal Mush. A Top Round Beefsteak. Boiled Eggs. Fried Hominy. Coffee. Strawberries. A BEEFSTEAK From the round affords more juice than any other cut. If you know how to market (and I am sorry to say that housekeepers have to trust too much to their provision dealer), select a cut from the top of the round, and if not tough you will not ask for a nicer, more juicy steak. I have eaten it so tender and juicy, that I thought it was a nice rump steak. It makes an inexpensive breakfast, being much cheaper per pound than other beef- steaks. BOILED EGGS. This, beyond question, is the most popular way of serving eggs, for which I give an approved French method. Have ready a saucepan of boiling water. Place in it fresh eggs. Put on the lid of saucepan and set on the stove where it will BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 77 keep boiling hot, but not boil. Let the eggs remain six or eight minutes, or as suits your guests. Serve in a napkin, on a dish, folding it over to retain the heat, or use a covered egg dish. FRIED HOMINY. Cook your hominy as in Breakfast ISToo 6. Moukl it in a small oblong tin pan. There is a size, which will give you slices just square when cut. Wet the pan with cold water to prevent its sticking. When cold cut in slices nearly an inch thick, flour each side, and fry a nice brown, on the griddle, in a little butter or sweet drippings. It should be cooked the day previous. STRAWBERRIES. If the system is more or less feverish, and such is the case usually with most people, nothing can be more refreshing and cooling than ripe straw- berries. They are a great preservative against the heating influence of meats in hot weather. 'Tis said that the strawberry is the most whole- some of all fruits, being easy of digestion, and never growing acid by fermentation on the stom- ach, as most other fruits do. 78 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 8. Cracked Wheat. Beefsteak. Squash Biscuit. Baked Apple Sauce. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. SQUASH BISCUIT. These dainty biscuit always meet with a warm reception. When in perfection, they are fit to set before a king. One and a half cups of sifted squash. Half a teacup of sugar. Half a teaspoon of salt. One heaping spoonful of butter, creamed. One cupful of scalded milk. Half a cake of compressed yeast. Flour enough to make a bread batter. Mix these ingredients, and add the yeast, which has been dissolved in a scant cup of warm water. Stir in flour enough to make a soft dough. Knead twenty minutes. In the morning, knead the second time, make into flat biscuit and rise one hour. Bake half an hour. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 79 BREAKFAST No. 9. Oatmeal Mush. Beefsteak a la Frying Pan. Indian Sponge Cake. Cucumbers. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. BEEFSTEAK A LA FRYING PAN. If you have no conveniences for broiling, the next best thing is to substitute the frying pan, which is broihng by coming in contact with a hot iron. Heat the frying pan hot, grease it with a little of the fot cut from the steak, just enough to prevent it from sticking. When the steak touches the pan, it adheres, but in a second it loosens. Keep it covered, at the same time turn it often. Season the usual way. Or you can make a nice gravy which many like. Into the same pan put half a cup of water. Make a smooth thickening of half a teaspoonful of flour, add this and boil it a minute. When done, stir in a spoonful of butter. Pour this over the steak and serve immediately. 80 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. INDIAN SPONGE CAKE. Two cups of com meal. One cup of flour. One teaspoon of soda. One teaspoon of salt. Half a cup of creamed butter. Three esfo^s. Two cups of rich sour milk. Sift flour, meal, soda and salt together. Beat the eo^ofs and suo;ar tos^ether. Make a hollow in the flour and pour in the egg mixture and butter. Lastly the sour milk, thoroughly mixing the whole. Bake at once in a loaf or flat tin pans. CUCUMBERS. The art of preparing cucumbers consists in their being crisp and cool. They should be put into very cold water or on ice. Half an hour before eating, peel and slice them, leaving them in ice water till breakfast is ready. Then drain theni; and season to taste. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 81 BREAKFAST No. 10. Oatmeal Mush. Beefsteak. Plain Omelette. Huckleberry Shortcake. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. PLAIN OMELETTE. (See Breakfast No. 87.) HUCKLEBERRY SHORT CAKE. One quart of sifted flour. One teaspoonful of salt. One teaspoonful of soda. One large pint of berries. Half a cup of creamed butter. Half a cup or more of sugar. Two eggs ; two cups of sour milk. Sift soda and salt with the flour. Mix berries with the flour, coating ever}^ berry so as to be separate. Beat the eggs and mix with the 1)utter and sugar. ]Make a hollow in the middle of the flour and pour in the mixture, then the sour milk. Stir all carefully together, else you will mash the berries. Bake in pans, three-quarters full. 82 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 11. Hominy and Milk. Beefsteak. Corn Oysters. Sally Lunn Cake. Coffee. Watermelon. CORN OYSTERS Are made in this way. Mix with a pint of grated green corn, three tablepoonsfiils of milk, two or three beaten eggs and a lieaping spoonful of flour. They are not as nice with too much flour. Season lightly with pepper and salt. Drop it by dessert spoonfuls into a little hot butter on a griddle. Brown on both sides and serve on a hot platter. They have much the flavor of fried oysters. SALLY LUNN CAKE. This genuine old-fashioned Sally Lunn cake, named after the inventor, will hardly give place to any of the recent compounds of the saire name. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 83 When hot and well buttered, it is a favorite break- fast cake. One quart of sifted flour. One teaspoon of salt. Half a cake of compressed, Or half a cup of lively liquid yeast. Two eggs. Two tablespoons of white sugar. One pint of warm milk. Mix the salt with the flour. Add the yeast dissolved in three tablespoons of warm water, and gradually the milk, which, if scalded, will not be so likely to sour. Beat the yolks of the eggs, then the whites, then both together with the sugar, and stir into the batter. Beat the whole till smooth. This should be a soft dough that you can comfortably stir, not pour. Set this to rise over night. Early in the morning, when well risen, cream a piece of butter the size of a large egg, and dissolve half a teaspoon of soda in very little warm water. Mingle these with the dough. Butter your baking pans, till them two inches deep, and rise till their size is doubled. Bake half an hour. This cake should be broken when served, and not cut with a knife. 84 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 12. Oatmeal Mush. Beefsteak. Short Cake Toast. Stewed Prunes. Coffee. Ripe Fruit, SHORT CAKE TOAST. One quart of sifted flour. Two teaspooufuls of cream-tartar. One teaspoonful of soda. One teaspoonful of salt. Half a cupful of butter. One pint of sweet milk, Or very cold water. Mix salt, soda, and cream-tartar into flour, per rule. Rub the butter into this mixture till dry and poAvdery. Add the milk, and work the whole together. Sprinkle your board with flour, turn out the dough, work it very lightly, with as little flour as possible, as this should be soft dough. Divide your dough into three or four parts. Roll each part nearly half an inch thick, and fit to oblong sheet pans. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 85 When baked, and nicely browned, cut into squares, split each, butter while hot, and place them in a pile, like toast. Serve at once. STEWED PRUNES. Wash them. They should be stewed in a por- celain kettle, and just covered with boiling water. When covered closely, let them simmer till swollen and tender. Do not let them break. When about half done, add a tablespoonful of sugar to a quart of prunes. For breakfast, they should not be very sweet. Cook the day previous, for break- fast. BREAKFAST No. 13. Oatmeal Mush, Beefsteak. Fried Onions. Corn Cake. Sweet Pickled Beets. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. • FRIED ONIONS. This dish is said to have extraordinary sanitary merits, and is regarded w^ith high favor by many, while others, of more refined sensibilities, regard SQ WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. it with disgust, and do not think it a permissible dish. Peel and slice your onions, put them into a frying-pan with leaf drippings and a very little water. Do not have them too fat, but use only drippings enough to relish them. Fry till tender, turning often, until a uniform brown. Season with salt. CORN CAKES. (See Breakfast No. 9.) SWEET PICKLED BEETS. These are simply made, by boiling together a little vinegar and sugar, and pouring it over a few sliced, boiled beets. They will pickle sufficiently in twelve hours. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 87 BREAKFAST No. 14. Cracked Wheat. Beefsteak. Huckleberry Muffins. Boiled Eggs. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. HUCKLEBERRY MUFFINS. Just three and a half cups of sifted flour. Just half a cup of Indian meal. One teaspoonful of soda. One teaspoonful of salt. One heaping spoonful of butter. Half a cup of white sugar. Two eofo^s. CO Two cups of nicely-soured milk. One pint and a half of berries. Mix soda and salt w^ith flour and meal, cream the butter, beat the eggs, and with the sugar add- to the flour. Mix all together till smooth. When mixed, carefully add the berries without mashing. Bake in muffin-pans. 88 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKTAST. BREAKFAST No. 15. Oatmeal Mush. Oven-broiled Beefsteak. Parker-House Biscuit. Green Corn on the Cob. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. OVEN-BROILED BEEFSTEAK. Try this labor-saving experiment, and, like others, you may sanction it. Perchance, if not apprised, you might not suspect that your steak was not gridiron-broiled. To begin, your oven must be very, very hot, else you will lose the juice of your steak. A moderate oven would ruin it, for, to be in perfection, it must be quickly seared with heat. Other principles are the same as for gridiron-broiling. Lay your steak into a dripping-pan large enough to hold it without condensing. Set it in a hot oven. If thick, it will need to remain ten min- utes, according to the doneness you prefer. When done, season to taste, and serve on a hot platter. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 89 PARKER-HOUSE BISCUIT. One quart of sifted flour. One pint of warm scalded milk. One tablespoonful of white sugar. One teaspoonful of salt. Butter, the size of an egg. Half a cake of compressed, Or half a cup of liquid yeast. Sift the flour into a deep pan, and make a hol- low in the middle of it. Put in the other ingre- dients, in the following order : Sugar, butter, which must be creamed, milk, and yeast. Do not stir these, after putting them together. For breakfast, arrange this about two o'clock in the afternoon, and set it in a temperature of sixty degrees. In the evening, mix all together, and knead fifteen minutes. Let it rise over night. In the morning, cut out the biscuit, set each one apart from his neighbor, and, when suflaciently risen, bake fifteen minutes. GREEN CORN. This is very acceptable in the country, where corn can be freshly and easily obtained. Boil twen- ty minutes. The milk should be well developed in the kernels, or no nourishment will be effected. 90 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 16. Hominy and Milk. Beefsteak. Flour and Indian Waffles, Baked Apple Sauce. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. FLOUR AND INDIAN WAFFLES. Two and a half cups of sifted flour. Half a cup of Indian meal. One teaspoonful of soda. One teaspoonful of salt. One heaping tablespoonful of butter. Two eo^o^s. Two cups of rich sour milk. Mix salt and soda with flour and meal. Cream the butter. Beat the eo^o^s. Make a hollow in the middle of the flour, and pour these into it ; lastly the sour milk, stirring the whole to a smooth batter. Heat the Avaffle irons, butter them well, fill three-quarters full, and bake over a clear and steady fire. They should be evenly browned, and not scorched. BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 91 BREAKFAST No. 17. Shredded Raw Beefsteak. Dropped Eggs. Jelly. Tea, Cocoa, or Coffee. Ripe Fruit. SHREDDED RAW BEEFSTEAK. This nutritious dish, when accompanied with an egg and calf's-foot jelly, is exceedingly tempting to a capricious appetite. Shred the beef with a beef-shredder. Eemove every particle of skin and fat. Mix it with oatmeal cracker crumbs. Sea- son to taste. DROPPED EGGS. (See Breakfast No. 1.) TEA. Tea and coffee, when not taken to excess, are harmless ; when used immoderately, they are de- cidedly injurious. Says a learned Chinese pro- fessor, " When tea is taken in moderate quantities, it has a soothing influence, refreshing the body, awakening thought, clearing perception, and pre- 92 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. venting drowsiness. But when taken in excess, it produces nervous tremblings, the heart beats stronger, the pulse becomes more frequent, the thoughts wander, and a peculiar state of intoxica- tion comes. Beware of an overdose." An earthen teapot is more wholesome for steeping tea than tin. The water of which it is made should always be freshly boiled, and boiling hot when added to the tea ; the tea-pot rinsed and scalded each time that tea is made. Many a nice cup of tea' has been spoiled by not scalding the teapot. SECTION IV. COLD BEEF BREAKFASTS. COLD BEEF BREAKFASTS. 95 IV. COLD BEEF UTILIZED. Much of the cold beef left from dinners and thrown away as w^orthless, could be reproduced upon the breakfast ta])le w^ith satisfaction to guests, if tastefully prepared and accompanied with harmonious dishes. BREAKFAST No. 18. Oatmeal Mush. Delmonico's Corned Beef Hash. Corn Bread Loaf. Sweet Pickled Beets. Ripe Fruit. Althouirh corned beef hash is verv ancient, it has stood the test of time, and when well prepared is much esteemed, and is by no means despised at Delmonico's. There are many ways of spoiling it. First, by frying instead of heating it. Second, by dredging Hour into it, which imparts a raw taste like dough. Third, by using too much water, which makes it insipid. Fourth, by using too much fat or gravy, which spoils its delicacy. Lastly, by burning it, which gives it a bitter flavor. 96 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. DELMONICO'S CORNED BEEF HASH. Chop cold corned beef rather fine, but not too fine. Chop, not mash, about one-third as large a quantity of cold boiled potatoes. They are not as nice for beef hash when hot, and if either potatoes or meat are chopped too fine, your hash will be salvy. Have it neither dry nor watery, but moist. Cover it close and heat a few minutes. When hot, if no gravy has been used, stir into it a little butter. Serve on a hot dish. Many think the perfection of corned beef hash is to chop a boiled beet with it. This is very good when made in right proportions and not too much beet. You do not need quite as much potato when beet is added. In this case you omit the pickled beet, and provide a substitute. CORN BREAD LOAF. Two cups of yellow meal. One cup of flour. Two teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar. One teaspoonful of soda. One teaspoonful of salt. Two esrars. Half a cup of sugar. One heaping tablespoon of solid butter. Two cups of rich sweet milk. COLD BEEF BREAKFASTS. 97 Mix salt, soda, and cream-tartar with flour and meal, according to the rule already given. Cream the butter. Beat sugar and eggs together. Add all to the mixture. Lastly, stir in the milk, and beat the whole a few minutes. "This loaf is best when baked in round sheet-iron pans that are four inches deep. The loaf should be that thickness when baked. When served cut it pie-fashion if baked in round pans." BREAKFAST No. 19. Oatmeal Mush. Roast Beef Hash. Parker House Biscuit. Warmed-up" Potatoes. Cabbage Salad. Coffee. ROAST BEEF HASH. Chop fine, moisten with some of the remaining gravy, and heat hot, but do not stew it. All meats, when reheated, should be done quickly, or they will be oily and unpalatable. *'^WARMED-UP" POTATOES. Cut each potato into lengthwise slices. Fry them a nice brown on each side in a little beef drippings. 98 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. CABBAGE SALAD. This nitrogenous and herbaceous vegetable, when eaten raw, is easily digested, and should be often seen upon our tables. It should be sliced very fine or chopped, and demands sugar and vinegar to be palatable. BREAKFAST No. 20. * Hominy and Milk. Baked Potatoes. Cream-tartar Biscuit. Sweet Pickled Beets. Coffee. SLICED COLD CORN BEEF. Cold corned beef, with harmonious accompani- ments, makes a nice and convenient breakfast. After all the bones are removed, it should be pressed in a "brick loaf" pan over night and evenly sliced for breakfast in the morning. CREAM-TARTAR BISCUIT. One quart of sifted flour. Two teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar. One teaspoonful of soda. One teaspoonful of salt. One pint of milk. COLD BEEF BREAKFASTS. 99 Mix salt, soda, and cream-tartar with flour. "Add the milk and thoroughly stir so that the alkali may evenly efiervesce. Dredge your board, turn the dough upon it, which quickly bring into a body without kneading it at all, as the success depends upon the rapid mixing and baking. Roll lightly into a sheet an inch thick. Cut into rounds with a small tin biscuit cutter. Bake in a quick oven. BREAKFAST No. 21. Cracked Wheat. Sliced Cold Roast Beef. Canned Corn Oysters. Baked Potatoes. Raised Waffles. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. For many, there is no nicer breakfast than cold roast beef. When accompanied with corn oysters, baked potatoes and waffles, it should not fail to satisfy. CANNED CORN OYSTERS. The inventor of canning has put us in possession of green corn every month in the year. Although 100 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. we cannot perfectly recognize our dainty and succulent green corn of summer, yet by largely drawing on faith we forget the discount and get the whole of that asrreeable veofetable when out of season. When made into corn oysters, it is graciously accepted at the breakfast table. For directions, see corn oysters. RAISED WAFFLES. One quart of sifted flour. One teaspoonful of salt. Nearly a quart of warm milk. Half a cake of compressed yeast, Or half a cup of liquid yeast. One tablespoonful of creamed butter. Put the salt, butter, yeast and warm milk into the middle of the flour. Mix to a batter, and set to rise over night. In the morning, when ready to bake, beat two or three eggs, then beat them to the batter. Dissolve half a teaspoon of soda in a very little warm water and stir throughout at the last moment. Heat the waflie irons, butter them well, and fill nearly three-quarters full. Brown them evenly on both sides. Do not scorch them. COLD BEEF BREAKFASTS. 101 BREAKFAST No. 22. Roast Beef and Barley Stew. Cream-tartar Biscuit. Coffee. Country Griddle Cakes. Stewed Prunes. ROAST BEEF AND BARLEY STEW. To a pint of cold roast beef when cut into slices, add a cup of boiled barley, three or four slices of cold boiled potatoes, and a grain of salt. Put all into a stewpan with nearly two cups of water. Simmer ten minutes. Or you can substitute boiled cracked wheat. Very nice. COUNTRY GRIDDLE CAKES. One pint of sifted flour. One teaspoon of salt. One scant pint of sour milk or cream. One teaspoonful of soda. Make a smooth batter of flour and milk. Beat this until a lightness is evident. Now dissolve the soda in a very little warm water and beat it into the batter. Have the griddle hot and greased all 102 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. over with butter. Drop your batter in spoonfuls well apart, on the griddle. When the cakes bubble all over, slip your griddle-spade under each cake and turn quickly. Bake the other side, and when done send to the table quickly on a hot plate. Send only one batch at a time. They should be eaten as quickly as possible from the griddle. BREAKFAST No. 23. Oatmeal Mush. Fried Liver. Fried Apples. Corn Bread Loaf. Coffee. FRIED LIVER. Fried liver is a favorite with many. It should not be strongly urged, yet it is better than no meat. Have your beef drippings boiling hot when the liver is put into it, or it will soak fat. It needs to be well cooked, though not to a crisp, which makes it juiceless. FRIED APPLES Are an acceptable companion for liver. Do not pare them, but preserve the form of the slices COLD BEEF BREAKFASTS. 103 with the paring. Add a spoonful of water, some of the liver gravy, cover closely and fry without stirring. When nearly done, add a little Porto Eico molasses. SECTION V. VENISON BREAKFASTS. VENISON BREAKFASTS. 107 V. VENISON BREAKFASTS. Deer have the zoological marks which distin- guish them from mi wholesome animals, conse- quently venison can be eaten with a clear con- science. It is toothsome, strengthening, and easily digested. BREAKFAST No. 24. Cracked Wheat. Venison Steak. Currant Jelly. Rice Waffles. Ripe Fruit. Coffee. Venison takes a few minutes longer to broil than beefsteak. Have your fire clear and hot. Broil rapidly, turning often. Observe the same rules as for beefsteak, so as not to lose a drop of juice. Have ready a hot platter on which are a few bits of butter. When done, lay your steak on the butter, turning it over and salting it on each side, adding a little currant jelly. 108 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. RICE WAFFLES. One cupful of boiled rice. Three eggs. One heaping teaspoon of broken butter. One saltspoon of salt. Two cupsful of sour milk. One teaspoonful of soda. Separate the grains of rice, cream the butter, beat the eggs, and stir those together. Dissolve the soda in a very little warm water, which stir to the milk and add to the mixture. Stir in flour enough to make a thick batter. Have the waffle irons hot and greased with butter. Fill them three-quarters full. Be careful not to burn them. Bake the first side before turning. VENISON BREAKFASTS. 109 BREAKFAST No. 25. Cracked Wheat. Venison Hash on Toast. Rice Croquettes. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. Chop remnants of cold roast venison as for roast beef hash. Add to it a little of the venison gravy. Do not have it watery, only moist. Heat hot, but do not stew it. Serve hot. RICE CROQUETTES. Eoll boiled rice into little balls, then flatten them. Coat with eggs and cracker crumbs. Bake on a griddle, greased with butter. 110 ^VHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST, BREAKFAST No. 26. Cracked Wheat. Venison Rolls. Buttered Toast. Tomato Sauce, or Currant Jelly. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. When beautifully cooked, this breakfast van- ishes like a vision. Have venison steaks cut thin. Trim off the fat. Mix together, one teaspoonful of salt, one of thyme or summer savory, and one saltspoon of pepper. Sprinkle this seasoning over the steaks, roll them tightly and tie. Lay them on a trivet or stand, fitted into a roasting pan. Have a hot oven, that the surface may soon sear and securely hold the juices. Bake half an hour or more. These are quite as nice as sausages, and you are certain of what you are eating. N. B. — When a dish is repeated, and no refer- ence made to it, its directions can easily be found by referring to the preface. SECTION VI. MUTTON AND LAMB BREAKFASTS. MUTTON AND LAMB BREAKFASTS. 113 VI. MUTTON AND LAMB BREAKFASTS. Sheep literally fulfil the required terms of the Bible's sanitary laws. They are exclusively con- fined to vegetable food, which makes mutton and lamb wholesome and agreeable. BREAKFAST No. 27. Oatmeal Mush. Broiled Mutton Chops. Graham Puffs. Baked Potatoes. Sliced Tomatoes. Coffee. BROILED MUTTON CHOPS Are especially nice when broiled in perfection. The gridiron must first be warmed, or the chop will stick to the bars. A fine chop is full of juice, and none of it should be wasted. The heat of the fire should be so great that it will instantly harden the outside of the meat so that the juices cannot 114 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. run out. Never stick a fork into a chop, as it lets out the juice. When done, salt, and butter. Serve hot. GRAHAM PUFFS. One cup and a half Graham flour. One cup of flour. Two teaspoonfuls of sugar. One teaspoonful of salt. Two liberal cups of sweet milk. Three eggs. Mix salt with the flour. Beat up a batter with the flour and milk. Beat the yolks of the eggs to a froth. Beat the whites till stiff". Beat the yolks, then the whites into the batter. Bake in buttered stone cups half an hour or more. Use your judgment and do not keep them in too long. When done they will be well popped over. Keep the oven closed as much as possible. Ignorant cooks often spoil this simple and delicate cake by persisting to use baking powders or soda. They cannot believe they will rise with- out them. SLICED TOMATOES. These are a favorite complement to chops. Select the fairest ripe ones. Scald and peel them. When cold, slice them. Dress with vinegar, pepper and salt to taste. MUTTON AND LAMB BREAKFASTS. 115 BREAKFAST No. 28. Oatmeal Mush. Broiled Lamb Chops. Breakfast Puffs. Tomato Sauce. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. LAMB CHOPS Are a convenient, simple, and dainty breakfast, being readily accomplished, requiring only nicety and attention. Broil the same as mutton chops. (See Breakfast No. 27.) BREAKFAST PUFFS. Two cups of flour. Two cups of sweet milk. Two eo'srs. One salt-spoon of salt. Beat up a batter with the flour and milk. Add salt. Beat the yolks and whites of eggs sepa- rately and thoroughly. Then beat them separately to the batter. Fill gem-pans or stone cups a little more than half full. Have a quick oven. Some- times half an hour bakes them, but often it takes more. When done, they will be evenly browned, and well popped over. 116 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 29. Cracked Wheat. Fried Breaded Mutton Chops. Raised Graham Muffins. Baked Potatoes. Broiled Tomatoes. Coffee. FRIED BREADED MUTTON CHOPS. This is an admirable breakfast, when served dry and hot. Trim off the superfluous skin and fat, to give the chops an elegant appearance. Dip each chop in beaten egg, then roll it in powdered crackers. Meantime, have the superfluous fat tried out in a frying-pan, and, when boiling hot, lay the chops into it, and fry. Use as little fat as possible. RAISED GRAHAM MUFFINS. Two cupfuls of Graham meal, unsifted. One cupful of white flour. Two cupfuls of sweet milk or warm water. Two tablespoonfuls of Porto Rico Molasses. One teaspoonful of salt. Half a cake of compressed, Or half a cup of liquid yeast. MUTTON AND LAMB BREAKFASTS. 117 Mix flour, meal, and salt. Scald the milk, and, when at blood heat, pour into the middle of the flom\ Dissolve yeast, and with the molasses add to the mixture. Beat all thoroughly to a batter dough. When well mixed, set it in a temperature of about sixty-five degrees over night. Graham sponge sours more quickly than white, and should not rise in so high a temperature. Early in the morning, beat it up well, and let it rise again. When about to bake, dissolve half a teaspoonful of soda in a very little warm water, and thoroughly incorporate it with the batter. Bake in well-buttered muffin-tins or gem-pans. These do not require so hot an oven as white muf- fins, but should bake longer. BROILED TOMATO. Cut each tomato into two slices, without peeling. Lay them into a wire gridiron, and broil carefully, turning like steak, to keep the juice. Have them a nice brown on both sides. When dished, add a bit of butter to each. Salt and pepper to taste. 118 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 30. Hominy and Milk. Oven-broiled Mutton Chops. Baked Potatoes. Graham Biscuit. Tomato Sauce. Coffee. If you try this labor-saving experiment, you may conclude that your mutton chops are only in perfection when oven-broiled. Trim the chops, but not so much as to make them entirely deficient in fat. Lay them in a meat-pan, and broil in a quick oven. A slow oven would spoil them. Do not broil them too long. Season and serve. GRAHAM BISCUIT. The preceding Graham muffin receipt makes a nice biscuit mixture. Observe its full direc- tions. The usual failure in Graham biscuit is generally caused by kneading in too much flour. They should be made less stiflf than white biscuit, and kneaded just as soft as possible. Prick the biscuit with a fork, to prevent the crust from binding. MUTTON AND LAMB BEEAKFASTS. 119 BREAKFAST No. 31. Whole Wheat. Minced Lamb. Boiled Eggs. Cracked Wheat Griddle Cakes. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. 'V\nien well gotten, this dainty and nourishing breakfast is fit to set before a sovereign. MINCED LAMB. Mince fine, cold roast lamb. Moisten it with a very little of the gravy. Simmer till hot. If you have no gravy, add a little water instead, and, when hot, add a bit of butter. Do not moisten it too much. Serve hot. CRACKED WHEAT GRIDDLES. One cupful of cooked cracked wheat. Three eo'crs. One heaping teaspoonful of broken butter. One saltspoonful of salt. Two cups of sour milk. One teaspoonful of soda. 120 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. Separate the grains of wheat, add the milk, cream the butter, beat the eggs, and stir them together. Dissolve the soda in a very little warm water, and stir into the mixture, adding flour enough to make a griddle batter. Bake on a hot griddle, greased with butter. BREAKFAST No. 32. Cracked Wheat. Lamb Fricassee. Raised Biscuit {light as a foam). Batced Potatoes. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. LAMB FRICASSEE Makes an appetizing and nourishing breakfast. Lamb chops are as nice as chicken for a fricas- see. Boil them tender in water enough to cover them. When done, add to the liquor butter, and a little thickening made of flour. Cook all to- gether a few minutes ; then dish and pour the gravy over it. MUTTON AND LAMB BKEAKFASTS. 121 BREAKFAST No. 33. Oatmeal Mush. Sliced Cold Mutton or Lamb. Baked Potatoes. Bread and Butter. Buckwheat Cakes. Coffee. COLD MUTTON OR LAMB, With these accompaniments, makes a nice winter breakfast. For summer, a more appropriate cake than buckwheat can be substituted. Indian cakes are welcome companions with cold roast lamb at breakfast. BUCKWHEAT CAKES. Four cups of warm water. Nearly three cupfuls of buckwheat meal. Nearly a cup of Indian meal. Two tablespoonfuls of nice molasses. One teaspoonful of salt. Half a cake of compressed yeast. Scald the Indian meal with only water enough to swell it. When cool, add this to the buck- 122 WHAT TO GET FOE BEEAKFAST. wheat, and with the measure of warm water, beat till all are well mixed. To this, add the salt, mo- lasses and yeast, which should be dissolved in a little water. Now beat all five or six minutes, and set to rise in a warm place, over night. A pitcher, is very convenient to fry buckwheats from, which should be covered with a thick cloth, over night. In the morning beat your batter well and set it near the fire for a second rising. Buckwheats are not in perfection without soda, which should be added whether the cakes are sour or not, but not till just before they are baked. When breakfast is on the table, dissolve an even teaspoonful of soda in a little warm water, stir it well into the batter, and bake. Serve them as quick as possible from the griddle. Indian meal makes buckwheats much more ten- der than flour ; they are much better made with milk than water. MUTTON AND LAMB BREAKFASTS. 123 BREAKFAST No. 34. Oatmeal Mush. Egged Mutton Hash. Huckleberry Cake. Coffee, or Tea. Ripe Fruit. This is a delicious as well as nutritious summer breakfast. To tliree cupfuls of finely chopped mutton or lamb, add two tablespoonfuls of hot water. Break into it three eggs and stir all to- gether. When the eggs are sufficiently cooked, add a spoonful of butter, and thoroughly mix. Serve quickly. HUCKLEBERRY CAKE. (See Breakfast No. 10.) Obs. — Dressed lettuce is a favorite companion for any dish of mutton. 124 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 35. Whole Wheat. Minced Mutton, Eggs and Rice. Huckleberry Cake. Cocoa or Coffee. Ripe Fruit. Minced mutton, eggs and rice, make a palatable summer breakfast. Chop remnants of mutton fine, add a very little hot water. Have nearly the same quantity of rice, allowing one egg to each cupful of minced mutton. Mix all together, and heat till the eggs are cooked, when stir in a piece of butter, enough for the quantity. Serve quickly. MUTTON AND LAMB BREAKFASTS. 125 BREAKFAST No. 36. Oatmeal Jelly. Steamed Mutton Mince. Egg Toast. Cocoa or Tea. Ripe Fruit. OATMEAL JELLY. Soak a cupful of nice oatmeal in one pint and a half of water over nio^ht. In the morninof strain off the liquid through a sieve and boil it fifteen minutes. Turn it into the moulds, set it in a cool closet, and in twenty minutes it will jelly and be sufficiently warm to eat. Serve with sugar and cream, or sweetened fruit juice. STEAMED MUTTON MINCE. Take raw, fresh, and lean mutton or lamb. Ee- move the flesh from the bone. Chop the lean very fine. Flavor with salt, pepper, or a green bay leaf. Steam the mince half an hour in a farina boiler, in a few spoonfuls of water. When done, add a small bit of butter. Serve hot. This is an appetizing and nutritious breakfast for an invalid. SECTION yn. VEAL BREAKFASTS. VEAL BREAKFASTS. 129 vn. VEAL. The Bible establishes the eating of veal. " And bring hither the fatted calf and kill it." " And Abraham ran into the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man, and he hasted to dress it." Beware of eating too young veal. Nowadays it is sent to the market very young, for the reason that it is not so remunerative as the cow's milk. 'Tis said many diseases, especially in children, come from eating too young veal. In earlier times it was thought that veal was not eatable before it was four or five weeks old. It is very easy to know when it is too young, as the bones are very tender and like nerves. 130 WHAT TO GET FOE BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 37. Oatmeal Mush. Veal Fricassee. Baked Potatoes. Biscuit {light as a foam). Caf^ au lait. Ripe Fruit. VEAL FRICASSEE. Cut veal into pieces of two inches, and stew till tender as chicken. Do not use more water than is necessary to cover it. Just before dishing for the table, add a smooth thickening, and a piece of butter. Stir these evenly into the gravy, and simmer two minutes before serving. CAFE AU LAIT. Americans are very ambitious of French names, and cafe au lait is being domesticated in their kitchens. Its French name sounds new to many, yet it is a very ancient method of preparing coffee. In bygone days my grandmother, and later my mother, when there was milk to spare, often made our coffee half milk, which the French call cafe au lait. VEAL BREAKFASTS. 181 To half a coffee-pot of boiling hot (3offee, add enough hot milk to iill the coffee-pot. Do not boil the milk, it will give it an unpleasant flavor; only heat it hot. Dehcious I BREAKFAST No. 38, Oatmeal Mush. Veal Stew. Corn Meal Sponge Cake. Bread and Butter. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. VEAL STEW. Cut veal in small pieces, not over an inch square. Cover with cold water. See that the water is kept at the same level, by adding hot water as it boils away. Stew till tender. Before done, have ready potatoes enough for the quantity of veal, peeled and sliced. Add these to the stew. When done, add a little smooth thickening, a bit of butter, and let all come to a boil. Serve hot. O 132 AVHAT TO GET FOE BKEAKFAST. CORN MEAL SPONGE CAKE, NO. 2. Two cupfuls of Indian meal. One cup of flour. One teaspoonful of soda. Two teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar. One teaspoonful of salt. Three eggs. One spoonful of white sugar. Two spoonfuls of creamed butter. Two cupfuls of sweet milk. Add soda, cream-tartar, and salt to flour. Beat the eo:o:s and suo'ar too^ether, and with the ci^eamed butter stir to the meal and flour. Lastly, add the milk, which thoroughly incorporate. Bake in Washington pie plates, well buttered. Have a moderately quick oven. VEAL BREAKFASTS. 133 BREAKFAST No. 39. Cracked Wheat. Veal Hash. Poached Eggs. Buttered Toast. Coffee. Sliced Oranges. This simple breakfast is very appetizing when well gotten. Chop cold veal very fine ; put it into a saucepan with only gravy enough to moisten it. If you have no gravy, use a little water in- stead, and add a bit of butter before dishino- it. Simmer till hot. It should be dry enough to heap into shape on the platter. Prepare your eggs and toast as in breakfast No. 1. SLICED ORANGES. Persons of refined sensibilities are disturbed by the derangement of orange-peel at the breakfast- table. This may be avoided by serving them sliced and sugared. Slice peeled oranges. Fill a dish with alternate slices of oran2:e and suo;ar. 134 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 40. Cracked Wheat. Scalloped Veal. Boiled Eggs. Cream Toast. Coffee. Bananas. If any breakfast will develop your capabilities it is No. 40. Should you succeed with this, you can have faith in your abilities hereafter. SCALLOPED VEAL. Many think this the best way to serve fragments of veal. Chop cold roast or stewed veal very fine. Butter a round, deep, baking-tin. Put a layer of veal in the bottom, next a layer of pow- dered crackers or dry bread. Alternate these until the pan is full, having a thick layer of crumbs on the top. Moisten each layer with a little of the gravy, if any remains from the roast veal, otherwise strew tiny bits of butter on each layer of veal, and moisten with water. Cover with a tin plate. If small, bake nearly half an hour, if large, three-quarters. Do not get it so moist that VEAL BREAKFASTS. 135 it will not retain its form, when inverted on a platter. The meat and cracker can be prepared over night. CREAM TOAST. Toast bread to a golden brown. Scald your milk in a farina boiler. When scalding hot, thicken it with a very little corn starch or flour dissolved smooth in a little cold water. Do not make starch of it. I have eaten it so thick with flour that it tasted like starch. Be sure your milk is scalding hot, when you add your thickening, which pour into the middle of the milk, stirring it gently till all is thickened. After simmering till there is no raw taste of the flour, add a little butter and stir it through the milk. Have your toast ready. Lay a few slices on a deep dish, pour over them some of the hot cream, then lay on a few more slices and pour over again. Lift the lower slices, one by one, that the creamy mixture may run between. Reserve a surplus to pour over the whole. Serve as soon as finished. 136 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 41. Hominy and Milk. Oven-broiled Veal Cutlets. Baked Potatoes. Corn Meal Raised Muffins. Water-Cress Salad. Coffee. OVEN-BROILED VEAL CUTLETS. Veal steaks can be broiled in the oven with bet- ter effect than over the fire. The oven should be as hot as for baking meat, otherwise you will dry and spoil them. When oven-broiled, they get cooked more thoroughly, and few people are fond of rare veal. Lay the steaks in the bake-pan, using a very little of the fat, only enough to keep them from sticking and scorching. Fit a tin plate closely over them, to keep them steaming while baking. When done, if there is any fat, drain it from them. Season with salt and butter, the same as for other broiled steaks. CORN-MEAL RAISED MUFFINS. One pint of sweet milk, or warm water. One teaspoonful of salt. One cupful of flour. One heaping tablespoonful of sugar. Half a cake of compressed yeast. VEAL BKEAKFASTS. 137 Add Indian meal enough to make a thick batter. Else over night. In the morning, when ready to bake, add half a teaspoon of soda, dissolved in a little warm w^ater, and with a tablespoonful of melted butter, mix throughout the batter. Bake in muffin-tins. Yeast muffins have the advantage of soda muffins, as they are not heavy when cold, but palatable. WATER-CRESS SALAD. Like the tomato, this vegetable possesses the double quality of food and medicine. " According to analysis by M. Chatin, Director of the School of Pharmacy, Paris, water-cress contains iron, iodine, phosphates, and other salts. As a medicine, it has been vaunted for its efficacy in all cases of weak digestion, and has been prescribed for scrofula and phthisis. For food, it ought to be used in its green or uncooked state, in the form of salad or without any seasoning." 138 AVHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 42. Oatmeal Mush. Egged Veal Hash. Creamed Potatoes, Sponge Corn Cake Muffins. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. EGGED VEAL HASH. Chop fine remnants of cold roast veal. Moisten with the gravy or water. When hot, break into it three or four eggs, according to the quantity of veal. When the eggs are cooked, stir into it a spoonful of butter, and serve quickly. If to your taste, shake in a little parsley. Should you lack quantity, half a cup of fine stale bread crumbs are no disadvantage. CREAMED POTATOES. Slice cold boiled potatoes ; season with salt. Add cream, and heat them in a double boiler. Do not break or stir them. SPONGE CORN CAKE MUFFINS. The same receipt as for sponge corn cake in Breakfast No. 9. VEAL BREAKFASTS. 139 BREAKFAST No. 43. Cracked Wheat and Cream. Sweetbread Fricassee. Toasted Oatmeal Crackers, Or, "Butter" Crackers. Cocoa or Coffee. Ripe Fruit. SWEETBREAD FRICASSEE. Carefully wash and remove all the thin skin in which the sweetbreads are wrapped, drawhig oat that between the divisions. Put them into enous^h cold water to cover them, and set over the fire. When they have boiled fifteen minutes, take out and lay them in cold water for ten minutes. This Avill make them firm and white. Keep the water they Avere boiled in hot, and after laying ten minutes in cold water, put them back again into the hot water, and let them come to a boil. For two or three sweet- breads, allow a cupful of gravy. Cream a heap- ing dessert-spoonful of butter and stir into it half a teaspoonful of cornstarch. Add this to the gravy and simmer a minute. Dish the sweetbreads, and pour the gravy over them. 140 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKTAST. TOASTED CRACKERS. Toast crackers a nice brown. Dip them quickly into hot water ; don't let them remain a moment. Now lay them on a dish, and pour to them a little of the sweetbread gravy. BREAKFAST No. 44. Oatmeal Mush. Fricassee of Tripe. Baked Potatoes. Cold Bread. Graham Meal Griddles. Coffee. This breakfast was overlooked. It properly belongs in the beef division. FRICASSEE OF TRIPE. Cut tripe into pieces about two inches square. Put into a spider with water enough to make a gravy. When hot, add butter and a little thicken- ing, mixed smoothly. Let all come to a boil. Dish the tripe, and serve with the gravy poured over it. ^ VEAL BREAKFASTS. 141 GRAHAM MEAL GRIDDLES. One quart of sweet milk. Two caps of Graham flour. One cup of white flour. One teaspoonful of salt. Two spoonfuls of nice molasses. Half a cake of compressed, Or, half a cup of fluid yeast. Stir the milk to the Graham and flour. Add salt, molasses, and yeast. Beat all together, and rise in a warm place over night. In the morning beat well and set near the fire for a second rising. When everything is ready for breakfast, dissolve half a teaspoonful of soda and stir into it. Bake them on a griddle greased only enough to keep them from sticking. Bake both sides a nice brown. Do not turn them twice. Serve only a few at a time. These are much more nourishing and wholesome than any buckwheat griddles. Those who indulge in buckwheat will be wise to substitute Graham. SBCTION^ VIII. DOMESTIC FOWL BREAKFASTS. DOMESTIC FOWL BREAKFASTS. 145 VIII. FOWL. The Bible has given no general catalogue of the birds allowed for man's food, but has catalogued those disallowed, which are birds of prey and scavengers of oifal and carrion. Our domestic fowl are healthy, when properly cared for, and their meat sound and wholesome. BREAKFAST No. 45. Cracked Wheat. Broiled Chicken. Strawberry Short Cake. Cold Bread. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. BROILED CHICKEN. Chicken for broiling should be split open at the back, washed, wiped dry, the breast bone flattened with a mallet, and the wings twisted back that the breast may show ; beside, a chicken looks very badly with the bones and wings sticking out. Never broil a fowl that is tough. It would be 146 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. impossible to make it eatable by broiling ; and if sure that it is tender, you may make it more so by lirst steaming it twenty minutes. From the steamer transfer it to the gridiron, inside down. Turn it several times. When broiled a nice brown, season with butter and salt. Before steamers were used, I have parboiled a fowl pre- vious to broiling ; but this process robs it of its juiciness. When steamed, it retains its juice, and cooks those parts tender which, if only broiled, would be so scorched that they could not be eaten. STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE. One quart of flour. One teaspoonful of soda. Two teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar. One teaspoonful of salt. Half a cup of creamed butter. One pint of rich sweet milk. One quart of strawberries. Incorporate soda, cream-tartar, and salt well into the dry flour. W^ork the creamed butter into the prepared flour, fill fine and yellow. Pour the milk to this mixture, and mould to a delicate dough, which divide into three parts. Eoll each DOMESTIC FOWL BREAKFASTS. 147 part quickly half an inch thick. Fit each to a Washington-^pie plate and bake at once. Meantime, mash the strawberries, addino- suo-ar to your taste. Keep them in a cold place till the cakes are ready. When the cakes are done, re- verse the tin and lay the cake upon it. Take a thin sharp knife, dip it into hot water, then wipe it dry, and equally split the cakes. Do not split them with a cold knife, as it flattens the bread. Butter each half ; lay one third of the jam on each under crust and cover with the upper crust. Serve quickly. BREAKFAST No. 46, Oatmeal Mush. Oven-broiled Chicken. Baked Potatoes. Raised Waffles. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. Do not let your prejudice in favor of gridiron broiling prevent you from trying this labor-saving expedient. Prepare the chicken as for gridiron broiling. Place the chicken, skin side up, in a dripping-pan, pressed flat and close to the pan as 148 WHAT TO GET FOR BEEAKFAST. possible. The pan must be dry, so that the chicken will brown on the bottom. The secret of success is to have the oven just as hot as the chicken will bear without burning. It would not be like broil- ing, if done in a slow oven. When done, season with salt and butter. RAISED WAFFLES. (See Breakfast No. 21.) BREAKFAST No. 47. Cracked Wheat. Chicken Fricassee. Baked Potatoes. Raised Biscuit {light as a foam). Coffee. Ripe Fruit. This was a favorite breakfast of my mother's, and I well know its merits. For breakfast, the chicken should be boiled the day previous, unless you are a very early riser. The chicken need not be as tender as for broiling. When washed and dissected, put into a stew-pan and barely cover with warm water. Very cold water draws the juice out. Cover and stew slowly till tender, but not so much as to drop in pieces. DOMESTIC FOWL BREAKFASTS. 149 If boiled the day previous, heat the liquor with the chicken in the morning. When hot, add butter and a very little smooth thickening. If the chickens are very fat, they will not need the ad- dition of butter. After adding the thickening, stew gently seven or eight minutes. The addition of parsley, cut fine, is considered an improvement by some. Serve with the gravy poured over it. BREAKFAST No. 48. Cracked Wheat. Cold Chicken warmed over. Baked Potatoes. Yeast Muffins. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. This is a convenient way to dispose of the rem- nants of cold roast chicken. Prepare the chicken, and simply heat it in the remaining gravy. If no gravy, heat in a little water, and add butter and a smooth thickening. Use stuffing, if agreeable. YEAST MUFFINS. Use the same mixture as for raised waffles, in Breakfast No. 21. Bake in muffin-tins. In cold 150 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. weather this mixture may be kept for one or two mornings, and is thought by some an improvement. It is certainly a convenience to have it on hand for both waffles and muffins. BREAKFAST No. 49. Oatmeal Mush. Minced Chicken. Boiled Eggs. Twin Biscuit. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. MINCED CHICKEN. Chop remnants of chicken very fine. Heat it with a little of the gravy. If no gravy, moisten it with water, and when hot, add a little butter. It should not be too dry or too moist. Serve on a hot platter. TWIN BISCUIT. Make a short cake, per receipt in Breakfast No. 12. Koll the dough into a sheet half an inch thick, and cut into rounds with your biscuit-cutter. Lay them one deep on your baking-pan, and just polish the top of each with butter ; then lay a bis- DOMESTIC FOWL BKEAKFASTS. 151 cuit on each of these. By this process they are easily divided. Butter them when eaten. Serve hot. BREAKFAST No. 50. Cracked Wheat. Minced Chicken. Eggs on Toast. Cold Bread. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. This delicate and nutritious breakfast is nice for sick or well. Prepare mince as in Breakfast No. 49. EGGS ON TOAST. Break each egg separately into hot water in a flat pan. Cook them till the white concretes. Have toast a nice brown, and barely dip it into hot water for an instant. Do not soak it. Melt your butter by putting it into boiling water. Skim a little butter from the top of the water to the toast. Serve eggs on toast. 152 WHAT TO GET FOE BEEAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 51. Oatmeal Mush. Chicken a la Cunard Steamer. Biscuit {light as a foam). Baked Potatoes. Coffee. Rice Griddle Cakes. CHICKEN A LA CUNARD STEAMER. This is a nice bill of fare for a winter breakfast. The joints should be separated, washed in cold water, and boiled tender the day previous. When tender, remove from the liquor and drain dry. Preserve the liquor. In the morning, roll each piece in Qgg and cracker crumbs, and fry them a nice brown in butter or chicken fat, skimmed from top of the liquor. When fried a nice brown lay on a platter, and keep hot. Now put a cup of milk, half a cup of the liquor and fat into the frying-pan. When hot, add a little smooth thick- ening, stirring it constantly. Add butter if neces- sary. Pour this over the chicken and serve. DOMESTIC FOWL BREAKFASTS. 153 RICE GRIDDLE CAKES. One and a half cups of boiled rice. Two cups of warm, sweet milk. Two or three eggs. One saltspoonful of salt. One teaspoonful of soda. Two teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar. Half a pint of flour. Separate the grains of rice and mix with the milk, to which, if skimmed, add a tabl.espoonful of melted butter. Beat the yolks and whites sepa- rately, then together, which add to the mixture. Mix soda and cream-tartar with the flour and stir to the mixture. If not thick enough, add flour till the right consistency. Wipe the griddle each time you grease it with a dry cloth. These cakes require a longer baking than batter, and should be baked of a smaller size. When served, do not pile them one upon the other, but spread them over the plate. Serve them hot, and of a beautiful brown. 154 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST. BREAKFAST No. 52. Broiled Prairie Chiclle. FISH BREAKFASTS. 191 BROWN BREAD BREWIS. Take crusts and' pieces of brown bread. Cover them with milk, and simmer three-quarters of an hour. Just before served, add a little butter and salt. BREAKFAST No. 80. Cracked Wheat. Fish Balls. Brown Bread Toast. Spiced Peaches. Coffee. Ripe Fruit. FISH BALLS. In New-England these are a well-known and an honored dish. Mince fine boiled salt fish, after every vestige of bone and skin are removed. Mash, not chop, fresh boiled potatoes. Have more potato than fish, or they will not unite well. Work both into a united mixture by adding butter. Some think a beaten egg an improvement. Flour your hands, and make the mixture into little flat cakes. Dredge them. Fry as doughnuts in boil- ing hot drippings. Take them out with a skim- mer, and lay them on a strainer that the fat may drain oflT. Send to the table on a hot platter. 192 WHAT TO GET FOR BEEAKTAST. BROWN BREAD TOAST. Brown bread requires longer toasting than white bread. When nicely toasted, dip into melted butter mixed with a little hot water. SPICED PEACHES. Although not decided and positive enough to suit most palates, yet there are those who admire them. If you do not keep sweet pickles on hand, take a few preserved peaches, and to some of the syrup add spices and vinegar. This is sometimes a convenience to use a superabundance of pre- serves. Any preserve can be served in this way. BREAKFAST No. 81. Cracked Wheat. Broiled Salt Fish. Baked Potatoes^ Boiled Eg-gs. Corn Meal Crumpets. Coffee. BROILED SALT FISH. This is a nice breakfast for an emergencyc Cut from the thickest part of the fish a square. Cover FISH BREAKFASTS. 193 it with boiling hot water, and soak in a warm room over night. In the morning pour off this water, and if you suspect that it has not freshened suffici- ently add hot water again, and set it on the back of stove for ten minutes. The application of hot water will make the fish more tender than cold water. Wipe the fish dry, and broil over a clear fii'e. Butter when done, and serve hot. CORN MEAL CRUMPETS. Two cupfuls of sour milk or buttermilk. One heaping spoonful of flour. One egg, well beaten. One teaspoonful of sugar. One saltspoonful of salt. One teaspoonful of soda. Add Indian meal enough to make a batter of the right consistency. Dissolve soda in a little warm water, and mix to the batter. Try a spoon- ful on the griddle before you bake them, so that you may add more flour if too thin, or more milk if too thick. Serve hot as fast as you bake them. Do not pile one on the other. SBCTIOlSr X. EGG BREAKFASTS. EGG BREAKFASTS. 197 X. EGGS. Eggs contain a great deal of nutriment in a small compass, and possess all the properties neces- sary to develop animal life. BREAKFAST No. 82. Oatmeal Mush. Boiled Eggs. East-wind Gems. Family Bread. Coffee. Strawberries. BOILED EGGS. I have already given the most popular method for boiling eggs in Breakfost No. 7, but would add that a wire basket for boiling them is a great improvement. Carefully place the eggs in the basket before putting them into the hot water, and there will be no danger of cracking them. Boil to suit your guests. 198 ' WHAT TO GET FOR BEEAKTAST. EAST-WIND GEMS. It is not known whether these hygienic breakfast cakes are of the days of unleavened bread, or a modern invention. You need not fear the east wind they may have imbibed, for the hot oven coimteracts its mischievous influence, and they are not only hygienic, but taste good. Their fibre is like nut meats, and you A^ill enjoy giving the teeth just the exercise they need when jon are eatinof them. You are supposed to have baking-irons for these gems, else you had better not attempt them. Take very cold milk and water, half and half. Stir in Graham and wliite flour, half and half, Kttle by little, until you have a batter that will drop from the spoon and not rtm. It must be stiiTcd rapidly, lightly, and thoroughlyj the more the better, to incoiporate a large amount of air and insure lightness. It needs a strong aiTa to cany this into efl