Common Sense in the Household 44

Common Sense in the Household 44

OMELETTE WITH HAM, TONGUE, OR CHICKEN. ✠

 

Make precisely as above; but when it is done, scatter thickly over the

surface some minced ham, tongue, or seasoned chicken, slip your broad

knife under one side of the omelette and double in half, enclosing the

meat. Then upset the frying-pan upon a hot dish.

 

 

_Or,_

 

You can stir the minced meat into the omelette after all the

ingredients are put together, adding, if you like, some chopped parsley.

 

 

CAULIFLOWER OMELETTE.

 

Chop some cold cauliflower very fine, and mix in when your omelette is

ready to go into the pan. Season highly with cayenne pepper and salt.

 

 

ASPARAGUS OMELETTE. ✠

 

Is made of the tops only, minced and seasoned, and stirred in as is

the cauliflower. _Tomato omelette_ has stewed tomato spread over the

surface, and is then doubled in half.

 

 

EGG-BALLS FOR SOUP. ✠

 

Rub the yolks of three or four hard-boiled eggs to a smooth paste with

a _very_ little melted butter, pepper, and salt. To these add two raw

ones, beaten light, and enough flour to hold the paste together. Mince

into balls with floured hands and set in a cool place until just before

your soup comes off, when put in carefully and boil one minute.

 

 

OMELETTE AUX FINES HERBES.

 

After the yolks and whites are mixed together with the milk, stir in,

with two or three strokes of the spoon or whisk, two tablespoonfuls of

chopped parsley, green thyme, and sweet marjoram, with pepper and salt.

Fry instantly.

 

 

CHEESE OMELETTES.

 

Grate some rich old cheese, and having mixed the omelette as usual,

stir in the cheese with a swift turn or two of the whisk, and at the

same time some chopped parsley and thyme. If you beat long the cheese

will separate the milk from the eggs. Cook at once.

 

 

_Or,_

 

Make the omelette in the usual way; grate cheese upon it and fold it

over.

 

 

SWEET OMELETTES.

 

 

_Omelette Soufflée_—(_Fried._)

 

6 eggs.

4 tablespoonfuls sugar (powdered.)

1 teaspoonful of vanilla.

2 tablespoonfuls butter.

 

Beat the whites and yolks separately. Add the sugar to the yolks, a

little at a time, beating very thoroughly, until they are smooth and

thick. The whites should stand alone. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter

in a frying-pan, heat to boiling, and when you have added the vanilla

to the omelette, pour it in and cook very quickly, as you would a plain

one. Slip the knife frequently under it, to loosen from the sides and

bottom. It is more apt to scorch than an omelette without sugar. Turn

out upon a _very_ hot dish, sift powdered sugar over the top, and serve

instantly, or it will fall and become heavy.

 

 

_Omelette Soufflée_—(_Baked._)

 

6 eggs.

6 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar.

Juice of a lemon and half the peel, grated.

 

Beat yolks and whites separately and very well. Add to the yolks

by degrees the powdered sugar, and beat until it ceases to froth,

and is thick and smooth. The whites should be stiff enough to cut

with a knife. Stir together lightly with the seasoning, pour into a

well-buttered dish, and bake in a quick oven five or six minutes. The

dish should be warmed when it is buttered, not to chill the eggs. Send

around with a spoon, and let each one help himself before it can fall.

 

 

APPLE OMELETTE. ✠

 

6 large pippins.

1 tablespoonful butter.

8 eggs.

5 or 6 tablespoonfuls sugar.

Nutmeg to taste.

1 teaspoonful rose-water.

 

Stew the apples, when you have pared and cored them, as for

apple-sauce. Beat them very smooth while hot, adding the butter, sugar,

and nutmeg. When perfectly cold, put with the eggs, which should be

whipped light, yolks and whites separately. Put in the yolks first,

then the rose-water, lastly the whites, and pour into a deep bake-dish,

which has been warmed and buttered. Bake in a moderate oven until it

is delicately browned. Eat warm—not hot—for tea, with Graham bread.

It is better for children—I say nothing of their elders—than cake and

preserves.

 

 

OMELETTE WITH JELLY.

 

Currant or other tart jelly.

5 eggs.

4 tablespoonfuls cream, or the same of milk, thickened with

a teaspoonful of rice-flour or arrow-root.

2 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar.

1 teaspoonful bitter almond or vanilla flavoring.

 

Beat whites and yolks separately, adding to the latter the sugar and

milk after they are thick and smooth. Next, chop in the seasoning;

lastly, stir in the whites with a few swift strokes. Put a large

spoonful of butter in the frying-pan, and, when it is hot, pour in

the omelette. Spread upon it when done, which will be in a very few

minutes, some nice jelly. Take the pan from the fire to do this, spread

quickly, slip your knife or tin spatula under one-half of the omelette,

and double it over. Turn over on a hot platter, sift powdered sugar

upon it, and eat at once.

 

 

MILK, BUTTER, CHEESE, ETC.

 

A cool cellar is the best place in which to keep milk, if you have

no dairy or milk-room. Strain it into broad shallow pans, which are

lukewarm from recent scalding. You can get them made in one piece, with

no seams in which sour cream or dirt may lurk unsuspected. Set upon

swing shelves, to avoid the possibilities of drowned mice, and keep the

cellar dark to save it from flies. In twelve hours skim for the table,

and, unless you have need of the milk, let it stand twelve hours more

for the second rising of cream. Put this into the stone jar or crock

in which the cream is kept for churning. Even in butter-making, I have

found it a good plan to take off at night the cream clean from the

morning churning, instead of letting it stand twenty-four hours, as is

the usual custom. The “second rising” will repay one for the additional

trouble. Churn as soon as convenient after the cream “loppers” or

thickens. If it stands too long, it becomes bitter or musty. The churn

should be well scalded and aired between the churnings. Scrupulous

cleanliness should be the unbending rule of dairy arrangements. All

strongly-flavored substances must be kept from the neighborhood of milk

and butter. They are ready absorbents, and when they contract odor or

taste, never get rid of it. Have earthen and tin milk vessels, and

never allow them to be put to any other use.

 

Scald the churn, and cool with ice or spring water; pour in the thick

cream. Churn rather fast, until the butter-flakes, left by the dasher

upon the top, show that the end to be gained is near—then more slowly.

The motion should always be regular. In warm weather pour a little

cold water into the churn, should the butter come slowly. Take it up

with the perforated dasher, turning it dexterously just below the

surface of the butter-milk, to catch every stray bit. Have ready some

clean, _very_ cold water, in a deep wooden tray, and into this plunge

the dasher when you draw it from the churn. The butter will float off,

leaving the dasher free. Having collected every particle, gather behind

a wooden butter-shovel and drain off the water, squeezing and pressing

the butter with the shovel. Set in a cool place for an hour to harden—a

necessary measure in summer—then work and knead it with a wooden

ladle until not another drop of water exudes, and the butter is like

yellow marble in polish and closeness of pores. When you have worked

out the butter-milk, add by degrees fine salt in the proportion of a

dessertspoonful to every pound. Then set aside for some hours, _always_

in a cool place. The last working is a slight affair, comparatively.

Still using the paddle, and never, from beginning to end of the

operation, touching with your hands, mould into rolls or pound “pats.”

Mark with grooves or checkers with the ladle, or stamp with a print.

Wrap each roll in a clean wet linen cloth, which has no touch of soap

or starch about it, and pack in a stone jar, sprinkling a little salt

between the layers.

 

If you wish to keep it a long time, work with especial care, and pack

down _hard_ in a perfectly clean stone jar. Do not, above all things,

take one that has ever been used for pickles. You may not detect the

faintest odor lingering about it, but the butter will, and absorb it,

too. Some cover the butter with strong brine, but a better way is to

press a fine linen cloth closely to the surface, and cover this with a

thick layer of clean fine salt. Set in a cool, dry place, and keep the

cloth over it all the time; also a tightly-fitting lid. When you begin

to use it, take out enough to last a week, and re-cover. If you admit

the air every day, it is apt to grow strong. A pretty plate of butter

for the table is made of balls half the size of an egg, rolled in the

little fluted paddles sold for the purpose.

 

 

BONNY-CLABBER, OR LOPPERED-MILK. ✠

 

Set a china or glass dish of skimmed milk away in a warm place,

covered. When it turns—_i. e._, becomes a smooth, firm, but not tough

cake, like blanc-mange—serve in the same dish. Cut out carefully with a

large spoon, and put in saucers, with cream, powdered sugar, and nutmeg

to taste. It is better, if set on the ice for an hour before it is

brought to table. Do not let it stand until the whey separates from the

curd.

 

Few people know how delicious this healthful and cheap dessert can

be made, if eaten before it becomes tart and tough, with a liberal

allowance of cream and sugar. There are not many jellies and creams

superior to it.

 

 

RENNET.

 

Clean the stomach of a calf (or have your butcher do it for you) as

soon as it is killed, scouring inside and out with salt. When perfectly

clean, tack upon a frame to dry in the sun for a day. Cut in squares,

and pack down in salt, or keep in wine or brandy. When you wish to

use the salted, soak half an hour in cold water, wash well, and put

into the milk to be turned, tied to a string, that it may be drawn

out without breaking the curd. The liquor rennet sold by druggists is sometimes good, quite as often worthless. You can, however, get the dried or salted in the markets, and often in the drug-stores.