Fish and cooking

Fish that is not fresh is a very dangerous food and great care should betaken in selecting only fish fit to eat. If the fish is hard in body andthe eyes are clear and bright, the gills a bright red and slimy, theflesh so firm that when pressed the marks of the fingers do not remain,the scales not dry or easy to loosen, then the fish is fresh.
In the refrigerator fish will taint butter and other foods if placed inthe same compartment, so that in most cases it is better to lay it on aplate on a pan of ice, or wrap it in parchment or waxed paper and put itin the ice box.
Pickerel weighing more than five pounds should not be bought. If bellyis thick it is likely that there is another fish inside. This smallerfish or any found in any other fish may not be used as food.
Salt fish should be soaked in fresh water, skin side up, to draw out thesalt.
Each fish is at its best in its season, for instance:--
Bluefish, Butterfish, Sea, Striped Bass, Porgies, Sea-trout or Weakfishare best from April to September.
Fluke and Flounders are good all year round, but the fluke is betterthan the flounder in summer. Carp may be had all year, but care must betaken that it has not been in polluted water.
Cod, Haddock, Halibut, Mackerel, Redsnapper, Salmon, Whitefish are goodall year.
In the different states of the United States there are laws governingthe fishing for trout, so the season for that fish differs in thevarious states.
Black Bass, Perch, Pickerel and Pike are in season from June 1st toDecember 1st.
Shad, April to June.
Smelts, November 10th to April.

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VEGETABLE SOUP (MILCHIG) recipes

VEGETABLE SOUP (MILCHIG)


Brown one-half cup of chopped onion in one tablespoon of butter, add oneand a half quarts of boiling water, two cups of shredded cabbageone-half cup of chopped carrot, one leek, one tablespoon of choppedpeppers, one tablespoon of chopped celery. Boil rapidly for ten minutes,then gently for one hour. Add one medium-sized potato diced and atomato, one and a half teaspoons of salt and one-quarter teaspoon ofpepper, a pinch of paprika and thyme. Cook one hour longer. Have thecover partially off the kettle during the entire time. Ten minutesbefore serving thicken with two tablespoons of flour mixed withone-fourth cup of cold milk.

BRAUNE MEHLSUPPE (BROWN FLOUR SOUP)


Heat a spoon of butter in a spider, add a spoon of flour, stir briskly,but do not let it get black; pour boiling water over it, add salt andcaraway seeds.

BROWN FLOUR SOUP


Heat two tablespoons of fresh butter in a spider, add four tablespoonsof flour to it and brown to light golden brown, then add one quartwater, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper and a littlenutmeg. Add one pint of milk, let boil up once or twice and serve atonce.

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HOW TO MAKE CREAM SOUPS

HOW TO MAKE CREAM SOUPS


Cream soups are all made by blending two tablespoons of butter with twotablespoons of flour and then adding slowly one cup of cold milk or halfcream and milk. One cup for a thin soup or puree, to one quart ofliquid. More according to the thickness of soup desired. Any cookedvegetable or fish may be added to the cream sauce. Less milk is usedwhen the water in which the vegetables are cooked is added.
Purees are made from vegetables or fish, forced through a strainer andretained in soup, milk and seasonings. Generally thicker than creamsoup.
Use a double boiler in making cream sauces and the cream saucefoundation for soups.
To warm over a thick soup it is best to put it in a double boiler. Itmust not be covered. If one does not have a double boiler set soupboiler in a pan of hot water over fire.
Cream soups and purees are so nutritious that with bread and butter,they furnish a satisfactory meal.

CREAM OF ALMOND SOUP


Blanch, and grind or pound one-half pound almonds, let simmer slowly inone pint of milk for five minutes. Melt one tablespoon of butter, blendwith one of flour. Do not allow to bubble. Add one cup of milk andthicken slightly. Then add the almond mixture and simmer again untilcreamy. Remove from fire and add one cup of cream. Season with salt andpepper to taste. Cream may be whipped or left plain.

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SCHALET OR TSCHOLNT (SHABBAS SOUP)

SCHALET OR TSCHOLNT (SHABBAS SOUP)


Wash one pint of white haricot beans and one pint of coarse barley andput them into a covered pot or pan with some pieces of fat meat and somepieces of marrow bone, or the backs of two fat geese which have beenskinned and well spiced with ginger and garlic. Season with pepper andsalt and add sufficient water to cover. Cover the pot up tightly. If onehas a coal range it can be placed in the oven on Friday afternoon andlet remain there until Saturday noon. The heat of the oven will besufficient to bake the Schalet if there was a nice clear fire when theporridge was put in the oven. If this dish cannot be baked at home itmay be sent to a neighboring baker to be placed in the oven there toremain until Saturday noon, when it is called for. This takes the placeof soup for the Sabbath dinner.

BOUILLON


Put on one three-pound chicken to boil in six quarts cold water. Takeone and one-half or two pounds of beef and the same quantity thick partof veal, put in a baking-pan, set in the stove and brown quickly withjust enough water to keep from burning. When brown, cut the meat inpieces, add this with all the juice it has drawn, to the chicken soup.Set on the back of the stove, and cook slowly all day. Set in a coldplace, or on ice over night, and next morning after it is congealed,skim off every particle of fat.
Melt and season to taste when ready to serve. Excellent for the sick.When used for the table, cut up carrots and French peas already cookedcan be added while heating.
If cooked on gas stove, cook over the simmering flame the same number ofhours.

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TOASTED CHEESE SANDWICHES

TOASTED CHEESE SANDWICHES


The filling for the toasted cheese sandwiches calls for a cup of soft,mild cheese, finely cut, and stirred over the fire with a tablespoon ofbutter until the cheese is melted. Enough milk to moisten, perhaps notmore than one-eighth of a cup, is then added, with salt, mustard, andpaprika to taste, and the whole is stirred until creamy and smooth.Slices of bread are very thinly buttered, the cheese mixture spread ongenerously, each slice covered with another slice, and set away untilthe filling cools and hardens, when the sandwiches are toasted on bothsides and served hot.

POACHED EGG SANDWICHES


Slice as many pieces of bread, from a round loaf, as you have persons toserve. Toast these slices and let cool. Across each slice place threestrips of pimentoes (use the canned pimentoes), on top of that place acold poached egg, put a teaspoon of Mayonnaise on the top of the egg andsprigs of watercress encircling the toast.

MUSTARD SARDINE PASTE FOR SANDWICHES


Take one box of mustard sardines; bone and mash; add to the mixture onetablespoon of tomato catsup, one teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, juiceof one lemon, a pinch of cayenne pepper, as much white pepper as willcover the end of a knife, two tablespoons of vinegar, and one tablespoonof olive oil. Mix thoroughly until it becomes a paste. Then spread onthinly cut bread for sandwiches.

CAVIAR AND SALMON SANDWICHES


Take a piece of rye bread, cut round (with a biscuit cutter), spreadwith mustard; put some caviar in centre of the bread, strips of smokedsalmon around the caviar and strips of pickle around the salmon.

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Grape-fruit and other Cocktails

GRAPE-FRUIT COCKTAIL


Cut the grape-fruit into halves, crosswise, and scoop out the pulp,rejecting the white inner skin as well as the seeds. Clean the shells;cut the edges with a sharp knife into scallops and throw them into coldwater. Set the pulp on the ice. At serving time put a teaspoon ofcracked ice in the bottom of each shell; fill with the pulp, mixedthoroughly with powdered sugar and a little sherry, if desired; andplace a maraschino cherry or bit of bright-colored jelly in the centreof each. Lay on paper doilies or surround with bits of asparagus fern.

AMBROSIA


Fill glass with alternate layers of sliced orange and cocoanut; coverwith powdered sugar and place a maraschino cherry on the top of each.

PEACH COCKTAIL


Fill the glasses with sliced peaches; cover with orange or lemon juice;sweeten to taste; add a little shaved ice and serve.
Apricot and cherry cocktails may be made in the same way.

RASPBERRY COCKTAIL


Mash a pint of ripe, red currants; strain them through cheesecloth; pourthe juice over a pint of red raspberries and set on the ice to chill. Atserving time sweeten to taste and pour into the glasses, putting oneteaspoon of powdered sugar on the top of each.

PINEAPPLE AND BANANA COCKTAIL


Take equal parts of banana and fresh or canned pineapple; cut into smallcubes and cover with lemon or pineapple juice. Serve in glasses ororange shells placed on autumn leaves or sprays of green fern.

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CHICKEN LIVER PASTE recipes

CHICKEN LIVER PASTE, No. 1


Wash thoroughly several fowls' livers and then let them simmer untiltender in a little strong soup stock, adding some sliced mushroom,minced onion, and a little pepper and salt. When thoroughly done mincethe whole finely, or pound it in a mortar. Now put it back in thesaucepan and mix well with the yolks of sufficient eggs to make thewhole fairly moist. Warm over the fire, stirring frequently until themixture is quite thick, taking care that it does not burn.
It should be served upon rounds of toast on a hot dish garnished withparsley.

CHICKEN LIVER PASTE, No. 2


Take one-quarter pound chicken livers that have been boiled soft; drainand rub through grater, add one-quarter cup of fresh mushrooms that havebeen fried for three minutes in two tablespoons of chicken fat, chopthese, mix smooth with the liver, moistening with the fat used in fryingthe mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, paprika and a little onion andlemon juice. Spread on rye bread slices. Garnish plate with a red radishor sprigs of parsley.

CHOPPED HERRING


Soak herring a few hours, when washed and cleaned, bone and chop. To oneherring take one onion, one sour apple, a slice of white bread which hasbeen soaked in vinegar, chop all these; add one teaspoon oil, a littlecinnamon and pepper. Put on platter in shape of a herring with head attop and tail at bottom of dish, and sprinkle the chopped white of ahard-boiled egg over fish and then the chopped yolk.

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ANCHOVY CANAPES recipes

ANCHOVY CANAPES


Cut the bread as for caviar canapes and spread with anchovy paste. Chopseparately the yolks and whites of hard-boiled eggs and cover thecanapes, dividing them into quarters, with anchovies split in twolengthwise, and using yolks and whites in alternate quarters.

ANCHOVY CANAPES WITH TOMATOES


For each person take a thin slice toast covered with anchovy paste. Uponthis place whole egg which has been boiled four minutes, so that it canbe pealed whole and the yolk is still soft. Around the toast put tomatosauce.

CHOPPED ONION AND CHICKEN FAT


Chop one yellow onion very fine, add four tablespoons of chicken fat(melted), salt to taste. Serve on slices of rye bread. If desired, ahard-boiled egg chopped very fine may be mixed with the onions.

BRAIN (APPETIZER)


Cook brains, let cool and add salt; beat up with chopped onions, juiceof one and a half lemons and olive oil. Serve on lettuce leaves.

BLACK OLIVES


Pit black olives, cut them very thin, and prepare as brain appetizer;beat well with fork.

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Canning fruit baked in oven

Canning fruit recipe
In this method the work is easily and quickly done and the fruit retains its shape, color and flavor. Particularly nice for berries.
Sterilize jars and utensils. Make the syrup; prepare the fruit the same as for cooking. Fill the hot jars with the fruit, drained, and pour in enough hot syrup to fill the jar solidly. Run the handle of a silver spoon around the inside of the jar. Place the hot jars, uncovered, and the covers, in a moderate oven.
Cover the bottom of the oven with a sheet of asbestos, the kind plumbers employ in covering pipes, or put into the oven shallow pans in which there are about two inches of boiling water. Cook berries to the boiling point or until the bubbles in the syrup just rise to the top; cook larger fruits, eight to ten minutes or according to the fruit. Remove from the oven, slip on rubber, first dipped in boiling water; then fill the jar with boiling syrup. Cover and seal. Place the jars on a board and out of a draft of air. If the screw covers are used tighten them after the glass has cooled.
Large fruits, such as peaches, pears, quince, crab-apples, etc., will require about a pint of syrup to each quart jar of fruit. The small fruit will require a little over half a pint of syrup.

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Butterbarches

BUTTERBARCHES
Dissolve one cake of compressed yeast in one-half cup of lukewarm milk, add a teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of sugar and let it rise. Then make a soft dough of eight cups of sifted flour and as much milk as is required to work it, about two cups; add the yeast, one-half cup of sugar, four tablespoons of butter dissolved in the warm milk, the grated peel of a lemon, two or three dozen raisins seeded, and two eggs well beaten. Work this dough perfectly smooth with the palm of your hand, adding more flour if necessary. It is hardly possible to tell the exact amount of flour to use; experience will teach you when you have added enough. Different brands of flour vary, some being drier than others.Work the dough as directed, set it aside covered until it is double the bulk of the original piece of dough. Then work again and divide the dough into two parts, and divide each of the pieces of dough into three parts. Work the six pieces of dough thoroughly and then roll each piece into a long strand; three of which are to be longer than the other three. Braid the three long strands into one braid (should be thicker in the centre than at the end), and braid the shorter strands into one braid and lay it on, top of the long braid, pressing the ends together.Butter a long baking-pan, lift the barches into the pan and set in a warm place to rise again for about one-half hour. Then brush the top with beaten egg and sprinkle poppy seed all over the top. Bake in a moderate oven one hour.

About making bread

Kosher bread

How to make bread
Try the yeast always by setting to raise in a cup of lukewarm water or milk, if you use compressed yeast add salt and sugar.
If it rises in the course of ten or fifteen minutes, the yeast is fit to use. In making bread always use sifted flour. Set a sponge with lukewarm milk or water, keeping it covered in a warm place until very light, then mold this sponge by adding flour, until very light into one large ball, then knead well and steadily for twenty minutes. Set to rise again in a warm place free from drafts, and when it has risen to double its former bulk, take a knife, cut through the dough in several places, then place this dough on a baking board which has been sprinkled with flour. Work with the palm of the hand, always kneading towards the centre of the ball (the dough must rebound like a rubber ball). When this leaves the board and the hands perfectly clean the dough may be formed into loaves or rolls.
Place in pan, greased slightly with a good oil, let rise until the imprint of the finger does not remain, and bake.
The oven for baking bread should be hot enough to brown a teaspoon of flour in five minutes.
If baked in a coal range, the fire must be just the proper heat so as not to have to add fuel or shake the stove.
If baked in a gas range, light oven to full heat five minutes before putting the bread in the oven, and bake in a moderately hot oven forty-five minutes, unless the loaves are very large when one hour willbe the proper time.
When taken from the oven, the bread may be wrapped in a clean towel wrung out of warm water (this prevents the crust from becoming hard. place bread in slanting position or allow it to cool on a wire rack.

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some cheese

Cheese
Cheese should not be tightly covered. When it becomes dry and hard, grate and keep covered until ready to use. It may be added to starchy foods.
Care should be exercised in planning meals in which cheese is employed as a substitute for meat. As cheese dishes are inclined to be somewhat "heavy," they should be offset by crisp, watery vegetables, water cress, celery, lettuce, fruit salads and light desserts, preferably fresh or cooked fruit. Another point, too, is to be considered. Whether raw or cooked, cheese seems to call for the harder kinds of bread--crusty rolls or biscuits, zwieback, toast, pulled bread or hard crackers.
A soft, crumbly cheese is best for cooking.
Cheese is sufficiently cooked when melted, if cooked longer it becomes tough and leathery.
Baking-soda in cheese dishes which are cooked makes the casein more digestible.

Cheese timbals for twelve people
Take one pint of milk, four tablespoons of flour, and use enough of the milk to dissolve the flour, the balance put in double boiler; when it boils, add the dissolved flour, then add one-quarter pound importedSwiss cheese grated. Let these two boil for fifteen minutes; when cool, add the yolks of four eggs; drop one in at a time and beat, then strain through a fine sieve about ten minutes before you put in the pans; beat the whites of two eggs and put in the above and mix; grease timbal forms, fill three-quarters full only; bake in pan of boiling water twenty minutes. Let them stand about two minutes, turn out on little plates, and serve with tomato sauce, a sprig of parsley put on top of each one.

Omelet recipes

Kasher omelet

PLAIN OMELET
To make an omelet for breakfast or luncheon for two persons, take three eggs, three tablespoons of sweet milk and a saltspoon of salt. Whip the yolks of the eggs, the milk and salt to a light foam with an egg whip. Slowly add the yolk mixture to the whites of the eggs, which should be beaten to a stiff froth in a big bowl. After the yolks and milk are well whipped through the whites, beat the whole together for a few minutes with the egg-beater.
In an omelet pan or a large frying-pan put a tablespoon of good butter. When the butter is bubbling hot, pour in the omelet mixture. Stir it lightly for the first minute with a broad-bladed knife, then stopstirring it; and, as the mixture begins to stiffen around the edge, fold the omelet toward the centre with the knife. As soon as it is properly folded, turn it over on a hot platter. Decorate with sprigs of parsley and serve.
SWEET OMELET
Six eggs, two tablespoons of flour, one cup of cold milk. Wet the flour with a little of the milk, then add the rest of the milk and the yolks of the eggs. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and pour into the flour, milk and yolks. Put a piece of butter into a spider and let it get hot, but not so hot that the butter will burn. Then pour the mixture in and put in a moderate oven to bake in the spider. It takes about ten minutes to bake. Then slip a knife under it and loosen it andslip off on a large plate. Sift powdered sugar on top and serve with a slice of lemon.
SWEET OMELET FOR ONE
One egg, beat white separately, two tablespoons of cold sweet milk, a pinch of salt. Brown on both sides or roll, spread with compote or sprinkle powdered sugar thickly over it. Serve at once.
SPANISH OMELET
In a chopping bowl place two nice large ripe tomatoes, first peeling them; one large or two medium-sized white Texas onions, two sprigs of parsley, and one large green-bell pepper, first removing most of itsseeds.
Chop these ingredients well together quite fine, turn them into a saucepan and let them cook over rather a brisk heat until quite soft. Put no water in this mixture. Add a tablespoon of olive oil or of butterbefore it begins to cook and season well with salt and red pepper.
Make the omelet the same as the plain one, but use water instead of milk in mixing it, and only use two tablespoons of water for the six eggs required.
After the eggs are sufficiently beaten, mixed, and in the pan over the fire, and when the edges begin to stiffen, cover the surface of the omelet to within an inch of the edge with the cooked vegetables. Foldthe omelet quickly and turn it on a hot platter. Pour around it all the vegetables left in the pan and serve.
RUM OMELET
Take six eggs, beat whites and yolks well, add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of brandy. Fry in a spider quickly and spread with a compote of huckleberries or any other fruit. Roll up the omelet, pour a very small wineglass of rum over it, light it and serve at once.
SWEET ALMOND OMELET
Prepare one-half cup of sweet almonds, blanched, chopped fine and pounded smooth. Beat four eggs slightly, add four tablespoons of cream and turn it into a hot omelet pan on which you have melted one tablespoon, of butter. Cook carefully, drawing the cooked portion into the centre and tilting the pan to allow the liquid part to run over the bare pan. When nearly all set, sprinkle the almonds over the surface and turn the edges over until well rolled. Then slip it out on a hot dish and dredge with powdered sugar, and scatter several salted almonds over the top. Serve immediately.
CORN OMELET
Take one-half cup of canned corn and chop it very fine (or the same amount cut from the cob). Add to that the yolk of one egg, well beaten with pepper and salt to taste, and two tablespoons of cream. Beat the white of the egg very stiff and stir in just before cooking. Have the pan very hot and profusely buttered. Pour the mixture on, and when nicely browned, turn one half over the other, as in cooking other omelets.
HERB OMELET
Take six eggs and beat well in a bowl. Add two tablespoons of cold water and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of pepper, a teaspoon of chopped parsley, a quarter of a teaspoon of grated onion and a teaspoon of fine butter, shaved in little pieces. Mix well with a wooden spoon.Dissolve in the spider the butter and add at once the beaten eggs, etc., inclining the spider to the handle for an instant and then shaking the omelet into the centre and turn up the right edge, then the left and fry briskly five minutes and serve.

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