Part 40 (1/2)

FOAMY SAUCE.--Beat one egg or the whites of two very thoroughly with one half cup of sugar and a little grated lemon rind. Pour on this very slowly, stirring constantly to make it smooth, one cup of boiling milk, part cream if it can be afforded. If the whites alone are used, they should not be beaten stiff. If preferred, the lemon may be omitted and a tablespoonful or two of currant juice or quince jelly added last as flavoring.

FRUIT CREAM.--Take the juice pressed from a cupful of fresh strawberries, red raspberries, or black caps, add to it one third of a cup of sugar, and place in the ice chest till chilled. Set a cup of sweet cream also on ice till very cold. When thoroughly cold, whip with an egg beater till the froth begins to rise, then add to it the cold fruit juice and beat again. Have ready the white of one egg beaten to a stiff froth, which add to the fruit cream, and whip till no more froth will rise. This makes a delicious dressing for simple grain molds and blancmanges, but is so rich it should be used rather sparingly. Serve as soon as possible after being prepared. Fruit syrup, in the proportion of two or three tablespoonfuls to the pint of cream, may be used in the same manner when the fresh juice is not available. The juice of orange, quince, and pineapple may also be used in the same manner as that of berries.

FRUIT SAUCE.--Heat a pint of red raspberry, currant, grape, strawberry, apricot, or any other fruit juice to scalding, and stir in a tablespoonful of cornstarch previously rubbed to a cream with a little cold water. Cook till it thickens; then add sugar according to the acidity of the fruit. Strain and cool before using. If fruit juice is not available, two or three tablespoonfuls of pure fruit jelly may be dissolved in a pint of hot water and used instead of the juice. A mixture of red and black raspberry juice, or currant and raspberry, will be found acceptable for variety.

FRUIT SAUCE NO. 2.--Mash a quart of fresh berries, add one cup of sugar, beat very thoroughly together, and set away until needed. Just before it is wanted for serving, turn into a granite fruit kettle and heat nearly to boiling, stirring constantly to avoid burning. Serve hot with hot or cold puddings, or molded desserts.

LEMON PUDDING SAUCE.--Heat to boiling, in a double boiler, a pint of water in which are two slices of lemon, and stir into it a dessertspoonful of cornstarch; cook four to five minutes, or until it thickens. Squeeze the juice from one large lemon, and mix it with two thirds of a cup of sugar. Add this to the cornstarch mixture, and allow the whole to boil up once, stirring constantly; then take from the fire.

Leave in the double boiler, surrounded by the hot water, for ten minutes. Cool to blood heat before serving.

MOCK CREAM.--Heat a pint of fresh, unskimmed milk in a double boiler. When the milk is boiling, stir in two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and two even tablespoonfuls of cornstarch which has first been rubbed smooth in a very little cold milk. Bring just to a boil, stirring constantly; then pour the hot mixture, a little at a time, beating thoroughly all the while, over the well-beaten white of one egg. Put again into the double boiler, return to the fire, and stir till it thickens to the consistency of cream.

MOLa.s.sES SAUCE.--To one half cup of mola.s.ses, add one half cup of water, and heat to boiling. Thicken with a teaspoonful of flour rubbed to a cream with a little cold water. Serve hot.

ORANGE SAUCE.--Squeeze a cupful of juice from well-flavored, sour oranges. Heat a pint of water, and when boiling, thicken with a tablespoonful of cornstarch. Add the orange juice, strain, and sweeten to taste with sugar that has been flavored by rubbing over the yellow rind of an orange until mixed with the oil in the rind. If a richer sauce is desired, the yolk of an egg may be added lastly, and the sauce allowed to cook until thickened.

PEACH SAUCE.--Strain the juice from a well-kept can of peaches.

Dilute with one half as much water, heat to boiling, and thicken with cornstarch, a scant tablespoonful to the pint of liquid.

PLAIN PUDDING SAUCE.--Thicken one and one half cups of water with one tablespoonful of cornstarch; boil a few minutes, then stir in two thirds of a cup of sugar, and one half cup of sweet cream. Take off the stove, and flavor with a little rose, vanilla, or lemon.

RED SAUCE.--Pare and slice a large red beet, and simmer gently in three cups of water for twenty minutes, or until the water is rose colored, then add two cups of sugar, the thin yellow rind and juice of one lemon, and boil until the whole is thick syrup. Strain, add a teaspoonful of rose water or vanilla, and serve.

ROSE CREAM.--Remove the thick cream from the top of a pan of cold milk, taking care not to take up any of the milk. Add sugar to sweeten and a teaspoonful or two of rose water. Beat with an egg beater until the whole ma.s.s is thick. Good thick cream, beaten in this manner, makes nearly double its original quant.i.ty.

SAGO SAUCE.--Wash one tablespoonful of sago in two or three waters, then put it into a saucepan with three fourths of a cup of hot water, and some bits of lemon peel. Simmer gently for ten minutes, take out the lemon peel, add half a cup of quince or apricot juice; and if the latter, the strained juice of half a lemon, and sugar to taste. Beat together thoroughly.

WHIPPED CREAM SAUCE.--Beat together with an egg beater until of a stiff froth one cup of sweet cream which has been cooled to a temperature of 64 or less, one teaspoonful of vanilla or a little grated lemon rind, and one half cup of powdered white sugar, and the whites of one or two eggs. The sauce may be variously flavored with a little fruit jelly beaten with the egg, before adding to the cream.

TABLE TOPICS.

Whether or not life is worth living, all depends upon the liver.--_Sel._

Diet cures mair than doctors.--_Scotch Proverb._

According to the ancient Hindu Scriptures, the proper amount of food is half of what can be conveniently eaten.

Every hour you steal from digestion will be reclaimed by indigestion.--_Oswald._

”Very few nations in the world,” says a sagacious historian, ”produce better soldiers than the Russians. They will endure the greatest fatigues and sufferings with patience and calmness. And it is well know that the Russian soldiers are from childhood nourished by simple and coa.r.s.e vegetable food. The Russian Grenadiers are the finest body of men I ever saw,--not a man is under six feet high.

Their allowance consists of eight pounds of black bread, and four pounds of oil per man for eight days.”

Colonel Fitzgibbon was, many years ago, colonial agent at London for the Canadian Government, and wholly dependent upon remittances from Canada for his support. On one occasion these remittances failed to arrive, and it being before the day of cables, he was obliged to write to his friends to ascertain the reason of the delay. Meanwhile he had just one sovereign to live upon. He found he could live upon a sixpence a day,--four pennyworth of bread, one pennyworth of milk, and one pennyworth of sugar. When his remittances arrived a month afterward, he had five s.h.i.+llings remaining of his sovereign, and he liked his frugal diet so well that he kept it up for several years.

An hour of exercise to every pound of food.--_Oswald._