Part 15 (1/2)

”But potatoes take so long to cook--”

”Not the way I'm going to cook them; only ten minutes. You can peel four and slice them very thin, and put them in cold water, and then peel and slice an onion while I open the meat and boil the kettle for coffee.

Then I'll show you how to make a:”

TEN-MINUTE STEW

4 potatoes, sliced very thin.

1 onion, sliced thin.

1 can of tinned meat (not corned beef).

Salt and pepper.

1 rounded tablespoonful of flour.

1 large cup of cold water.

Put the potatoes on to cook in a saucepan of boiling salted water.

Then put the onion in a hot frying-pan with a tablespoonful of pork or bacon fat, and fry brown. Put the flour in the cold water and stir till it is smooth, and mix this with the onion and stir it up; when the potatoes are done, drain them and add next, and then put in the sliced meat and heat; do not boil.

By the time this was done, the coffee was ready too, and the nice hot stew was served with large cups of the coffee and plenty of bread and b.u.t.ter. With a second cup of coffee and crackers and cheese, their guests had made an excellent supper.

The next morning, Jack got up extra early, because he knew everybody would be anxious to go fis.h.i.+ng. So he soon had the kettle boiling and the breakfast started, and cooked it all by himself while the men dressed. The princ.i.p.al dish was:

FRIED SALT PORK

Slice thin and put in a frying-pan with enough warm water to cover; stir it around till the water begins to simmer, and turn this all off and drain the pork. Then fry till crisp. Put this in a hot dish near the fire while you make the gravy.

1 tablespoonful of flour.

2 cups of boiling water.

A little pepper.

Put the flour in the grease in the frying-pan, and rub till smooth and brown; add the water slowly, stirring all the time, and then the pepper; when smooth and a little thick, pour over the fried pork.

With this he had pancakes, plenty of them, which were delicious with the pork gravy, and on these, with plenty of coffee, the men said they could get along very comfortably till dinner-time.

For dinner they had some of the fish they caught, broiled, with boiled potatoes; and, for dessert, corn-cakes and maple-syrup. For supper Jack took the fish left from dinner and made:

FISH-b.a.l.l.s

1 pint of cooked fish, picked up small.

1 quart of hot mashed potato.

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.

A little pepper.

Beat all together till very light, and make into b.a.l.l.s the size of an egg. Have ready a pail of very hot fat, and drop in two b.a.l.l.s at a time and cook till light brown; take them out; keep hot; and put in two more, and so on.

After this, he had something which had taken a long time to make, but he did not mind it.

FRIED CORN-MEAL MUSH

1 rounded tablespoonful of salt.

1 quart of yellow corn-meal.