Made-Over Dishes Part 5

CHEESE

The sh.e.l.ls of Edam, or pine-apple cheese, after all the available cheese has been scooped out, will be used as a baking dish for stewed spaghetti or macaroni or rice. If care is taken, one sh.e.l.l may be used for three or four bakings. Boil the macaroni in plain water until tender; then drain, cut it into small pieces and add it to cream sauce. Pour this into the cheese sh.e.l.l, stand the sh.e.l.l on a piece of oiled paper in a baking pan and run into a moderate oven for fifteen or twenty minutes. Lift the sh.e.l.l carefully, put it on to a heated dish, and send at once to the table.

After the macaroni has been taken out, the sh.e.l.l will be cleaned and put aside in a cold place for the next baking. There is just enough cheese imparted by the toasting of this sh.e.l.l to give ah agreeable flavor to the macaroni. Plain boiled rice may be heaped into the sh.e.l.ls and steamed, or baked in the oven for a few moments.

Any sc.r.a.ps or bits of common cheese, when too hard and dry to serve on the table should be grated, put into a jar and put aside for cheese b.a.l.l.s to serve with lettuce, cheese souffle, for baked macaroni, or spaghetti, or for croquettes, cheese sauce, or d.u.c.h.ess soup.

Cheese Souffle

Put one cup of stale bread crumbs with a gill of milk over the fire for just a moment; take from the fire, add the yolks of three eggs, six tablespoonfuls of grated cheese, a half teaspoonful of salt and a dash of red pepper; stir in the well-beaten whites of the eggs; put into individual baking dishes; bake in a quick oven about eight minutes and send at once to the table.

Cheese b.a.l.l.s

Grate or chop sufficient common cheese to make a half pint; add to it one pint of stale bread crumbs, a half teaspoonful of salt, a dash of red pepper and the whites of two eggs slightly beaten. Form these into small b.a.l.l.s the size of an English walnut; dip in egg and then in bread crumbs and fry in smoking hot fat. These may also be made into small cylinder-shaped croquettes, and served with cream sauce.

d.u.c.h.ess Soup

Put two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and a sliced onion in a saucepan; cook until the onion is soft and yellow; add to this two tablespoonfuls of flour, mix, and then add one quart of milk, a level teaspoonful of salt and a palatable seasoning of red pepper. Add six tablespoonfuls of grated cheese; stir in a double boiler until it is smoking hot; press through a fine sieve; reheat and send at once to the table.

Cheese Pudding

Toast slices of stale bread until a golden brown and crisp to the center.

This is best done in the oven. Put a layer of this toasted bread in the bottom of a baking dish; put over a quarter of a cup of grated or chopped cheese, sprinkle with salt and red pepper; then another layer of bread, another of cheese and the last of bread. Pour over sufficient milk to moisten the bread; bake in a quick oven fifteen minutes, and serve at once.

SAUCES

All meat sauces are made after the same rule, changing the liquids to give varieties; for instance, one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter (which means an ounce), and one tablespoonful of flour (a half ounce) are always allowed to each half pint of liquid. The b.u.t.ter and flour are rubbed together (better without heating), then the liquid added, cold or warm, the whole stirred over the fire until boiling. A half teaspoonful of salt and an eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper is the proper amount of seasoning.

White Sauce

If you wish to make a white sauce, use one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, one tablespoonful of flour and a half pint of milk. Called also milk or cream sauce.

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce will have the same proportions of b.u.t.ter and flour and a half pint of strained tomatoes.

Sauce Bechamel

For sauce Bechamel, fill the cup half full of stock, then the remaining half with milk, giving again the half pint of liquid and usual quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter and flour.

Sauce Supreme

This is one of the nicest of all sauces to use with warmed-over chicken, duck or turkey. Rub together a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and one of flour, then add gradually a half pint of chicken stock; stir constantly until boiling, take from the fire, add the yolks of two eggs, strain through a fine sieve, add the seasoning, and serve immediately.

Sauces containing the yolks of uncooked eggs cannot be reboiled after the eggs are added.

English Drawn b.u.t.ter

For English drawn b.u.t.ter, use a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, a tablespoonful of flour, and a half pint of water. We usually have the water boiling, and add it gradually to the b.u.t.ter and flour, stirring rapidly. As soon as it reaches boiling point, take from the fire and add carefully another tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter. This may be converted into a plain

Sauce Hollandaise

by adding with the last tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, the yolks of two eggs, the juice of half a lemon, a teaspoonful of onion juice and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley.

Brown Sauce

This is made by rubbing b.u.t.ter and flour together in the above proportions, then adding a half pint of stock; stir until boiling, add a teaspoonful of browning or kitchen bouquet and the usual seasoning of salt and pepper. To change the character of this sauce add garlic, onion, Worcestershire sauce, mushroom catsup, etc.

Brown Tomato Sauce

An exceedingly nice sauce for Hamburg steaks. After you have taken the steaks from the pan, add a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and one of flour; mix.

Fill your measuring cup half full of strained tomatoes, the remaining half with stock, making a half pint; add this to the b.u.t.ter and flour, stir until boiling, add a seasoning of salt and pepper and pour over the steaks.

Roasted Beef Gravy

Roasted beef gravy, which really should be a sauce, is improved by adding a little tomato to the stock before adding it to the fat and flour. In roasting meats, we do not use b.u.t.ter for the sauce; there is always sufficient fat in the bottom of the pan. Pour from the pan all but one or two tablespoonfuls of fat (the amount required) and add to that the flour.

A rounding tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter to which we refer weighs an ounce; of liquid fat, as in the pan, you must allow two even tablespoonfuls to the ounce; so, if you are going to make a half pint of sauce take out all but two tablespoonfuls of fat; add one tablespoonful of flour and then the half pint of water or stock.

Browning

Plain burned sugar (caramel) may be used to color soups and sauces, thus saving the trouble of browning the flour or b.u.t.ter. It is also used as a flavoring for sweets. Put one cup of sugar, dry, into an iron saucepan.

Stand it over a hot fire, and stir continually until it is reduced to a dark brown liquid. When it begins to burn and smoke, add hastily a cup of boiling water, stir and cook until a thin syrup-like mixture is formed.

It must not be too thick. Bottle, and it is ready for use, and will keep any length of time.

Kitchen Bouquet

Add one chopped onion and a teaspoonful of celery seed to one cup of dry sugar, and then proceed as for ordinary browning. Strain and bottle. A very good mixture under this name can be purchased at the grocers.