Reform Cookery Book Part 6

Prepare a raised pie case [Footnote: See Pastry.], put in half the beans, a layer of sliced tomatoes, and a layer of hard-boiled eggs. Repeat. Put on lid, which should have hole in centre, and bake in a good, steady oven for an hour. Meanwhile, have some strips of vegetable gelatine soaking, pour off the water, and bring to boil in a cupful well-seasoned stock, "Extract,"

gravy, &c. Stir till gelatine is dissolved, and when the pie is removed from the oven, pour this in. When cold this should be a firm jelly, and the pie will cut in slices. If tomato or aspic jelly is prepared, some of that would save trouble. Melt and pour in.

There are many other toothsome ways of serving haricot and b.u.t.ter beans. In every case they should first be well washed, soaked, and three-parts cooked with stock or water, b.u.t.ter, onions, and seasoning.

Savoury Haricot Pie.

This is made without paste. Put a layer of beans in b.u.t.tered pie-dish, then pieces of carrot and turnip--previously par-boiled--to fill up the dish.

Pour in a little gravy. Cover with a good white sauce, well seasoned with made mustard, chopped parsley, &c., and coat thickly with bread crumbs. Dot over with bits of b.u.t.ter, and bake 30 or 40 minutes.

Many variations will suggest themselves--cauliflower, parsnips, vegetable marrow, sliced tomatoes, beetroot, &c., instead of the other vegetables. Or the same ingredients as in the first haricot pie might be used, with the crumbs instead of pastry.

Haricot Ragout.

Half pound soaked beans boiled till tender in one pint water, with b.u.t.ter and sliced onions. Drain, but keep the liquor. Slice some carrots and turnips thin, fry lightly, and then simmer in the liquor for half-an-hour.

Put a little b.u.t.ter in stewpan, slice and cook two onions in that, with the lid on, stir in a tablespoonful flour, and add the haricots, vegetables, and the liquor. Simmer gently till all are quite cooked, and serve. Some tomatoes or a little extract may be added, and it can be varied in many other ways.

Golden Marbles.

Take nearly a teacupful of haricots pulped through a sieve, and add to this 2 ozs. bread crumbs. Same of mashed potatoes; a shallot finely minced, or a spoonful of grated onion. Beat up an egg and add, reserving a little.

Mix thoroughly, and form into marbles. Coat with the egg, toss in fine crumbs, and fry in smoking-hot fat till golden brown in colour.

Haricot Kromeskies

can be made with the same mixture as for marbles. Some chopped tomatoes, beetroot, or mushrooms may be added. If the mixture is too moist add a few more crumbs; if too dry add a little ketchup, milk, tomato juice, &c. Form into sausage-shaped pieces or small flat cakes. Dip into frying batter, and drop into smoking-hot fat. When a golden brown lift out, and drain on absorbent paper. Serve them, as also the golden marbles, on sippets of toast or fried bread with tomato or parsley sauce.

Haricot Croquettes or Cutlets

are of course made with any of these mixtures. Shape into cutlets, egg, crumb, and fry in the usual way.

There are an immense number more dishes which can be made with pulse foods, for which I have not s.p.a.ce here. There are also a number of new varieties of pulses being put upon the market, which can be used with advantage to vary the bill of fare and enlarge its scope.

Giant Split Peas

are especially good, and might be used in any of the foregoing recipes in place of haricots. One advantage is that they do not require soaking. If scalded with boiling water, drained, and put to cook in fresh boiling water, they will be quite soft in little over an hour.

The best quality of b.u.t.ter beans also need no soaking. After scalding for a few minutes the skins come off quite easily. There is also a new variety called

b.u.t.ter Peas, or "Midget" b.u.t.ter Beans,

which I can heartily recommend. In appearance they resemble the small haricots, but are much finer and boil down very quickly. They make a very rich white soup, and may, of course, be used for any of the savouries for which recipes are given. Scald with boiling water (or they may merely be rubbed in a clean coa.r.s.e cloth), plunge into more boiling water--the quant.i.ty proportioned to the purpose for which intended, soups, stews, &c.--and simmer till just tender, but not broken down.

Though they can be made up in a host of ways they are perhaps nicest as a simple stew. When just cooked--and great care must be taken not to _over_cook, for much of the substance, as well as the delicacy of flavour, is lost if we do--have a saucepan with some shred onions, sweated till tender, but not in the least coloured, in a little b.u.t.ter. Stir in a spoonful of flour, and when smooth a gill of milk, or the stock from the b.u.t.ter peas. Stir till it thickens and add the peas themselves, and any extra seasoning required. See that all is quite hot, and serve garnished with sippets of toast.

Brown Lentils

also furnish us with unlimited possibilities for new dishes. They are as yet rather difficult to procure, but need only to be known to become very popular. They somewhat resemble German lentils, but are much browner and smaller. Being so small, extra trouble must be taken to see that they are clean and free from grit. They can be used in place of German lentils for any of the soups or savouries for which recipes are given. They cook very quickly, and care must be taken with them also not to waste any of their goodness up the chimney.

Toad-in-a-Hole.

Make the sausages the same as in previous recipe, only using brown lentils instead of German lentils. Put in a b.u.t.tered pie-dish and pour over the following

Batter.

Beat up one or two eggs. Add 3 tablespoonfuls flour, and by degrees two gills milk, also seasoning of grated onion, chopped parsley, white pepper, "Extract," &c. While

Fresh Green Peas or Beans

are to be had, one need not be confined to the dried pulses. Cook the peas, broad beans, or French beans, as directed in "Vegetables." Serve with poached or b.u.t.tered eggs, fried or baked tomatoes, &c.

One might go on _ad infinitum_ to suggest further combinations and variations of the different pulse foods, but these must be left to suggest themselves, for I must now pa.s.s on to another cla.s.s of foods.

NUT FOODS.

We are only beginning very slowly to recognise the valuable properties of nuts and their possibilities in the cuisine. Indeed, there is a rather deep-rooted prejudice against them as food, people having been so long accustomed to regard them as an unconsidered trifle to accompany the wine after a big dinner, and as in this connection they usually call up visions of dyspepsia, many people regard the idea of their bulking at all largely in a meal with undisguised horror. I remember a lady saying to me that she was quite sure a meal composed to any extent of nuts would _kill_ her, for if she took even one walnut after dinner it gave her such pain. That rather reminds one of the story of a half-witted fellow who used to go about the country doing odd jobs, and asking in return a meal and a shake-down of straw or hay.

He always expressed astonishment at folks being able to sleep on feather beds, his aversion being founded on the fact that he had one night lain down on the hard ground with a single feather under him. "An' if I had sic a sarkfu' o' sair banes wi _ae_ feather," he argued, "what like maun it be wi' a hale bed?"

Well, I can a.s.sure readers that whatever may be the troubles of a solitary nut in an oasis of good things, it is very different when nuts are taken alone or in a suitable and simple combination. Most of our digestive troubles are due to an excess of proteid matter, which clogs up the system, and either lodges in the body in the shape of some morbid secretion, or tries to force its way out in an abnormal way, as by the skin. Now, nuts are very rich in proteid, or flesh-forming matter, and it stands to reason, that if we superimpose them on an already full, or overfull, meal, the result is surfeit, and however wholesome or digestible this excess matter may be in itself, it may, and usually does, work harm in more or less obvious ways.

But curiously enough, this does not always work out with mathematical directness. Most things in the physical, as in the metaphysical, world work out as Ruskin says "not mathematically, but chemically." Though this may seem a far-fetched simile in connection with our dinner, it is a true one.

To get back to our nuts. If after a meal of several courses, rich in quality and variety, highly-spiced and flavoured, and perhaps interspersed with little piquant relishes, serving to whet the appet.i.te for the next course, one takes only a very few nuts, or an apple, or a banana, the probability is that "these last" will give the most direct trouble. The gastric juices may be already exhausted, and the nuts, therefore, lie a hard undigested ma.s.s on the stomach; or the apple digesting very quickly, and being ready to leave the stomach some hours before its other contents, but having to bide their time, ferments and gives off objectionable gases.

Thus, the innocent fruit gets the blame, and the fish, game, or meat go free. Another way in which fruits may prove indigestible, through no fault of their own, is because of the unsuitable combination in which they are eaten. Most nuts, with the exception of chestnuts, which are largely composed of starch, consist almost entirely of fat, which, unless it meets with an alkali to dissolve it, is digested with great difficulty. The uric acid in flesh tends to harden this fat, and so r.e.t.a.r.ds digestion.

The medical faculty now recognise the nutritive properties of nuts, as also their wholesomeness and freedom from all toxic elements, and at all sanatoria for the treatment of rheumatic and gouty affections a nut and fruit diet is the established regime. We need not, however, go to an expensive sanatorium to enjoy this food, but may cure, or better, prevent these diseases in our own homes.

They are, I believe, best in their natural state, along with fresh fruits, salads, and the like, but there are also many dainty dishes, in the composition of which they may be used with advantage.

Mock Chicken Cutlets

only require to be known to be appreciated. Grate 1/4 lb. sh.e.l.led walnuts--this is best and easiest done by running through a nut-mill, but these are not expensive, as they may be had from 1s. 6d.--or Brazil nuts, and add to them two teacupfuls bread crumbs, mix in 1/2 oz. b.u.t.ter, spoonful onion juice, and a little mace, white pepper, salt or celery salt.

Melt 1/2 oz. b.u.t.ter in saucepan. Mix in a teaspoonful flour, and add by degrees a gill of milk. When it thickens add the other ingredients. Mix well over the fire. Remove and stir in a beaten egg and teaspoonful lemon juice. Mix all thoroughly and turn out to cool. Form into cutlets, egg, crumb, and fry. Serve with bread sauce or tomato sauce.

Brazil Omelet.