A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband With Bettina's Best Recipes (33 page)

Wipe the chops and place in a red-hot pan over the flame. When the under surface is seared, turn and sear the other side. Turn often for twelve minutes. When nearly cooked, sprinkle with salt and paprika.

Escalloped Potatoes
(Two portions)

1½ C-raw potatoes, sliced
½ t-salt
1 T-flour
½ C-milk
1 T-butter
¹
/
₈
t-paprika
1 T-chopped green pepper

Mix the potatoes, salt, flour, paprika and green pepper. Place in a buttered baking dish or casserole. Pour the milk over the mixture and dot with butter. Put a cover on the dish and allow to cook for half an hour. Remove the cover and allow to cook twenty minutes more. More milk may be added if the mixture is too dry.

Egg Plant
(Three portions)

1 egg plant
1 t-salt
1 T-egg-yolk
1 T-water
½ C-cracker crumbs
2 T-lard

Peel and slice the egg plant in slices one-half an inch thick. Sprinkle each slice with salt. Place the slices on top and allow to stand for two hours. This drains out the liquid. Wipe each piece with a cloth and dip in the beaten egg-yolk, to which the water has been added. Dip in the cracker crumbs. Place the lard in a frying-pan, and when very hot, add the slices of egg plant. Brown thoroughly on both sides, lower the fire and
cook five minutes. Serve on a hot platter with the slices overlapping each other.

Ginger Drop-Cakes
(Fifteen cakes)

1 C-molasses
½ C-boiling water
2¼ C-flour
1 t-soda
2 t-ginger
½ t-salt
½ C-chopped raisins
4 T-melted butter

Put the molasses in a bowl, add the boiling water and the dry ingredients, sifted. Then add the raisins and the melted butter. Beat well for two minutes. Pour into buttered muffin pans, filling the pans one-half full. Bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

"C
HRISTMAS is in the air today, I believe," said Charlotte as she took off her hat and warmed her cold hands at Bettina's open fire. "You ought to see the children around the toys downtown—swarming like flies at the molasses! Still, we ought to think about Thanksgiving before we begin our Christmas plans, I suppose."

"I try to get all my Christmas packages ready by Thanksgiving," said Bettina. "Of course, I don't always succeed, but it is a splendid aim to have! There is always so much to do at the last minute—baking and company and candy making! This year we plan to give very few gifts—but to send a card at least to each of our friends. We're racking our brains now to think of something that will be individual—really ours, you know. I think a tiny snapshot of yourself or your home, or your baby or your dog—or even a sprig of holly or a bit of evergreen on a card with a few written words of greeting means more to a friend than all the lovely engraved cards in the world! Of course, some people can draw or paint and make their own—Alice will, I'm sure. One girl I know makes wonderful fruit cake, and she always sends a piece of it, in a little box tied with holly ribbon, to each of her friends. Aren't the little gifts that aren't too hard on one's purse the best after all—especially when they really come straight from the giver, and not merely from the store?"

"Bettina, I'll be afraid to send you anything after such an eloquent sermon as this!"

"Oh, Charlotte, how you talk! I'm telling you my idea of
what a Christmas gift should be, but I'll probably fall far below it myself! Luncheon is ready, dear."

For luncheon Bettina and Mrs. Dixon had:

Mutton in Ramekins Rice
Peanut Bread Butter
Apple Sauce
Tokay Grapes Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Mutton in Ramekins
(Three portions)

1½ C-cold mutton
²
/
₃
C-brown gravy
½ t-salt
1 t-chopped mint
1 egg-yolk
1 egg-white, beaten stiff

Mix the mutton, gravy, salt, mint and egg-yolk thoroughly. Add the egg-white. Turn into well-buttered ramekins or china baking dishes. Bake in a moderate oven in a pan of hot water for twenty-five minutes. Serve in the ramekins.

Rice
(Three portions)

½ C-rice
2 qts. boiling water
1 t-salt
1 T-butter

Wash the rice, add slowly to the boiling salted water. Boil twenty minutes. Pour the rice in a strainer and rinse with cold water. Place in the oven for five minutes to dry. Serve warm, dotted with butter.

Peanut Bread
(Twelve slices)

2 C-flour
4 t-baking powder
½ t-salt
4 T-"C" sugar
1 egg
½ C-chopped peanuts
¾ C-milk

Mix thoroughly the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and peanuts. Add the egg and milk. Stir vigorously two minutes. Place in a well-buttered bread pan, and bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

"T
HERE are the men now," said Mrs. Dixon, rolling up the hose she had been darning. "Good!" said Bettina. "The dinner is just ready for them, and I'm glad they didn't keep us waiting."

"Hello! Hello!" shouted Frank and Bob, letting in a gust of cold air as they opened the door. "Whew! It's cold!"

"How was the game?"

"Fine! 39 to 0 in favor of Blake!"

"Not very exciting, I should think."

"Still, Frank here wanted to bet me that Blake would be badly beaten!"

"Frank!" said Charlotte in exasperation. "Is that the way you show your loyalty to your home college?"

"Shame on you, Frank!" grinned Bob. "Well, dinner ready? I'm about starving!"

"Bettina has a regular 'after-the-game' dinner tonight," said Charlotte. "Just the kind to make a man's heart rejoice!"

"Hurray!" said Bob, stirring up the grate fire. "And afterward we'll have our coffee in here, and toast marshmallows. Shall we?"

"Suits me!" said Frank. "Anything you suggest suits me, if it's something to eat."

"Dinner's ready," said Bettina. "Come into the dining-room, people, and tell us about the game. Charlotte and I have mended all your hose this afternoon, and we deserve a royal entertainment now."

"Bettina," said Frank, "do you expect us to talk when you set a dinner like this before us?"

The menu consisted of:

Flank Steak, Braized with Vegetables
Cabbage Salad
Bread Butter
Brown Betty with Hard Sauce
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Flank Steak Braized with Vegetables
(Four portions)

1½ lbs. flank steak, 1¼ inches thick
2 T-flour
2 t-salt
1 T-butter
1½ C-sliced, raw potatoes
½ C-thinly sliced onions
1 green pepper, sliced thin
1 C-tomato pulp

Cut with a knife across the grain of the flank steak, to prevent it from curling up. Sprinkle the flour and one teaspoonful of salt on both sides of the meat. Dot with butter, and place in an oblong baking pan. Over the meat place a thick layer of sliced raw potatoes. Add the green pepper, and season with one-half a teaspoonful of salt. Place the onions next and the rest of the salt. (One-half a teaspoonful.) Pour one cup of stewed or raw tomato pulp over all the mixture, and cover the baking pan tightly. Cook slowly in the oven for two hours. One-half hour before the meat is done, remove the cover to allow it to brown. Water may need to be added to prevent burning. In serving, very carefully transfer the steak to a hot platter, preserving the various layers of vegetables. To serve, slice down through the layers as through a loaf.

Cabbage Salad
(Four portions)

2 C-chopped cabbage
2 pieces of celery
½ t-salt
¼ t-paprika
½ C-salad dressing or enough to moisten

Chop the cabbage and the celery fine. Add salt, paprika and salad dressing. Serve cold.

Brown Betty
(Four portions)

2 C-bread crumbs
2 C-sliced apples, pared and cored
¼ C-sugar
1 t-cinnamon
½ C-water
1 T-lemon juice
1 T-butter
¹
/
₈
t-salt

Mix the crumbs, apples, sugar, salt and cinnamon well. Pour water and lemon juice over the mixture. Place in a buttered baking-dish. Place the butter over the top in small pieces. Cover the pan with a lid and bake in a moderate oven forty-five to sixty minutes. Remove the lid after the Brown Betty has been cooking twenty-five minutes. More water may be needed if the apples are not very juicy.

Hard Sauce
(Four portions)

3 T-butter
1 t-boiling water
¼ t-lemon extract
¼ t-vanilla extract
¾ C-powdered sugar

Cream the butter, add the water and slowly add the sugar. Continue mixing until very creamy. Add the lemon and vanilla extract. Form into a cube and place in the ice box. Allow to stand half an hour, then cut into slices and serve on top of the Brown Betty.

A
FTER all the excitement of Alice's wedding, Bettina was more than delighted when she and Bob were invited to a family dinner at Aunt Lucy's on Thanksgiving day. "It always seems to me the most comfortable and restful place in the world," said she to Bob. "And Aunt Lucy is such a wonderful cook, too! We're very lucky this year, I can tell you!"

"Who's to be there?"

"Father and mother—we are to drive out with them—and Aunt Lucy's sister and her big family. Thanksgiving seems more natural with children at the table, I think. And those are the liveliest, rosiest children!"

Bob had slept late that morning, and consequently had eaten no breakfast, but he did not regret his keen appetite when Uncle John was carving the great brown turkey.

"The children first, John," said kind Aunt Lucy. "The grown folks can wait."

Little Dick and Sarah had exclaimed with delight at the place cards of proud turkeys standing beside each plate. In the center of the table was a great wicker basket heaped with oranges, nuts and raisins.

"It doesn't seem natural without pumpkin pie," said Aunt Lucy, "but John was all for plum pudding instead."

"We can have pie any day," said Uncle John, "but this is a special occasion. What with Dick here—and Sarah—and Bettina—who's some cook herself, I can tell you!—I was determined that mother should show her skill! And she did; didn't she?"

The menu was as follows:

Turkey with Giblet Gravy Oyster Dressing
Mashed Potatoes Creamed Onions
Cranberry Frappé
Bread Celery Butter
Plum Pudding Hard Sauce
Nuts Raisins
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

THE THANKSGIVING DINNER RECIPES

Roast Turkey
(Fourteen portions)

1 12-lb. turkey

The turkey should be thoroughly cleaned and washed in a pan of water to which one teaspoon of soda has been added to each two quarts of water. Wash the inside with a cloth, rinsing thoroughly, allowing plenty of water to run through the turkey. Dry well and stuff. Season all over with salt, pepper and butter. When baking, lay the fowl first on one side, then on the other until one-half hour before taking from the oven. Then it should be turned on its back, allowing the breast to brown. A twelve pound turkey should be cooked three hours in a moderate oven, basting frequently.

Oyster Dressing
(Fourteen portions)

6 C-stale bread crumbs
½ C-melted butter
2 t-salt
½ t-pepper
1 pt. oysters

Mix the ingredients in the order given, adding the oysters cleaned and drained from the liquor. Fill the turkey and sew up with needle and thread.

Preparing the Giblets

Wash thoroughly the heart, liver and gizzard. Cut through the thick muscle of the gizzard and peel it slowly without breaking through the inside lining. Cut the heart open, and remove carefully the gall bladder from the liver. Wash carefully again, and soak ten minutes in salted water. Cook slowly
until tender, in one cup of water. More water may be needed. Cut fine, and add to the gravy. Save the stock.

The Gravy

1 C-stock
2 T-flour
1 T-cold water
¼ t-salt

For each cup of liquor, which is left in the roasting pan, add one tablespoon of flour. Mix the flour with two tablespoons of cold water, add the liquid slowly, and cook two minutes. Add one-fourth of a teaspoon of salt, and the giblets. Serve hot.

Creamed Onions
(Six portions)

2 C-cooked onions
1 C-white sauce

Cook the onions in one quart of water in an uncovered utensil until tender. (About fifteen minutes.) Drain and add one cup of white sauce. Serve hot.

Plum Pudding
(Six portions)

2 C-soft bread crumbs
¼ t-soda
¼ t-cloves
1 t-cinnamon
¼ t-salt
½ C-suet
½ C-molasses
4 T-"C" sugar
1 egg
¾ C-milk
½ C-currants
½ C-raisins
1 t-vanilla