Bertha M. Wood

“ When a family arrives in this country, it is confronted by many new and strange appliances, such as agate and tin cooking utensils instead of copper and iron, and "so many kinds to learn how to use"—double boilers, "funny egg beaters that you turn as you do a hand organ," bread pans, and egg poachers. ”

“ The Polish people introduce us to a northern climate in which the summers are not so long as the winters. Very few of the people from the cities of Poland come to America. Those we find here are the peasant class. They have lived on farms where they raised grain and vegetables that develop during a short season, such as beans, carrots, turnips, parsnips, cabbage, lettuce, and other summer vegetables. ”

“ Horse Radish Sauce
Cream together one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon flour; add two cups warm soup, mix until smooth, and boil a while; then add grated horse radish and a pinch of salt, and one of grated mace.
Pickled beets are often used as a relish with meat.
Both Croatians and Slovenians have spoken of their taste for this dish of boiled meat from the soup stock, served with a variety of such sauces and relishes, as one of the main features of their diet. They believe it to be much better than the fried meats so commonly substituted for it by their people in America. ”

“ Pork is perhaps the favorite kind, and they have many ways of making it into sausage and of smoking it. When smoked it is often covered with mace to add flavor. This is true not only among the Poles, but also among other Slavic people. ”

“ Eggs are beaten as for scrambled eggs, and dropped into the hot soup by small spoonfuls just before serving. They may also have chicken soup or krupnik palski, which is prepared with barley. ..Cereals are eaten not only for breakfast, cooked in milk, but often in soups or baked and served with meat. As vegetables are seldom cooked and served without meat, it is necessary not only to prescribe them, but also to show them how to make purees and to cook plain vegetables. ”

“ Coffee is very weak for children—a great deal of milk is added.
Dinners
Soup is almost invariably served at dinner. When a soup is made from meat stock, the only meat served is the soup meat. When there is roast for dinner, the soup is made from vegetables without meat stock. Stock for soup is made from beef with vegetables ”

“ The Polish children and those of the other Slavic peoples come from a sturdy race. Upon arrival in this country they have round, well-shaped heads, rosy cheeks, and strong bodies. With their kerchiefs over their heads, they make fascinating pictures of health. They have had an abundance of milk and fresh air in their own countries. ”

“ In some restaurants of the large cities of Poland and Russia there are tanks or aquariums filled with edible fish for the enjoyment of the guests, who desigtiate to the waiter the kind of fish they prefer. ”

“ To serve, put into plate a tablespoon of sour cream and add cold soup, stirring cream. Add chopped, hard-boiled egg. Favorite dish for summer.
Polish Cookies
One quart of flour, two whole eggs, four more whites, six ounces sugar, one-quarter pound butter, one wine glass cooking brandy (in U. S. A. fruit juice is used) . Beat the whites well; cream butter and sugar together and add whites. Knead well and roll thin. Cut in strips and then cut diagonally. Cook in boiling fat and sprinkle with sugar. ”

“ Mince half a pound of cooked calf's liver; take out all the veins, skin, etc., and then mix well with two tablespoons of beef marrow or butter; add a pinch of marjoram, grated lemon rind, a clove of garlic mixed to a paste with salt, a pinch of mace, and pepper; add enough bread crumbs to make the mixture neither stiff nor thin. Bread crumbs swell in boiling, and if too many are used the dumplings will be hard. Form in balls and cook in boiling soup ten minutes. ”