“ After you lift out the meat, put in the flour, let it scorch a bit, then pour water and milk mixed into the hot grease and meat particles left in the skillet. Just how much, you will have to find out by experiment. Let it boil up and boil down, keep stirring, until you have gravy of the right consistency. Flavor according to taste, with salt and pepper, before cooking. If the result is not good it is because you have not followed directions.
Round steak not only is cheap, but it is all good meat, with the minimum of waste, and properly cooked it TASTES better than any part of the beef. ”

“ There is a dish—a gastronomical ecstasy—the faintest conception of which is magnificently beyond the pen. The fork is the one utensil that can convey to the uninitiated the unique, the utterly sublime flavor of Morels sauté. ”

“ But keep this in mind: the most careful broiling will not help if the beef is too fresh. Fresh beef simply will not do if you want the real thing. Buy the choicest cuts of sirloin or porterhouse from beef that has been hung at [190] least four weeks; broil in the way I have described and your dinner guests will register many polite hints for another invitation. I might add that if the beef is right you will not have to worry about a sauce. Butter, salt, and pepper will properly dress the finest steak in the world. ”

“ In a casserole put generous layer of sliced onion sauté, two sliced tomatoes sauté, two cups of mushrooms, two cups of potato balls, and a little fresh parsley also sauté. (All the vegetables should be fried in butter) . On top place, breast up, a squab or a one-pound chicken—one for each person. On each breast place a slice of crisp fried bacon. Over all pour some rich well-seasoned brown sauce, filling the casserole up with the chicken breasts—three-quarters full—preferably with a cup of sherry added last, if your cellar will still produce it! ”

“ Any sort of layer cake recipe will answer—and, according to the best cook I know, my grandmother—there are a hundred such recipes. It’s the filling that I find important. Here is the rule, and it sounds too simple to be true!
Take one beaten egg, one cup of sugar, the juice and grated rind of one lemon. Mix them all together, hit or miss, and place them in a double boiler over a hot fire. Cook until the mixture begins to get very thick, stirring constantly. Then take from the stove and beat until the whole assumes a creamy texture. ”

“ I am also particularly successful in making pies. On one occasion I made pies for one hundred and eighty-five officers on the troop-ship Leviathan. To make pies, one must have the best quality of butter and the best quality of flour. Use a pound of butter to every two pounds [144] of flour. The butter must be rather firm and must be mixed with the flour with your hands. Then when you have a sort of a mass of dough on the table, make a little hollow in the middle, pour in a little cold water, mix it to such a consistency that it can be made into a roll perhaps as thick as your wrist. ”

“ There is no dish I like better than a Corn Pudding made just like this:
2 cups of grated corn 1⁄2 cup of milk 1⁄2 cup of cream 1 tablespoonful of flour 1⁄2 tablespoonful of salt 1 teaspoonful of sugar 1 tablespoonful of butter A pinch of baking powder
Cook for a half hour and serve immediately. It is brown on the top, and in a deep dish it is the most succulent course a man could wish for. ”

“ Sprinkle salt and pepper on each layer according to taste. Repeat the layers from three to five times according to the size of your kettle. Fill the pot moderately full with water and put it on the fire to cook slowly. If the water gets low replenish it. You can tell when the dish is done by testing the potatoes or the fish with a fork. As a rule it should take about an hour to cook. Just before the end put in two or three cupfuls of milk. If your taste is slightly vitiated by contact with the world you may add a double spoonful of some spicy sauce. ”

“ Melt a good sized lump of the best butter—almost as big as an egg, is good sized. Add to this, first removing from the fire, about two tablespoonsful of flour. Stir the flour and butter together until the mixture is absolutely smooth, and then add cold milk—a trifle more than a half pint, a shade less than a pint. Put over a slow fire in a sauce pan or, for safety’s sake, a double-boiler. Cook slowly until the sauce is of the desired consistency, and then add your horseradish. If you like the sauce very hot add a lot of horseradish. ”

“ Have them heated so that the cheese will sizzle when it touches them. Have ready a sufficient number of pieces of toasted bread, the crust carefully cut off. When the cheese is sufficiently plastic, dip a round of toast into it, let it remain for a second, transfer it to the hot plate and at once ladle the mixture in the pan over the toast with neatness and dispatch and you will have an unprecedented success, if no conversation is permitted until the rabbit is eaten. The sound of a human voice lowers its temperature. Coffee or tea must never be partaken of until the morsels are disposed of. ”

“ Get a big iron kettle and put into it a lot of fine beef cut into small squares, some chopped bacon, dried mushrooms (the kind you get at any little Italian store) a can of tomatoes and some sliced onions. The dried mushrooms should be soaked for an hour or two before cooking.
Cover the materials with plenty of water and season with salt, brown sugar, and Mexican chili powder. Cook slowly all day—the longer the better, I find.
When you are simply famished and cannot wait any longer, ladle the sauce onto the steaming hot spaghetti and enjoy a real meal. ”

“ Cheese may be mashed into the onion before putting on the oil and vinegar and paprika and salt. If one wants to add tomatoes, wait until the last three jabs of the stirring fork into the lettuce, and then quarter the tomatoes and turn them in just before you turn the lettuce over the last two or three times. This is done so that the watery juice of the tomatoes won’t get smeared over the oil on the lettuce leaves. If you stir the tomatoes in early, you get a runny, watery, gooey mess. ”

“ Lamb curry should always be served with hot rice, taking on your fork equal portions of both, increasing the amount of rice in case you find the curry too hot. Never drink water with curry, as it intensifies the burning sensation. The amount of curry powder used in the above recipe can be increased or decreased according to the individual taste. Cold cooked shrimps, lobster, veal or chicken may be used in place of lamb; but never beef. Personally I find that lamb produces the finest curry dish. ”

“ A domestic duck ought to be served quite rare, and should be killed without bleeding. Dish it after untrussing and pour over it a little of its gravy.
Sauce Bigarade: Peel an orange without touching the white parts, cut the peel up into small, fine julienne. Plunge it into boiling water, and cook until it is tender. Drain and enclose it in a covered saucepan with four gills of espagnole or brown sauce. Just when ready to serve finish the sauce with a dash of cayenne pepper, meat glaze, the orange juice and the juice of a lemon, strain through a tamis, adding two ounces of fine butter. ”

“ Chili sauce or tomato catsup or chopped tomatoes may be added to taste.
Look at the beans occasionally and add water if they seem too dry or in danger of burning.
Another method which produces wonderful results is to omit the pork and tomato preparations and add generous lumps of butter and brown sugar—better still, add genuine sorghum molasses. When you do it this way [168] be extra careful to see that just enough water is added in small quantities to prevent burning.
Always remove from the oven while the beans are still whole. If baked too long they will break up. ”

“ Beat up an egg or two and beat in a bit of salt and pepper. Dip your strips of venison in the egg, then roll them in flour. Fry in butter and serve immediately.
Every hunter or guide who has tried this sticks to it. It’s the one way to cook venison.
GOOSE
There is only one way for a man, or any one else, to cook a goose. Listen: Never pick a goose! Just pull the skin right off—every inch of it. ”

“ Eat hot with soft dairy cheese and coffee.
The meat should be thoroughly boiled the day before the mince meat is made, and the cider should be boiled down at home—not bought—until it is the consistency of [111] molasses. Boil enough to last all winter and put in glass jars. Now, alas, that no liquors may be had, it is well to bottle fresh cider and put it away where it is cool, so that with luck it may still be fresh when in March you scrape the last jar for the last pie. Only use care when it is opened, or perchance it will be the ceiling rather than the pie which will be wet down. ”

“ ROAST BEEF
My favorite food is Roast Beef, rare, or a good American sirloin steak, which, I take it, are so simple to prepare that they need no recipe.
Suggestions:
1. Stand your roast on two or three thin slices of bacon—not too fat.
2. On the top of the roast lay three or four thin slices of lemon—particularly if you like the “outside cut.”
3. If your steak looks a bit fresh rub with lemon juice (both sides) and allow to stand several hours before broiling or frying. Don’t be frightened if it turns a bit black—be glad.
4. Pan may be rubbed with garlic. ”

“ The cook takes the beef or veal or whatever it is and throws it into the electric fan. The flying bits of meat are caught on ping pong rackets by experts and knocked back into a pot that contains a large quantity of mashed potatoes. Then the fire is lighted and the cook can go out to an afternoon movie.
The beauty of hash is that, no matter how it tastes, you think it is all right. There is no standard flavor for hash. Hash is fundamentally accidental, so it has no traditions to live up to. ”

“ It’s easy to fix, and it’s slightly out of the ordinary, and it’s possible to consume a lot of it without being looked down upon by those who are dining with you. Because everybody eats a lot of stuffed celery.
To a half pound of Roquefort cheese add a quarter of a pound of butter. Cream them together until they are as smooth as it is possible to make any mixture containing Roquefort cheese. Then add a dessertspoonful—or a tablespoonful, if you like—of Worcestershire sauce. A little salt, and some paprika, enough to slightly color the mixture. ”

“ The frying pan should be held at a slant, with the lower part immediately over a moderate heat, and continually the volume of eggs that becomes cooked should be scraped back and the liquid part allowed to flow over the pan thus emptied, and then when the omelette is, I should say, about two-thirds cooked, it should be removed from the fire and dished.
It is impossible to make an omelette of the utmost symmetry and firmness and have it good at the same time. If it is stiff enough to maintain a certain symmetry, then it is too stiff to be good. ”

“ Slice four small onions. Put one-sixth pound of butter into pan, add onions and let cook over fire until soft and a light brown in color. Add two teaspoonsful of paprika and put in the chicken piece by piece, fitting into kettle; add 11⁄4 tablespoonsful of salt, cover tightly and cook until soft (two hours or more) . Remove the chicken, and into the gravy add 11⁄4 tablespoonsful of canned tomatoes; shake in a tablespoonful of flour and stir well; add 3⁄4 pint of sour cream and stir well over the fire. Strain over the chicken; heat again and serve. ”

“ The chicken is cut up and boiled in the water until tender. Should be cooked in a good sized flat bottom kettle. When the chicken is tender there should be enough of the stock to come up well around it, but not to cover it. Then put in with the chicken about a scant pint of well washed rice. This should be stirred ONCE, Sam says, and allowed to steam slowly an hour. Use plenty of pepper to season and salt to taste. Each grain of rice should be fat and juicy. Successfully made it is delicious. ”

“ There is a lot of it around nowadays because, while it is easy to turn sweet cider into hard, it is a good deal easier to turn hard cider into vinegar. You add the vinegar to suit your taste—and this depends a good deal on the kind of salad you are going to have. For asparagus I like the dressing a little tart. For lettuce, not so tart. But this is a matter you can easily adjust to your own satisfaction. ”

“ Take the breast of a four-pound roasting chicken (stuff very lightly with a filling made of chicken, cream and fresh mushrooms mixed with white of egg) and have it poached in butter and chicken broth. After being done remove the suprême and have the sauce reduced to one-quarter of its volume, then incorporate first one tablespoonful of sweet butter and add six finely chopped French shallots, one-half glass of white wine, two spoonsful of brown sauce (demi-glacé) , season well with pepper and salt, let it cook for about three minutes, and strain through fine sieve. ”

“ Affix the grinder firmly to the edge of the table. What the palette is to the artist so is the grinder to the creator of mince meat. Then pass the following ingredients through the grinder, and from thence into a large kettle and let the latter and its glorious contents simmer on the stove for the best part of a morning, stirring them frequently so that no portion shall be neglected and fail to come into close union with the soothing heat that mellows all into one fragrant whole. Take from the stove and store in stone crocks or glass jars in the dark, and keep tightly covered. ”

“ Everybody from this on who is not occupied in mincing the green pepper in a chopping bowl is busy cutting the American cheese into cubes about an inch square. Everybody else beats two fresh eggs—whites and yolks together.
Drop a lump of butter into a saucepan to prevent “sticking.” Begin to melt the pound and one half of diced cheese in the saucepan, stirring the lumps to prevent burning. When the cheese is fairly well melted, pour into it the can of tomato soup and the two beaten eggs. Stir into the mixture about one-third of a bottle of beer. ”