Baking dish

“ In fact, any recipe for which a large baking dish would ordinarily be used may be baked in the small dishes used for a single serving, and eggs prepared in this way are especially attractive. Such dishes are also used for the baking of custards or the molding of jelly and blanc mange. Since they prove very useful and find so much favor, it is advisable for every housewife to add a few of them to her supply of utensils and to become familiar with the varieties that can be secured and the proper way to use them. ”

“ A porcelain-lined baking dish, or a gratin pan, is the best dish for cooking the black-caps in, because either can be set upon a clean plate and sent to the table; if the apples have to be removed from the dish in which they were baked they may be broken, and then the appearance of the dish will be spoiled.
The flavor of the dish may be changed by varying the spice, and by occasionally using a little wine or brandy with the sugar. The cost of a dish large enough for half a dozen persons will be covered by ten cents, unless it is made when apples are scarce and dear. ”

“ COTTAGE PIE Peel a good-sized onion, stick into it half a dozen whole cloves, and place it in the center of an earthenware baking-dish, or a granite-ware basin, or, best of all, the baking-pan of a double pudding-dish. Cut any cold meat into small and rather thin slices. Roll each piece in flour mixed with pepper and salt. Arrange the pieces of meat around the onion, filling the dish three quarters full. ”

“ One-half teaspoon of paprika,
One egg.
Mix, form into flat cakes, brush with salad oil; place on baking dish. Broil in gas broiler for eight minutes, then place in hot oven for seven minutes longer. Spread with desired butter and send to the table in a baking dish. This will give a delicious flavored meat in place of the usual dry, tasteless cake that is frequently served.
SALADS
Salads are a popular summer dish. They should be made from fresh vegetables which contain the health-giving elements that are so vitally essential for our physical well-being. ”

“ Soak the crumbs in the boiling milk, stir in the batter, and beat very light. Let the mixture cool, while you mince the meat and whip the eggs. Stir in the meat first when the bread is nearly cold, season, and lastly put in the beaten eggs. Beat all up well and pour into a well-greased baking-dish. Set in a brisk [136] oven. When the fondu is a light, delicately-browned puff, send at once to table in the dish in which it was baked. ”

“ Beat two eggs, without separating, until light, add four tablespoonfuls of sugar and a pint of milk, mix and add a grating of nutmeg; turn into an ordinary baking dish, cover the top with buttered bread, butter side up; bake in a moderate oven just as you would a cup custard, until you can put a spoon handle down in the center of the custard and it will come out free from milk. ”

“ As cooked fruits are such nourishing food, let the child prepare some kind while the biscuits are [5] baking—apples, for instance. The oven being hot, it is best to bake them, so show her how to wash, core and then fill each opening with sugar, cinnamon and a little butter. It will take only a few moments to prepare them, and while the baking is in progress the dishes that have been used should be washed and set in the closet, the materials left be put away. All must be in order before the lesson is pronounced over and the dish-pan wiped and put up. ”

“ We do not much approve of baking butcher’s-meat, as a substitute for roasting it, though it cannot be denied that some articles may be baked to answer nearly as well as if roasted; and when a great dinner is to be prepared it may be convenient to send a dish or two to the oven, but over these the cook can have no controul, and must, therefore, depend entirely on the baker. ”

“ Fine bread-crumbs are better than flour for thickening. For macaroni, make in the dish alternate layers with that and grated cheese, and then pour on this sauce before baking, and it is very fine. Some omit the cheese.
Drawn Butter.—Take six table-spoonfuls of butter, half a tea-spoonful of salt, two tea-spoonfuls of flour or of fine bread-crumbs worked into the butter, and one tea-cup of hot water. Heat very hot, but do not let it boil. Two hard-boiled and chopped eggs improve it much. For fish, add a table-spoonful of vinegar and chopped capers or green nasturtion seeds. ”

“ Cut eggs into slices; cover bottom of greased baking dish with one-third of bread crumbs; then add in layers eggs, ham, cream sauce, crumbs, being sure to save bread crumbs to cover top. Add milk and bake in moderate oven 20 minutes.
Plain Omelet
Beat 3 eggs with 3 tablespoons milk; add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and mix. Melt 1 teaspoon fat in hot frying pan; pour in eggs; lift edges of omelet, allowing thin portions to run underneath, shaking pan until egg is set; when brown underneath, fold over and serve on hot platter. ”

“ Mix ingredients. Have very cold and whip to stiff froth. Line dish with sponge cake or lady fingers; fill with whipped cream and serve cold.
BOSTON CREAM PIE 2 eggs 1 cup flour 11⁄2 teaspoons Dr. Price's Baking Powder 3⁄4 cup sugar 1⁄8 teaspoon salt 1⁄2 cup boiling milk 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Add beaten egg yolks to stiffly beaten whites and gradually add flour, baking powder, sugar and salt which have been sifted together four times; add hot milk very slowly; add vanilla. Bake in deep layer cake tin in moderate oven about 35 minutes. ”

“ Cream the sugar and shortening, as for cake, then add eggs well beaten, molasses and water, spices and soda, then flour, and lastly fruit. When the batter will take up no more flour, lift it up by teaspoonfuls, pat it flat and in shape in the baking pan, which must be well-buttered, put in bag, and bake in fairly hot oven, being careful not to scorch. ”

“ Before putting a cake in the oven, particularly if it be a fruit cake, it will be found advisable to set on the bottom of the oven, a shallow pan with a little water in it. Put in the bag, close the oven door and leave ten minutes with the gas on, then reduce the heat at least one-half. Bag cooking prevents cake crusting over and thereby permits it to rise to its full height. It also saves from burning. Midway in the baking the position of cakes can be changed, those on the grid itself set low on the broiler and vice versa so all will cook evenly. ”

“ There is nothing in any department of cooking that gives more satisfaction to a young housekeeper than to have accomplished what is called a good baking.
Graham Bread.
Take six quarts of unbolted flour, one tea-cup of good yeast, and six spoonsful of molasses; mix them with a pint of milk, warm water, and a tea-spoonful of salaeratus; make a hole in the flour and stir this mixture in it, till it is like batter; then proceed as with fine flour. Mould it, when light, into four loaves Have your oven hotter than for other bread, and bake it fully one hour and a half. ”

“ A lady should attend to this herself, until she perfectly understands what is necessary, and can give minute directions to those she employs. It is easy to find out how many sticks of a given size are necessary for baking articles that require a strong heat; and so for those [Pg 22] which are baked with less. To bake brown bread, beans, apples, and other things, all at one time, the oven should be heated with hard wood, and if rather large, so as to be two hours in burning out, it is better. To bake thin cake, and some kinds of puddings, pine wood, split small, answers very well. ”

“ For baking bread and pastry it is unrivalled. Many persons are unable to eat bread and pastry baked in coal and other imperfectly ventilated ovens because it is indigestible. The bread baked in this [1005] kitchener is equal to the best Parisian bread, light and easily digestible, and can be eaten on the same day as baked without danger of indigestion. Pastry, when properly made, and baked in this kitchener, is wholesome and very digestible. (7) The hot plate is fitted with three burners—one of which is both a grilling and boiling burner. ”

“ Much however depends on the care and ability of the baker: in the country especially, where the baking of dinners is not always considered as a regular article of business, it is rather a hazardous experiment to send a valuable joint to the oven; and more is often wasted and spoiled by the heedless conduct of the parish cook, than would have paid for the boiling or roasting at home. But supposing the oven to be managed with care and judgment, there are many joints which may be baked to great advantage, and will be found but little inferior to roasting. ”

“ Do not be discouraged if you do not succeed at first.
Concerning the utensils for baking, see Chapter II. The cups or pans are prepared by warming and greasing. Use a bit of soft paper or a brush for greasing the pan and ordinarily an inexpensive fat, reserving butter for delicate cake. Flour sprinkled on a pan is sufficient for biscuit and cookies. Line a pan for loaf cake with white paper, and grease the paper.
See that the oven is ready before the mixing begins. We shall not be able to bake accurately until our ovens are equipped with thermometers. ”

“ It is a good plan to keep a supply of panure or dried bread-crumbs always ready. Cut any slices of baker's bread, dry them in a cool oven so that they remain quite colorless, or they will not do for the purpose. When as dry as crackers, crush under a rolling-pin, and sift; keep in a jar for use.
In no branch of cooking is excellence more appreciated than in that of frying. A dish of filets de sole or cutlets, crisp and golden brown, is an ornament to any table, and is seldom disdained by any one. ”

“ In baking, leave in the oven until the pudding is firm, which will show when a silver knife stuck in the middle comes out clean. A custard is never baked enough that sticks to the knife and leaves it milky. ”

“ Bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes.
An easy way of baking for the inexpert cook who may find it difficult to avoid breaking the sheets, is to well grease a shallow jam-sandwich tin, sprinkle it well with castor sugar, as for sponge cakes, and press the short cake into it, well smoothing the top with a knife, and, lastly, pricking it. ”

“ Put the rolls in a buttered pan; cover them up with a cloth and let them rise double their original size, where you can bear your hand. Then bake them. Let the dough always rise until it is twice its size before baking. I think I have already explained to you that if you want the bread or roll glossy you can brush it with sugar and water, or melted butter. These rolls will be set on the top of the stove to rise, just like bread. As soon as they are twice their size they go into the oven to bake. ”

“ Place closely in buttered pan brushing with butter between biscuits, cover, let rise, and bake twelve to fifteen minutes in hot oven. From this same mixture crescents, braids, twists, bow-knots, clover leaves, and other fancy shapes may be made.
Sticks Add butter, sugar, and salt to milk; when lukewarm, add dissolved yeast cake, white of egg well beaten, and flour. Knead, let rise, shape, let rise again, and start baking in a hot oven, reducing heat, that sticks may be crisp and dry. ”

“ Pie-crust perfection depends on several things—good flour, good fat, good handling, most especially good baking. A hot oven, quick but not scorching, expands the air betwixt layers of paste, and pops open the flour-grains, making them absorb the fat as it melts, thereby growing crisp and relishful instead of hard and tough. The lighter and drier the flour the better—in very damp weather it is best oven-dried, then cooled before mixing. Shortening, whether lard, butter, or clarified drippings, should be very cold—unless your recipe demands that it be softened or melted. ”

“ When you have kneaded the dough until it leaves the bowl all round, set it in a warm place to rise. When it is well risen, feels very soft and warm to the touch, and is twice its bulk, knead it once more thoroughly, then put it in tins either floured, and the flour not adhering shaken out, or buttered, putting in each a piece of dough half the size you intend your loaf to be. Now everything depends on your oven. Many people bake their bread slowly, leaving it in the oven a long time, and this causes a thick, hard crust. When baked in the modern iron oven, quick baking is necessary. ”

“ In filling the cake pan put the mixture well into the corners and leave a slight depression in the centre. This will leave the cake perfectly smooth on top. Now, if the oven is too cool when the cakes go into it the cake will rise over the top of the pans and become coarse-grained. While, on the other hand, if it is too hot it will brown quickly on the top before the cake has had a chance to rise; then when the dough does attempt to rise it will break through and crack the crust. Too much flour will also cause this. Now to break the old hoodoos about cake-baking! ”

“ Bread rolls are very easily made. If you succeed tolerably, it will encourage you to try again. When you make cakes, begin with the simple kinds; plain jumbles or cakes that you can roll out, or crisp ginger-bread. Sponge cake is easier than those that have butter in them; I have known young persons succeed very well with it. Bread rusk is also easily made, or a few plain pies. Do not trust the baking to an ignorant person, but superintend it yourself. Sometimes baking in a stove, is protracted by the dampness of the wood. Before you bake, have dry wood prepared. ”

“ You can fry bread on the top of stone: when one side is baked stand the pan on edge by the side of the stone and allow baking to proceed in that way.
Remember that small cakes and biscuits must be baked quickly before a hot fire whereas large loaves, such as johnny cake, must have a slow even heat so as to get done through. The secret of the camp oven is the envelope of hot air which must not be too hot and must be kept even. Below are given the recipes which are most successfully used with the frying pan baker. Whole wheat flour makes easier than white and has more taste. ”