Cracker

“ In the case of articles very soft, like croquettes, it will be more convenient for one person to shape and roll them in the eggs, and another, with dry hands, to roll them in the bread-crumbs.
Pounded and sifted cracker-crumbs can be purchased by the pound, at bakeries and large groceries, for the same price as whole crackers. However, it will never be necessary to purchase cracker-crumbs, if all scraps of bread are saved and dried. It is deplorable for a cook to throw them away. ”

“ The crackers are the old-time store cracker—every Vermonter used to buy a big barrel once a year to set in the buttery and eat. A classic dish is crackers, broken up in a bowl of cold milk, with a hunk of Vermont cheese like this on the side. ”

“ It was while cracking these nuts with a hammer that the thought came to me: Why should there not be a faster and better way to crack nuts? Later I happened to see a walnut cracker made by a blacksmith which did a very good job of cracking, but was entirely too slow for me.
Being mechanically inclined, I have always entertained a desire to invent something worth while. I set out to perfect a cracker that would be fool-proof, easy to work, fast, simple, and strong enough to last a lifetime. ”

“ Together with the Vermont Good Old-fashioned Natural Cheese and the Sage came a handy handmade Cracker Basket, all wicker, ten crackers long and just one double cracker wide. A snug little casket for those puffy, old-time, two-in-one soda biscuits that have no salt to spoil the taste of the accompanying cheese. Each does double duty because it's made to split in the middle, so you can try one kind of cheese on one half and another on t'other, or sandwich them between. ”

“ The oyster cracker, and the soda cracker in general, is an American specialty which Europeans will doubtless adopt some day as tasty, nutritious and easily digested additions to the dietary. As sold now, in dust and moisture-proof packages, they will easily find their way to foreign stomachs. ”

“ Where cracker stuffing is used, allowance must be made for the swelling of crackers, otherwise skin may burst during cooking. Put remaining stuffing in body; if the body is full, sew skin; if not full, bring skin together with a skewer. ”

“ Take ten or twelve Boston crackers, split them open and soak over night in milk. Use a large pudding dish that will hold three or four quarts. Put in a layer of crackers, a handful of raisins, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and a little butter on the crackers; repeat this three times. Have a layer of crackers on the top. Make a custard of three or four eggs, five is better, one cupful of sugar, a little salt, and milk enough to fill the dish within two inches of the top. Bake in a slow oven four or five hours. Let stand until cold, and it will slip out whole. ”

“ In filling crackers, two hundred to three hundred are tightly tied together in a bunch; red clay is spread over the end of the bunch, and forced into the end of each cracker with a punch. While the clay is being treated a little water is sprayed on it, which makes it pack closer. The powder is poured in at the other end of the cracker. With the aid of an awl the edge of the paper is turned in at the upper end of the cracker, and the fuse is inserted through this. ”

“ The variety of biscuits and crackers in market is utterly bewildering. These are among the standards: Boston, SODA, BUTTER, OYSTER, SUGAR, FRUIT, MILK, ENGLISH ALBERT, WATER, CREAM, GINGER, LEMON, OATMEAL, CARAWAY, VANILLA, and dozens more kinds of biscuits, crackers and wafers at various prices; besides GINGER and LEMON SNAPS and JUMBLES, and even DOG BISCUIT. There is also CRACKER DUST, for frying oysters, fish, etc. Some of the above come in handsome tin packages. ”

“ Knead thoroughly (dough may be put through food cutter 5 or 6 times) ; when light, fold down and turn over and when risen again, roll thin, prick all over quickly with fork or docker, cut into any size or shape desired and bake at once before the crackers have time to rise and acquire a bread like taste. Bake in a moderate oven until well dried all through, but not too brown. When properly baked these crackers are more suitable for soups than unleavened crackers, as they are more porous and tender. Tiny ones cut with a plain round pastry tube are attractive for special occasions. ”

“ It is better, however, to use a fowl which has been cooked on purpose, as the broth from such a one is of finer flavor. Soak the cracker-crumbs in a little of the cream. Break three eggs, separate the whites from the yolks, and carefully drop the yolks into hot water; boil them until they are hard. Chop the chicken in a chopping-tray until it is as fine as meal, previously having removed everything except the clear meat; mix the soaked cracker with it; press the hard egg-yolks through a coarse wire strainer and put them in, and also the salt, pepper, and broth. ”

“ Spread thinly sliced brown bread with butter first, then with raisins, seeded and chopped.
CRACKER SANDWICHES
Butter graham crackers, and spread with chopped and mixed nuts and raisins. Or, take square soda crackers, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, [141] and toast a light brown. The latter, served hot, are also very nice for afternoon tea.
Though children should not be allowed to drink tea and coffee, (and young people are better off without them,) every little maid should be taught how to prepare these drinks for the grown-ups, most of whom are apt to be critical. ”

“ No one but a soldier would have undertaken to cook with such a fire, as frequently it was no bigger than a quart cup.
Crackers, or "hard tack" as they were called, are notoriously poor eating, but in the hands of the Confederate soldier were made to do good duty. When on the march and pressed for time, a piece of solid fat pork and a dry cracker was passable or luscious, as the time was long or short since the last meal. When there was leisure to do it, hardtack was soaked well and then fried in bacon grease. ”

“ They ran and brought in the plates. Upon each one was placed with dainty care one soda cracker, one withered ginger-snap and one puffy cracknel. The guests took the "refreshments" in dismal silence and began to gnaw. ”

“ It is finer than the finest tortilla of the Mexican, or oatcake of the Scotch. No biscuit maker in America or England can make a cracker one-half so thin. The thinnest cracker is thick compared with piki, and yet the Hopi make it with marvelous dexterity. Cornmeal batter in a crude earthenware bowl, is the material; a smooth, flat stone, under which a brisk fire is kept burning, is the instrument ”

“ They make a very complete, perhaps the most complete food, containing nutrient elements in about the proper proportions. Effort has been made to make a bean cracker for the sustenance of soldiers on a march, thus giving them a complete food in condensed form. ”

“ Always sift the bread or cracker crumbs. Whenever there are spare pieces or trimmings of bread or broken crackers, dry them at once in the oven, and after pounding and sifting, put them away in a tin can, for future use. In preparing for use, beat the eggs a little. If they are to be used for sweet dishes, such as rice croquettes, sweeten them slightly. If they are to be used for meats, sweet-breads, oysters, etc., always salt and pepper them, and for a change, finely chopped parsley may be added. ”

“ Sometimes, in place of salt, a powdering of cheese is grated over the hot cracker, and for a relish at five o’clock nothing could be preferable to this light, warm repast. Men, it is well to remark, heartily advocate the change from insipid tea to the invigorating hot bouillon. ”

“ The two boys wandered around to the front of the saloon. Then a bright idea came to Little Bit:
“Marse Org, less git a match an’ burn de cracker offen dis ole whup.”
“Where’s the match?”
Little Bit led him into the saloon and conducted him to the little room in the rear. There, upon a table, they found a box of matches, and Org struck one and applied it to the cracker, while Little Bit held the whip.
The cracker easily caught fire and burned freely. When it was near to the rawhide end of the lash Little Bit gave the whip a quick jerk and the flaming cracker flew off the end. ”

“ Our stores consisted of crackers, coffee, dried-apples, essence of beef, and salt pork in abundance, a little loaf bread, and about half a pound of citric acid. Of these only the crackers and bread could be eaten without being cooked. There were four hundred and fifty wounded men—all bad cases, all exhausted from privation. How many of them would live to reach Washington on a diet of crackers and water? I went to the cook, a large, sensible colored woman, and stated the case as well as I could. ”

“ Dry all bits of crust or bread in the oven, browning them nicely. To a pint of these, allow one quart of milk, half a cup of butter, and a teaspoonful of salt. Boil the milk; add the butter and salt, and then the browned bread, and simmer slowly for fifteen minutes, or until perfectly soft. It is very nice. Bits of white bread or sea biscuit can be used in the same way.
CRISPED CRACKERS.
Split large soft crackers, what is called the "Boston cracker" being best; butter them well as for eating; lay the buttered halves in baking-pans, and brown in a quick oven. Good at any meal. ”

“ If stuffing is made of pounded crackers, the seasoning is the same, but crackers swell so much that two gills will be plenty for a turkey. Milk will be necessary to mix it, and also a beaten egg to make it cohere. Some people prefer dressing made of crackers, but it is hard and not as healthy as that which is made of good bread, without an egg. ”

“ A pail of fresh water and a paper sack filled with soda crackers is always provided for their enjoyment at this time. A smile of pleasure and delight is sure to light up the countenance of every boy, when, taking his turn, he thrusts his hand into the paper sack and draws therefrom his appointed number of crackers.
At these periods of rest and lunch all usually seem as happy as if they were enjoying a regular social picnic dinner. ”

“ Ve heard a queer kind of sound, like a man trying to play the jewsharp vith his boots; and, sir, ve detected the cracker-fiend a climbin' over the partitions into the neighborin' boxes, and a collarin' all the crackers he could come acrost.
Perhaps you think I vent into him like a knife into a Prince's Bay. But I didn't do no such think. I treated him werry perlite, and gin him two dollars, a keg of crackers, and a jar of pickled oysters, on condition he'd go and patronize some other establishment. Keep an eye open for him, Samivel. ”

“ He starts in talking about the price of green-groceries, drifts along for five or ten minutes, and keeps squinting over the cracker boxes. To stave off suspicion he buys an apple, peels it carefully and eats it slowly, while he incidentally craves a cracker and proceeds to pump the innocent grocer on his cracker business. He writes out his notes in full after [Pg 65] ward and that grocer is then described on a card index at the main office as handling such and such goods. I ought to know what rubber-necks are, having been around groceries enough. ”

“ After the horses have been driven up and down the street, and with the other stock disposed of, it is time for lunch. Following the crowd into the kitchen, you see two barrels of crackers open, a mammoth cheese of the skim-milk species with a big knife by it, and on the stove a giant kettle in which cotton bags full of coffee are being distilled in boiling water. You are expected to dip a heavy white mug into the kettle for your share of the fragrant reviving beverage, cut off a hunk of cheese, and eat as many crackers as you can. ”

“ Add egg, flour, onion and seasoning; beat well. Add just enough milk to blend, but do not allow too much moisture as mixture must be rolled in palm of hands to make 18 tiny balls. When balls are formed, roll in TOWN HOUSE CRACKER crumbs, being sure they are well covered. Fry in deep fat until golden brown. Serve immediately, as they are not at their best unless hot. ”

“ A variety of cracker which is very popular in China is the "twice-sounding" cracker; it has two chambers, separated by a plug of clay, through which runs a connecting fuse. There is also a fuse extending from the powder in the lower chamber through the side of the cracker. When the cracker is to be fired, it is set on end and fire applied to the fuse. The powder exploding in the chamber throws the cracker high in the air, where the second charge is exploded by fire from the fuse extending through the plug between the two chambers. ”

“ Roll cracker fine, chop raisins and mix all together. Roll the crust thin, cut into rounds. Put a spoonful of filling between two rounds and pinch the edges together. Prick top crust with fork. Bake in iron pan for twenty minutes. ”

“ But roll these in a well-beaten egg, then in fine cracker-crumbs instead of flour, and fry, a few at a time, in a mixture half-butter, half-lard enough to cover them well. Drain off every drop of fat from each croquette as you take it up, and keep hot until all are done. ”

“ But Molly had eaten excellent ones in which ground rice, boiled to thick mush, was the foundation; others in which bread crumbs were substituted, the object being to get a body of some plain material other than flour, with which the rich ones could be incorporated; but her own favorite way was to use rolled cracker. She put two heaped table-spoonfuls in a bowl, and three table-spoonfuls of sugar. She beat two table-spoonfuls of butter, from which the salt had been washed, till it creamed, added the yolks of two eggs, and the juice of half a lemon, and the peel of one, grated. ”