A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband With Bettina's Best Recipes (47 page)

"Bother!" said Bettina. "Why, Mildred, you've been a real help to me!"

"I hope so," laughed Polly, "but I'm not so sure. Children never worry me—it's fortunate, isn't it?—but I don't see how on earth anyone can cook with a child in the kitchen! I wanted Selma to teach Mildred, but I hadn't the heart to insist when she objected to the plan."

"H—m, Selma!" said Mildred with scorn. "Why, Mother, Selma doesn't even know enough to line her cake pans with waxed paper! She butters 'em! And I don't believe we have a spatula in the whole house!"

"A—what?" said Polly in a puzzled tone. "I don't believe I——"

"Don't you know what a spatula is, Mother?" asked Mildred didactically. "Why, it's one of those flattened out spoon-things to use in the kitchen. We ought to have one. And—Mother, you ought to see how much mayonnaise Aunt Bettina makes at a time! It'll keep, you know."

"Goodness!" said Polly tragically. "What a dreadful thing it will be to live with a child who knows more than I do!"

For dinner that night they had:

Veal Chops
Baked Potatoes Escalloped Onions
Bread Butter
Mocha Cake Mocha Icing
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Escalloped Onions
(Four portions)

1 Conions
1 qt. water
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
1 t-salt
¼ t-pepper
1 C-milk
¼ C-buttered crumbs

Wash and peel the onions. Cook in one quart of water. Allow to boil five minutes. Change the water and continue boiling ten minutes. Change the water again, and when thoroughly cooked (about fifteen minutes more), remove from the fire and drain.

Melt the butter, add the flour and salt and mix thoroughly. Add the milk and cook one minute. Add the onions, and pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish. Place the buttered crumbs on the top of the onions and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.

Mocha Cake
(Twelve portions)

¹
/
₃
C-butter
1 C-sugar
2 eggs
1 C-strong coffee
½ t-vanilla
2 C-flour
3 t-baking powder

Cream the butter, add the sugar and cream the mixture, add the egg-yolks, mix well and add the coffee, vanilla, flour and baking powder. Beat two minutes. Add the stiffly beaten egg-whites. Pour the mixture into two layer-cake pans prepared with waxed paper. Bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. When cool, spread with the mocha icing.

Mocha Icing
(Twelve portions)

4 T-strong boiling coffee
1 t-vanilla
1½ C-powdered sugar

Mix the vanilla with the coffee. Add the powdered sugar slowly until the proper consistency to spread. Spread over one layer and place the upper layer on the lower. Place the icing on the top layer and on the sides. More sugar may be needed.

"I
SUPPOSE that when we get home again, Mildred will be insisting that we reorganize our household along the lines of yours, Bettina," laughed Polly. "I can just hear Selma's outbursts at the idea of any changes in her department."

"But you can always smile Selma out of her 'spells,' Mother," coaxed Mildred. "And just think, Selma doesn't even know what a fireless cooker is! We'll have to explain it to her."

"What can you make in a fireless cooker, Mildred?" asked Polly of her little daughter, who was fairly bursting with her newly acquired information.

"Oh, Mother, this roast! Isn't it good? Aunt Betty kept it in the cooker almost four hours, and think how much gas that saved!"

"Well, I'll admit that such an item would appeal to your father, Mildred," Polly replied, "so I think I'll leave it to you to get around him and Selma. I'm sure," she continued, turning to Bob, "that such an undertaking can reasonably be expected to occupy Mildred for some time. But I do like the roast."

"The roast?" said Bob. "It is good, Polly, but you needn't think that this is a company meal, especially. Why, Bettina gives me company dinners every day!"

For dinner that night they had:

Pot Roast Gravy
Boiled Rice
Apple and Nut Salad
Chocolate Pie
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Pot Roast
(Four portions)

2½ lbs. of beef (a rump roast)
2 T-bacon drippings
3 T-flour
1 bay leaf
4 cloves
2 t-salt
½ t-pepper
¼ C-diced carrots
¼ C-diced turnips
2 T-chopped onions
¼ C-celery
3 C-boiling water

Place the bacon drippings in a frying-pan. Roll the beef in the flour, and when the fat is hot, add the beef and brown thoroughly on all sides. Place the meat in a kettle, and add the vegetables. Pour the water in the frying-pan to remove any fat. Pour all over the meat. Add the bay leaf, cloves and salt. Cover closely and allow to cook very slowly for three and a half hours. Turn the meat after the second hour. This is a good fireless cooker recipe.

Gravy

1 C-stock
1 T-flour
1 T-water

Remove the meat from the kettle. Strain the stock into a bowl. To the flour, add the water. Mix well, and gradually add the stock. Mix and cook one minute. Pour the gravy over the meat and reserve the remaining stock and vegetables for soup.

Soup

Strain the vegetables through the strainer, pressing thoroughly to remove all the pulp. Add the stock and one-half a cup of water. Reheat and serve for dinner with croutons or salted wafers.

Rice

½ C-rice
2 C-boiling water
1 t-salt
¹
/
₈
t-paprika
1 T-butter

When the water is boiling, add the salt. Add the rice and allow it to boil twenty minutes. More water may be needed. Stir occasionally with a fork. Pour into a strainer, and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Toss into a buttered vegetable dish. Sprinkle with paprika and dot with butter. Set in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes.

"N
OW that this delicious little luncheon is over, Bettina," said Alice, "I want to ask you something. How did you make the croquettes that cunning shape?"

"With a conical ice cream mould, Alice," Bettina answered. "It is very simple. And I'll tell you another thing. I made those croquettes yesterday, not today."

"You don't mean that you fried them yesterday?"

"Yes, I did, Alice. In deep fat."

"But they were warm, not cold."

"Yes, for I reheated them in the oven a few minutes before I served them. They really are as good as new when treated that way. I had always supposed that croquettes had to be served immediately after they were fried, and you know frying in deep fat is really a nuisance when it has to be done at the last minute. For instance, today I had the biscuits to make, and the soup and sweet potatoes to prepare. And I believe in being leisurely when giving a luncheon, so I certainly would not serve croquettes if they had to be made that day. I tried reheating them once when Bob and I were here alone and discovered that they were delicious. So I've always, ever since, fried my croquettes the day before."

"Hereafter I'll serve croquettes at luncheon myself," said Alice. "You have taught me something."

For luncheon that day Bettina served:

Cream of Pea Soup Toasted Sticks
Pork Croquettes Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Creamed Green Beans
Biscuit Cherry Butter
Head Lettuce French Dressing
Date Pudding Cream
Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Cream of Pea Soup
(Four portions)

1 C-peas
1 C-water
¼ t-sugar
2 T-flour
2 T-butter
2 C-milk
1 t-salt
¼ t-paprika

Cook the peas, water and sugar slowly for fifteen minutes. Strain, and rub all the pulp through the strainer. Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix thoroughly and gradually add the milk. Boil one minute and add the pulp and liquid from the peas. Cook one minute. Serve in hot soup plates or bouillon cups.

Toasted Sticks
(Four portions)

3 slices of bread
1 T-butter
½ t-salt

Cut the slices of bread one-half an inch thick. Butter, and sprinkle with salt. Cut into strips, the length of the slice and half an inch wide. Place on a tin pan, and cook directly under a fire or in an oven until a delicate brown. Serve warm.

Ground Pork Croquettes
(Four croquettes)

1 C-chopped, cooked pork
¹
/
₈
t-paprika
¼ t-celery salt
¹
/
₈
t-onion salt
¼ t-salt
1 T-pimento, cut fine
½ T-butter
1 T-flour
¹
/
₃
C-milk
¹
/
₃
C-crumbs
2 T-egg
1 T-water

Melt the butter, add the flour, paprika, celery salt, onion salt, salt and pimento. Gradually add the milk and cook thoroughly for one minute. Add the meat and allow the
mixture to cool. When cool, shape into the desired shape, preferably conical. Roll in the crumbs, dip in the egg and water mixed, then dip in the crumbs and allow to stand for fifteen minutes or more. Fry in deep fat.

Date Pudding
(Four portions)

2 egg-whites
½ C-sugar
4 T-flour
¹
/
₈
t-salt
1 t-baking powder
½ C-dates, cut fine
½ C-nut meats, cut fine
¼ t-vanilla

Beat the egg whites thoroughly, add the sugar, flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well, add the dates, nuts and vanilla. Pile lightly in a well-buttered baking-dish. Place the dish in a pan of hot water and bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Allow the pudding to remain in the oven a little while after the heat is turned off. If cooled slowly, it will not fall. The pudding may be baked in individual moulds if preferred, and may be served with whipped cream.

"A
PENNY for your thoughts!"

Bettina started in surprise. "Why, Ruth, I didn't see you coming up the walk!"

"I knew you didn't. But what on earth are you doing out here on your front steps? Enjoying the weather?"

"Indeed I am! Isn't it a wonderful spring day? But my thoughts weren't very poetic, I must admit. I was just wondering if it was too early to put away my furs for the summer. I'm always tempted to do that when the first signs of spring appear, and then I'm generally sorry a few days later."

"I'll have to put mine away soon, too. Do tell me, Bettina, just how you go about it."

"Well, I always hang mine in the sun for a while, then I beat them well, comb them out with a steel comb, and wrap them up."

"With moth-balls?"

"That is a good way, but not at all necessary. I always wrap mine in a newspaper—a good tight package. Moths don't like printer's ink, you know, and furs so wrapped are perfectly safe."

"Then, Bettina, you don't need to add that you label the package, for I know that you do, you thoroughly thorough housekeeper!"

Bettina laughed. "Well, Ruth, I do label it. Labelled packages are so much better to have, for very often you need to get something out in a hurry."

For dinner that night Bettina served:

Broiled Steak Lyonnaise Potatoes
Bean Salad
Bread Butter
Date Rocks Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Lyonnaise Potatoes
(Two portions)

2 T-onion
2 T-butter
¼ t-paprika
½ t-salt
1 C-cold boiled potatoes, cut in ½-inch cubes
1 t-chopped parsley

Place one tablespoon of butter in a frying-pan and when hot add the onion. Let the onion cook until it is brown. Add the salt and parsley, the rest of the butter, the potatoes and the paprika. Stir well. Cook until the potatoes are well browned.

Bean Salad
(Two portions)

1 C-kidney beans
½ C-celery, cut fine
2 T-nut meats
1 t-salt
3 T-chopped pickle
¹
/
₃
C-salad dressing
2 pieces of lettuce

Mix the beans, celery, nut meats, green pepper, pickles and salt. Add the salad dressing. Serve very cold on lettuce leaves.

Date Rocks

1 C-sugar
½ C-lard and butter mixed
1½ C-flour
½ t-baking powder
2 eggs
1 t-cinnamon
½ t-powdered cloves
½ t-vanilla
½ C-dates, cut fine
½ C-nut meats, cut fine
¹
/
₈
t-salt