Pick over the beans carefully, wash and soak them in soft water as directed in chapter on legumes. If the beans are to be cooked with fat, scald or parboil the meat first, add it to the beans after they have cooked for about an hour. If the beans require long cooking, take the meat out when it is tender. When the beans are tender, pour them into a bean-pot or round pan, cover the top with part of the fat meat cut into slices, or pour some cooking oil over the beans, and add a few whole onions. Bake for about an hour. Onions and fat meat eaten at the same meal are liable to disagree, therefore serve the onions at another time, or use them only for flavoring purposes.
Prepare in the same manner as baked beans. They require less fat for cooking, and are more palatable if served without meat than are beans. Onions are rich in oil, therefore if plenty of onions are used, the meat is not missed so much. In cooking legumes, it is best not to add the salt until they are nearly done, because the salt hardens the water. If legumes are preferred cooked instead of baked, it is better to add a thickening of flour and butter before serving, otherwise they may produce flatulent dyspepsia.
Legumes lose their natural flavor and stimulus in the drying and soaking process, therefore they are not palatable or easy to digest without some form of fat and appetizing raw salad, which supplies the needed stimulant. Many people add sweets to legumes or make them more indigestible by adding ground nuts and other rich foods to them, as in many vegetarian dishes. Such foods are a dangerous burden to a weak stomach and liver. Heavy protein foods require an acid medium for proper digestion and utilization. If legumes are used in the form of soups and purees, nothing should be added but a little flour, dry toast, fats, or raw vegetables. If we wish to be strict vegetarians we must live upon raw foods. If we wish to live on cooked foods, a moderate amount of meat is necessary for most people.
Soak some lima beans in soft water. Cook in a small amount of water with a little salt. When tender, dissolve some cornstarch with cold water and add to the beans; boil for 10 minutes, then add a few tablespoonsful of hot cream and remove from the fire. Flavor with chopped parsley, if desired. Serve with frankfurter or other lean, smoked meats. Mashed or raw carrots are also a good addition.
Prepare like the foregoing. Drain off the water and add a piece of butter, the yolk of an egg, a little lemon juice and parsley, if desired.
Prepare like the foregoing. Drain off the water and prepare a butter-sauce, mix with beans and serve plain, or add the yolk of an egg, a little lemon, and parsley.
Soak ³⁄₄ cup of dried green peas in soft water. Boil with I quart of water and 1 onion for about an hour. Bake in a bean-pot for 1¹⁄₂ hours or longer; add more water if necessary. Keep the peas covered. When done run through a colander and add 1 teaspoonful of butter. This makes about ³⁄₄ of a cup of puree. One-third of this portion is sufficient for a sick person or a young child. Serve on toast, or with raw carrots, or cold fat meat.
Prepare and serve like the foregoing. A small veal or mutton bone may be boiled with it. The puree must not be greasy.
Let a quart or less of vinegar come to a boil, dilute it with one-half the amount of boiling water, add some bay leaves, cloves, whole pepper, onions, or any other flavoring, and pour over a piece of beef (rump piece) which has been slightly rubbed with salt. Let it stand for several days. Then take it out of the liquid, cover with bacon or suet, and put into hot fat. After it has roasted for a while, stir a large tablespoonful of flour into the fat, add some water, and the spiced herbs. Cover well, and let it roast two or three hours. Add water or buttermilk to the gravy, if desired. Serve with potato dumplings, lettuce and stewed prunes.
Sprinkle some lemon juice over the chops, then beat up several yolks of eggs, turn the chops in them, dip in rye nuts and fry in hot fat for ten minutes. Serve with lettuce and tomatoes, or with boiled potatoes, lettuce, stewed prunes or apple sauce.
Put a small veal bone to boil with the chicken. When tender, take a part of the broth, add some vinegar to it, boil for ten minutes with onions and spiced herbs. Cut the chicken into pieces, place in a deep bowl, and pour the hot broth and vinegar over it. Cool and serve the next day. Use about ¹⁄₂ cup of vinegar to 1 quart of broth.
Another way is to pour pure, hot vinegar over the meat in the bowl, let it stand an hour or longer, then pour off the vinegar, and pour enough broth on the meat to cover it. Meat preserved in this way will keep on ice or in a cool place for a week. The meat and gelatine may be brought to a boil again at the end of the week. This will preserve it for a longer time. Goose may be prepared in the same manner.
The loin is the best part for this purpose. Prepare with veal bone like chicken.
Prepare the same as veal cutlets. Fry with plenty of onions.
Put the kidney into cold water for an hour, then scald with boiling water and boil in the soup together with a soup bone. When done, mince fine and prepare with a brown flour gravy. Serve on toast.
Cut into small pieces and boil with a very little water, and a pinch of salt. When done, add some sweet whey or tomato juice. Heat some butter or oil, thicken with flour and add the liquid gradually, as for butter sauce. Season with chopped parsley.
Grind some round steak in a meat grinder. Shape into flat cakes and fry in hot fat with plenty of onions. Turn from side to side while frying.
Liver must be fresh in order to be wholesome. During hot weather it may become dangerous as a food after it is one day old. Remove the toxic blood by placing the liver in water or sour milk for one hour. Change the water several times. Then remove the skin and tie some bacon or suet over it. Roll in flour and steam in fat for 20 minutes. Then add sufficient boiling water to half cover the meat. Flavor with bay leaves, salt, pepper and plenty of onions, also add a little vinegar and sugar, and steam for about an hour. Keep the saucepan well covered. Serve with potatoes or with apple and lettuce salad. The gravy can be strained and used the next day for breakfast or supper. See recipe for flavoring of sauces.
Chop fine any kind of left-over, cold meat. Mix with one-third portion of grated or mashed potatoes, and add plenty of finely chopped onion and parsley. Brown some flour and butter, add a little soup stock and mix with the meat. Cook and serve on toast or with salad of greens.
Slice the liver and put in cold water or sour milk for at least an hour. Change the water several times, then dry the liver and fry on a hot, oiled skillet, with onions. Serve with a salad of apples and lettuce, with French or mayonnaise dressing.
Soak the tongue over night in cold water. Boil from three to four hours and serve with dried mushrooms and brown flour gravy.
Chop fine some left-over meat, mix with one-half or one-third dried bread-crumbs, a little salt, pepper and mace. Then add several beaten eggs, mix well, form into balls, roll in egg and cracker-crumbs, and fry in hot fat. Drain on paper or in a wire sieve.
Fresh left-over tongue may be kept for a while by preserving it in gelatine with veal bone.
Brains are very nutritious, but they are not a wholesome food for people with chronic indigestion. They should be served on dry toast and eaten with sour salads of fruits and greens.
Secure some fresh, thick, sliced, round steak. Scrape, or grind in a meat-cutting machine, and mould into flat, round cakes. Have an iron spider very hot and oiled to prevent sticking. Lay the meat cake in, and turn from side to side till cooked sufficiently.
Bring to a boil some soup stock from veal or mutton bone, thicken with cornstarch or white flour, boil 10 minutes, and add one-quarter or one-third part of hot cream. Cut or chop the dried beef fine, pour over it some boiling water, let stand a minute, then drain, and mix the beef with the cream gravy. Add a pinch of pepper, if desired. In place of cream, milk and butter may be substituted and prepared like butter sauce.
Use goose which has been cooked in sour gelatine. Take the pieces out of the bowl and warm in order to remove the gelatine. Then beat up several yolks of eggs, turn the meat in it, then roll in flour or rye nuts, and fry in hot fat. Serve with apple sauce or tomato puree.
Take equal parts of mashed potatoes and finely chopped boiled ham. Mix with several well beaten eggs and fry in the form of a large flat cake. Serve with macaroni.
Soak some stale bread in cold water. Press out very dry and mix fine. Add some finely chopped onions, parsley, and a little pepper, and mix with one-third or one-half of finely chopped left-over or fresh meat. Mix all well and shape into a loaf. Bake in an oven with moderate heat. Add boiling water and fat. Baste occasionally, and bake one hour. When done, thicken the gravy with a little flour. Serve for dinner with salad of greens.
Prepare the same as the foregoing. Shape into small balls and fry in hot fat.
Wash and clean the turkey, stuff it with tart apples, cut into quarters, to which a half cup of dried currants and half cup of bread-crumbs or rye nuts have been added. Sew it up, flavor and cover with sliced salt-pork or bacon. Fill the pan one-third full of boiling water, add onions, cover and roast from two to three hours. Add more water, if necessary. Serve with cranberry sauce. Use the gravy left in the pan the next day, with steamed potatoes or rice, for breakfast or dinner.
Cut off the wings, neck, and legs, before roasting the turkey. Put to boil with a small veal bone, add the giblets and stew until tender. Prepare a butter sauce from the broth. Flavor with onion and parsley.
Prepare like turkey stew, and finish like chicken in gelatine.
Prepare the same as turkey, sew the ribs together and roast two to three hours.
Cut off the neck from a large turkey. Stuff it with a bread dressing to which the giblets, fat and liver of the turkey have been added. Roast it in the same pan with the turkey or prepare it for another meal.
Remove the crust from a small loaf of graham bread. Crumble up the soft part and mix with chopped parsley, onion, garlic, thyme, marjoram, sage, salt, one well beaten egg and one-half cup of finely chopped fat of the bird, or suet. This is sufficient for an 8-pound turkey. This dressing is especially good for people with delicate stomachs.
Select firm, eastern bacon. Wash thoroughly with cold and warm water. Let it come to a boil, throw away the water and pour on some fresh water. Boil about an hour. Let it cool on a platter and use the next day. Warm, fat meat is not wholesome for a delicate stomach.
Parboil the bacon for one-half hour. Follow directions for boiled bacon. Let it cool and slice for frying. If the bacon is preferred raw, pour some boiling water over sliced bacon, let stand 5 minutes, pour off the water and fry or broil in the oven.
Chop some leaf lard very fine and let it stand in cold water for several hours, or over night. Fry in an iron skillet, with apples and onions, until crisp and brown. Strain the lard into a bowl and serve the residue warm with stale black bread. Spread the lard on black bread.
Remove the fat from boiled or fried bacon and spread on stale black bread. Combine with raw apples. This is good for breakfast.