CHAPTER V.
CEREALS, NOODLES AND DUMPLINGS.

BUCKWHEAT GROATS.

Wash one cup of buckwheat groats several times with cold water, add about six cups of boiling water and two teaspoonsful of salt. Boil rapidly for 20 minutes or until it thickens, then allow it to cook 50 or 60 minutes longer on the stove or in the oven. Serve with hot cream. Cooked or stewed dried prunes may be eaten with it, or added to the mush just before serving. Buckwheat is a winter food. People who suffer from eruptions on the skin after eating buckwheat should let it alone.

STEEL CUT OATS.

Prepare the same as buckwheat groats. Rolled oats may be used instead.

ROLLED OATS WITH CRANBERRY SAUCE.

Boil two cups of rolled oats with a quart of water and a teaspoon of salt for 20 minutes. Cover and set in the oven, or cook on the stove for about 40 minutes. Remove from the fire, add a piece of butter and a few drops of lemon juice. Serve on soup plates, pour over it cranberry sauce, prune or apricot jam. Eat cold boiled bacon with it, or raw celery or nuts at the end of the meal. It is good for dinner or breakfast.

RYLAX WITH PRUNE JAM.

Prepare like the foregoing. Omit the lemon. Serve with prune jam and fat meat, or with celery or nuts, or with hot cream.

ROLLED WHEAT.

Prepare and serve like rolled oats. Cranberries, prunes, apricots, or apple sauce, are all good additions. The yolk of an egg may be added to the wheat when mixing it with butter.

BRAN MUSH.

Bring one and one-half to two cups of water to a boil, add one-half teaspoon salt. Drop in one shredded wheat biscuit and one-half cup of bran. Mix all well and boil one minute. Serve with hot cream.

BRAN AND RYE MUSH.

Put one-half cup of rylax into boiling, salt water, and cook 20 minutes. When done, moisten one-half cup of bran with a little hot water, and mix with the rye mush. Serve with hot cream.

RAW WHOLE WHEAT.

Soak one-half cup of whole wheat in three-quarters or one cup of warm water over night. Keep the water warm, if possible. A small amount of salt may be added. Serve with cream and dates, or with bananas, carrots, or nuts.

BOILED WHOLE WHEAT.

Soak some whole wheat over night. Boil for several hours with sufficient water and salt. Serve like the foregoing.

POLENTA (ITALIAN DISH).

Stir some yellow corn meal into boiling, salted water in an iron pot. Boil for about 40 minutes and stir well to prevent burning. Eat with a fork, and serve with cheese for breakfast or dinner.

RICE FLOUR. No. 1.

Mix a cup of rice flour with cold water, then add three or four cups of boiling water while stirring. Boil 15 to 20 minutes. Before removing from the fire, add some dried currants, which have been soaked for a while. Put on a soup plate, and pour over it some hot cream.

RICE FLOUR. No. 2.

Use pure rice flour, or one-half cornstarch and one-half rice flour. Prepare as number one. Before serving, mix with a piece of butter and the yolk of one or several eggs, and flavor with vanilla, lemon or bitter almonds. Put on a soup plate, and pour over it hot cream.

CORN MEAL MUSH.

Stir one and one-half cups of corn meal into four cups of boiling salted water; cook 30 minutes; finish like foregoing. Use lemon for flavoring.

BARLEY.

Soak a cup of pearl barley over night in soft water, and the next day boil it in five or six cups of water for two hours or longer. Flavor with onion, if desired, and if it does not become thick enough, dissolve a little rice flour with cold water, and add it to the barley ten minutes before removing from the fire. Serve with cream or with fresh beef, or salted meat and lettuce for breakfast or dinner.

BREAD AND MILK.

Bring some fresh, whole or skimmed milk to a boil, pour on dried black bread or crusts, and add a little salt. Let it stand for 10 minutes and serve on soup plates.

CRACKER AND MILK.

Prepare like the foregoing, or pour one cupful of boiling salted water over one large unleavened cracker, let stand 5 minutes. Then add one cupful of hot milk and serve.

DIRECTIONS FOR BOILING RICE.

Wash one cup of rice, and pour into seven or eight cups of boiling, salted water. Boil rapidly until the grains burst; then cover and put into a hot oven or on a platter, and cook for 20 or 30 minutes. Remove from the fire and add a piece of butter and the yolk of an egg, or serve the rice with hot cream. Dried currants, raisins, apricots or prunes may be mixed with the rice. If eaten in place of mush, pour the rice on soup plates, and add hot cream.

MILK RICE.

Allow a pint of water and a pint of fresh milk to come to a boil with vanilla or cinnamon, and put into it three or four tablespoonsful of Japan or Carolina rice, which has been soaked for several hours. Boil rapidly until the starch granules burst, then boil slowly for forty minutes longer. If it is not thick enough, mix a little cornstarch in cold water, and add to the rice when nearly done. The yolk of one or more eggs may be added before serving, if desired. It may be eaten plain in the form of a thick gruel or with a fruit sauce. It will serve as a whole meal for children, morning, noon, or evening. A few nuts, or some celery, may be eaten at the end of the meal.

RICE CREAM.

Cook one cup of rice like plain, water rice with a stick of cinnamon or vanilla. When done, add the yolks of several eggs and a piece of butter, or some hot cream and two tablespoonsful of sugar, or one-half cup of soaked currants or raisins. Stir over the fire until it boils again. Serve hot or cold with fruit sauce.

ALMOND RICE.

Cook rice with water as directed for boiling rice. When done, remove from the fire, and mix with it some almond butter stirred smooth with a little water. Some dried currants or apricots previously soaked may be mixed with the rice. In combination with a dish of lettuce it will serve as a whole meal. A few whole almonds may be eaten at the end of this meal.

APPLE RICE.

Boil rapidly for 30 minutes one-half cupful of rice with three cupsful of water and a little salt. Peel three medium sized apples, cut them into small pieces after removing the cores, and add to the rice with one tablespoonful of sugar. Cook on the stove or in the oven until the apples are tender. Remove from the fire, add a piece of butter, and serve with preserved or fresh meat, eggs, fish or cheese. A stick of cinnamon may be boiled with the rice for flavoring.

APRICOT RICE.

Prepare as apple rice, and let the rice boil until tender. Then drain a few preserved or canned apricots and add them to the rice, also a piece of butter or one-half cup of hot cream. Mix well. Serve with lean meat, eggs, or cheese.

CHERRY RICE.

Prepare like apple rice, and use ripe black cherries, or canned cherries. Omit the juice. A tablespoonful of sugar may be added to the fruit while boiling. It is necessary to have the rice boiled in sufficient water, and long enough to allow each grain to burst before the fruit is added, or the acid of the fruit will prevent the rice from softening. Butter alone, or butter and the yolk of an egg, should be added when acid or sub-acid fruits are mixed with cereals. Serve with sterilized cream or with eggs, or eat nuts at the end of the meal.

CURRANT RICE.

Prepare like cherry rice. Add fresh ripe or dried currants in place of cherries. Serve with sterilized cream or with fried or boiled eggs, or with bacon.

RHUBARB RICE.

Prepare like the foregoing. Use sterilized rhubarb which has been cooled. Serve with sterilized cream.

TOMATO RICE.

Prepare like apple rice. Use one-half to one cupful of strained, canned tomato juice. Omit sugar. An onion may be boiled with the rice, if desired. Serve with fried eggs or fish, and greens.

BROWN RICE.

Brown the rice in butter to a light yellow color. Add sufficient boiling water and salt, and boil one-half hour or longer. Dried mushrooms may be added, if desired. Serve with meat, fish, or eggs.

CARROT RICE.

Put some rice to boil in water with salt. Cut young French carrots into small pieces and add; both will be done about the same time. Add finely chopped parsley and a piece of butter. Serve with peas puree and fat meat, or with fish.

MACARONI WITH CREAM.

Break up some macaroni and put in a saucepan, adding boiling water and a little salt. Boil for 30 minutes, and add more water if necessary. Dissolve some rice flour in a little cold water and thicken the macaroni, then cover and bake in an oven for 30 minutes or longer. Heat some rich cream in another saucepan and mix with the macaroni, and serve. Flavor with a little pepper, or finely chopped, salted, lean meat or parsley.

MACARONI WITH STOCK.

Prepare as the foregoing, boil 30 minutes, then add some stock and a little strained tomato juice. Cover and put in the oven again for 30 minutes. Serve with grated cold cheese.

NOODLES.

Beat two eggs with two large tablespoonsful of water and a little salt. Mix with sufficient white flour to make a stiff paste. Put some flour on a wooden board, knead the dough and add more flour until hard and dry; then roll out as thin as possible, dry in the sun or on a table, and cut into fine strips. Boil in salted water for half an hour. Serve with boiled beef or preserved salt meat, or with grated Swiss cheese and lettuce.

DUMPLINGS.

LIGHT FLOUR DUMPLINGS.

Cream a tablespoonful of butter, and add to it a whole egg and the yolk of one egg, some salt, nutmeg, chopped parsley, and two tablespoonsful of flour. Stir well for several minutes. Form small dumplings with a spoon, put into hot soup and boil eight minutes.

POTATO DUMPLINGS. No. 1.

Cream a tablespoonful of butter, add to it three yolks of eggs, a cup of cold grated potato, and one cup of dry bread crumbs. Flavor with lemon, rind, salt and nutmeg, and mix the beaten whites of two eggs with it. Roll out into small dumplings, and boil eight minutes in soup or water.

POTATO DUMPLINGS. No. 2.

Mix two cups of cold grated potato with two-thirds of a cup of flour and one-half cup of creamed butter, adding the yolks of four eggs, the whites of two eggs, and salt and flavoring. Mix well and form dumplings. Boil in hot water for about 15 minutes. Serve with roasts.

BREAD DUMPLINGS. No. 1.

Put some stale white bread or rolls to soak in cold water and press out as dry as possible. Add a tablespoonful of creamed butter, the yolks of two or three eggs, salt and nutmeg. Add the beaten whites of two eggs. Form dumplings with a spoon and boil in water, soup or fruit juice until they swim on top. Serve with stewed prunes or apricots.

BREAD DUMPLINGS. No. 2.

Remove the crust from one-third of a loaf of milk bread and soak the soft part in cold water for 5 minutes. Put it into a clean cloth and force out the water. Cream three tablespoonsful of butter, or melt some soup fat, mix with the bread and stir it very smooth. Let it cool, and add the yolks of four eggs, salt, a little mace, some finely chopped parsley, and onion, if desired. Then beat the whites of two eggs, mix with the mass and form dumplings with a dessert spoon. Put them into the boiling soup and cook for about 5 minutes or until they swim on top.

BAKED CORN MEAL DUMPLINGS.

Boil in two cups of milk or water two cups of white corn meal with a tablespoonful of butter, stirring all the time, until the mass is very thick. Let cool. Flavor with lemon rind and nutmeg, and mix with three or four well beaten eggs. Shape into dumplings with a spoon, turn in rye nuts or bread crumbs, and bake in butter. Serve with sugar and cinnamon, or with apricot, apple or wine sauce.

MIXED DUMPLINGS.

Mix over the fire one and one-half cupsful of flour with two cupsful of milk and a large tablespoonful of butter, until it does not stick to the saucepan. Let it cool, add the yolks of four eggs, salt, cinnamon, a tablespoonful of sugar, one-half cupful of finely cut fried bread crust and bacon, then the beaten whites of eggs. Form medium sized dumplings with a tablespoon, and boil in salted water for 5 or 6 minutes. Serve with stewed pears, cranberries or prunes. They are also good with sauerkraut.

FLOUR DUMPLINGS. No. 1.

Mix one cupful of flour with one-half cupful of melted butter, one cupful of hot water, and some salt. Stir well on a hot stove until no more lumps appear. Cool a little, then mix with several yolks of eggs, and flavor with mace, chopped parsley or other spices. Dip a spoon in hot water and form dumplings of the desired size. Put into boiling salt water or on top of stewed fruit, and boil 6 or 10 minutes, or until they rise. The spoon must be dipped into hot water each time before forming a dumpling. Serve with peas or stewed fruit.

FLOUR DUMPLINGS. No. 2.

Mix one cup of white corn meal and one cup of flour with a little cold water, and stir it into boiling milk. Let it soak for 5 minutes or until it is thick. Then add a piece of butter, salt, and flavoring; let cool, mix with several yolks of eggs, and shape dumplings with a spoon, and put into boiling soup or blackberry juice. Boil about 10 minutes, or until they swim on top.

FLOUR DUMPLINGS. No. 3.

Mix some white flour, or three-fourths white and one-fourth rice flour, with baking powder and salt. Shorten with butter and fat like dough for pie. Roll out, enclose some apples and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or longer.

FLOUR DUMPLINGS. No. 4.

Mix some flour with baking powder and salt. Stir to a light paste with cold water, adding several eggs or yolks of eggs. Boil with meat stew or in water.