REMARKS ON SALADS. Of the many varieties of food daily consumed, none are more important than a salad, rightly compounded. And there is nothing more exasperating than an inferior one. The salad is the Prince of the Menu, and although a dinner be perfect in every other detail except the salad, the affair will be voted a failure if that be poor. It is therefore necessary for those contemplating dinner-giving, to personally overlook the preparation... more...

REMARKS ON SOUPS. Soups, like salads, present an excellent opportunity for the cook to display good taste and judgment. The great difficulty lies in selecting the most appropriate soup for each particular occasion; it would be well to first select your bill of fare, after which decide upon the soup. The season, and force of circumstances, may compel you to decide upon a heavy fish, such as salmon, trout, or other oleaginous fishes, and heavy... more...

SAVE WHEAT Reasons Why Our Government Asks Us to Save Wheat, with Practical Recipes for the Use of Other Grains A slice of bread seems an unimportant thing. Yet one good-sized slice of bread weighs an ounce. It contains almost three-fourths of an ounce of flour. If every one of the country's 20,000,000 homes wastes on the average only one such slice of bread a day, the country is throwing away daily over 14,000,000 ounces of flour—over... more...

INTRODUCTION Meals of many courses are neither practical nor popular with the modern hostess. For a company luncheon or supper it is not necessary to serve more than a hot dish, a salad, a biscuit or sandwich, a dessert and a beverage. A first course and a relish may be provided if desired. SUNDAY NIGHT SUPPERS The following menus were arranged especially as Sunday night suppers, but they are equally suitable for midday luncheons or high teas.... more...

Luncheon Giving To give a luncheon is to indulge one's self in the most charming and satisfying form of entertaining. All the dignity of the stately dinner-party is lacking, it is true, but all the delight of informality is present; one has opportunity and leisure to chat, to laugh, and to discuss the dainty and unsubstantial dishes beloved of women. That hostess is to be congratulated who can and does give her friends luncheons all the year... more...

SKETCH OF MY LIFE I was born in Murray County, Tennessee, in 1857, a slave. I was given the name of my master, D. J. Estes, who owned my mother's family, consisting of seven boys and two girls, I being the youngest of the family. After the war broke out all the male slaves in the neighborhood for miles around ran off and joined the "Yankees." This left us little folks to bear the burdens. At the age of five I had to carry water from the spring... more...

THE CATCHING OF UNSHELLED FISH "First catch your hare," the old cookery books used to say, and hence it is proper, in a treatise devoted entirely to the cooking of Unshelled Fish, to pay passing attention to the Catching, or what the Head of the House terms the Masculine Division of the Subject. As it is evident that the catching must, in every case precede the cooking—but not too far—the preface is the place to begin. Shell-fish... more...

CHAPTER I GENERAL COMPOSITION OF FOODS 1. Water.—All foods contain water. Vegetables in their natural condition contain large amounts, often 95 per cent, while in meats there is from 40 to 60 per cent or more. Prepared cereal products, as flour, corn meal, and oatmeal, which are apparently dry, have from 7 to 14 per cent. In general the amount of water in a food varies with the mechanical structure and the conditions under which it has... more...

PHILADELPHIA ICE CREAMS BURNT ALMOND ICE CREAM      1 quart of cream   1/2 pound of sugar     4 ounces of sweet almonds     1 tablespoonful of caramel     1 teaspoonful of vanilla extract     4 tablespoonfuls of sherry Shell, blanch and roast the almonds until they are a golden brown, then grate them. Put... more...

COOKED FISH Canapés Cold boiled fish makes excellent canapés. To each half pint of fish allow six squares of toasted bread. If you have any cold boiled potatoes left over, add milk to them, make them hot and put them into a pastry bag. Decorate the edge of the toast with these mashed potatoes, using a small star tube; put them back in the oven until light brown. Make the fish into a creamed fish. Rub the butter and flour together,... more...