The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1885-11-27
Hints for Holiday Cooking.

good things for holiday fare, with cS-
pecial reference to Thanksgiving din
ners. Where all the ingredients may
not be at hand, the good housekeeper
will not be puzzled to find appropriate
substitutes:
Turkey and pumpkin pie have from
time-honored custom become an in
~dispensable part of the bill OF fare for
Thanksgiving dinner. They are, how
| ever, ably sustained by O. variety Of
other dishes, to all OF which the vel
come guest is expectedto do justice to
an extent which is not demanded OF him
at any other time.
Any kind OF soup can be served for
a first course, Ifoyster soup is chosen
it can be made after this recipe, and a
most excellent result be secured:
Cut two medium-sized punches OF
celery into small pieces, add one quart
of water, and stew briskly for fifteen
minutes. Strain the juice from two
quarts Of oysters; remove all bits OF
shell frOmthe oysters; add one pint of
water to the oyster juice; place it over
the fire, and add also one level tea
spoonful Of salt, half that quantity Of
pepper, one-half pound of butter, and
four tablespoonful ofmilk into which
one tablespoonful of flour has been
mixed smooth. As soon as it bOils,
drop in the oysters and add the water
from the celery, straining it off care
fully so that no bits OF celery drop in.
Serve as soon as it bOils up.
Roasting is the general way OF serv-
ing the Thanksgiving bird, and variety
is chiefly made by using different
favorings for filling and gravy.
A medium-sized turkey will require
two and a half or three hours roast
ing; a large one will need to be cooked
an hour longer. When placed in the
oven the pan should be covered over
the bottom to the depth OF an inch
with water, and more added from
time to time as it cooks away. The
turkey must be bastedfrequently with
the gravy in the dripping-pan, and at
least once with cold butter.
A good plain stutting is made by
cutting a loaf Of stale breadinto small
pieces, adding enough salt and pepper
to season it high, and water sufficient
to moisten thoroughly, but not to
make it so wet that it will not mould
up into a firm ball. STUFF the turkey
with this, filling the body and the
opening for the craw.
The above forms the basis o~fseveral
kinds of filling, which are v~ariously
favored with sage, sweet-marjoram,
or thyme. 1t is we'll to omit all such
herbs unless it is known that thew will
suit the taste of all the company, for
it is better to have only a plain stuff
ing than to make it unpalatable to
even one or two.
A nice stuffing is made by moisten-
ing two cupfuls OF bread-crumbs and
the same quantity of crackers, rolled,
with boiling milk, adding salt, pepper,
and two hard-boiled eggs chopped fine,
and mixing lightly but thoroughly.
Whole oysters mixed with bread
crumbs make amost excellent stuffing,
which is liked by almost every one.
Select small oysters, free them from
all bits of shell, and drain them dry;
add one-thlrd as much bread-crumbs,
moistened, as oysters; a liberal sup
ply OF melted butter, salt, and pep
per.
a very good addition to the above
is a cupful OF very finely chopped eel
cry.
1t must be borne in mind, however,
that variety is always more accepta-
BILE than sameness, and if celery is
used in oyster soup, it should not also
appear in the stufing, nor flavor the
chopped cabbage.
White or brown gravy may be made,
but the latter is to be preferred. For
white gravy pour off into a pan a
cupful of the clear gravy; add onecup-
full of milk, and one cupful of boiling
water, two t~easpoonfuls of flour mix
ed smooth in one cupful Of milk, and
the juice OF one large lemon. Stir all
together until it has boiled for five
minutes. To make browngravy pour
off all the contents of the dripping-pan
excepting about two cupfuls of the
brown gravy at the bottom; to this
add one cupful of boiling water, and
two teaspoonfuls of -four stirred
smooth in half a cupful of cold water.
Cut up the liver and gizzard, and add
them to the gravy when ready to pour
into the bowl. This gravy should be
thin, smooth, and very brown.
The taste OF mince-pies is as varied
as their contents, and they are good,
bad, or Indifferent according to the
way the ingredients areproportioned.
Mince-meat should not be spiced too
highly. 1t is better to take q small
quantity of each of a variety of spices
than to depend on a larger supply OF
one or two kinds to give flavor.
A mince-meat which has been much
praised by every one who has tasted
It, and which seems to possess the vir-
tue of suiting all tastes, is made as
follows:
Take three pounds of cooked lean