Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-23
COOKING FOR LENT.
Choice Dishes VOuched for by Promi-
nent Washington Ladies.
STATESMEN's WIVES AT MARKET.
Mrs. Bsyne's Dumplings, Mrs. Wanamakers
Salads and Other Recipes.
PUNCH THAT REQUIRES MODERATION
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPATcH.l !

WASHINGTON, February zz.-Ihe Dest
cooks of the United States are found in
Washington. There is no place in the
country where good dinners are more prized
and more eaten. The wives of our most
noted statesmen spend part of every day
In the kitchen. Most of them have invented
new dishes and all have learned their les
sons in the great cooking school Of expert
ence. Even the mistress Of the White
House boasts that she can prepare dinner
from soup to dessert and every one Of the
Cabinet ladies tell me that they can broil
steak or baste a roast.
see scores of Senators wives in the market
every morning and noted Mrs. Secretary
Window the other day holding fowl to the
light to see if the flesh was white. Near by
her Mrs. Attorney-General Miller was pric-
ing some celery and Mrs. Senator Sherman
was at another counter testing 3 leg of
mutton. Mrs. John A. Logan is often seen
in the markets. Sam Randall, before he
was sick, went with his wife to buy the
meats for his own dinner-table and I have
seen Senator Stanford walking along with
his Chinese steward from meat stall to meat
stall and with those fingers which can sign
a check for $40, 600, 900 feeling the raw red
flesh to see if it be tender.
During the next six weeks of Lent there
will be change in these Washington mar
kets. The ladies will gather around the
fish counters, and even in the houses OF
those statesmen who belong neither TO the
Episcopal nor the Catholic Churches,
Lenten dishes will be largely used. McKim,
the White House steward, intends to serve
eggs oftener for breakfast and he pro-
poses to use lobster and shrimp salads for
his lunches. President Harrison likes
baked fish, and the succulent shad will be
frequently on the table of the White House,
while the Vice President will carry out the
rules of his Episcopalian faith, and will
stick to Lenten dishes.
GOOD HEALTH IN KEEPING LENT.
There is good sense in the keeping of
Lent as far as eating is concerned. A lead
ing Senator's wife tells me that it makes her
blood better to stick to fish, eggs and lighter
dishes during the spring, and a noted Cen
erals wife ascribes her good health to her
observance of Lent During the past week
I have gathered for your readers recipes for
Lenten dishes, and the wives of statesmen
and generals have been called upon to give
their experiences for the kitchens of your
readers. / start my list with tish chowder
from the White House. 1t is a dish for
king. The Presidents wife has prepared
the recipe for me, and her experience shows
it to be good:
Cut medium-sized shad or white fish, three
or four potatoes, one onion and a quarter Of a
pound of bacon into small pieces Fry the ba-
con and onion light brown. Put layer Of
potatoes in the saucepan, over that layer OF
the fish, then sprinkling of onions and bacon,
then layer of tomatoes sprinkle with pepper
and salt, alternating the layers until all is In.
Add enough water to cover, place over mod
fire. ND 1aT M ninuEaC.
pint of milk, thckening it with cracker
crumbs. Let it stand moment and then add
let boil an instant season if not strong to taste,
and serve hot. CAROLINE 3. HARRISON.
HOW MRS. wANAMAKER BAKES sHAD.
There is a chef in the Wanamaker man.
sion whom they have had for years, but
when any great affair is in progress the mis-
tress of the house sends for a caterer to as
sist. She gives orders for the three meals of
a day in the morning and has not that awe
of her cook which Vanderbilt had of his.
She dares go into the kitchen, and, greater
presumption still in this day of $4,000
chefs, gives verbal instruction TO each new
cook of the cookery of certain dishes which
might almost be called Wanlmaker dishes,
so long have they served them in the family.
One of these is baked shad, and the art of
preparing it Mrs. Wanamaker learned from
her grandmother, and has had it for break
fast in the springtime ever since she was
mistress of a modest little cottage in Ger
mantown and her husband was getting
81, 900 a year instead of-who knows how
many thousands Mr.. John Wanamaker
gets now? The "shad breakfast" at Linden
hurst is known to all of Mrs. Wanamaker's
friends and many one drops in accident
ally when the fish, about which General
Sherman queries where 1t got meat to cover
its bones, is served.
Another favored dish is lobster in terrapin
style, and although it has been served for
years on her table, Mrs. Wanamaker does
not claim its origination. A Delmonico
was its creator.
MADEIRA WINE GOES IN.
Split two good-sized, fine, freshly boiled lob
sters. Pick all the meat from out the shells,
then cut it into one-inch length equal pieces.
Place it in a sauce pan on the hot range with
one ounce of very good fresh butter. Season
with one pinch Of salt and half saltspoonful
of red pepper adding two medium-sized, sound
truf1es cut into small diskshaped pieces. Cook
for five minutes, then add wineglasstul OF
good Madeira wine Reduce to one'half, which
will take three minutes. Have three egg yolks
in bowl with half pint of sweet cream. beat
well together and add to it the lobster. Gently
shuttle for two minutes longer, or until it
thickens well. Pour it into q hot tureen and
servo hot. MRS. JOHN WANAMAKER.
There is an old Spanish saw that it takes
four persons to make good salad-a spend
thrift must pour the oil and q miser the
vinegar barrister must sprinkle the salt
and madman must stir the mixture. Mrs.
Robert Mckee, the daughter of the Presi-
dent, gives the Ingredients Of good salad,
but the cook who will make it properly
must be guided by the proverb:
Boil one dozen crabs 30 minutes, adding a lit
tie salt to the water. When cold pick out the
meat. Make mayonnaise dressing as follows:
| Beat the yolks of two eggs add pepper, salt
and mustard and mix well together Then
thicken the dressfug If too thick add a few
| drops of lemon juice or vinegar. Great care
should be exercised in pouring the oil, as it will
curdle if poured too fast. Now mix the crab
meat and the mayonnaise together. Garnish
| dish with crisp lettuce leaves or water crosses,
place the crabs in the center and serve.
| MARY HARRISON MCKEE.
MRS. SENATOR QUAY's ,DEvILED GRABS.
Mrs. Senator Quay says that all her fam
| lily have ''the sweet tooth" and her cookery
| therefore is in the line of desserts, but she
has one recipe that may be put with the
Lenten dishes although fasting friar would
need to pass it by. 1t is:
Boil one dozen crabs for 20 minutes when
! cold pick. Three eggs well beaten. two table
| spoonfuls Vienna bread crumbs, four Of melted
butter, one of olive oil, one tablespoonful OF
chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
| Mix all together using cream to moisten and
| put back the shells which should be clean and
dry. Dip in beaten eggs and, Vienna bread
crumbs and fry in hot lard to cover.
There is delicious omelette which often
times comes on the Quay breakfast table:
Whites of six eggs, yolks Of three, juice of
| half lemon, three taDlespoonfuls powdered
| Grease a baking dish