The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1897-12-31
SOME USES FOR STALE BREAD.

The majority of persons who are accus-
toned to refined table exclude from
their menus the pasty bread pudding, such
as many well-intentioned housekeepers.
ever on economy intent, serve regularly
to their long-suffering household. There
preston that a bread pudding is an econo-
| my. 1t requires, if properly made, the
same. amount of eggs, sugar and milk
that is required to make an equal guam
tity Of good custard. The addition of
the bread reduces the custard to pas
ty consistency. which destroys it's fla
vor for delicate taste.
We will not refer to that comp0uhd of
"paste and poultice' which calls for stale
bread, soaked in milk. which is sweetened
for pudding and served with some sweet
sauce to make it eatab BILE.
Puddings like this were once served in
a great many families, and eaten gener-
ally, not because anyone liked them, but
as a sort of household penance for not
having consumed all the "baking'' of
homemade bread before it became stale.
Happily, this variety of economic pu,l-
ding is passing out of date. Housekeep-
ers have found that there are many uses
for stale bread. and it is not necessary to
create dishes for it's consumption.
There are but two forms of bread
crumbs allowable in correct cookery. Soft
breadcrumbs, at least Il day old, are valu-
able for fOrcemeats, stuffings and for
some other purposes. They are the in
side crumbs of hard, stale loaf, as some
people seem to suppose. The second
form is the dried crumbs. Do not wait
until bread has become too stale for this
purpose. Bread in which the liquids
have turned sour, as they always will in
time, is unfit for any use.
Clear out crusts and all pieces of stale
bread in the bread box at least twice a
week, for dried crumbs; break them up
in small pieces and lay them on fiat tins
in the warming closet under the oven to
moisture has left them. and then pound
them with a wooden beetle and sift them
through fine sieve. Put them away in a
wooden or tin box with a tight cover
These breadcrumbs are good for pud-
dings, for breading meats and for COW
ering scalloped dishes and coquilles,
though for the latter purpose soft bread
vantage of drying bread is that the
liquids are disposed of and cannot give
the dish in which the bread is used a
stale, bad taste. The bread crumbs in
this condition will keep indefinitely if
kept dry and free from weevils.
1t is a mistake to suppose croutons and
squares of toast used in the soups should
be made of stale bread. They Should be
cut from stale bread, but always dried
Use bread not over three or four days
old and still soft enough to be easily
cut with the little ornamental tin cutters
used for this purpose. These cutters
cost 10 cents. A star or plain t1eur de
lis, or any simple design. is best for the
purpose. If you have no cutters, cut the
bread with a sharp knife into three
quarter-inch squares. Dry the pieces in
the oven until all moisture has left Them
and store them in a box. Brown half a
cupful for two quarts of soup. They
may be dipped in melted butter and
Drowned in the oven for soup. or merely
toasted brown, or they may be fried a
golden brown in butter.
Toast is made of dried bread for GER
tain purposes, for others bread day or
two old, but not hard, is used. A Welsh
rarebit demands soft toast, that is, a
rather thick slice of bread Drowned on
each side but soft in the center. A
chicken soup or stew should have as ac-
compartment pieces of thin toast, crisp
and dry throughout such as is made of
dried bread.-New York Tribune.