The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-31

the MefcndntS club sprang lntO pOpu
 larity at once.
 Not only is everything there of th'
 very best, but often there are disheS
 which are seldom seen elsewhere
 Among these is one which is, in the
 opinion of those who have tasted 1t
 worth going miles to try again. This
 dlsh IS muskrat la terrapin. When Il
 IS announced that muskrat is to bt
 served there is always a crowd, and the
 price of muskrats, which are drawn al
 most exclusively from the little islands | bordering the eastern shore of Mary l land has been booming ever since theil value has been known.
 1 The muskrat is the most cleanly ot animals. Those who are familiar with its habits will have noted that 1t espec- ially delights in rolling in clean white sand, in bathing, and in then drying off in the sun. It is one of the epicures Of the woods and streams, for it's food is or the choicest and cleanesi Because or its odor it has been considered to be un- lit for food by most people. and no one who has caught a muskrat without using proper precaution against con tamination by the musk could be easily persuaded that the delicious and savo- ry meat which is served in the club is the cleanly but odoriferous animal which burrows along the banks of the streams. The first thing to be done by the pothunter who catches muskrats for the table is to remove the skin, without permitting the hair to touch the flesh, and then to remove without breaking the glands which secrete the musk. If he has done this successfully the little animal is ready for the attention of the cook.
 Another dish which has long been fa- nous in Baltimore is Mexican black bean soup. This is one of the most de- licious and least expensive dishes which can be prepared. Bones of the Smith field ham are trasured until a sufficient quantity are on hand; then the beans are soaked twenty-four hours, boiled until they are tender, and the boiled beans pressed through sieve so that the pulp passes through and the skins are left behind. The hambones are then cracked so as to expose the mar row. These are the only ingredients, other than salt and water until the soup is ready to serve, when a little sherry will improve the flavor
 Terrapin soup Is inexpensive richly favored, and highly nutritious if prop erly made It is only necessary to save the pot liquor in which terrapln has been cooked, boil it down into stock and then prepare the soup in the same way that you would make consomme.
 toi i1, have an enticing sound, but the dish has only to be tried to prove its worth. The pigtails, carefully cleaned and placed in wrappers of damp paper, are covered with hot ashes from hickory fire. They come out as crisp as an ashcake.
 Genuine eggpone, such as was served on the tables of the wealthy southern planters before the war Is another lux ury which the steward of the Mer- chants club occasionally provides whenever he cansg find real cornmeal. To the present generation of Maryand- CTS this Is practically an unknown dish. The ingredients are cornmeal, eggs. salt and water and the best quality of butter No buttermilk is used, and, ac- cording to the oninion of those in au- thority, the use of baking powder Is ab- solutely ruinous
 The greatest difficulty about making corn pone is to get cornmeal. The old fashioned coarsely ground meal, which had some substance to it, and which when properly cooked crumbled in the mouth, is rarely to be had In it's place the mills furnish floury stuff which 1 might make good mush, but does not | make good bread. Where real corn neal is obtainable the making of corn )one is only a matter of labor The sggs must he beaten in order to make | he bread light Tie fork, which has been dicarded for machine beaters, | gives the best result, and it should be used To make good corn | bone requires almost as much labor as Q make an omelet sou or a good | dressing. The product am- ply repays the expenditure of time and | abor however.
 These are but few of the many old ashioned dishes which are served at he Merchants club The older gene 'ation of Baltimoreans, who are re- minded of happier times by these wholesome and simple dishes never ire of them, and the younger men are convinced that while improvement has ,een marked in many lines of things the cooks of bygone genera ions knew thing or two which their uccessors of to-day have yet to learn. Baltimore American.