The Portland daily press., 1900-10-26

am Cad good cooking IS to be made
thoroughly practical and that the wives
OF New England who daily cook are to
contribute TO make it so. You viii par
don me If 7 say that many things writ
ten by professional writer's are above US
poor, everyday mortals and some of the
things they write do not agree with my
every day experience. For instance,
there is one writer whose articles read
with pleasure and whom regard as high
authority, but she peppers peas, the
most delicate and delicious of all vege-
tables; bakes beans in the water in
which they are boiled, which a country
hOusekeeper considers too vile to throw
down her sink drain, and adds boiling
water. in canning tomatoes, when they
already contain 50 much water that peo-
PIE who appreciate the true flavor and
quality Of tomatoes, stew or bake them
from one to two hours, to reduce water.
I think it is the same author who cooks
canvas back ducks 20 minutes Now un-
less the oven was excessively hot and the
birds very tender, this would only suffice
10 heat them through.
Under the signature of another writer
in New Hampshire paper, cups of
meal and -four are used with two eggs.
and cup of milk in Johnnie cake
which was doubtless a mistake.
Now I may not do a bit better, but
what I send you viii be the result of ex-
perience at any rate and one Of the things
I have learned is that pepper may not
only be used but abused.
To a person of refined taste, an other
wise delightful dish may be spoiled by
pepper, black pepper we speak of, as this
is the kind used in a most reckless man
ner by some cooks. One of the arts Of
cooking is to know how to combine af-
fnities. Better offend ten people by
leaving out pepper, which each may add,
than to ruin ones reputation as a cook
by spelling the dish for the eleventh,
who knows.
Peas, asparagus and lettuce, above all
vegetables should not know pepper.
Peas, with sweetness SO feeting that it
may be lost by standing in a warm place
for few hours after picking, may be
ruined by this condiment, for one used
to delicate feashng; and the white hearts
of cabbage lettuce, which have a fine,
nutty flavor when crisp and fresh, need no
other seasoning than salt, oil. and a sus-
picion of vinegar, though many cling to
mayonnaise and heavy dressings. String
and butter beans need no pepper. With
shell beans it will do.
Fresh mashed or creamed potatoes
should not be peppered. flashed over
potatoes fried in fat need pepper, as do |
fried over cabbage, vegetable hash, tur-
nips and summer squash. Again is there !
a nice difference, since the dry, sweet
squash cf winter needs only salt and but
ter. Canned corn may have a dash of
pepper. but fresh corn cut from the cob |
never. Pepper may be used with tomato. |
potato and other vegetable salads, though |
many prefer a dash of cayenne to black. !
Never put pepper in pot of baked |
beans. Never pepper beefsteaz, lamb or
mutton chops. These luscious and fine |
favored meats, which need no other zest !
than their own juices, with a little salt, !
we put on a level with liver and Ham /
burg steak, when treated to that really /
coarse seasoning, which helps the rather
havorless tripe; while a little red pepper
helps dishes made from boiled ham.
Soups, stews, hashed meats, IN fact,
nearly all made over dishes, need a little /
pepper, which should be well cooked in,
though careless cooks make a lavish use |
of this spice, since it saves trouble or I
hides ignorance in the use of Others. /
Chowders, stews and broths made Of
clans. fish and oysters, need pepper, as
do the dressings used to stuff fish, meats
and birds.
Chill sauce and catsup look and taste
better without pepper, depending on the
red or green peppers used, while many
Tor the same reason, leave it out Of pic
callH and mixed pickles altogether.
Game should be seasoned with red pep
per only, while the delicate flavor of /
poultry should be preserved intact, using
pepper only in the stufing, or in soup
and broths made from fowl.
No broiled fish, or meats need pepper,
unless the taste Is to be quite changed
by a marinade, and in making meat and
fish sauces, and marinades, filing for
sandwiches and stufing of eggs, toma-
toes, rolls, etc, pepper should be so hap
PLY blended with other seasonings as
not to predominate
Pepper seems to blend with eggs, but
1t is question if all cooking and serving
Of tomatoes is not better without it, with
the exception again, of soup. AS rule,
the coarser the food and flavor, the more
appropriate is black pepper as a season
ing. MRS. R. W. SHEA.