Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-18
TO VARY The MENU
Mexican Soup Makes Two
Courses.
A CHILL CON CARN E
MEXICAN BEANS PREPARED IN A
WHOLESOME GUISE.
Pumpkin Preserve Move
on American
Tables.
Pumpkin
Novelty


of snices furnish a welcome variation on
the American table Especially at the end
of the winter season, when canned vegeta-
bles have become monotonous, the high sea-
soning of this cookery tempts the laggard
| appetite.
| Caido or Soup.-The national soup OF
| Mexico is made Of meat and vegetables
| which afterward serve as another course.
| Choose lean beef or mutton, and to four
| pounds allow four quarts of water, one large
| carrot two onions, half of an ordinary
| sized cabbage one small squash, four or
| five potatoes half a dozen radishes. Put
| the beef in the pot with hot water, peel
and slice the carrot and onions, cut the
| cabbage into three or four pieces, also the
SQUASH which should be peeled and the
| seeds removed. Peel and cut the potatoes
| into halves Add all to the beef with
| teaspoonfu of salt and let simmer 1or tour
| hours Remove the meat and vegetables
and stand them aside to keep hot. Strain
the soup Skim off all fat and season with
| pepper.
Sopa de Aproz.-The sopa de aproZ is made
| from rice, as it's name implies. Wash one
| cupful thoroughly drain and let stand for
| one-half hour. Put one heaping tablespoon
| full of lard in deep frying pan, add the
| rice and let cook for one-halI hour' Stirring
constantly. Add one onion, one green
pepper, one ripe tomato minced, and stir
| the whole into one quart OF BOILING water.
| Add salt to taste and let boil until the rice
| has absorbed all the water and is quite dry.
Serve garnished with hard-boled eggs cut
| into quarters
Chilli Con Carne-For the foundation, Sc
lect good lean beef cut into dice, and Try
in a generous quantity of smoking lard.
When the meat is we'll Drowned, remove
from the fat and arrange on platter with
the Chill sauce poured over IT, 10 make
the sauce use canned tomatoes; stew until
to
into shreds about one large onion to one
can of tomatoes and as much sliced red
pepper as liked. Stir all together until the
onion and pepper are Thoroughly cooked.
Press through a sieve and thicken slightly
with butter and -four cooked together until
brown.
Sopa de Fideo (SpaghettD Break one
half pound of spaghetti into a kettle of
boiling water to which has been added a
little salt. Let the spaghetti boil for fifteen
minutes then pour all the water off and
add teaspoonful of butter. While the spa
ghetti is boiling, fry one thnly sliced large
onion in an abundance of hot fat. Add the
brown onion to the spaghetti with half q
can of tomatoes. Sprinkle two tablespoon
fuls of Parmesan cheese over the whole,
and add one red Chill pepper cut into rings
or thin slices with the seeds removed. Pour
hot water enough oydf the whole to allow
for boiling until the spaghetti is thor
oughly cooked, without becoming watery.
Serve with additional cheese.
Frijoes CMexican beanS). = Obtain rich
brown Mexican beans and boil in sailed
water until they are soft enough to mash.
Cover the beans well and as the water boils
away add more, little by little, keeping them
sufficiently moist to prevent burning and to
allow the beans to become soft. Put gen.
erous quantity of lard in deep frying pan,
and when very hot add the mashed beans,
gradually, cooking slowly for one-half hour.
Season to taste and serve. The beans should
be soft, and If necessary add little water
during the process of frying. To vary the
dish, slice dried Chilli peppers and aud to
the beans while boiling, In the proportion
of one pepper to three cupsful of beans.
Chilli Rellenos Stuffed peppers)--Select
large green peppers of uniform size and
cook slightly by laying them on hot stove
until the outer skin can be peeled off. Cut
a slice from the stem end of each and care
| fully remove all seeds. Make stufting
with beef or chicken, mixed with little
| pork, minced; add small quantity of
bread crumbs and seasoning to taste, using
a flavorng of garlic if liked. Tie the corners
| firmly and fry in hot lard.
Pumpkin Preserve.-The pumpkin preserve
| is favorite dessert in Mexico, but is novel
| to the American palate. Remove the hard
| shell and cut the pumpkin into pieces about
| an inch long and two inches wide. Throw
| into cold water and let stand for five hours.
| Then change the water and allow 1t to
| stand two three hours longer. Make a
| syrup from two and one-half pounds of
graduated sugar and one quart and pint
of boiling water. Boil and skim until per-
throw into the syrup. Simmer gently until
you can pierce it with a straw. When ten
der lift the pieces out carefully with the
skinner, place them on a large platter
and let stand until cold. Peel the yellow
rind from one large lemon and add 1t to the
syrup, with the juice of two lemons and
small piece of ginger root cut in thin slices.
Boil gently for ten minutes and stand
aside. When the pumkin is hardened put
it cold in the jars. Bring the syrup again
to the boiling point and strain it over the
whole.
Pepper Sauce-For this sauce, which is
universal in Mexico. use small green onions
about as big as marbles, If they are obtain
able. If not, small tomatoes In a proper
tionate number can be substituted. To one
dozen of the tiny onions or tomatoes allow
one small onion and two of the Mexican
green peppers, which are long and slender.
Mince all together and put into saucepan
with water enough to cover them. Boil
slowly until perfectly soft then wash and
add salt to taste. Serve cold.
Tortillas (Mexican bread).-Th bread of
the country is made from whole corn after
a primitive method that retains much of
the sweetness. Any whole corn can be
used, but the Mexican sort is somewhat
whittier than the grain grown in this coun-
try. The corn is boiled in water to which
lime has been added in the proportion of
one tablespoonful to a gallon, until very
soft. 1t is impossible to give the exact
proportion of water and corn, but enough
of the former must be added to keep the
stone slab with a stone roller until 1t forms
a paste; then patted with the hands into
round cakes, similar to the familiar pan
cakes, which are baked on gr1ddle with
out any grease.
Enchilades.-These supper cakes are
really the tortillas served with hot sauce.
The tortillas are first warmed, then covered
with little of the sauce, grated raw onion
and cheese. Then they are rolled, arranged
on a platter with rings of grated onion and
cheese placed over them, and the sauce
poured around the dish For the sauce,
put tablespoonful of lard in a skillet, and
when boiling add three ripe tomatoes, one
large onion and one medum-sized red Mex
lean pepper minced, and stir constantly for
fifteen minutes. Then, strain and add salt
to taste.
Tamales.-This best known of Mexican
dishes is also made from the tortillas. The
thin cakes, after they have been patted into
shape, are filled with force meat, which
may be of chicken or pork, seasoned with
onion and herbs. They are then rolled and
covered with corn husks, after which they
are boiled for three hours