The Washington herald., 1911-12-22

Next 10 THANKSGIVING, as nome les
tival. comes Christmas; and, indeed, in
many homes Christmas takes precedence.
1t all depends on which is the time when
the different members of the family
circle can gather together and compare
the experiences of the fast-ebbing year.
Being home feast, essentially, it should
rather be a conservative meal, with the
favorite dishes which seem essentially
to belong to the day and which form old
association are looked for and expected.
Breakfast will be a rather light meal in
most homes and may consist OF fruit,
ham. or omelet. hot mullins and coffee.
OF course, much has been done on Sat
urday to get ready for the Christmas
dinner, so that there may not be too
much to be done at the last moment.
But in any event there is sure TO he
enough which cannot be done until
Christmas day itself no matter how
forehanded the housekeeper may have
been.
A good menu, which will not entail too
great labor in its preparation, yet which
contains all the essentials, is the follow
ing:
Oyster Cocktail Oxtail Soup
Roast Stuffed Turkey Giblet Gravy
Celery Salted Nuts
Mash Potatoes Caulifiower
Carameled Sweet Potatoes
Fruit Salad
Plum Pudding Hard and Wine Sauce
Nuts and Raisins Fruit
Coffee
How to Make Cocktail Sauce.
The cocktail sauce is to be prepared by
blending four tablespoonfuls of tomato
catsup, a teaspoonful of Worcestershire
sauce a teaspoonful of grated horserad-
{SI,a nd SoIf
gent, a few drops of tabasco sauce may
be added to the above but for most pal
ates the cocktail sauce, as given, will be
sufficiently savory. This sauce can be
prepared and bottled and placed in the
refrigerator until needed. At the time
of serving, put six small cocktail oysters
into a glass and pour a little of the
sauce over them; or, if preferred, the
oysters can be served on the half shell
with the sauce in a small glass in the
center of the plate.
The SOUP also should be prepared on
Saturday and left all ready for reheating.
Two oxtails will be needed, and should
be jointed by the butcher. These, after
being washed and dried, should be rolled
in flour, then fried to a good brown color
in drippings or bacon fat In the mean
time, clean and cut into dice two small
onions, one carrot, a slice of turnip, and
stalk Of celery, and fry these also in
the same fat after the meat is Drowned.
Put all together into stew pan or stock
pot and cover with cold water. Bring
slowly to the boiling point and skim as
needed Add two tablespoonfuls of pearl
barley and season when about half cook
ed.
When both meat and vegetables are
quite tender, remove the bones and larger
pieces of meat, and thicken the soup
little with flour or cornstarch rubbed to
a smoth cream with cold water.
When perfectly cold skim on any fat
which may rest on top of the soup, and
IL necessary, add a little caramel to give
q good rich color to the soup. This
may not be necessary II the meat and
vegetables were well Drowned. Half a
cup OF white wine may be added to the
soup at the moment of serving. Small,
crisp crackers or bread croutons should
be passed with 1t.
The cranberry jelly can also be pre-
pared on Saturday ready for Mondays
dinner. To q quart of cranberries add
one cup of water and cook until the ber-
ries burst. Pass through q sieve, rub
bing through as much Of the pulp as pos
sible; add two cups OF sugar and when
dissolved turn into one large or several
individual molds
OF turkey stufiings there Is no end
chestnut, oyster. potato, &c. A good
old-tiTne dressing Is made by crumbling
a pint OF corn bread, adding to IT the