Cookery and housekeeping

Put a small quantity of white flour in a basin, and knead it into a paste with boiling water. Work it well with the hand so that the paste is perfectly smooth. Roll out this paste on a floured board to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, and cut with a circular cutter (or a tumbler), allowing three scones to each guest. Bake on an iron girdle. As soon as one side has set, turn, and let the other bake. About five minutes is enough to bake these scones, as they are to be limp and tender. Fold a napkin, so that the heap of scones can be placed inside (like chestnuts), and serve at once. 448 SCONES. Water Scones. Water scones should be made with white flour. Mix in a basin flour and butter, in the proportion of a walnut of butter to J lb. of flour, work them well together. Season with salt ; if the butter is salt, that may be seasoning enough. Pour in boiling water enough to make a paste. Turn out on the board, work well with the hand ; then roll out rather less than a quarter of an inch thick, cut into circular cakes. Bake on the girdle. Barleymeal scones made in the same way are a pleasing variety. Cocked Hats. i lb flour i lb. butter ; A pinch salt ; I teaspoonful carbonate of soda ; Buttermilk, or new milk just warmed. Rub the butter, salt, and soda well into the flour, and then beat it up with the tepid milk. Roll into paste a quarter of an inch thick, cut into three-cornered pieces (about a four-inch square, cut in two from corner to corner), and bake in a moderately hot oven for a quarter of an hour, or till done. Girdle Cakes. (American Recipe.) Beat 2 eggs, yolk and white, into some warm milk ; add I pint of Indian corn meal, and mix it well with a spoon ; there must be enough milk to BREAKFAST CAKES. 449 enable the whole to be poured out of the saucepan on to the girdle ; add a spoonful of wheat flour, and lard or butter the size of a walnut. The girdle is a flat round iron of any size, standing on three legs. It must not be made very hot, or it will burn the cakes ; it must be perfectly clean and greased while warm, so that the cakes may be easily turned and done brown on both sides. The batter is usually poured from the saucepan on to the girdle until it spreads to the size of the bottom of a breakfast plate for each cake. Indian Meal Breakfast Cakes. Pour boiling water into a quart of Indian corn meal. Stir it until it is a paste, add two w^ell-beaten eggs, and milk enough to make it a thick batter ; add a little salt. Butter some square tin pans ; fill them two-thirds full, and bake in a quick oven. When done, cut in squares, and serv^e hot. G G 450 BEEF TEA. CHAPTER XXXI. COOKERY FOR INVALIDS. Beef Tea. Take equal weights of the best gravy beef and of cold water. Cut the meat into pieces about an inch square. Let them soak in the cold water for an hour, then place in a jar in the oven, which must be moderately hot, for half an hour. Beef Tea No. 2. I lb. of quite fresh (that is, newly killed) beef, the part which is called gravy beef ; 5 drops muriatic acid ; A pinch of salt ; I pint cold water.