The complete cook book

Have a deep skillet nearly full of boiling salted water; add one tablespoonful of vinegar or lemon juice. When the water is boiling break your eggs one by one and drop each one right on the spot where the water bubbles. Dip the water over them with a spoon, and when the white is firm lift them up with a skimmer, drain and lay on round pieces of toast. Season with bits of butter, salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley. GRANDFATHER'S SCRAMBLED EGGS. Beat four eggs, not lightly, but until well mixed, with a fork. Place in a skillet or chafing dish one-half cup of new milk and one tablespoonful of butter, and when it reaches boiling point pour in the eggs. Cook quickly, stirring all the time, until the egg is firm but soft and no liquid remains. Dust with salt and pepper and serve immediately. SHIRRED EGGS. Butter individual stone dishes holding one or two eggs each Break an egg into each one. Dust with salt and pepper and bake in a moderate oven until the white is set. Add a little butter and garnish with thin strips of breakfast bacon. The Complete Cook Book. 191 STUFFED EGGS AND ANCHOVIES. Stuff your eggs according to the recipe given, put the halves nicely together, and lay anchovies around them. Pour white sauce over them and garnish the plates with French peas. These make a very pretty course for a luncheon. ORANGE OMELET. Beat three eggs. Add three tablespoonfuls of orange juice and two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Pour into a buttered frying pan. Cook slowly until a crust is formed. Fold in half. Turn the omelet on to a hot platter. Sprinkle thickly with powdered sugar. Heat a poker till red hot; score over the sugar. Serve very hot. EGG PIES. Grease a pie dish, then break into it about half as many eggs as it will contain. They should be dropped in carefully, so as not to break with yolks. Then for each egg add a teaspoonful of cream, and one teaspoonful of run butter. Season with white pepper, salt and chopped parsley, also garlic, if it be liked. Cover the pie dish with a top crust, cut slits across it and bake at once in a sharp oven. Directly the pastry is baked a delicate brown, the eggs will be sufficiently cooked, for they should not be hard. 192 The Complete Cook Book. BREAD, ROLLS, ETC. HOW TO CHOOSE THE FLOUR. A GOOD flour should be dry, heavy and very soft to the touch ; it should have a clear white color (a little yellowish sometimes), be adhesive to the fingers (when they are dry); when pressed between the hands it should form a kind of ball, which will not scatter immediately. SALT RISING YEAST. Take a pint of new milk, warm from the cow if possible. Put in a teaspoonful of salt, and thicken it with flour to the consistency of batter cakes. Set this in a warm place to rise, and make your biscuit or bread up with it, and some new milk, or milk and water warmed together. SALT, OR MILE, RISING FOR BREAD, AND HOW TO BAKE IT. Take a pint of new milk, stir in nearly a pint of boiling water, then salt it with a teaspoonful of fine salt; thicken this with flour enough to make a thick batter. Set it in a warm place to rise, and it is ready to mix into bread. Mix the yeast in a soft dough with fine flour, a little lard, and a cup of water ; mould it, and set it to rise. When well risen, bake it a nice brown. Wrap it in a damp cloth for a few minutes, and let it cool slowly before it is cut. This is a good bread for a delicate stomach, which is sometimes painfully affected by hop-yeast bread. The Complete Cook Book. 193 BOILED POTATO YEAST.