Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife
John Stuart Mill · en
Cut salt or cured pork into thin slices. If very salt, cover with hot
water and allow it to stand for ten minutes. Score the rind of the
slices and fry slowly until they are a golden brown. Make a milk gravy
by heating flour in the fat that has been tried out, allowing two
tablespoonfuls of fat and two tablespoonfuls of flour to each cup of
milk. This is a good way to use skim milk, which is as rich in protein
as whole milk. The pork and milk gravy served with boiled or baked
potatoes makes a cheap and simple meal, but one that most people like
very much. Bacon is often used in place of salt pork in making this
dish.
"SALT-FISH DINNER"
1/2 pound salt pork.
1 pound codfish.
2 cups of milk (skim milk will do).
4 tablespoonfuls flour.
A speck of salt.
Cut the codfish into strips, soak in lukewarm water and then cook in
water until tender, but do not allow the water to come to the boiling
point except for a very short time as prolonged boiling may make it
tough. Cut the pork into one-fourth inch slices and cut several gashes
in each piece. Fry very slowly until golden brown, and remove, pouring
off the fat. Out of four tablespoonfuls of the fat, the flour, and the
milk make a white sauce. Dish up the codfish with pieces of pork around
it and serve with boiled potatoes and beets. Some persons serve the
pork, and the fat from it, in a gravy boat so it can be added as
relished.
SAUCES
The art of preparing savory gravies and sauces is more important in
connection with the serving of the cheaper meats than in connection with
the cooking of the more expensive.
There are a few general principles underlying the making of all sauces
or gravies whether the liquid used is water, milk, stock, tomato juice,
or some combination of these. For ordinary gravy 2 level tablespoonfuls
of flour or 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of cornstarch or arrow root is
sufficient to thicken a cupful of liquid. This is true excepting when,
as in the recipe on page 23 the flour is browned. In this case about
one-half tablespoonful more should be allowed, for browned flour does
not thicken so well as unbrowned. The fat used may be butter or the
drippings from the meat, the allowance being 2 tablespoonfuls to a cup
of liquid.
The easiest way to mix the ingredients is to heat the fat, add the
flour, and cook until the mixture ceases to bubble, and then to add the
liquid. This is a quick method and by using it there is little danger of
getting a lumpy gravy. Many persons, however, think it is not a
wholesome method and prefer the old-fashioned one of thickening the
gravy by means of flour mixed with a little cold water. The latter
method is, of course, not practicable for brown gravies.