XCV Alice's Troubles

"No, indeed! They don't burn a bit! Look at these!" said Mildred, delighted to find the opportunity to impart some of her newly acquired knowledge. "Well, what else did you help Aunt Bettina to make?" "These nice stuffed onions. It was fun to make them, even though I don't like onions. I ground up the dry bread that Aunt Bettina keeps in the jar by the stove." "Well, you can tell Mother Polly that Aunt Bettina will make a good cook of you yet!"

For dinner that night they had: Rolled Stuffed Steak Potatoes au Gratin Stuffed Onions Sour Cream Biscuits Currant Jelly Sliced Bananas Cream Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level) Stuffed Onions (Four portions) 4 onions ½ C-bread crumbs 1 T-tomato pulp 1 T-butter 1 t-parsley 1 T-pimento 1 egg-yolk ¼ C-cooked celery ½ t-salt

Wash and peel the onions. Cook for ten minutes in boiling water. Rinse with cold water to make them firm. Push out the centers. Place the onions in a wellbuttered baking pan and fill each onion with filling. Place in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.

Filling

Mix the crumbs, tomato pulp, butter, parsley, pimento, salt, egg yolks and celery. Cook for one minute. Fill each onion case carefully with the mixture. Then pour the following sauce about the onions before placing them in the oven: White Sauce (Four portions) 2 T-butter 2 T-flour ¼ t-salt 1/6 t-paprika 1 C-milk

[416]

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix well, add the milk, and cook for one minute.

Sour Cream Biscuits (Four portions) 2 C-flour ½ t-salt 3 t-baking powder 3 T-fat ¼ t-soda 2/3 C-sour milk

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the fat with a knife. Add the soda to the milk, and when the effervescing ceases, add slowly to the dry ingredients. (All the milk may not be needed.) When a soft dough is formed, toss onto a floured board. Pat into shape, cut with a biscuit cutter, and place side by side on a tin pan or baking sheet. Bake fifteen minutes in a moderately hot oven.

[417]

CHAPTER CXXXV

POLLY COMES FOR MILDRED

"S

O you've been teaching Mildred to cook?" asked Polly as they sat down to dinner. "Oh, Mother, I've learned so much!" cried Mildred with enthusiasm. "And when I'm married, I'm going to have a dear little kitchen just like Aunt Betty's! Aunt Betty does know the very best way to do everything! Why, Mother, I think she's a better cook even than Selma, and not half so cross when I bother!" "Bother!" said Bettina. "Why, Mildred, you've been a real help to me!" "I hope so," laughed Polly, "but I'm not so sure. Children never worry me—it's fortunate, isn't it?—but I don't see how on earth anyone can cook with a child in the kitchen! I wanted Selma to teach Mildred, but I hadn't the heart to insist when she objected to the plan." "H—m, Selma!" said Mildred with scorn. "Why, Mother, Selma doesn't even know enough to line her cake pans with waxed paper! She butters 'em! And I don't believe we have a spatula in the whole house!" "A—what?" said Polly in a puzzled tone. "I don't believe I——" "Don't you know what a spatula is, Mother?" asked Mildred didactically. "Why, it's one of those flattened out spoon-things to use in the kitchen. We ought to have one. And—Mother, you ought to see how much mayonnaise Aunt Bettina makes at a time! It'll keep, you know."

[418]

[419]

"Goodness!" said Polly tragically. "What a dreadful thing it will be to live with a child who knows more than I do!"

For dinner that night they had:

Veal Chops Baked Potatoes Escalloped Onions Bread Butter Mocha Cake Mocha Icing Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level) Escalloped Onions (Four portions) 1 C-onions 1 qt. water 2 T-butter 2 T-flour 1 t-salt ¼ t-pepper 1 C-milk ¼ C-buttered crumbs

Wash and peel the onions. Cook in one quart of water. Allow to boil five minutes. Change the water and continue boiling ten minutes. Change the water again, and when thoroughly cooked (about fifteen minutes more), remove from the fire and drain.

Melt the butter, add the flour and salt and mix thoroughly. Add the milk and cook one minute. Add the onions, and pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish. Place the buttered crumbs on the top of the onions and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.

Mocha Cake (Twelve portions) 1/3 C-butter 1 C-sugar 2 eggs 1 C-strong coffee ½ t-vanilla 2 C-flour 3 t-baking powder

Cream the butter, add the sugar and cream the mixture, add the egg-yolks, mix well and add the coffee, vanilla, flour and baking powder. Beat two minutes. Add the stiffly beaten egg-whites. Pour the mixture into two layer-cake pans prepared with waxed paper. Bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. When cool, spread with the mocha icing. Mocha Icing (Twelve portions)

[420]