Thanksgiving Menu Recipe

In the first place, talk over with her and decide about the number to be

entertained, and then settle on the menu. Get her to express her

opinions, and if they are good let her see that you approve them by

following her suggestions. If they are not good point out wherein they

are at fault, and after deciding what dishes are to be served, show her

how to write out the bill of fare in proper form. This should then be

hung up in the kitchen for reference, as otherwise it would be an easy

matter to overlook something or make a mistake. If, for instance, a

simple dinner of the usual good things is desired, it should be written

out in this way--and the child herself can do the writing:



DINNER



Consomme



Roast Turkey, with Dressing



Cranberry Sauce Pickles Celery



Mashed Potatoes Creamed Onions



Mince Pie Cream Cheese



Coffee Nuts Raisins





MARKETING



The day before let the child help in the marketing. As she has already

been shown how to make consomme, she can now be allowed to do it by

herself, and set it away to be heated up when needed. When you go to buy

the turkey, vegetables and fruits, show her the right kind to select.

Explain that the celery should be crisp and white, not wilted and

discolored; the cranberries hard and red, not soft and brown in spots;

the oranges solid and heavy, not pithy and light.



Have her consult the list made before starting out, to be sure she gets

everything needed before beginning her cooking.



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DRESSING THE TURKEY



Returning home, as soon as the turkey is delivered show her how to dress

it. This is always an interesting process, and while few mothers like to

see their girls really do this work, they ought to explain it fully.

After taking out the pinfeathers and singeing, the skin should be

carefully washed with warm water, soap and a small clean cloth, for so

much dust adheres to the flesh of poultry that in no other way can it be

removed. As fowls are usually drawn at the market, now take out the

giblets, tear away the lights, rinse thoroughly the inside and then

sprinkle with salt.





MOIST STUFFING



The little cook herself can be allowed to make the stuffing. To each

loaf of stale bread, broken in small pieces, add salt and pepper to

taste, two tablespoonfuls of butter, half-teaspoonful of ground sage and

boiling water enough to slightly moisten.





DRY STUFFING



For dry dressing, crumble the bread, omit the water, but use four

tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Pack in the turkey very loosely. Some

people like this seasoned with thyme, while others prefer onion.





OYSTER STUFFING



Or if oyster dressing is preferred, omit sage and add instead one pint

of oysters, using the liquor to dampen the bread. Pack lightly in the

turkey, sew up the opening with white thread and set away in a cool

place.





CRANBERRY SAUCE



Taking the cranberries next, the child can sort them over, wash and put

in a granite kettle, allowing half a cupful of water and two cupfuls of

sugar to each quart of berries. Place over a slow fire, and after

boiling fifteen or twenty minutes, stirring only enough to keep from

burning, remove and set away until cool enough to pour in a glass dish.

Berries cooked this way will keep their shape, be transparent and a

bright, pretty red.





MINCE MEAT



The mince-meat takes some time to prepare, and is much better if made a

week or two beforehand and allowed to stand in a tightly covered jar.

Our small cook can help get ready the raisins, currants, citron, orange

peel, and apples while the beef is boiling, and then will be delighted

to do the chopping. To half a pound of lean beef, cooked until well done

and chopped fine, add half a pound of chopped suet and one pound of

chopped tart apples, prepared separately. To this put half a pound of

currants, cleaned and dried, half a pound of seeded raisins, half a

pound of citron, cut in small pieces, two cupfuls of light-brown sugar,

an even teaspoonful salt, half a teaspoonful each of ground cloves and

allspice, one teaspoonful cinnamon, one-fourth teaspoonful grated

nutmeg, one tablespoonful of finely broken dried orange peel, juice of

one lemon, one pint of boiled cider. Boil slowly for an hour, add, if

desired, one-half cupful of brandy, and then pack away in a crock in a

cool place. This recipe, with full directions for mixing, should then be

written out in the small cook-book, for although it may not be needed

again for a long time, it will be ready for reference at any moment,

ready for use without any doubt or trouble--and "the kind that mother

used to make." Mince-meat is so fascinating, too, on account of all the

good things that go into it, that scarcely anyone that ever made it

right once can fail thereafter.



Every girl should know how to make good pie crust, and as it is

principally a matter of having the ingredients chilled from the ice-box,

almost anyone can be successful by taking a little care.








PLAIN PASTRY



Sift one and one-half cupfuls of flour with one-half teaspoonful salt.

Chop through this until like meal a half-cupful of chilled lard. Add

just enough ice-water to make a stiff dough, and turn out with as

little handling as possible on a floured bread-board. Sprinkle on flour

enough to keep from sticking to rolling-pin, and dividing into sections,

roll to fit the size of the pie-pan. (Perforated tins are preferable.)

Add filling, put on thinly-rolled top crust, with a few openings in

center to emit steam, and bake about half an hour, after pressing the

edges thoroughly together to keep in all juice. If desired shorter,

three-quarters of a cupful of lard can be used, but the dough must be

kept thoroughly chilled, and it is best made in a cold room.





SETTING THE TABLE



Then, on Thursday morning begin the dinner in plenty of time, so there

will be no hurry or confusion at the last moment. The table can be set

early, the little maid being shown the silver required. At the right of

each plate put the knife, soup spoon and necessary teaspoons; at the

left the forks, three if a salad is served. The glass for water is

placed to the right of the center, in line with the knife, and the

napkin either directly in the center on the service-plate or to the left

of the forks. If no flowers are available for table decorations, pile

the fruit up attractively for a centerpiece, using the small dishes of

nuts and raisins at each end to balance.



The vegetables next should be prepared. Trim off the long green ends of

the celery and the discolored outside stalks, (which will make a nice

cream of celery soup next day), and then instead of separating the

remaining stalks, cut through the whole bunches into quarter sections or

smaller. In this way each person gets part of the inside tender heart,

and the celery is more attractive.



When dinner is all ready, if there is no maid to help, the easiest way

is to have the soup served and placed on the table just before calling

out the guests. Then, when ready for the next course, our little cook

can remove the soup plates, taking from the right side of each person,

and bring on the dinner. When that is over, she must remove all the

dishes before each one, clear the table of everything but the water

glasses and the decorations, brush the cloth with a folded napkin and a

plate to catch the crumbs, and lastly bring in the dessert. Every family

has its own way as regards details, but a mother can very quickly get a

child into the habit of being neat, careful and quiet about handling

dishes. And she must always remember to proffer food on a tray, at the

left.














Christmas Dinner



Our little cook, after her experience at Thanksgiving, will probably be

most eager to take part in the preparations for the Christmas dinner.

Consult her now, as before; tell her all your ideas, get her

suggestions, and then make all plans at least a week beforehand.

Holidays should be holidays for the hostess as well as the guest, and

can be made so by the choice of a dinner that is good and at the same

time easily prepared. The suggested menu following will be found

attractive enough for any party, and at the same time it is neither

expensive nor very difficult to get ready.



Let the little girl again make out the bill of fare and hang up in the

kitchen for reference, make out her list for market and grocery, and

help in the selection of the goose, the vegetables and the fruits. Thus

she will learn the best kinds to buy and what they cost, and

incidentally mother and daughter can have a regular little lark out of

the expedition and become better chums than in almost any other way.





CHRISTMAS MENU



MENU FOR CHRISTMAS DINNER



Raw Oysters, Horseradish



Roast Goose Apple Sauce Celery



Mashed Potatoes Lima Beans



Tomato Jelly Salad



Plum Pudding



Fruit Nuts Raisins



Coffee



The first dish to make, strange to say, is the last one on the list, and

the plum pudding is better if made several weeks before it is needed,

and then simply steamed up again for a couple of hours just before

serving. A fine old recipe that had been in a friend's family for years,

was once given me, but as it filled six molds I reduced it to the

following proportions, which is ample for a mold large enough for eight

people:





PLUM PUDDING



One-half cupful butter, three-quarters cupful sugar, one-quarter pound

suet, two and one-half cupfuls flour, one-half pound seeded raisins,

one-half pound currants, one ounce citron, three eggs yolks and whites

(beaten separately), one-half cupful milk, one-quarter cupful almonds

(blanched and chopped fine), one-quarter cupful brandy (or boiled cider

if preferred), one-half teaspoonful cloves, one-quarter teaspoonful

nutmeg, one teaspoonful cinnamon.



After getting all her ingredients out on the table and ready, the little

cook should cream her butter and sugar, beat in yolks, add milk, and

then stir in the flour alternately with the stiff whites. Then put in

the brandy and spice, and last of all the fruit and nuts, dredged with a

little flour. This should be well stirred, and then packed in a

thoroughly greased covered mold and steamed for four hours.





HARD SAUCE



Two kinds of sauce are nice for this pudding, served together. A hard

sauce is made by creaming one-half cupful of butter in one cupful of

fine sugar, adding half teaspoonful of brandy or vanilla and one

teaspoonful cream and stirring until light and creamy. It can be set in

a bowl of hot water at first to help make the butter cream, but after

being beaten light should be set in the cold to harden. A teaspoonful

of this hard sauce is served on each portion of the pudding.





HOT SAUCE



The following hot sauce is poured around: one-quarter cupful butter, one

cupful sugar, one teaspoonful flour. Mix flour and sugar, add butter and

one cupful cold water, and stir until it boils and thickens. Flavor with

nutmeg.



The day before Christmas repeat the lesson in dressing a fowl, and let

her make the stuffing from the recipe used before, only this time she

should omit the sage or oysters and season with a small onion chopped

fine.





APPLE SAUCE



For the accompanying apple sauce, let her peel and quarter half a dozen

tart apples, put on to cook in a cup of cold water, and when tender

press through a colander, sweeten to taste, and then put in a pretty

glass dish and grate nutmeg over the top. This should then be covered

and set away until ready to be carried to the table.





OYSTERS ON THE HALF SHELL



As we intended to have as little work as possible about this particular

dinner, I have suggested raw oysters for the first course instead of a

soup. Serve on the half-shell if you can get them that way, putting a

little chopped ice on each plate to hold the shells in place, giving

four or five oysters to each person, and putting one empty shell in the

center to hold the horseradish or slice of lemon. If the oysters are

opened at the market all you have to do is to see that they are kept on

ice until served.





TOMATO JELLY SALAD



For the tomato jelly salad, first boil together until very tender one

quart can of tomatoes, one small sliced onion, six cloves, one-half

cupful chopped celery. Strain through a jelly bag, season with salt and

pepper, and add gelatin which has been dissolving in a few spoonfuls of

cold water. As different brands vary, however, study the directions on

the box in order to get the right amount to stiffen one quart of jelly.



If the gelatin does not thoroughly melt with the warm tomato juice, set

over the fire for a few moments, and then pour into small molds (wine

glasses or after-dinner coffee cups will serve nicely), and set away to

harden over night. Next morning fix the required number of salad dishes

with lettuce leaves or tender cabbage cut in strings, and turn out

carefully the molded tomato jelly. Over the top of each drop a large

spoonful of thick boiled dressing.





CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS



A pretty idea for a Christmas table is to carry out as fully as possible

a color scheme of red and green. The centerpiece, of course, should be

of holly, and a novel one it will be if large beautiful pieces are put

in the upper part of a double boiler and set out to freeze. I did this

once by accident, and when I went for my holly there it was--imbedded in

a solid block of ice. The shape of the oat-meal kettle, like a

flowerpot, allowed the ice to turn out easily, and it could then be set

on a plate and trimmed around the bottom with the holly leaves. A couple

of bolts of red baby ribbon will be enough for streamers from the

chandelier to each plate, at which should be a pretty piece of the

holly--or better still, if you can get them, three or four red

carnations for each lady, and one for the buttonhole of each gentleman.





COLOR SCHEME



To carry out this color plan, the oysters should be served with catsup

and garnished with parsley, the tomato jelly be turned out on lettuce,

the plum pudding (ablaze with a spoonful of alcohol) decorated with

holly, and the candy--red and white peppermint wafers--tied with green

baby ribbon.



If the details of preparing the dinner have been followed out as I have

suggested, and everything possible done the day before, on Christmas

morning there will be little to do: the goose to put into the oven and

roast, the potatoes to mash and the beans to dress, the plum pudding to

heat up, the sauce to prepare, with the gravy and the coffee to make at

the last moment. Our small cook of course has the celery cleaned

preparatory to cutting up, and the nuts all cracked, and she can tie up

the candy and assist with the decorations. Having helped set the table

for the Thanksgiving party, she will feel perfectly competent to

undertake the arrangement now, alone, and you, Mother, can say, "You

have gotten along with everything so nicely, and remembered so well, I

will let you put on the dishes and silver all by yourself." Then when

she reports that all is ready, look over the work yourself and see that

it is all right. Possibly she will have misplaced some pieces, forgotten

others, but if you point out the errors and have her remedy the mistakes

herself, she will likely remember next time and make her table a

well-appointed one.

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