36 AMERICAN 
HE same is true of corn- 
meal. ‘Hasty pudding,” 
as it is called, may have had 
its name given it in sarcasm, 
for cornmeal which has been 
cooked an hour is infinitely 
better than when cooked only 
half an hour. How many 
know the joy of eating fried 
cornmeal mush? Pack firmly 
in a bowl the mush left from 
breakfast: Hor the next 
morning, slice, dip in egg and 
then in breadcrumbs, or dip 
in flour; then fry in hot fat, 
being sure to have a gener- 
ous supply of the fat in the 
griddle. Served with maple 
syrup, or with crispy 
browned bacon (not burned on the edges) this is a deli- 
cious breakfast dish. 
ICE is another thing which many fail to cook properly, 
and is a fine cereal for breakfast. For many years this 
has been our Sunday morning cereal, served with maple 
syrup, and two daughters with homes of their own are now 
serving it to their children. Take about a gallon of water, 
or any large kettle nearly full; put in a heaping tablespoon 
of salt. When this is boiling madly, pour in slowly one or 
two cups of rice, according to your needs. Keep stirring 
until boiling begins again. The rapid boiling keeps the 
kernels of rice moving, and the horrid mushiness so often 
found in rice is avoided. After twenty minutes of rapid 
boiling (not twenty minutes from the time you put the rice 
on) drain dry in a coarse sieve and put back in kettle in a 
hot place, where it should steam for five minutes. Each 
kernel will be found perfect, and the whole will be puffy, 
instead of mush-like. Rice griddle-cakes, if made right and 
then cooked properly, are very delicious. Take one cup of 
rice, one cup of milk, one heaping teaspoon of baking 
powder, half a teaspoon of salt, and flour enough to make 
a stiff batter. Try one cake, and add flour if too thin, or 
milk if too thick. Be sure to have the fat quite deep, for 
rice cakes take up more fat than any other. 
WONDER if many of our younger housewives realize 
the difference between the old-time buckwheat cakes and 
this ready-to-cook buckwheat flour? Just try this rule once 
to see how your grandmother used to make them. I believe 
you will think them worth the extra trouble. Take two 
cups of buckwheat flour, half a cake of compressed yeast, a 
small teaspoonful of salt, half a cup of cornmeal, and two 
tablespoonfuls of molasses. Use enough tepid water to 
make a thin batter; beat briskly, and put in a warm place 
for the night. A crock is thought to be the best thing to mix 
this batter in. In the morn- 
ing, put in a quarter of a tea- 
spoon of soda. This is the 
season when these fine cakes 
are supposed to be the least 
harmful. I do not share in 
the common fear with regard 
to them. Moderation, 
coupled with good cheer, are 
all that is needed. If one is 
sour and disagreeable, and in 
silence eats fifteen of these 
cakes, he ought to pay the 
penalty; but he ought not to 
blame the cakes. 
O you realize, you house- 
wife, how few cooks 
HOMES AND 
Toast arranged as here shown will never become soggy and heavy and 
an unfit adjunct to the breakfast 
The housewife should see that the rolls are served hot 
GARDENS January, 1912 
understand the art of making 
good toast? A bit of bread 
burned on the edges and pale 
in the center, with a dab of 
butter here and there, which 
melts through to the other 
side, leaving the intervening 
places dry, is not good toast. 
I have never been able to do 
many things while making 
toast without the toast suffer- 
ing. I have found it a good 
plan to have all the rest of 
the breakfast ready before 
starting on the toast; then, 
with close attention, con- 
stantly turning and changing, 
a delicate, brown, crisp slice 
of toast is the result. I pre- 
fer to have all the slices browned before I begin to but- 
ter them, and I think it best to have the butter somewhat 
soft. I always pile the toast, after it is buttered, in log- 
cabin style, for this will prevent it steaming and thus be- 
coming soft. Keep the toast in the oven till ready to serve, 
and a fine crisp article will be the result. 
HERE are so many ways of making coffee that it is 
hard to decide which way is the best. I, belonging as 
I do to the old-fashioned class of cooks, prefer the good old 
way, made with an egg. In these days of exorbitant prices, 
I cannot always do this. However, this I can and always 
do. I save all my eggshells, I put the shells of two eggs 
into the coffee-pot with four tablespoons of coffee. On this 
I put four cups of cold water, and allow this to stand for 
about fifteen minutes, after which I place it on the hot part 
of the stove to boil up quickly; then it is set back where it 
will keep hot till served. It is always clear. When my egg- 
shells give out I use my percolator, and notice the loss in 
flavor at once, although the same coffee is used in both cases. 
REAT care should always be used to have the fruit 
served attractively. Always avoid mussiness of every 
kind, and try to vary this part of your breakfast menu. 
Cooked fruits, particularly apples, are always good, and are 
even preferred by many. A rich, juicy green apple, for 
instance, with its core taken out and the hollow filled with 
sugar, a small pinch of salt to each apple, and a little cin- 
namon sifted over all, is a fine dish. I always put a little 
water in the pan, and a luscious syrup is formed, which does 
away with the need of cream. 
HE light breakfast of fruit, cereal, and rolls or toast 
with coffee is certainly a boon to the housewife who does 
her own work. I am not an advocate of those uncooked 
cereals, or, rather, the cereals which only need to be put in 
the oven for a few minutes. I think the freshly-cooked 
cereal will generally tempt 
even a jaded appetite. An 
egg cooked as a person pre- 
fers, or an omlet—these fur- 
nish ‘staying’ qualities, 
needed sometimes by the ac- 
tive workers of a household. 
UT the thing most need- 
ed is the jollity, the com- 
radeship, too often lost. In 
this beginning of the new 
year let one of the resolu- 
tions be to have a care of 
other members of the house- 
hold, and by a gracious pres- 
ence bring more joy in the 
family. 
