998 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 12, 1022 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day 
Pain 
Bray garbed and wan he came and knocked 
Seeking for shelter here. 
In haste the portal I unlocked 
More in surprise than fear. 
1 feared him soon ; in sorrow sore 
I begged him to depart, 
llis hands but tightened more and more 
About tny aching heart 
Until at last, becoming used 
To my companion grim. 
His teaching 1 no more refused. 
Hut smiled one day on him. 
He turned—the room was filled with light; 
TJpon his visage fair 
I silent gazed, grown clear my sight. 
For Love was written there. 
—ELIZABETH SCOLLARD 
in New York Herald. 
* 
One of our friends asks us to repeat 
the recipe for Thousand Islands pickles, 
which was printed in 1017. It is as 
follows: One quart green cucumbers, 
sliced. Do not peel. Measure after they 
are sliced. One large; onion, sliced; one 
large pepper, sliced; put in salt water. 
Let stand three hours, then drain. Heat 
one pint of vinegar, one-half teaspoon of 
mustard seed, one cup light brown sugar. 
Let this come to a boil, then add cucum¬ 
ber, onion and pepper. After adding 
these, let it come to the boil again, stir 
iu one-fourth teaspoon of turmeric, and 
remove from the fire. Put in jars and 
seal when cold. 
Perhaps some other reader is looking 
for "mystery pickle/' We have been 
asked to repeat this every season since 
it was first given, several years ago: 
Run one peck of green tomatoes, six 
medium-sized white onions and nine 
small green peppers through a meat cliop- 
per, stir iu one-half pint of salt, and let 
the mixture stand 24 hours. Drain, put 
on vinegar enough to cover, and cook half 
an hour. Add one-half pint of vinegar, 
one-half pound of sugar, two tablespoons 
of ground mustard, mixed with a little 
vinegar, two tablespoons of celery seed, 
one teaspoon each allspice, cinnamon and 
cloves and a half pint of grated horse¬ 
radish. Bottle. A pickle of this kind, 
molded into a little mound, used to be 
served with all meats at a popular New 
York chophouse. and as the recipe was 
kept secret, the restaurant’s patrons 
called it “mystery pickle.” 
* 
Our favorite mustard pickle is the fol¬ 
lowing, which is excellent in flavor, but 
mild. Those who like hot. pickles should 
add hot peppers to it. As it came to us 
originally no white pepper was used, 
but we think it an improvement. One 
quart little cucumbers, one quart small 
onions, one quart green tomatoes, cut in 
pieces, or green cherry tomatoes left 
whole, one quart cauliflower broken up 
into florets, one quart small, tender string 
beans, four green peppers. Wash the 
cucumbers, peel the onions, wash the 
cauliflower in strong salt water to draw 
out any concealed insects, remove the 
stems from tomatoes, Cut the peppers, 
removing stems and seeds. Soak all the 
vegetables over night in brine. Iu the 
morning put the kettle containing vege¬ 
tables aud brine on the stove and bring to 
the scalding point. Then drain off th>* 
brine and cover the pickles with sauce 
made as follows: Mix together one cup 
sugar, one Clip flour, one teaspoon ground 
white pepper, one-half pound ground mus¬ 
tard. Moisten gradually with two quarts 
vinegar, first stirring the dry materials to 
a paste, then thinning with remainder 
of the vinegar. Pour over the pickles in 
the kettle, and scald until the flour thick¬ 
ens; then put in jars. While this will 
keep in large jars without sealing, we 
prefer to put in smaller jars, as there 
seems to be less waste in using. 
* 
The following recipe for sour cucum- 
ber pickles was sent us several years ago, 
and we think it unusually good. It is 
very simple, and the pickles are crisp 
and well-flavored : Dissolve one pint of 
salt in one gallon of cold vinegar. Wash 
small cucumbers, and pour boiling water 
over them. Let stand 10 minutes, drain, 
pack in glass jars, pour the salted vine¬ 
gar over them, and seal. 
Cream Cooking 
“For gooducss sake! I never knew 
that you could use cream to cook with,” 
ejaculated my neighbor when l told her 
that I did all my baking with either 
sweet or sour cream, as I considered it 
just as cheap and far more healthy for 
the family than the great amounts of 
grease that many cooks use. 
“Why, I've lived on the farm all my 
life and never knew that you could use 
cream for anything but cake and cookies, 
and I have often thrown away little dabs 
of sour cream, just because 1 didn't know 
how to use it, It seemed a shame, but 1 
never saw anyone who could tell me bow 
to use it.” she continued, and the follow¬ 
ing are the recipes that I gave her: 
Sour Cream Biscuit.—Add one cup of 
sour cream to two cups of buttermilk or 
sour milk, and sift in half a sieve full of 
flour, to which has been added two level 
teaspoons of soda and one rounding tea¬ 
spoon of baking powder, also a level tea¬ 
spoon of salt. Stir all together and add 
enough flour to make as soft a dough as 
you can handle easily. Mix as lightly as 
possible aud bake in a moderate oven. 
Baking Powder Biscuit.—Take one- 
half sieve full of flour and add two heap¬ 
ing teaspoons of baking powder and one 
teaspoon of salt, sift into basin and add 
one cup thin sweet cream and two cups 
of not too rich sweet milk, and proceed 
as with recipe given above. Either of the 
above recipes make the most delicious 
shortcakes, meat pie crusts, or cinnamon 
rolls, making the rolls the same as with 
light bread dough and baking at once. To 
make the shortcake crust I roll out a 
piece of the dough till it is ns large as the 
tin used and about one-half inch thick, 
grease tin with warm grease, put dough 
in. turning it over once, and then put 
other piece on top to bake, or, if I wish 
something fancy, I make little individual 
cakes, fill them with peaches and heap 
the top with whipped cream. Either of 
the above recipes make good drop biscuits 
if stirred very thick before dropping. 
Another shortcake recipe or apple cob¬ 
bler top is made by adding three table¬ 
spoons ot thick sour cream to one cup of 
buttermilk and sifting in enough flour to 
make a dough that will spread easily. 
Add one teaspoon salt, one teaspoon soda 
and one teaspoon, rounding, of baking 
powder to the flour before sifting. 
To make a quick cherry pudding, 
spread this batter in a shallow basin and 
pour one pint of cherries over the top, 
bake till dune and serve with sugar and 
cream or milk. The batter should be 
quite stiff for this. 
Another delicious baked pudding is 
made by adding a beaten egg and one 
heaping tablespoon of sugar to the above 
batter, making slightly thinner, putting 
cherries in the basin and the dough on 
top, baking as before. Apices may be 
added to this batter if liked. For a sauce 
for this pudding just thicken slightly 
some of the sweetened cherry juice with 
cornstarch, serving in a glass dish. 
Brown Bread.—To make brown bread 
I take one cup of sour cream and two 
cups of buttermilk and sift in one sieve 
full of graham flour to which lias been 
added one large handful of flour, one toa- 
spo’ou of salt, one teaspoon of baking 
powder and two teaspoons level full of 
soda, stirring all together, adding one 
scant cup of sugar and two tablespoons 
of molasses. Stir very thick and bake 
either as bread or gems. 
Johnuyeake.—Add three large table¬ 
spoons of thick sour cream to one cup of 
buttermilk, also a scant one-fourth cup 
of sugar. But a large handful of flour 
into sieve, add two cups of cornmeal, one 
level teaspoon each of salt and soda, and 
one rounding teaspoon of baking powder. 
If not thick enough, add more meal till ii 
spreads easily without piling up. If eggs 
are plentiful I usually use one in this 
recipe, but it is nice without. 
Sour Cream Fried Cakes.—One and 
one-half cups of niigar, one well-beaten 
egg. one level tablespoon of thick sour 
cream and one cup of buttermilk. To 
this add two cups of flour to which lias 
been added one teaspoon each of salt and 
soda, a dash of nutmeg and a rounding 
teaspoon of baking powder; sift in and 
stir up. adding enough more flour to 
make the dough handle well. 
Sweet Cream Fried Cakes.—Two-thirds 
of a cup of sweet cream, one cup sugar, 
two well-beaten eggs and two-thirds cup 
of sweet skim-milk. Sift into this two cups 
of flour, to which has been added a small 
pinch of soda, a dash of nutmeg and one 
and one-half teaspoons of baking powder; 
mix very lightly, handling as little as pos¬ 
sible, and fry in very hot fat. These are 
more light and delicate than the first 
recipe given, but are much more expen¬ 
sive and do not keep as well, drying out 
quickly. 
To keep cakes from soaking fat I add 
a small pinch of ginger to the dough and 
a teaspoon of vinegar to the fat when put 
on to cook. A much more healthful and 
digestible fried cake can be made if half 
suet is used for frying fat. Half suet fat 
and half lard makes a pie crust that will 
not hurt anyone. 
When making fried cakes I make a few 
of the usual kind, a few old-fashioned 
twisted cakes, some lady fingers and a 
plate of surprises, all out of the same 
dough, and we do not have time to got 
tired of any one kind before they are 
goue. The surprises are made by cut¬ 
ting two circles of dough with the bis¬ 
cuit cutter, wetting the edges and put¬ 
ting together with a spoonful of pre¬ 
serves. jelly or jam iu the center, and 
frying iu hot fat. The lady fingers and 
surprises are dusted with powdered sugar 
aud the others are served plain. 
Cookies.—I took the old-fashioned 
cooky recipe that calls for one cup of 
sour cream and one cup of lard, and sub¬ 
stituted a cup of buttermilk for the lard, 
and found that I had a most delicious 
jumble, not only cheaper than the cookies 
with lai*d, but far more wholesome. This 
is the recipe; Two cups sugar, one cup 
sour cream, one cup buttermilk and two 
well-beaten eggs, flavoring with nutmeg 
and vanilla. To this add two cups of 
flour, si tied with one teaspoon each of 
salt and soda and a rounding teaspoon 
of baking powder. If you wish a very 
tasty, crisp cooky, leave out the butter¬ 
milk and add one cup of finely chopped 
walnut meats. Mix the buttermilk cook¬ 
ies as soft as can be handled and mix the 
nut cookies stiffer. 
Spice Cake.—Two eggs, one cup sugar 
and one cup sour cream, all in one dish; 
add a large cup of flour, to which hag 
been added one teaspoon each of salt, 
soda aud cinnamon and a dash each of 
cloves and nutmeg; also a rounding tea¬ 
spoon of baking powder. Add enough 
more flour to make rather a stiff batter, 
put in tin and sprinkle sugar and cinna¬ 
mon over ilie top, and watch carefully 
while baking, as it burns easily. If cream 
is very thick, take out two tablespoons 
and fill cup with buttermilk, for if too 
thick the cake will fall. For plain cake, 
leave out spices and flavor with extract, 
for fruit cake add one cup of chopped 
raisins, or whole raisins if liked; for 
marble cake, color half of the batter with 
cocoa, flavoring with vanilla, and for nut 
cake use one-half cup each of cream and 
buttermilk and add one cup meat nuts. 
Beat hard and put iu oven as soon as 
done beating. 
Sour Cream Layer Cake.—Break two 
eggs in a cup. add two tablespoons of 
buttermilk and fill cup with thick sour 
cream, adding to one cup of sugar. Sift 
in a large cup of flour to which has been 
added one teaspoon each of salt and soda 
and one rounding teaspoon of baking 
powder. Boat well and bake quickly, and 
if you wish a dark cake, add cocoa to the 
batter; flavor with vanilla and ice with 
white icing. Cocoanut is fine on this. 
Sweet Cream Layer Cake.—Break two 
eggs in a cup and fill cup with thin sweet 
cream, add one scant cup of sugar and 
one cup of flour, sifted with salt, and one 
heaping teaspoon of halting powder. Beat 
hard and bake quickly. This makes a 
beautifully fluffy cake. It is impossible 
to give exact measures of flour used, be¬ 
cause cream varies so in texture, but by 
testing for a while before halting it will 
soon enable anyone to use these recipes 
without trouble, anil the time saved by 
not having to stop to cream together the 
grease and sugar, or beat ingredients sep¬ 
arately is considerable, and nothing 
could be more wholesome. 
Oatmeal Cookies.—Two large clips of 
oatmeal in basin: sift in two cups flour 
to which has been added one teaspoon 
each of salt, cinnamon and soda, and a 
rounding teaspoon of baking powder, 
mixing well. Add two well-beaten eggs, 
one cup sugar, one cup sour cream and 
one cup chopped raisins. Drop by spoon¬ 
fuls on greased tins and hake. 
Cream cooking is not as expensive as 
most people consider it, and the pure 
wholesomeness of it will appeal to all 
who try these recipes. 
IVA BEA KENNEDY. 
To Cook the Woodchuck 
The recipe for cooking 'chuck begins 
the same as the famous one for cooking 
rabbit: “First, catch the woodchuck," if 
you live in the country. Now inspect it. 
Thcv tell ns the old males are unfit for 
food, and we never cook any 'chuck until 
they have been out at least a month since 
hibernating. Of course no animal is fit 
for food that has remained long in a trap. 
Woodchucks come out to feed very early 
in the morning, and four o'clock or a 
little later in the afternoon. So our 
boys inspect the traps early in the morn¬ 
ing and at noon and night. 
The next thing is carefully to skin, 
dress and wash the woodchuck and re¬ 
move superfluous fat, if any. This fat 
can be tried out and Is excellent for oil¬ 
ing all leather, and also is excellent to 
rub on the chest for severe colds, but its 
stain is almost impossible to remove from 
clothing. Parboil the meat, using a level 
teaspoon of soda in the water, turn off 
this water and boll iu slightly salted 
water until tender. It may now he 
eaten, hut is most delicious fried in but¬ 
ter or any preferred fat. “As good as 
chicken” is what most people say. 
MOTHER BEE. 
