1412 THIS R U KAL 
A Dinner to Suit Mr. Pratt 
Reported by Edna S. Knapp 
Materials Required. —“I want just 
such a dinner as my mother used to get,” 
observed Mr. Pratt thoughtfully. ‘‘I 
want a stuffed roast rooster, a good- 
sized one, not more than a year old, or a 
year and a half at the most. It better 
not he more than half that. I want a 
good chicken pie with plenty of crust and 
made -in a deep dish. I want broiled 
chicken, too, not very large ones, young 
ones but not regular broilers will do. 
Then broiled young pigeons or squabs 
would go well. For vegetables, I would 
like Ilubbard squash baked, turnips, the 
flat Fall kind, boiled and mashed, fried 
parsnips, baked potatoes, and celery. Ap¬ 
ple butter to go with the meat would 
taste good.” 
‘•How about dessert?” 
‘‘I want plum pudding, an Indian pud¬ 
ding with apples in it, an old-fashioned 
custard pie that is deep, a good mince 
pie, an apple pie served with cheese, 
shellbacks (I like them twice as well as 
the mixed nuts) raisins, grapes, McIn¬ 
tosh Red apples, and sweet cider made 
from Russet apples, it is the best there 
is.” 
“No candy?” asked Mrs. Pratt, who 
knew his sweet tooth. 
“What would you need of candy after 
that dinner?” answered her husband. 
“You have nothing more to add to the 
bill of fare, then?” 
“No, only I’d want to take a long walk 
afterwards; I guess I’d need it,” he said 
smiling. 
“I guess you’d need two long walks.” 
said Mrs. Pratt with decision. 
“I can’t think of anything I’d like so 
well for Thanksgiving dinner as that,” 
said Mr. Pratt. 
“The dinner seems to be pretty well 
planned, only there is such a lot of it.' - 
said Mrs. Pratt. 
“In some farmers’ families, when I was 
a boy, they would have all that and then 
have roast beef and roast pork to fol¬ 
low,” said her husband. 
“How big was the farmer’s family?” 
“Fifteen.” 
“They had all those things on the place, 
and could put them away in a cold place 
Our house is smaller, and the whole 
house is heated. We lack their facilities 
for keeping a quantity of food.” 
Keeping Food. —“That’s so. I’ve 
known my mother to make pumpkin, ap¬ 
ple and mince pies at Thanksgiving and 
keep them frozen until into March. She 
would make doughnuts, too, but she nev¬ 
er could keep them more than a month.” 
“The roast rooster would make a good 
foundation for a meal, but I’d cut out the 
chicken pie.” 
“Mother always had roast chicken and 
chicken pie.” 
‘You don’t need the broiled chicken if 
you have broiled squabs, I’d cut those 
out, I think.” 
“You take the squabs and cook them 
that way and they are fine,” protested 
Mr. Pratt. 
“Well, we’ll leave the roast chicken, 
chicken pie and broiled pigeons, then. 
But I think you need some pickles with 
all that sweet stuff.” 
“I think so too. Let’s have your mixed 
pickles, then.” 
The Housekeeper’s Work. —“The 
menu is all right for a large family; for 
a small one it will do if not too much 
of any one thing is cooked. But do you 
realize at all the amount of work in¬ 
volved in preparing such a dinner?” 
“I think if a man wants any such din¬ 
ner, he ought to be willing to do his part; 
we always did at home,” said Mr. Pratt. 
“I wish some of the things could be 
cooked in the old brick oven, they tasted 
so good.” 
“My fireless cooker will do just as 
well,” said Mrs. Pratt. 
“That’s so,” said Mr. Pratt. 
“You are satisfied, then, with the 
menu as it stands? It seems to me like 
a lot of food.” 
“Not too much for a farmer’s family 
in time of plenty, and with farmers’ ap¬ 
petites.” 
“It is just as easy to cook the chickens 
different ways, some do not like chicken 
pie,” reflected Mrs. Pratt. “I suppose 
you want gravy with the rooster?” 
“Who ever heard of roast chicken 
without gravy?” jeered Mr. Pratt. 
“Fried parsnips would be a bother at 
the last minute when I was busy taking 
up dinner, they burn so easily,” she 
said. 
“Cut them out, only they do taste 
fine.” he replied. 
“It is just as easy to cook one pie of 
a kind, but I should cut out the plum 
pudding and recommend soda mints in 
addition to the walk.” 
At this point, sure of the dinner he 
wanted, Mr. Pratt returned to his neg¬ 
lected paper. Mrs. Pratt went for her 
“card catalogue of recipes” as I asked: 
“Please tell me how you would prepare 
this dinner.” 
Recipes Required.—"Y ou will have to 
read 
over to 
me 
the 
bill of 
fare. 
I am 
afraid 
I do 
not 
remember it 
all.” 
Then 1 
is I 
did 
so she 
con- 
tinued, 
, “The 
apple 
butter was 
made 
last Summer in the fireless cooker, after 
I had sifted and seasoned the apples. It 
saves so much time and trouble stirring 
it. 20 pounds apples cored, five pounds 
brown sugar, two tablespoons cinnamon, 
one cup cider vinegar, if the apples be 
sweet, a scant cup. Stew the apples 
without paring, sift, add the other in¬ 
gredients, then cook until thick. I taste 
the stuff and add seasoning until it is 
just right for our taste. The mixed 
pickle came from The R. N.-Y. some 
time back, and I do not need to repeat 
it. Of course I do as much work as I 
can the previous day. The night be¬ 
fore I get the rooster all ready and put 
it in a cool place. 1 will give you our 
rule for dressing, but most people would 
want more seasoning. Take one quart 
stale bread crumbs, 1 % tablespoons 
grated onion, 1 % tablespoon melted but¬ 
ter, 1 V» cup cold water, one egg, one- 
half teaspoon sage, one-lialf teaspoon 
salt, one-quarter teaspoon celery salt. 
Moisten the crumbs with the cold water, 
add the other things and fold in the beat¬ 
en egg.” 
The Fireless Cooker.—“Y ou spoke 
of having a fireless cooker, what would 
you use that for?” 
“I would stew the chicken for the pie 
in that the day before, then bake the pie 
with the crust in it Thanksgiving day. I 
would brush over the crust with milk 
first, as Mr. Pratt is very particular 
about having it get nicely browned. I 
would cook the Indian apple pudding in 
it the day before and warm the pudding 
up later in the stove oven. This is my 
rule for the pudding: Scald one quart 
sweet milk, add seven tablespoons corn- 
meal, boil until the cornmeal swells, take 
NEW-YORKER 
from the stove, add one-half cup cold 
water, one teaspoon ginger, two thirds 
cup molasses, one-half teaspoon salt, add 
two cups apple sliced as for pies. Pour 
the mixture over the apples and bake 
from an hour and a half to two hours in 
a slow oven, or proportionately longer 
in the fireless.” 
“Do you have any special rule for 
squabs?” 
“No, just split them down the back 
and wash out and broil over the coals 
and serve on toast.” 
“And now, about the vegetables?” 
Preparing Vegetables. —“Oh, anybody 
knows how to cook them. I scrub the 
potatoes very thoroughly and scrape them 
a bit if they are rough, then grease them 
over with butter or lard. I slit up the 
ends of the celery and put the stalks 
into icewater to make the ends curl. I 
use six eggs in the custard pie instead 
of four as usual to the quart of milk. I 
will give you our rule for mincemeat be¬ 
cause we like it so well. We have the 
liiekorynuts on the place, and Mr. Pratt 
is very fond of them. Four cups chopped 
apple, one cup nut meats chopped, one 
cup cracker crumbs, one-half cup prune 
marmalade, six cups apple juice, one- 
third teaspoon cinnamon, one cup raisins, 
one-half cup molasses, one-half cup 
sugar, one-quarter cup butter, one-third 
teaspoon nutmeg. Boil the apple juice 
down to one and two-thirds cups, put 
dry cooked prunes through a sieve to 
make the marmalade, add the other things 
and cook an hour or more, this will fill 
two pies.” 
“That sounds good but is a deal of 
work,” I remarked. 
“It is good,” said Mrs. Pratt with em¬ 
phasis. Then turning to her husband 
she said, “There is nothing here planned 
for supper.” 
“I wouldn’t want any,” he replied 
promptly. 
War-time Domestic Economy. 
We get very little of the truth regard¬ 
ing home and domestic life in Germany 
during the present war. One day we are 
told that the people are suffering from 
food, while the next day there will come 
the story of plenty. Now and then, 
however, a true statement of conditions 
filters through, and there can be no doubt 
that among the middle-class people the 
question of running the household and 
cutting down expenses is a terrible one. 
The American Association of Commerce 
and Trade is a German organization, 
which publishes weekly reports on Ger¬ 
man conditions. It recently contained 
the story of a German woman and her 
children. This family lives in Berlin, 
and is of moderate means and good edu¬ 
cation. The husband has been in the 
army for five months. The children num¬ 
ber six, ranging from three to 17 years 
November 27, 1915- 
of age. The wife was a bookkeeper be¬ 
fore her marriage, and is now at work 
in the same profession. The oldest 
daughter works in a candy factory, and 
three other children attend school The 
second daughter, 14 years, besides going 
to school takes care of the house and 
cooking, and also cares for the little chil¬ 
dren. The family budget is given as 
follows, the German mark being about 24 
cents. 
Income per month in marks: 
Salary of wife. 125.— 
Salary of daughter. Go.— 
War relief. SO.— 
Total . 270- 
Expenses per month in marks: 
Rent for 4 rooms and kitchen... 90.— 
Food, four meals daily, averaging 
30.35 marks weekly. 121.40 
Light and heat. 15.— 
Clothing and shoes. 25.— 
Laundry . 6 .— 
Insurance . 10.— 
Surplus . 2.G0 
Total . 270.— 
This woman says that when hei hus¬ 
band went to the war she had to depend 
entirely upon the earnings of herself and 
oldest daughter. Therefore she made a 
thorough schedule for household economy, 
and is living up to it. The rent of her 
flat is 125 marks per month, and regard¬ 
ing the family food she makes the follow¬ 
ing statement: 
For breakfast we have cocoa prepared 
with skimmed milk; for the second 
breakfast sandwiches with cottage cheese 
or homemade plum jam. At noon we 
have a wholesome meal cooked with the 
help of our fireless cooker. Our last 
week’s daily bills of fare were: 
Sunday noon : rice soup, stewed .beef 
with potatoes, apple pudding. 
Sunday night: potato salad with hot 
sausages. 
Monday noon : barley broth, carrots 
with potatoes, rice with prunes. 
Monday night: liver sausages, sand¬ 
wiches. 
Tuesday noon : vegetable soup, herring 
with potatoes. 
Tuesday night: oatmeal, sandwiches. 
Wednesday noon : fruit soup, potato 
pancake. 
Wednesday night: flour soup, sand¬ 
wiches, plum sauce. 
Thursday noon: fruit soup (leavings 
from Wednesday night), stewed rabbit. 
Thursday night: oatmeal. 
Friday noon : vegetable soup, white 
fish in beer. 
Friday night: herring with potatoes. 
Saturday noon: bread soup, turnips 
with ox liver. 
Saturday night: buckwheat groats. 
The cost of this fare according to my 
notebook amounts to: 
Marks 
Sunday . 5.10 
Monday . 3.95 
Tuesday . 3 ,] 7 
Wednesday . 3.85 
Thursday . 4.15 
Friday . 4 35 
Saturday . 3.29 
Total . 27.86 
She calls this a cheap week, below the 
average. Certainly some of our country 
people who have only to go to the hen¬ 
house. the milk room or the smoke house 
to help themselves to an unlimited supply 
of food, may well be thoughtful over this 
German woman's economy. 
Mincemeat. 
Having seen on page 1275 two excel¬ 
lent recipes for mincemeat, they sug¬ 
gested that perhaps as meat is so high- 
priced some one may like a simple rule 
for mincemeat (minus the meat). We 
have used it for years, and all who have 
tried it have been well pleased. I have 
received lots of benefit from recipes found 
in your paper, as well as practical sug¬ 
gestions on many topics. 
Eight pounds of apples (peeled), three 
pounds brown sugar, two pounds raisins, 
one pound currants, one orange, one 
lemon and grated rind, spices to suit 
taste, half pound each of lemon and cit¬ 
ron peel, one quart of cider boiled down 
to a pint. Put apples, raisins and peel 
through meat chopper. I also add on» 
pound of tiny sultana raisins. Stir all 
together and cook until apples are tender. 
READER. 
Citiman : “Are you still troubled with 
your neighbor’s chickens?” Suburb: 
“Not at all. They are kept shut up 
now.” “How did you manage?” “Every 
night I hid a lot of eggs in the grass, and 
every morning, when my neighbor was 
looking, I went out and brought them in.” 
—Credit Lost. 
The Foundation of Thanksgiving Feast. 
