 Part one of When Mother Let's Us Cook. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Kara Schallenberg. When Mother Let's Us Cook. A book of simple recipes for little folk, with important cooking rules in rhyme, together with handy lists of the materials and utensils needed for the preparation of each dish. By Constance Johnson. Copyright 1916. Part one. Preface. To make something that we can eat. Surely it is always delightful to do this, and never quite so nice as when it is a stormy day, and one is, well, ten or twelve years old. My aim has been to give in this little book a few simple rules and recipes, which may serve as a beginning, and help small folks to have their fun without troubling mother and the cook too much. Yet I trust that these directions may prove useful to them, even when they are grown up housekeepers. The selection is made with a view to economy and a child's diet. Things to have. Tablespoons, teaspoons, measuring cup. Tables, plates, knives, all polished up. Egg beater, lifting knife, baking tin. Sauce pans, breadboard, rolling pin. A double boiler, a chafing dish. A wooden spoon, I know you'll wish. A flower sifter, a cutter too. A clock to show when the cooking's through. An apron to do the cooking in. And hands scrubbed clean before you begin. The Witch's Test. Put eggs in cold water to test them for food. If they float, they are bad. If they sink, they are good. And some people say that an egg is all right if you hold it up close to a flame that is bright and look through it end-wise and still see a light. Boiled eggs. Fresh eggs. Boiling water. Sauce pan. Never boil eggs that are not perfectly fresh. Cook them some other way. Put your fresh eggs, with their shells on, into a deep sauce pan. Fill the sauce pan with water that is actually boiling and see that the eggs are covered. Take the pan from the stove and cover it. It may be brought to the dining room table and the eggs will cook until you are ready to eat them. Boiled eggs are better cooked in water that does not continue to boil but be sure that the water is boiling hard when first poured over the eggs. Three minutes will be enough for soft-boiled eggs, fifteen for hard. Serve at once in a covered dish or wrapped in a clean table napkin. Boiled rice. One cup rice. Three quarts boiling water. One teaspoon full salt. Measuring cup. Siv. Teaspoon. Measure one cup full of rice. Pick it over carefully so that there will be no yellow grains or specks of dirt left in it. Then put the rice into a sieve or strainer and wash it. You can do this under the kitchen faucet or by pouring a pitcher full of cold water over the rice. Put three quarts of hot water into a deep sauce pan on the stove. The pan should have a cover. And when the water boils, pour in the rice very slowly and add one teaspoon full of salt. Stir it a few times with a fork and then put the cover on the pan and let the rice boil hard for about twenty minutes or until it is soft. Try a little with a fork when you think it is done. Drain the water off by pouring rice and all into your sieve. This is the best way to cook rice. Jelly warm over. Three tablespoons current jelly. Cold beef or mutton. Pepper and salt. French mustard. Saucepan or chafing dish. Spoons. If you have any cold beef or mutton left over from yesterday, cut it into rather thick slices. Take your saucepan and put it on a hot part of the stove. Put in your saucepan one heaping tablespoon full of butter and as soon as it is melted add a half teaspoon full of salt and a pinch of red pepper mixing it well with a spoon. If you like, add one teaspoon full of French mustard. Stir into this three generous tablespoon fulls of current jelly. When it is all smoking hot and well mixed, add your slices of meat. Cook for a few more minutes until the meat is heated through and has absorbed some of the sauce. Serve in a hot dish at once. Be sure to pour all the jelly sauce over the meat. Milk rule. For cooking milk, two rules I tell. Milk quickly burns so stir it well or cook it in a double pot. It curdles where the stove is too hot. Cream sauce for all sorts of things. One tablespoon full flour. One tablespoon full butter. One cup full milk. One teaspoon full salt. A quarter teaspoon full pepper. Saucepan or chafing dish. Spoon. Measuring cup. Put one tablespoon full of butter into a saucepan and put the saucepan on the stove. When the butter is melted, add one tablespoon full of flour. Stir every minute for it burns easily. When the butter and flour are frothy and well mixed, pour in one cup of milk or cream drop by drop, stirring with the other hand. Do this quickly, but be very careful not to let any lumps form. The stirring is to prevent this and also to keep the sauce from burning. Cook it till it boils up and then stir in one teaspoon full of salt and a quarter teaspoon full of pepper. The sauce is now ready for use. This is enough for a dish for three people. It can be used with warmed over meats, fish, toast or sliced hard boiled eggs. Scrambled eggs for three. Five eggs one cup milk one tablespoon full butter one teaspoon full salt half teaspoon full pepper egg beater saucepan or chafing dish teaspoon tablespoons. Break five eggs into a bowl being careful not to drop in any shells. Add one teaspoon full of salt and half of pepper. Beat for one minute with an egg beater. Add one cup of milk and beat a little longer. Have a saucepan, you can also use a chafing dish, on a hot part of the stove. Put into it one tablespoon full of butter and let it melt. Pour in the mixture and stir slowly. Pretty soon the egg will begin to stick to the bottom of the pan. Keep scraping it off as you stir. When most of the mixture the scramble is done. Do not let it get hard. Serve right away on hot plates. It is very nice to have some hot slices of toast ready and pour the mixture over them. Apple sauce apples sugar butter spices saucepan, sharp knife apple corer, strainer or sieve bowl. Cut them in quarters and lay these in a deep saucepan. Sprinkle the apples with granulated sugar allowing one cup for six good sized apples and add to this two tablespoon fulls of mixed spices cloves, cinnamon, ginger and so forth. If you do not like spices you need not put this in. Pour into the saucepan one cup of cold water and set the pan on a warm part of the stove. The apples should cook for about 15 minutes until they are quite soft and the water is partly boiled away leaving a syrup. Take a coarse sieve or strainer put one tablespoon of butter in the bottom of it and strain the applesauce into a bowl. Push it through the strainer with a spoon if necessary. Set the bowl in a cool place and serve the applesauce cold with milk or cream. Ready rule. This rule above all others heed have ready everything you need. Before you start be sure to read the whole recipe then work with speed. Stewed fruits When stewing fruits do not let them boil hard they should only simmer. Cover the fruit with cold water and add sugar if the fruit is sour. The saucepan should be put at the back of the stove and the fruit cooked until tender. This often takes from two to three hours. Never use tin pans to cook fruit. Stewed prunes One pound prunes saucepan Put your prunes into an agate saucepan and cover them with cold water allowing one quart of water to each pound of prunes. Put the pan at the back of the stove. Cook until the prunes are tender which will take about two and a half hours. Try them with a fork to see if they are soft and when done turn into a bowl to cool. This is enough for six people. They are good served with a little cream. Dried fruits are cooked like prunes. A little sugar may be added to the water if you like it better. Stewed rhubarb Rhubarb sugar measuring cup saucepan knife Cut off the green tops with a sharp knife and throw them away. Cut the stalks into pieces about one inch long. When you have cut enough to fill a quart measure put the pieces in a double boiler and barely cover them with cold water. Set the pot at the back of the stove to simmer for several hours. When you think the rhubarb is tender try it with a fork. Add one cup of granulated sugar to each quart of rhubarb. Put the pot on a hot part of the stove and let the mixture boil hard for two minutes. Pour into a dish to cool. This is enough for six people. Peaches, apricots, oranges, pears, apples, berries and so forth can all be stewed in the same way. It will not take so long to cook. Large fruits should be peeled. Things to remember. Sixteen tablespoons make one cup if milk or water fill it up. It takes but eight heaped full and high if what you measure is fine and dry. Sweet sauces raspberry sauce one quarter cup sugar one cup raspberries one third of a cup cream vegetable masher two bowls cheesecloth measuring cup, fork, egg beater measure one cup full of ripe raspberries pick them over carefully and wash them if necessary. Put the raspberries in a bowl with a quarter of a cup full of granulated sugar. Stand them for three quarters of an hour in a warm room. Spread a piece of cheesecloth over a bowl and pour the raspberries and sugar and all the raspberry juice into the cheesecloth. Fold the cheesecloth over so that the berries will be in a sort of bag and mash them with a wooden masher until all the juice and fine pulp have gone through the cheesecloth into the bowl. Put one third of a cup of cream into another bowl and whip it with an egg beater until very thick. Pour the raspberry juice over it carefully with a fork. This can be served with ice cream, plain cake, cold rice, hominy, farina, custards, etc. Hot chocolate sauce two cups sugar one cup full hot water two tablespoons cocoa boiling water one teaspoon full vanilla saucepan measuring cup, tablespoon measure two tablespoons of cocoa and put them in a cup with three tablespoons of boiling water. Stir with a spoon until the cocoa is all dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Put two cup fulls of granulated sugar into a saucepan with one cup full of hot water. Stand the saucepan on a hot part of the stove and let the water come to a boil. Do not stir it. The syrup should boil until it becomes brittle. That is, until a little dropped in cold water immediately hardens and will break. Add the cocoa and let the mixture boil until it is quite thick. Take the pan from the stove stir in one teaspoon full of vanilla and serve hot. This is good with ice cream, cake, and a variety of puddings such as snow pudding, custard, cornstarch, etc. custard sauce half pint milk one egg sugar, vanilla saucepan, tablespoon fork, bowl put one cup full of milk into a saucepan with one tablespoon full of granulated sugar. Break an egg into a bowl and beat it with a fork until the white and yolk are well mixed. Add this to the milk. Set the saucepan on the back part of the stove or over a small flame of the chafing dish. Let it cook until it thickens stirring gently all the time. Do not let it boil. When it is quite thick stir in a teaspoon full of vanilla and take the pan off the stove. This sauce is good hot or cold on the same things as the hot chocolate sauce. It can also be used for floating island which is made by pouring this sauce over slices of stale cake and just before serving putting on top of it the beaten whites of two eggs. Curly locks pudding one quart strawberries one cup sugar one tablespoon full lemon juice three tablespoons full cornstarch knife measuring cup, tablespoons lemon squeezer double boiler or chafing dish bowls pick over one quart of strawberries or raspberries, haul them and cut them in half. It is better to wipe the berries than wash them but sometimes they have to be washed. Cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a cup with a lemon squeezer. Measure one tablespoon full of the juice and put it in the top pan of a double boiler or chafing dish. Add to this one cup of granulated sugar and two cups of cold water. Put the pan on a hot part of the stove. Measure three tablespoons full of cornstarch and put it in a cup half full of cold water. Stir until the cornstarch has dissolved. When the sugar water has come to a hard boil add the dissolved cornstarch gradually. Stir until the mixture is thick and smooth. Now set the pan on to the lower part of your chafing dish or double boiler containing boiling water. Put the berries into the cornstarch mixture. Stir them in well and put your double boiler on a hot part of the stove. The mixture should cook for ten minutes. When done, turn the pudding out into a jelly mold and put aside to cool. Serve cold with milk or cream. This is enough for six people. When a dessert or jelly is to be served cold and turned out of a mold the mold should be washed with very cold water before the mixture is poured in. End of part one read by Kara Schallenberg on July 25th 2008 in San Diego, California. Part two of When Mother Let's Us Cook This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. When Mother Let's Us Cook This recording is produced by Constance Johnson Part two Waiting Rule Make your friends wait if there's any delay but never your omelet, cakes, or soufflé, for friends will not spoil but the other things may. Sweet Omelette 4 Eggs 3 teaspoon full powdered sugar half teaspoon full vanilla extract teaspoonful butter, chafing dish or double boiler, teaspoon, egg beater, spatula, two bowls for mixing, fork. Take two eggs and separate the whites and yolks. Put the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Add to the yolks two whole eggs, three generous teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar, and a half teaspoonful vanilla. Beat with an egg beater until very light. Put some boiling water in the underpan of your chafing dish or double boiler. A chafing dish is the best for it is easier to serve the omelette in the dish in which it is cooked and you cannot do this with an ordinary double boiler. Be sure that the lamp in your chafing dish is lighted. In the upper pan drop a teaspoonful of butter and as it melts spread it over the pan with a spoon so that the sides as well as the bottom are greased. Whip the two remaining whites with an egg beater until very stiff and mix them with the rest of the eggs very carefully with a fork. Pour into the buttered pan cover the pan and cook it without touching for 15 minutes. Serve at once in the same pan. If you use a double boiler loosen the sides of the omelette with a spatula or flexible knife so that it will come away from the pan. Fold half of it over the other half and turn out upon a hot plate. This is enough for three people. Cereal cakes, any cooked cereal, tablespoon full of butter, iron saucepan, turning knife or spatula, mixing bowl. Someday when there is cooked oatmeal or hominy or rice left over from breakfast ask your mother to let you make it into a lunch dish. Take a small iron saucepan and put it on the hot part of the stove. It should get very hot. Take the cold cereal in your hands and mold it into little cakes about the size of fish balls. Put a piece of butter as big as a sugar lump into the hot saucepan and as soon as it is all melted lay the little cakes into the pan. At the end of one minute lift up one of the cakes with your turning knife and if the underside has a brown crust on it turn the cake over. Do the same with each cake until they are all nicely browned on both sides. They should be eaten right away with sugar or maple syrup on them. Pancakes, one teaspoon full baking powder, one and a half cups flour, two eggs, one cup milk, one teaspoon full salt, butter, fork, one teaspoon, two mixing bowls, measuring cup, egg beater, flour sifter, saucepan, spatula, wooden spoon. Take two eggs and break them carefully so that the whites and yolks shall be separate and put the yolks in one bowl, the whites in another. Beat the whites, stiff with your egg beater and then beat the yolks. Sift some flour into your measuring cup until you have one and a half cup falls. Add one teaspoon full of baking powder and one teaspoon full of salt. Before doing anything else put your frying pan on a hot part of the stove. Sift your flour mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks and stir them together with a wooden spoon. Measure one cup full of milk and add this to the flour and egg. Stir it in a little at a time and beat the mixture well with the wooden spoon. There must be no lumps in the batter. Last of all mix in your beaten egg whites carefully with a fork. Put about a half a teaspoon of butter into your hot pan leaving it on the stove. When the butter is melted pour into the pan one tablespoon full of the batter. Spread this out quickly so that the batter in the pan will be very thin and let the cake cook until it is brown on the underside. The hotter your pan the quicker the batter will cook and the better your pancake will be. You can lift up a corner to see if it is done if you do this carefully with a spatula. When the cake is done on one side turn it quickly and carefully with the spatula and brown on the other side. Never turn a cake more than once it spoils it. When both sides of the cake are done lift it out of your pan and put it on a hot plate. Make the rest of the cakes in the same way as rapidly as possible and serve at once with sugar and butter or with maple sugar or maple syrup or with cream. You may have to add a little butter to your pan if you find it is getting dry. Baking rule. When you bake a small thing have the oven hot but for baking big things cool it off a lot. In a too hot oven put a pan of water that will cool it nicely or at least at order. Baked stewed pears. Pears, spices, baking dish. Take some small sickle pears wash them and put them whole into a deep dish. Sprinkle each one with a pinch of sugar a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of cloves. Cover the bottom of your dish with an inch of cold water and set in a hot oven to simmer. This usually takes three hours. If the water dries off add a little more. They are done when soft. Serve with cream or milk. You can also use hard green cooking pears but these must be peeled. Baked potatoes. Six potatoes scrubbing brush fork. Choose six potatoes of about the same size and scrub the dark skin well with a scrubbing brush and cold water. Pierce them with a fork. Put the potatoes in a hot oven and cook them with their jackets on for about one hour. Try them with a fork in about three quarters of an hour and see if they are soft. If they are wrap them in a clean table napkin and serve it once. Baked potatoes are very nice with butter and salt. Some people like them with milk. Baked apples. Six apples. Granulated sugar, butter, cinnamon, one cup hot water, apple corer, baking pan, cup, fork. Pick out six nice large cooking apples. Greenings are the best. Core them and put them in a pan. Put on top of each as much granulated sugar as you can pinch between your finger and thumb. A pinch of cinnamon and a bit of butter about the size of half a lump of sugar. Pour about one cup of hot water into the pan and set in a moderate oven. It is almost impossible to say how long to leave them in. They are done when they are soft and juicy. Probably in about half an hour. Stick a fork into them and try them when you think they are done. Put them in a pretty plate or bowl with all the syrup that has been cooked out of them and serve with cream or milk. They are nice hot or cold. Nest egg. Eggs, salt, pepper, mixing bowl, egg beater, baking bowl, spoon. Take a nice fresh egg and ask the cook to show you how to break it open carefully and separate the white and the yolk so that the yolk will not be broken. Leave the yolk in a half egg shell and let the white fall into a mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt to the white and beat with an egg beater until it is very stiff. Have ready some little bowl or deep saucer that is pretty enough to put on the table and yet will not break in the oven. Into this dish pour the stiff beaten white and make a little hole in the middle of the white with a spoon. In this little hollow place put the yolk, still unbroken. Set the dish in a hot oven and cook for two or three minutes or until the white is a little brown and the yolk is firm. Serve right away. There must be a separate dish for each egg. Tapioca pudding. Three tablespoon fulls pearl tapioca, one quart milk, two tablespoon full sugar, one egg, two teaspoon fulls vanilla, mixing bowls, tablespoon, teaspoon, baking dish, egg beater. Put three tablespoon fulls of pearl tapioca into half a cup of cold water and leave it for half an hour or more. Break an egg into a mixing bowl and beat with an egg beater until it is very light. Add to this two tablespoon fulls of granulated sugar and two teaspoon fulls of vanilla extract and mix them all together. Pour over this one quart of milk and mix well. Strain the water from the tapioca and add the tapioca to the mixture and pour the hole into a pretty baking dish of some sort. Bake for one hour in a moderate oven. Serve cold in the same dish with sugar and cream or milk. This is enough for six people. Spoon fulls and cup fulls. Fill to a level spoon or cup unless you're told to heap it up. Scalloped fish, cold fish, butter, flour, milk, pepper, salt, breadcrumbs, saucepan, fork, spoons, baking dish. Take some cold fish, say enough to make one pint and pick it to pieces with a silver fork. Be sure to take out every bone. Make a cream sauce as you have learned to do with one tablespoon full of flour, one tablespoon full of butter, and one cup of milk. Use a saucepan or double boiler and be careful not to let it burn. Add one teaspoon full of salt and a little pepper. Put your fish into the saucepan with the sauce. Mix it all up well and take from the stove. Take a baking dish and butter the sides and bottom carefully. Turn the fish into the baking dish. Have ready about half a cup of stale breadcrumbs. Add to them a pinch of salt and a smaller pinch of pepper. Mix them all up and sprinkle over the fish. Drop some very small bits of butter on the top and put the dish in a pretty hot oven to brown. This should take about 15 minutes but it might take less or more according to the heat of the oven. Take the fish out when the top is brown and serve right away. This can be baked in little dishes or in large shells. Rice pudding. Four tablespoons rice, four tablespoons sugar, nutmeg, one quart milk, mixing bowl, strainer or sieve, enamel baking dish. Take four tablespoons of rice. Pick out all the specks and dried kernels and wash it by putting it in a strainer or sieve and letting clean cold water run over it. Put the washed rice into a bowl and add four tablespoons of granulated sugar. Pour over the rice one quart of good milk. Turn the mixture into a baking dish. The pudding will be creamier if you use an enameled metal one but you can use China. Grate over the top some nutmeg and set the dish in a moderate oven. Cook for about two hours. From time to time as the pudding begins to get brown on top stir down the top crust. Do this twice. When the rice is thoroughly soft it is done. Rice pudding is better served quite cold. If you like raisins get some of the seedless kind. Measure about two tablespoons and soak them in boiling water for five minutes. Drain off the water and stir them into the pudding before you put it into the oven. The straw test. With a straw I pierce my cake when I think it's cooked enough. If the straw gets sticky rough I must longer bake. If it comes out clean and neat then the cake is fit to eat. Cup custard for three. Two eggs, granulated sugar, salt, nutmeg, hot water, one pint milk, egg beater, saucepan, grater, baking dishes, baking pan, mixing bowl, spoon. Break two eggs carefully into a bowl and beat with an egg beater for three minutes. Add a quarter teaspoon full of salt and two heaping tablespoon fulls of granulated sugar. Beat with a spoon for two minutes. Heat one pint of milk in a saucepan until it is very hot but not boiling and mix with the egg and sugar beating it again for a minute with your spoon. Take three small dishes or one large one that will be pretty and yet stand baking and pour the mixture in. Grate a little nutmeg over the top. Put the baking dishes into a pan and put the pan into a moderately hot oven. Before you shut the oven door pour some hot water into the pan carefully so that none of it will get into the custards. The water should come up about halfway to the top of the custard cups. Cook until the custards are firm in the middle and brown on top. If you use the little cups or dishes this should take about half an hour. The larger dish will take longer. Use the straw test. Take them out of the pan and set them where they will cool. Serve them very cold. If you have no pretty dish fold a clean table napkin so that it will be the width of the dish. Lay it around the dish and pin it together. Chicken custard. One cup thick chicken stock. One cup cream or milk. Yolks of three eggs. One teaspoon full salt. Measuring cup. Custard cups. Double boiler. Egg beater. Teaspoon. Bowl. Someday when the cook has some good rich chicken stock in the house measure out one cup full and put it in the top part of a double boiler. Add to it one cup of cream or if you have no cream one cup full of milk into which you have stirred one teaspoon full of melted butter. The cream or milk must be absolutely fresh or your custard will curdle. Put your pan on the stove and cook your milk and stock until it begins to smoke. Do not let it come to a boil. While this is cooking break open three eggs carefully and separate the whites and yolks. The whites can be put away in the icebox for future use. Beat the yolks with an egg beater until they are stiff. When your milk and chicken is ready take it from the stove and add the beaten egg yolks and one teaspoon full of salt. Mix well with a spoon. Put the pan into the double boiler and set it on a hot part of the stove. Cook until the mixture begins to get thick. Pour it into custard cups and set in a cold place to get hard and cold. Serve cold. This ought to be enough for five people. It is nice for a hearty supper or lunch dish also to serve to invalids. Brown Betty. Six cooking apples, half cup molasses, half cup cold water, four tablespoons brown sugar, butter, bread crumbs, apple corer, measuring cup, baking dish, knife. Take six large tart apples, core them and peel them and cut them into small slices. Take a baking dish, butter the inside and cover the bottom with one layer of apple slices. Sprinkle a layer of bread crumbs over the apple then lay more apple over the crumbs and so on until you have used all the apple. There must be crumbs on top. Measure half cup full of black molasses and a half cup full of cold water. Add to this four tablespoons full of brown sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the mixture over the apple and crumbs and drop four little bits of butter on top of all. Put the dish in a moderate oven for about three quarters of an hour or until it is nicely browned on top and the apples are soft. Try them with a fork. Serve hot with cream or a hard sauce. End of part two, read by Kara Schellenberg on July 25th, 2008 in San Diego, California. Part three of When Mother Let's Us Cook. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. When Mother Let's Us Cook by Constance Johnson. Part three, Wet's and Dry's. Have one bowl for liquids, put drys in another and just before cooking mix all up together. Meatloaf. One pound chopped raw beef. Four white crackers. Half cup cream or milk or some evaporated cream. One egg. One teaspoon full salt. Butter. Rolling pin and board. Mixing bowl. Wooden spoon. Teaspoon. Measuring cup. Baking dish. Take four white crackers. Any simple unsweetened cracker will do. Roll them into fine crumbs with your rolling pin. Put them in a bowl with one teaspoon full of salt. Leave out some of the crumbs to put on top of your loaf. Break an egg into the bowl and mix well with the cracker crumbs using a wooden spoon. Put into the bowl one pound of finely chopped raw beef and mix again. Measure half a cup of cream and pour over the mixture. You can instead use four tablespoon fulls of unsweetened evaporated cream. If you use milk add to it one tablespoon full of melted butter before you pour it on the meat. Mix the whole together again and turn into your baking dish. Molding it into a loaf with a spoon. Sprinkle over the top the rest of your cracker crumbs and a tablespoon full of butter broken into little pieces. Bake in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes until the meat is nicely browned on top. Serve hot or cold if possible in the dish in which the loaf was cooked. Birthday cake. Two heaping tablespoon fulls butter. Six heaping tablespoon fulls sugar. Half cup milk. One and a half cups flour. Half a lemon. Two eggs. Two teaspoon fulls baking powder. Three mixing balls. Wooden spoon. Measuring cup. Table spoon. Teaspoon. Egg beater. Baking pan. Flour sifter. Lemon squeezer. Knife. Take two eggs. Break them carefully and put the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Beat the whites first so as not to soil your beater and then beat the yolks. Put six heaping tablespoon fulls of granulated sugar in a third bowl. Add to this two heaping tablespoon fulls of butter which has been softened by warming it on the stove. Beat the butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon until they are well mixed and light. Add the yolks of the eggs and beat again for five minutes. Add half teaspoon full of salt. Sift some flour and measure one and a half cup fulls into the empty bowl. Have ready half a cup of milk. Cut a lemon in half and squeeze one half carefully through a squeezer on the sugar and egg and butter. Mix them together with a spoon. Now add your flour and milk a little at a time and beat the whole until it is quite smooth and free from lumps. Before doing anything more examine your oven and if you want to make a loaf cake have a moderate oven. If you are going to make little cakes you will want a hot one. Butter your tins well using either a big tin for loaf cake or a muffin tin for little ones. Measure two teaspoon fulls of baking powder and add them to the dough. Last of all add the beaten whites of the eggs. Mix them in with a fork and turn the dough at once into the buttered tin. Never let cake dough stand after the baking powder is in it. If you bake it in one loaf it will take about three quarters of an hour. Twenty minutes is generally right for small cakes. Use the straw test when you think your cake is done but do not keep opening the oven door. Do not open it at all for some time after the cake is in. When it is done turn out onto a plate to cool. Oven doors. Never slam the oven door. Cakes will fall to rise no more. Hilda's Johnny cake. One egg. One cup flour. One third of a cup cornmeal. One quarter of a cup sugar. Two teaspoon fulls baking powder. Half a teaspoon full salt. One tablespoon full melted butter. Three quarters of a cup milk. Butter or lard for greasing pan. Measuring cup teaspoon baking tin, egg beater, mixing bowl, tablespoon, flour sifter. Measure one cup full of white flour and one third of a cup of yellow cornmeal. Be sure your flour and meal are sifted before you measure them. Add a quarter cup of granulated sugar, two teaspoon fulls of baking powder, and a half teaspoon full of salt. Mix them up well with a spoon or sift them once more altogether. Get your baking tin and grease it carefully. Be sure that your oven is all right. Break an egg into a bowl and beat it with an egg beater. Mix it in with the dry things. Then add about three quarters of a cup of milk and add one tablespoon full of melted butter. You may need more milk. You may need less. You want enough to moisten the flour so that it will form a dough that you can drop into the pan. Mix the milk in as fast as you can but thoroughly so that your dough will be smooth. Pour into the buttered tin and bake in a moderate oven. It is better to have a shallow pan. Your dough should be only about one inch thick before it is cooked. Bake it about 20 minutes or until it is brown. Use straw test. Do not open the oven door for at least 10 minutes after your pan is in the oven. Blueberry muffins, half a cup full sugar, one egg, half a cup full milk, teaspoon full baking powder, one tablespoon full butter, one cup full flour, one cup full blueberries, half a teaspoon full salt, measuring cup, two mixing bowls, wooden spoon, teaspoon, tablespoon, muffin tin, flour sifter. Put a half cup full of granulated sugar into a bowl. Break two eggs into the bowl and beat the sugar and eggs together with a wooden spoon. Melt one tablespoon full of butter on the stove and mix it in with the eggs and sugar. Sift some flour into your measuring cup until you have one cup full. Add to this one half teaspoon full of salt and one teaspoon full of baking powder. Sift together into the bowl with the eggs and sugar and butter. See that your oven is hot and butter your muffin tins. Measure one cup full of blueberries, put them in a bowl and pick them over. Wash them if necessary, but it is better only to wipe them with a cloth. Measure half cup of milk and add this gradually to the flour mixture. Beat it with your wooden spoon as you mix in the milk. When you have beaten the mixture so that it is smooth and light, put in the cup full of blueberries and mix it all together thoroughly. Pour into your buttered tins, filling them half full. Bake in a quick oven for about 15 minutes. Use the straw test. Do not open the oven door for at least 10 minutes after your muffins are in the oven. When the muffins are done, turn them out on a plate. Katie's gingerbread. One egg, half a cup brown sugar, two tablespoons butter, bacon fat, one cup black molasses, two cups flour, half a teaspoon full salt, one teaspoon full cinnamon, half a teaspoon full allspice, half a teaspoon full ginger, one cup boiling water, one teaspoon full cooking soda, teaspoon tablespoon, wooden stirring spoon, measuring cup, two mixing bowls, egg beater, flour sifter, saucepan, baking pan, spatula. Take a fresh egg and break it carefully into a large bowl. Beat it with an egg beater until it is very stiff. Pour half a cup full of brown sugar into the egg and mix well. Put two tablespoons of butter and some bacon fat into a pan and melt them together on the stove. Use enough bacon fat to give you, with the butter, a half cup full of melted grease. Stir this in with the sugar and egg. Before you do anything more, be sure that the oven is hot and that you have ready a good-sized shallow baking pan smeared on the inside with butter. Put a cup of black molasses into the mixture and beat for two minutes with a wooden spoon. Take another bowl and sift into it with a flour sifter, two cups of flour, half teaspoon full of salt, one heaping teaspoon full of cinnamon, half a teaspoon full of allspice, and half a teaspoon full of ginger. Stir this slowly into the mixture in the first bowl and beat for three minutes. If it is not thick and stiff, sift a little more flour, perhaps a quarter of a cup, and add it mixing well. Dissolve a teaspoon full of cooking soda in a cup of boiling water. Put this quickly into the other mixture and beat again for three minutes. Now pour it all into your buttered pan and set it carefully into the hot oven. Don't leave the oven door open longer than you can help. Bake for about 12 minutes and use the straw test to see if it is done. Gingerbread should be carefully loosened from the pan with a flexible knife called a spatula and turned onto a big plate to cool. Do not cut it, but break it. Gingerbread pudding. Bake some gingerbread according to the preceding recipe, but use a small deep tin so that you will have a thick loaf. Serve this fresh and hot with a vanilla sauce. The sauce is made as follows. Vanilla sauce. Break an egg into a bowl. Beat it hard with an egg beater. Stir into it half a pint of milk and one tablespoon full of sugar. Put into a saucepan and cook over a slow fire, stirring all the time in the same direction. Take it off when it begins to thicken and before it comes to a boil. Add seven drops of vanilla and stir well. Serve it hot with the gingerbread. Sifting and stirring. Sift your flour before you measure. A wooden stirring spoons a treasure. Tea party biscuit. One cup flour, one teaspoonful baking powder, half a cup milk or water, quarter teaspoonful salt, four teaspoonfuls butter or lard, flour sifter, measuring cup, wooden spoon, teaspoons, mixing bowl, flour board and rolling pin, biscuit cutter, baking tin, spatula. Sift some flour into a cup until it is full. Add to this one teaspoonful of baking powder and quarter of a teaspoonful of salt. Sift again together into a bowl. Take four teaspoonfuls of butter or lard and rub it into your flour with your fingers. There must be no lumps of butter left but the whole mixture should be dry and crumbly. Butter a shallow baking tin. Get out your flour board and sift a little flour on it. This is to prevent your dough sticking to the board when you roll it out. Sift some on the rolling pin too. After everything is ready add your half cup of milk to the flour and mix it in quickly with a spoon. Turn the soft dough onto your board and roll it out with the rolling pin. Always roll the dough away from you. Roll it very lightly without pressing hard on the rolling pin. When you have a sheet of dough about half an inch thick cut out round pieces with a cutter. Use one about as large as a napkin ring. Do this quickly. With a spatula lift the round pieces carefully so as not to break them and lay them on the buttered tin. They must not quite touch each other. Bake in a fairly hot oven for 15 minutes. The biscuit must be brown on top and about one and one half inches high when done. Saturday cookies. Three tablespoonfuls butter. Three quarters of a cup sugar. Six teaspoonfuls rich milk. A quarter teaspoonful soda. A quarter teaspoonful salt. A half teaspoonful vanilla. One egg. One and a half cups of flour. Saucepan. Measuring cup. Tablespoon and teaspoon. Wooden spoon. Spatula. Mixing bowls. Shallow baking tins. Flour sifter. Flour board and rolling pin. Cookie cutter. Egg beater. Measure three tablespoonfuls of butter and put it in a saucepan on the stove to melt. Put three quarters of a cup of granulated sugar in a mixing bowl and add the melted butter. Rubbing them together well with a wooden spoon. Add to this half a teaspoonful of vanilla extract. Break an egg into another bowl and beat it with an egg beater until it is quite light. Add this to the butter and sugar and beat together with a spoon. Before doing anything more get your board and rolling pin ready and butter your baking tins. See that your oven is hot. Dissolve a quarter of a teaspoonful of cooking soda in a table spoonful of hot water. Sift some flour and measure one and a half cupfuls into a bowl. Sift this again with a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt. Add six teaspoonfuls of rich milk to your soda water and add this to your first mixture at the same time adding the flour. Mix it well as you put in the flour and milk so that your dough may not be lumpy. Sift a little flour onto your board and rolling pin so that the dough will not stick to either and turn the dough onto the board. Roll it out with the rolling pin until it is very thin less than half an inch. Always roll away from yourself. Now cut the thin sheet of dough with a cookie cutter and when it is all cut lift the pieces carefully with a spatula and put them on the buttered tins so that they will not touch each other. Bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes. They should get a little brown. Use the straw test. Turn the cookies onto a plate to cool. Junk it. One quart milk, two tablespoons powdered sugar, one teaspoonful vanilla extract, one tablespoonful liquid rennet, mixing bowl, tablespoon, teaspoon. Put a quart of milk into a mixing bowl and stir into it two tablespoons of powdered sugar and one teaspoonful of vanilla extract. Measure one tablespoonful from a bottle of liquid rennet which can generally be bought at a drugstore or any large grocery store. Add this to the milk, stir it well and pour the whole into little glasses or into cups or a glass bowl. Set this in a warm room until the milk has become firm like custard. Then put it in the ice chest until you are ready to eat it. In summer do not make it more than two hours before you are going to eat it. It can be served with sugar and cream or with any cold fruit or chocolate sauce. This makes enough for five people. Bread and butter rule. Butter your bread before you slice if you want your sandwich nice. School sandwiches. To make good sandwiches it is necessary to have bread that is at least a day old, a sharp knife and soft butter. Soften your butter by putting it in a dish at the back of the stove for a few minutes. Butter your loaf of bread before cutting off each slice and cut the slices thin. Lay the buttered slices neatly together and trim off the crusts. Various fillings can be used, any kind of cold meat, chopped up fine, cheese, jam, jelly or slices of hard-boiled egg. You can make a most delicious sandwich out of thin slices of brown bread with a filling of the cottage cheese on page 67. Cottage cheese mixed with a little jam is a delicious filling for white bread sandwiches. A slice of plain cake and a slice of buttered bread together make a very good combination. Fairy salad. One head lettuce, sugar, one orange, dish pan, sharp knife, cloth. Choose a nice head of lettuce, one that has no faded leaves and that seems solid. Carefully pull the leaves from the stem so that the tender white ends will come off too. Cut off the flat white root if it is headed lettuce. Most people do not like it. Throw away any tough or faded leaves and put the tender fresh leaves into a dish pan filled with cold water. Leave the lettuce in this for half an hour or more then take it out and shake off the water carefully. Sometimes you may need to use a cloth to dry the leaves. Take an orange, slice it with a sharp knife and cut off the skin. Try not to lose any juice. Put the lettuce leaves into a dish, lay the orange slices on them and sprinkle the whole with half a cup of granulated sugar. Put the bowl in the ice closet for a short time and serve very soon. If you have a big orange it is better to cut the slices in small pieces. Lemonade. Two lemons, 10 teaspoonfuls granulated sugar, four cup fulls water, lemon squeezer, measuring cup, teaspoon, pitcher, knife. Cut two lemons in half and squeeze the juice into a pitcher with a lemon squeezer. Add to this 10 teaspoonfuls of granulated sugar and stir it until the sugar is dissolved. Add four cup fulls of cold water and mix it well. This will make four glasses of plain lemonade. If you want more add the juice of half a lemon, two teaspoonfuls sugar and one cup water for each glass. It is very nice to add to the lemonade any fruit or berries in season. Cut bananas or oranges or peaches etc into slices. Berries should be crushed with a little sugar. Peas and Q's. Two cup fulls make a pint in short. Four even cup fulls make a quart. And folks have found this saying sound. A pint's a pound, the world around. Cottage cheese. A pint or more of sour milk. Salt. Tablespoonful fresh milk. Glass milk bottle or pitcher. Mixing ball. Half yard of white cheesecloth. If your mother will let you have some sour milk or cream it is very easy to make cottage cheese. Put the sour milk into a glass milk bottle or pitcher and let it stand in a warm room until it begins to curd. That is until the thick part is very thick and lumpy and there is a little thin liquid at the bottom. This may take 12 hours or it may take as much as two days. Then stand the bottle at the back of the stove to heat slowly for 15 or 20 minutes until the thick part and the liquid are entirely separate. Now take a piece of white cheesecloth as big as a table napkin. Lay this over a bowl and pour the whole mixture into the cloth. Gather up the corners of the cheesecloth and tie them together making a sort of loose bag. Let this hang suspended over the bowl for 24 hours thus allowing the thin liquid to drip away and the cheese to dry. The water in the bowl can be thrown away or given to the dog. It is good for him. Take the firm ball of cheese out of its bag. Put it in a dish and just before you want to serve it soften it by mixing into it a tablespoon full of fresh milk into which you have put a pinch of salt. This ought to be nicer cheese than you can buy at any store and is very good eaten with jam and bread and butter. Clam broth. One pint soft clams. Salt, pepper, one tablespoon full butter, cold water, a large soup pot, strainer, bowl. Put one pint of fresh soft clams into a large pot and pour enough cold water over them to cover them. Stand the pot on a hot part of the stove until the water boils up hard. Take the pot off and strain the water and juice through a fine strainer into a bowl. The clams are very nice to eat just as they are with salt and pepper and butter but if you do not care for them they can be given to the cat or dog who will probably appreciate them. Put into the broth one teaspoon full of salt and a quarter of a teaspoon full of pepper and one tablespoon full of butter. Put it back into the pot and stand on the stove to get really hot again but do not let it boil up. Serve hot. This makes enough broth for eight people. End of part three, read by Kara Schellenberg on July 26th, 2008 in San Diego, California. Part four of When Mother Let's Us Cook. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. When Mother Let's Us Cook by Constance Johnson. Part four, simmering rule. Put your soup meat in a pot where the stove is not too hot. Boiling slow with moderate heat draws the juices from the meat. Beef tea. One pound beef. One pint cold water. Salt and pepper. Saucepan. Cheesecloth. Take one pound of beef either from the neck or round where the meat is tough but juicy and cheap. Half the butcher or the cook chop it up for you. Put it in a saucepan and pour over it one pint of cold water. Let it stand for one hour to soak. Put the pan at the back of the stove and let the meat cook until it is steaming hot. Stir in two teaspoonfuls of salt and a half teaspoonful of pepper. Strain the meat through a piece of cheesecloth and let the soup pass into a serving dish or cup and serve at once. This makes two cups of broth. Milk toast. Bread. Butter. Two cup fulls milk. Salt and pepper. Toaster or toasting fork. Saucepan. Measuring cup. Knife. First make your toast. This is best done over a hot fire with a toaster but you can make quite good toast in the oven. Cut enough thin slices of bread for your guests allowing about two apiece. Stale bread is better than fresh. Lay these slices on a toaster if you have one or hold them one at a time on a long fork. Take off one of the stove covers and toast your bread over a hot fire until one side is brown and then toast it on the other side. Be sure not to burn it. If you use the oven lay the bread in a pan. If the fire is not hot the toast will be tough and hard. This is generally the trouble when toast is made in the oven or when it is made before you want to use it. Butter your toast evenly and lay it in a hot dish. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and one of pepper over each piece. Heat two cupfuls of milk in a saucepan until it steams. Pour the hot milk over the toast and serve it once in the same dish. If you use more than eight pieces of toast you will need more milk. Cream toast can be made by using the sauce described on page seven instead of the hot milk. In this case don't put the salt and pepper on the toast. Rule for serving cold. Jellies and dishes you want cold and nice must first be cooled slowly and then put on ice for six hours or more if you take my advice. Blackberry bread. One loaf stale bread. Butter. One quart blackberries. Sugar. Three quarters of a cup cold water. Sharp bread knife. Broad knife. Saucepan. Spoon. Take a loaf of stale bread. Butter one end and cut off a thin slice. The bread must be quite stale. Continue to butter and slice until you have used the whole loaf. It is always easier and nicer to butter your bread before slicing. Put one quart of blackberries in a saucepan with about one cup full of granulated sugar and three quarters of a cup of cold water. Simmer the berries until they are tender and the juice is running freely. This will probably take about 15 minutes. Stir from time to time. Put a layer of buttered bread into a deep dish and pour some of the hot stewed berries over it. Then more bread and more blackberries in layers until all are used. Put the dish in a cold place until the berries have cooled and then set on ice for a while. Serve in the same dish with cream or milk. Strawberry, raspberry or cherry bread can be made in the same way. Use more sugar with the sour berries less with sweet. Angel hash. Two oranges. Two bananas. One cup sugar. Half a lemon. Sharp vegetable knife. Mixing spoon. Measuring cup. Lemon squeezer. Take two fine, juicy oranges and cut them without peeling into thin slices across the grain. Cut them carefully over some dish with a sharp knife so as not to lose any of the juice. Trim the hard outside skin away and lay the slices in a pretty glass or china bowl. If you have any juice that spilled while you were cutting the oranges, pour this in too. Sprinkle a half cup sugar over the oranges. Take two firm bananas, peel off the skin and cut the fruit into slices about as thick as your finger and lay them on top of the orange slices. If you have any apples or other fruit it is nice to add some slices but be sure to peel and stone the fruit and never let any seeds drop into the dish. Squeeze a half lemon into the dish and sprinkle over the whole another half cup of sugar. Leave the dish in a moderately warm room for two hours then mix up the fruit with a spoon and put it on ice. Serve in the same dish. This is enough for three. Jelly whip. Whites of three eggs. Three tablespoons full powdered sugar. Half a cup current jelly. Mixing bowl, tablespoon, teaspoon. Separate carefully the whites and yolks of three eggs. Put the yolks away in a cup for some future use. Put the whites in a bowl and beat with an egg beater until very stiff and light. Get some current or raspberry or strawberry jelly and measure about half a cup full. Add this to the egg whites one teaspoon full at a time beating the mixture between each additional teaspoon full of jelly. When all the jelly is mixed with the egg beat it a few minutes more for good luck and to make sure that it is all light and fluffy. Keep it in a dish or into small glasses and serve it right away. This should be more than enough for three people. Be careful when putting in the jelly to add a very little at a time or it will make the egg heavy so that you cannot beat it. Mock wine jelly. Half a cup full pruned syrup. A quarter of a box gelatin. One banana. One orange. One cup sugar. One lemon. Measuring cup. One cup. One bowl. Jelly mold. Knife. Wooden spoon. Lemon squeezer. Cheesecloth. Put a quarter of a box of gelatin into a cup holding half a pint of cold water and let it soak for half an hour. Take a half cup of pruned syrup from some stewed prunes. The recipe for stewing prunes is given under stewed fruits and put it in a bowl. Peel and slice a banana and put the slices in the bowl. Peel and slice an orange and add that too. Measure one cup of granulated sugar and add that. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the fruit. When your gelatin has soaked for half an hour strain into the bowl through two thicknesses of cheesecloth and pour over the whole one cup of boiling water. Put the bowl in a cold place and stir the mixture well with a spoon. When it is quite cold beat it hard for a few minutes with your spoon. Pour the mixture into a cold jelly mold and let it stand on ice until it is stiff. This will take a number of hours. This is enough for four people. Boiling rule. Boil your water hard to brew tea that's good and cocoa too. Tea itself should not be boiled. Boil your cocoa or it's spoiled. Ways to make good tea. In order to make good tea you must use water that is really boiling hard. First heat your teapot by pouring some hot water into it. Empty it and put in your tea one teaspoon full for each cup. If you want to make four cups of tea pour one cup of boiling water into the pot onto your tea and let it stand for three minutes. Then add the other three cups of boiling water and let it stand for one minute. Serve at once with sugar and cream or sugar and slices of lemon. Never let tea stand on the tea grounds. If you are not ready to drink the tea when it is done pour it into another pot or pitcher through a strainer. You can make very good tea by using a tea ball. Put your tea into the tea ball and put the tea ball into the individual cups. Pour the boiling water over and when the tea is strong enough remove the tea ball. This has the advantage of never letting the tea stand on the leaves or grounds. If you want to make a great quantity of tea for a reception or party a very good thing to do is to make a number of little cheesecloth bags and fill them with tea. These can be put into your teapot and when the tea is strong enough can be removed in that way keeping the tea fresh during a long period of time. It is also possible to make a very thick tea syrup by pouring a small quantity of boiling water over a large quantity of tea and after it has stood for three minutes pouring it off into a teapot. This will keep for a day and can be diluted with hot water whenever a cup of tea is wanted. Put a small quantity in the cup and pour as much hot water over it as is needed. This water does not need to be boiling only hot as the tea itself was made with boiling water. How to make one cup of cocoa? One teaspoon full cocoa. One tablespoon full boiling water. Half a pint of milk. One teaspoon full granulated sugar. Tablespoon. Measuring cup. Saucepan. Take a teaspoon full of cocoa and put it in a tin cup. Add one teaspoon full of granulated sugar and one tablespoon full boiling water from the kettle. Mix it well so that there will not be any lumps of cocoa. Pour a little less than half a pint of milk into a saucepan and cook it stirring all the time until it is scalded that is until a film forms on it and it just begins to bubble. Stir the cocoa mixture into this and cook it until it boils up. It burns very easily so stir it carefully. Pour into a large cup and serve. To keep the cup from cracking put a teaspoon in it before you pour in the hot cocoa. Candy rule. When you make candy no matter what's in it watch it with care for it spoils in a minute. Puppety corn. Ears of popcorn. A little oil or butter or lard. Deep saucepan with cover. Ordinary popcorn is made with a corn popper. Puppety corn is made in a deep covered dish on the stove and is much fluffier and lighter. The most important thing is to have fresh popcorn. Old corn is hard and small after it is popped. It is always best to get popcorn on the ear and shell it yourself. Take the deep saucepan and put two or three tablespoons of salad oil or butter or lard in it and a half teaspoon full of salt. The bottom should be barely covered. Put the dish on a hot part of the stove and when the oil is very hot indeed throw in a handful of popcorn and put the cover on. While the corn is popping you may shake the dish a little but it does not need to be shaken hard. When the corn is all popped the oil will be gone and you can empty the corn onto a plate. A bowl of popcorn and milk is very good. A bowl of popcorn with a little melted butter stirred into it is a dish that many people like. Popcorn balls. Have a bowl of popped corn already. Put in a saucepan half a cup full of granulated sugar and four tablespoons of water and place on a hot part of the stove. Boil this until you have a thick syrup that will be hard when tested in cold water. Put the pan at the back of the stove where the syrup will keep hot but not boil anymore. Pick up pieces of popcorn one by one and dip them into the syrup and stick them together adding more and more of them until you have made a ball. Let these harden in a cold place. Popcorn patties. Boil together one cup of sugar and a half cup full of molasses until it is thick and waxy when a few drops are tested in cold water. Stir into this a quart of popped corn. Have ready a cold buttered plate. Spoon up heaping spoonfuls of the mixture and drop them in little patties onto the plate. Set in a cold place to harden. Candyed orange peel. Peel of six oranges. Two and a half cups granulated sugar, water, one teaspoon full salt, bowl, saucepan, spoon, fork, sharp knife. Put about one quart of cold water into a bowl and add to it one teaspoon full of salt. Keep the bowl of water in a cold place and put into it orange peelings as you get them. It is all right to use what is left from the table. Scrape off all of the pulp and most of the inner white skin with a sharp knife. Leave the peel in the salt water for a few days, adding more peel. When you have the peel from about six oranges pour off the salt water and wash the peel with fresh water so that any salt taste may be washed away. Cut the peel into short narrow strips about two or three inches long and as wide as your little finger. Put the peel into a saucepan and pour over it one quart of cold water. Set the saucepan on a hot part of the stove and cook the peel until it is soft. This may take an hour or more. Try it with a fork to see if it is done and when it is take the pan from the stove. Add to the water and peel about one pint more cold water or enough to have a quart of water altogether with what is left in the saucepan and put two cups of granulated sugar in with it. Set the pan on the stove again and let the water and sugar cook until the water has nearly boiled away leaving the peel covered with a thick syrup. This will take some time. Take the pan off the stove. Put some granulated sugar on a plate and drop the orange peel piece by piece into the sugar and roll it with a fork so that it will be well coated. When the peel is cold it is ready to eat. Rainy day fudge, two cups granulated sugar, one cup milk, butter, teaspoon full vanilla, a quarter of a pound chocolate or four heaping tablespoons cocoa, measuring cup, chafing dish or saucepan, knife, stirring spoon, teaspoon, glass of cold water, greased paper or pan. Measure two cups of granulated sugar and put it in a saucepan with one cup of milk. Add a lump of butter about the size of a lump of sugar. Put the pan on a hot part of the stove and while the milk is heating cut up a quarter of a pound of chocolate into little pieces. If you use cocoa put four heaping tablespoon fulls right in with the milk without waiting. Chocolate and cocoa must both be unsweetened. When the milk and sugar in the pan begin to get smoking hot add your chocolate. Cook for 15 or 20 minutes stirring all the time. Be sure that the pan is on a hot part of the stove and that you stir it well so that it will not burn. When you think it's done try it and see. Dip a little out with a teaspoon and drop it in a glass of cold water. If it gets thick and stiff you may be sure the rest is done. Take the pan off the stove, add one teaspoon full of vanilla extract and beat it together with a spoon for three minutes. Take your greased paper and lay it on a plate or better still take the baking tin which you have smeared with butter and pour over it the hot fudge. Leave the fudge in a cold place to harden. When it is perfectly firm cut it into squares with a sharp knife. It should be about half an inch thick so do not try to fill too large a pan. It is not always necessary to cook fudge for 20 minutes so it is just as well to try it after 10 or 15 minutes. This recipe makes nearly a pound of candy. Malasses candy. One cup full molasses, one cup full brown sugar, one tablespoon full vinegar, two tablespoons full butter, measuring cup, tablespoon, saucepan, pans, glass, or cup. Take a large saucepan and put into it one cup full of molasses, one cup full of brown sugar, one tablespoon full of vinegar, and two tablespoons full of butter. Set the saucepan on a hot part of the stove and when the mixture boils look at the clock and let it boil for about 15 minutes. Test a spoonful of it in a glass of cold water. If the mixture becomes hard and breakable at once it is done. It should be much harder than the peppermint syrup. Rub a shallow baking tin with butter and into this pour the mixture at once. Put the pan in a cool place. As soon as the mixture is cold enough to touch without burning your fingers spoon out pieces as big as your fist and have each person take one of the pieces. Pull it apart with your two hands and twist it and pull it until it gets a nice light yellow and is so stiff that you can't pull it anymore. Twist it into long thin ropes and let them get entirely hard on buttered plates in the ice chest then break into short pieces for eating. This makes enough for four children to pull. It is very important to have your hands clean before you begin pulling the candy. Peppermint drops for two children to make. Two cupful sugar, one cupful water, one teaspoonful extract of peppermint, measuring cup saucepan, teaspoon, two thick glasses, brown paper. Measure two cupfuls of granulated sugar and put it in a saucepan. Add one cupful of cold water and set the pan on a hot part of the stove. When it comes to a boil look at the clock and boil for about 20 minutes stirring from time to time. When you think it's done try a little by dropping half a teaspoonful into a glass of cold water. If it is done it will get stringy and hard in the water. When you are sure that it is ready take the pan from the stove and pour the syrup into two glasses. Pour a half teaspoonful of peppermint extract at once into each glass and let each child stir the mixture in his glass rapidly with a teaspoon until the syrup gets thick and creamy white. Have a large flat sheet of brown wrapping paper ready on your kitchen table and onto this drop little round dabs of the mixture as rapidly as possible. Don't let the mixture get too cool and stiff by stirring it longer than necessary. When entirely hard and cold the peppermints can be lifted off with a knife. This makes about half a pound. End of part four and the end of When Mother Let's Us Cook by Constance Johnson. Read by Kara Schallenberg www.kray.org in San Diego, California.