From the 1881 book, Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book and Marketing Guide.

EDITORS NOTE: This article is decorated with drawings from the “Kitchen Furnishing” chapter.

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Ham and Eggs on Toast.

Chop fine the trimmings from cold boiled or roasted ham.

Toast and butter slices of stale bread. Spread the ham on these, and place in the oven for about three minutes.

Beat six eggs with half a cupful of milk, a little pepper and one teaspoonful of salt. Put this mixture in a sauce-pan with two table-spoonfuls of butter, and stir over the fire until it begins to thicken.

Take off, and beat for a moment; then spread on the ham and toast. Serve immediately.

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Ham Croquettes.

- one cupful of finely-chopped cooked ham,
- one cupful of bread crumbs,
- two cupfuls of hot mashed potatoes,
- one large table-spoonful of butter,
- three eggs,
- a speck of cayenne.

Beat the ham, cayenne, butter, and two of the eggs into the potato. Let the mixture cool slightly, and shape it like croquettes.

Roll in the bread crumbs, dip in beaten egg and again in crumbs, put in the frying-basket and plunge into boiling fat. Cook two minutes. Drain, and serve.

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Canapees.

After cutting the crust from a loaf of stale bread, cut the loaf in very thin slices, and toast to a delicate brown. Butter lightly, and spread with any kind of potted meat or fish.

Put two slices together, and, with a sharp knife, cut them in long strips. Arrange these tastefully on a dish and serve at tea or evening parties.

Sardines may be pounded to a paste and mixed with the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, also pounded to a paste, and used instead of potted meats. In this case, the slices of bread may be fried in salad oil.

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Welsh Rare-Bit.

- half a pound of cheese,
- two eggs,
- a speck of cayenne,
- a table-spoonful of butter,
- one teaspoonful of mustard,
- half a teaspoonful of salt,
- half a cupful of cream.

Break the cheese in small pieces and put it and the other ingredients in a bright sauce-pan, which put over boiling water. Stir until the cheese melts; then spread the mixture on slices of crisp toast.

Serve immediately. A cupful of ale or beer can be used instead of the cream.

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Welsh Rare-Bit, No. 2.

Grate one pint of cheese. Sprinkle on it half a teaspoonful of mustard, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of salt and a speck of cayenne. Heap this on slices of buttered toast.

Put in the hot oven for a few moments, and when the cheese begins to melt, serve at once.

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Corn Pie.

- four ears of cold boiled corn,
- two eggs,
- one table-spoonful of butter,
- one table-spoonful of flour,
- half a cupful of milk,
- half a teaspoonful of salt,
- a little pepper.

Cut the corn from the cobs. Mix the milk, gradually, with the flour.

Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately, and add them and the other ingredients to the flour and milk. The butter should be melted.

Bake twenty minutes in two squash pie plates. This is a dish for breakfast.

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Cheese Soufflé.

- two table-spoonfuls of butter,
- one heaping table-spoonful of flour,
- half a cupful of milk,
- one cupful of grated cheese,
- three eggs,
- half a teaspoonful of salt,
- a speck of cayenne.

Put the butter in a sauce-pan, and when hot, add the flour, and stir until smooth, but not browned. Add the milk and seasoning.

Cook two minutes; then add the yolks of the eggs, well beaten, and the cheese. Set away to cool.

When cold, add the whites, beaten to a stiff froth. Turn into a buttered dish, and bake from twenty to twenty-five minutes. Serve the moment it comes from the oven.

The dish in which this is baked should hold a quart. An escalop dish is the best.

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OMELETS.

There is no better form in which to serve eggs than as an omelet, but so few people make a good omelet that that is one of the last things the inexperienced housekeeper or cook will attempt.

Yet the making is a simple operation, the cause of failure usually being that the pan for cooking is not hot enough, and too much egg is put in at one time. When there is too much egg in the pan, one part will be cooked hard before the other is heated through.

A pan measuring eight inches in diameter will cook an omelet made with four eggs; if more eggs are used, a larger pan is necessary.

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Plain Omelet.

- four eggs,
- one teaspoonful of salt,
- two table-spoonfuls of milk,
- one table-spoonful of butter.

Beat the eggs with a Dover, or any other good egg beater, and add the salt and milk.

Have the pan, very hot. Put in the spoonful of butter and pour in the beaten egg.

Shake vigorously on the hottest part of the stove until the egg begins to thicken; then let it stand a few seconds to brown. Run the knife between the sides of the omelet and the pan, fold, and turn on a hot dish. Serve without delay.

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Quaker Omelet.

A Quaker omelet is a handsome and sure dish when care is taken in the preparation.

- three eggs,
- half a cupful of milk,
- one and a half table-spoonfuls of corn-starch,
- one teaspoonful of salt,
- one table-spoonful of butter.

Put the omelet pan with a cover that will fit closely, on to heat.

Beat well together the yolks of the eggs, the corn-starch and the salt. Beat the whites to a stiff froth. Add to the well-beaten yolks and corn-starch. Stir all together very thoroughly, and add the milk.

Put the butter in the hot pan. When melted, pour in the mixture. Cover, and place on the stove where it will brown, but not burn. Cook about seven minutes. Fold, turn on a hot dish, and serve with cream sauce poured around it.

If the yolks and corn-starch are thoroughly beaten, and if, when the stiff whites are added, they are well mixed, and the pan and cover are very hot, there can hardly be failure.

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Cheese Omelet.

Make the same as plain omelet, and as soon as it begins to thicken, sprinkle in three table-spoonfuls of grated cheese.

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Ham Omelet.

The same as plain omelet, and add three table-spooonfuls of cooked ham, chopped rather fine, as soon as it begins to thicken.

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Chicken Omelet.

The same as plain omelet, and, just before folding, add one cupful of cooked chicken, cut rather fine, and warmed in cream sauce.

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Jelly Omelet.

A jelly omelet is made like the others, and, just before folding, spread with any kind of jelly (currant or grape is the best, however). Fold quickly, and serve.

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Savory Omelet.

This is made like a plain omelet, with the addition of salt and one table-spoonful of chopped parsley. A little grated onion may be used also, if you like it.

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Fish Omelet.

Boil a shad roe twenty minutes in salt and water. Chop it fine, and add to it a cupful of any kind of cold fish, broken fine. Season with salt and pepper, and warm in a cupful of cream sauce.

Make a plain omelet with six eggs. When ready to fold, spread the prepared fish on it. Roll up, dish, and serve immediately.

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Corn Omelet.

- one pint of cold boiled corn,
- four eggs,
- half a cupful of milk,
- one teaspoonful and a half of salt,
- a little pepper,
- three table-spoonfuls of butter.

Beat the eggs, and add to them the salt, pepper, milk and corn. Fry like a plain omelet.

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Baked Omelet.

- one pint and a half of milk,
- four eggs,
- one table-spoonful of flour,
- one of butter,
- one teaspoonful of salt.

Let the milk come to a boil. Mix the butter and flour together. Pour the boiling milk on the mixture, which then cook five minutes, stirring all the while. Put away to cool.

When cooled, add the salt and the eggs, the yolks and whites having been beaten separately.

Pour into a buttered dish, and bake twenty minutes in a quick oven. Serve at once. The dish should hold a little more than a quart.

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Dropped Eggs.

Have one quart of boiling water and one table-spoonful of salt in a frying-pan.

Break the eggs, one by one, into a saucer, and slide carefully into the salted water. Cook until the white is firm, and lift out with a griddle-cake turner and place on toasted bread. Serve immediately.

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Scrambled Eggs.

- four eggs,
- one table-spoonful of butter,
- half a teaspoonful of salt.

Beat the eggs, and add the salt to them. Melt the butter in a sauce-pan. Turn in the beaten eggs, stir quickly over a hot fire for one minute, and serve.

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Poached Eggs.

- two eggs,
- two table-spoonfuls of milk,
- half a teaspoonful of salt,
- half a teaspoonful of butter.

Beat the eggs, and add the salt and milk. Put the butter in a small sauce-pan, and when it melts, add the eggs.

Stir over the fire until the mixture thickens, being careful not to let it cook hard.

About two minutes will cook it. The eggs, when done, should be soft and creamy. Serve immediately.

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Soft-boiled Eggs.

Place the eggs in a warm saucepan, and cover with boiling water. Let them stand where they will keep hot, but not boil, for ten minutes. This method will cook both whites and yolks.

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Soft-boiled Eggs, No. 2.

Put the eggs in boiling water, and boil three minutes and a half.

By this method the white of the egg is hardened so quickly that the heat does not penetrate to the yolk until the last minute, and consequently the white is hard and the yolk hardly cooked enough. The first method is, therefore, the more healthful.

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Hard-boiled Eggs.

Put the eggs in hot water to cover, and boil twenty minutes. Ten minutes will boil them hard, but they are not so digestible as when boiled twenty. Ten minutes makes the yolks hard and soggy; twenty makes them light and mealy.

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Spanish Eggs.

Cook one cupful of rice thirty minutes in two quarts of boiling water, to which has been added one table-spoonful of salt.

Drain through a colander, and add one tablespoonful of butter. Spread very lightly on a hot platter.

On the rice place six dropped eggs, and serve.

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Eggs Sur Le Plat.

Little stone china dishes come expressly for this mode of’ serving eggs.

Heat and butter the dish, and break into it two eggs, being careful not to break the yolks. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, and drop on them half a teaspoonful of butter, broken in small pieces.

Place in a moderately-hot oven until the white is set, which will be in about five minutes. There should be a dish for each person. The flavor can be changed by sprinkling a little finely- chopped ham or parsley on the plate before putting in the eggs.

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Creamed Eggs.

Boil six eggs twenty minutes. Make one pint of cream sauce.

Have six slices of toast on a hot dish. Put a layer of sauce on each one, and then part of the whites of the eggs, cut in thin strips; and rub part of the yolks through a sieve on to the toast. Repeat this, and finish with a third layer of sauce.

Place in the oven for about three minutes. Garnish with parsley, and serve.

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Stuffed Eggs.

Cut six hard-boiled eggs in two. Take out the yolks and mash them fine.

Add:
- two teaspoonfuls of butter,
- one teaspoonfuls of cream,
- two or three drops of onion juice, and
- salt and pepper to taste.
Mix all thoroughly.

Fill the eggs from the mixture, and put them together.

There will be a little filling left, to which add a well-beaten egg. Cover the other eggs with this last preparation, and roll in cracker crumbs.

Fry in boiling lard till a light brown.

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Scotch Eggs.

- one cupful of cooked lean ham, chopped very fine;
- one-third of a cupful of stale bread crumbs,
- one-third of a cupful of milk,
- half a teaspoonful of mixed mustard,
- cayenne enough to cover a silver five-cent piece,
- one raw egg,
- six hard-boiled eggs.

Cook the bread and milk together until a smooth paste. Add to the ham, and add the seasoning and raw egg. Mix thoroughly.

Break the shells from the hard-boiled eggs, and cover with this mixture. Put.in a frying basket, and plunge into boiling fat for two minutes.

These are nice for lunch, tea, or picnics.

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Eggs, Brouilé.

- six eggs,
- half a cupful of milk, or, better still, of cream;
- two mushrooms,
- one teaspoonful of salt,
- a little pepper,
- three table-spoonfuls of butter,
- a slight grating of nutmeg.

Cut the mushrooms into dice, and fry them for one minute in one table-spoonful of the butter.

Beat the eggs, salt, pepper, and cream together, and put them in a saucepan. Add the butter and mushrooms to these ingredients. Stir over a moderate heat until the mixture begins to thicken.

Take from the fire and beat rapidly until the eggs become quite thick and creamy.

Have slices of toast on a hot dish. Heap the mixture on these, and garnish with points of toast. Serve immediately.