Natural Foods — From the COOKS.COM Culinary Archive.

NATURAL FOODS

  Natural foods require no cooking.  The following recipes show types of each of the food stuffs.  We must keep in mind that these food stuffs are seldom found alone and that when we speak of certain foods as belonging to the proteins or the fats, — we mean that the edible part, which is all we can utilize, contains a large proportion of that particular food stuff.

SLICED APPLES

  Cut four large, tart apples in eights; pare and core, and cut across sections in thin slices, less than an eighth of an inch.  Let the slices fall into a shallow earthen dish, and as soon as one apple is sliced, sprinkle over it a little salt and an even coating of sugar.  Mix the juice of one small lemon with half a cup of water, and put a quarter of it over the apple.  Then repeat until all the apples and water are used.  Cover and after five minutes drain off the syrup and toss the apples over and pour the syrup over again.  Repeat this at intervals of five minutes, several times, then taste and add more sugar or lemon to the syrup as preferred.

  This may be served as a sauce for dessert or be combined with bananas.  Or you may use less sugar and water; add a little paprika, and serve it on a bed of shredded lettuce as a salad, and eat with scraped raw beef sandwiches.  Those who cannot eat oil, and who prefer sugar and lemon on lettuce, will find the apple a pleasant addition.

CREAMED WALNUTS

  The white of one egg and an equal amount of cold water, flavored with one teaspoon of lemon or vanilla.  Beat until mixed thoroughly, then beat in confectioner's sugar, sifted, until the dough is stiff enough to mould.  Break off pieces the size of a nutmeg, roll them in the palm of the hands until smooth and round.  Press the halved walnut-meats on each side, letting the cream show slightly between the meats.  One egg will require about one and one-fourth pounds of sugar.

CREAMED DATES, ALMONDS, ETC.

  Stone the dates and shell the almonds.  Make the sugar dough as directed for creamed walnuts.  Put a ball of the dough into the center of the date and cover the almonds with the dough.  Creamed nut-cakes may be prepared by stirring the chopped nuts into the sough.  Press it out into a flat sheet three fourths of an inch thick; then cut in inch squares.

EGG-NOG

  Beat the yolk of one egg, add one tablespoon sugar and beat till creamy.  Add one half cup of milk.  Beat the white of the egg till foamy (but not stiff and dry) and stir it in lightly.

FRUIT SALAD IN LEMON CUPS

  Allow one half a lemon for each serving and select such as are fine and uniform in size.  Use equal portions of cherries, strawberries, and bananas, if made in summer, or of peaches, plums, and grapes, if in September.  Cut off a thin slice from each end of the lemon so it will stand upright, cut in halves, and scoop out the juice and pulp and all the inner membranes, and strain the juice.  Stone the cherries and halve them.  Hull and clean the berries, cut them in halves, and remove the surplus seeds.  Cut the bananas of the same size as the others and mix all together.  If late fruits are used, peel peaches and plums and cut small; skin and seed the grapes.  Put a shake of salt and a generous sprinkling of sugar over each layer and the strained lemon juice over the whole.  Let it stand in a cold place until the sugar is dissolved.  Then fill the lemon cups with the mixture and put a tiny tip of fresh, crisp water-cress on the top.  Cut some blocks of bread, one inch thick, two wide, and about four long; hollow the centers enough to hold the cups, and cut the ends in thin slices nearly through, leaving just enough so they can be pulled off easily while eating the contents of the cups.

PEACH OR STRAWBERRY WHIP

  Stir one cup of clear strawberry juice or of peach pulp into one pint of thick double cream; add one cup of powdered sugar and whip till stiff; then add beaten whites of two eggs and continue beating till very stiff.  Turn into a deep glass dish and garnish with large whole berries or halved peaches.

ICE CREAM

  Some cooked foods and combinations of uncooked foods are more palatable when cold, especially in hot weather.  These foods may be made very cold by freezing and they are called ice creams and water ices.  Ice creams are mixtures of cream, milk, eggs, sugar, and flavoring.  Water ices or sherbets are mixtures of water, fruit-juice, and sugar.

  The Freezer. Use of a large freezer is not a necessity for freezing cream.  A small quantity of cream may be frozen in a covered can or pail that is water tight by surrounding it with three parts of crushed ice and one part of coarse salt, and stirring it frequently.

  Salt makes the ice melt and the melting ice dissolves the salt;  the two in changing from the solid to the liquid form, lose some of their heat, and the brine is many degrees colder than the ice.  The brine absorbs heat from the can and soon the contents begin to freeze.  The finer the ice is crushed the quicker it melts; and the more the mixture is stirred the sooner all parts become chilled.

FRUIT ICE CREAM

3 oranges.
3 lemons.
3 bananas.
1/2 can apricots.
3 c. sugar.
3 c. cold water.

  Place a strainer over a large bowl;  squeeze into it the juice of the oranges and lemons; then add the bananas and apricots, and rub them through the strainer.  Add the cold water to help in the sifting.  Add the sugar, and when it is dissolved, turn the mixture in the freezer can, and freeze as directed.

He liked those literary cooks
Who skim the cream of others' books;
And ruin half an author's graces
By plucking bon-mots from their places.
 
 Hannah More — Florio