The Laurel Health Cookery: A Collection of Practical Suggestions and Recipes for the Preparation of Non-Flesh Foods in Palatable and Attractive Ways

than eggs will bear without separating. Stir the blended flour or corn starch into the liquid first, let it boil well, then pour the hot mixture gradually, stirring, into the beaten eggs, return to the fire and cook a moment if necessary, but do not boil. In adding yolks of eggs to hot mixtures, put two or three spoonfuls of the mixture on to the yolks, stirring, then add them, all at once, to the whole. Eggs must be added all at once to hot liquids so they will all be cooked alike and a part will not curdle before the rest is done. To prevent a raw taste, blended flour should be added to boiling liquid so slowly as not to stop its boiling. “Rich milk” means one-fourth to one-third cream. Cream judiciously used is no more expensive from a financial stand point than butter, and from a health standpoint it is cheaper. Being in the form of an emulsion, cream does not hinder digestion as does the free fat of butter. It should be sterilized before using in uncooked dishes. In the recipes in this book, heavy cream is meant unless thin is specified. It is cheaper to buy heavy cream than light, when there are two qualities, and you can make it as thin as you wish. When cream is scarce do not use it where oil and skimmed milk will do just as well, but save it for uses where nothing else will take its place. Cream with water often gives a better flavor to foods than milk, and is just as cheap. For farmers, the use of cream saves the labor of making butter. When taking cream, use fewer nuts and less butter and other oils. Nut creams and butters may always be substituted for dairy cream and butter, with judgment as to flavors. Peanut butter should be used sparingly and judiciously. No one enjoys, as one man expressed it, “that everlasting peanut flavor in everything.” Oil and melted butter may be combined in equal quantities when the butter flavor is desirable, as in pilau