Recipes from Mary Gibbs

Recipes from Mrs. N. Gibbs (Mt. Vernon, MO.); 1895 and 1908.

Drop Biscuit, page 12

Take one cup of rich sour cream, add 1/4 teaspoon soda, 1 even teaspoonful of baking powder, salt; stir thick with flour. Drop small spoonfuls on buttered pan and bake in hot oven. Serve at once. Excellent and healthy. This is also very nice to drop in chicken gravy for dumplings--cover pot and cook 20 minutes. Will be light and excellent.

Cream Toast, page 22

Six slices dry toast; heat 1 pint of milk or cream, melt 2 table-spoonfuls of butter in a granite pan, add 2 even table spoonfuls flour; mix well, stir in one-third of hot milk till it thickens, then add balance, salt and pepper. Dip toast in hot salted water, put in deep dish and pour the thickened cream over each piece. (Good not thickened).

To Broil Beefsteak in Skillet, page 35

Heat skillet to a blue heat, after which use only enough butter to grease the skillet, and add the steak, which must be previouly well beaten with sharp edge of meat knife. Turn immediately and re-turn 2 or 3 times, preventing the juice from escaping. Remove to platter, salt, pepper and butter. Add a little water to skillet and pour over all. The success depends on hot skillet and well pounded beef.

Chicken Pie, page 44

Cook chicken tender with plenty of gravy; thicken the gravy slightly, adding butter and pepper. Make a crust of rich cream like biscuit if you have it, if not, use buttermilk, lard and butter mixed. Mix like biscuit, roll out thin spread with butter and fold and roll again--it needs to be richer than ordinary biscuit--line the pan with dough about one-fourth inch thick, put in the chicken and gravy seasoned as above, reserving some gravy in a bowl. Make a cover of the dough a half inch thick, cutting out a round hole in the center as large as a cup and make a roll of the dough and place all around it. Bake half an hour.

Stewed Chicken, page 50

Joint the chicken, cook tender, season with salt, pepper and plenty of butter; thicken the gravy a little with flour. Have ready nice light biscuit, break open in deep dish and pour over the thickened gravy. They are preferred by many to dumplings. Very nice.

To Poach Eggs, page 54

Have a pan deep enough that when filled 2/3 full of water the egg can float. Add to the water salt sufficient to season the eggs. When boiling add the eggs one at a time, cook as desired and remove to vegetable dish, adding butter and pepper. Salting water, I consider, makes the eggs better flavored and better looking.

Eggs with Toast, page 56

Take nicely flavored brown gravy, put in pie pan well buttered and place in oven. When boiling take out and break in eggs, sprinkle seasoned bread-crumbs over all and return to oven until eggs are set. Have ready toast, take eggs up carefully and lay on toast, and pour over all the gravy. Serve hot.

Baked Fish, page 57

After cleaning a fish, salt and pepper well inside and out. Make a dressing of bread-crumbs, seasoned with butter, salt and pepper, and one small onion chopped fine. Stuff the fish and tie up, put in a pan, cover with water, sprinkle over with flour and add small piece of butter. Bake slowly one hour or more, and garnish with hard boiled eggs. Sauce for fish: A large spoon of butter in a gill of cream. Keep hot, stir often. When fish is served, pour over.

Mashed Potatoes, page 65

Six or eight average sized potatoes peeled and boiled until tender, using cold or boiling water, pouring off water until there is none left as soon as cooked tender. Add salt sufficient to season and mash thoroughly then add five or six tablespoonfuls of sweet milk or cream and 1 large tablespoonful of butter, again mash thoroughly with the potato masher after which you will use a large spoon and beat thoroughly 2 minutes when they will be as white and light and beautiful as the most fastidious could wish. Boiling potatoes after they are done, makes them watery and water must not boil out but be poured off.

Chicken Salad, page 85

Chop of cut the meat of one well cooked chicken in coarse pieces, after removing skin and bones; chop whites of seven hard boiled eggs, and mash the yolks; add salt, pepper and one cup of cabbage chopped, (not too fine). Mix all together. Celery may be used instead of cabbage. Dressing for salad: Beat yolks of ten eggs thoroughly add one scant 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 of pepper, 1 table-spoonful mustard, mixed with warm water, 1 1/2 cups vinegar, stirred in the other ingredients, slowly; set on stove, cook, stirring all the time. After it boils add one cup of thick cream, sweet or sour, boil again, let cool. Mix with chicken just before serving. Garnish with parsley, celery tops, hard boiled eggs, or small mixed pickles. This will keep two days or more.

Tart Crust, page 98

One large cup of lard, 1 table-spoonful white sugar, 3 of water, white of one egg. Very nice.

Lemon Pie, page 103

One large juicy lemon or 2 small ones; peel, using only the pulp, remove the seeds as you slice the lemon in a bowl large enough to hold all other ingredients; add 1 cupful of granulated sugar, mash sugar and lemons until thoroughly mixed, with the end of a butcher knife handle, then add 1 level table-spoonful of corn-starch or flour, stiring it in, then beat in a separate dish yolks of 4 eggs and whites of 2 until very light, then add to the lemon, stir thoroughly, adding a small piece of butter; add last 1 cup water. Bake. Beat the remaining whites to a stiff froth adding 1/2 cup of sugar flavored with lemon extract, pour over pie when done and return to the oven until a delicate brown. Of course a lining of rich pastry preceeds the filling of the pie.

Pumpkin Pie, page 117

First stew the pumpkin down until a dark mahogany color. Then take 2/3 cupful of stewed pumpkin, stir in 2 even table-spoonfuls of flour, a little salt, and 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon, and 1 table-spoonful of ginger; add 5 eggs, well beaten, with 2/3 cupful sugar. Stir all together; add 2 cupfuls of milk or more if necessary. This is for two pies.

Sliced Apple Pie, page 121

Make a rich pastry of lard and water, adding salt, roll quite thin; line pie pan and fill with quick cooking apples, sliced thin; add 2/3 cupful sugar, butter broken in small pieces and placed all around on the pie, add grated nutmeg, then dredge thick with flour; lastly add enough water to cook without running out in oven. Wet the edge of pies before putting on top crust which must be perforated, pinch together tightly and bake in slow oven. All fruit pies should be dredged with flour before adding top crust it thickens and enriches the juice, and makes them better in every respect. A little salt should be used if no butter is to be had.

Rice Pudding, page 129

Take 1 cup of rice washed, put in a six quart pan, add 2 cups sugar, 2 cups raisins, 1/4 nutmeg grated, a little salt, and piece of butter large as an egg if you have it. Fill the pan with sweet milk, set in moderately hot oven; watch and when the milk browns on top take a spoon and stir it in and stir thoroughly from bottom; repeat the stirring as often as it browns until it is thick as you desire, leaving it when done a delicate brown. If you wish it extra nice then spread jelly on top, and the whites of 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of sugar, beaten to a stiff froth and return to oven until it again browns slightly. Or if you wish you can cook on top of stove milk and rice and when it thickens add the raisins, spice and butter, and then set in oven till brown. The first way is the best. It takes about 3 hours to bake the pudding. Excellent.

Minute Pudding, page 135

Put on fire a skillet 1/2 or 2/3 full of milk; add 1 cup of currants or dried cherries or raspberries, or seedless raisins, salt, stir in sifted flour until thick enough to drop from the spoon. Serve with cream and sugar, flavored with nutmeg. Good.

Apple Jonathan, page 140

Slice or quarter quick cooking tart apples, in a pudding dish; add sufficient water to cook; cover with a batter made of 1 cup of rich sour cream, 1/4 teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful of baking powder, a little salt; stir thick with flour, spread over the apples. Bake. Make a sauce by putting one cup of sugar and one table-spoonful of flour in a cup, stir thoroughly, then pour on boiling water from teakettle, stiring constantly; add a generous piece of butter, and a little salt; let set on stove until it boils; flavor with nutmeg, lemon, or vanilla, a table-spoonful of vinegar is nice also. The batter may be made with buttermilk and butter if you have no cream. Or cream and sugar flavored with nutmeg. This is good and quickly made.

Pork Fruit Cake, page 148

Pour over 1 pound of pork, chopped fine, 1 pint of boiling water, let stand over night or get perfectly cold; add 2 1/2 cups molasses, 1 cup of brown sugar, or 3 cups molasses; add plenty of raisins, currants and citrons, 1 table-spoonful each of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice, 2 teaspoonfuls of soda. Three eggs may be added if used at once. Will keep a long time. The little pieces of pork keep it moist. Excellent.

White Cake--Loaf, page 156

Whites of 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 2/3 cup sweet milk, 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1 teaspoonful lemon. Beat whites of eggs, sugar and butter together. Quickly made and very nice.

Maccaroons, page 195

One cup of sugar, the whites of three eggs, 1 cup of nuts, 1 table-spoonful of flour. Beat eggs very stiff, then stir in very lightly the sugar, flour and nuts. Drop in greased pan and bake to a light brown.

To Make Coffee, page 241

Take any good coffee, use one heaping table-spoonful for each person and 1 for the boiler; stir well with white of an egg and a little cold water, pour on boiling water, let it gradually come to a boil and boil 3 to 5 minutes; remove from stove, adding a little cold water to settle; serve at once. It is good to stop up the spout to prevent escape of aroma, which is the flavor of the coffee. Use good cream. This makes delicious coffee.

Tea, page 242

Tea should never be boiled, only brought to boiling point and served at once. Always scald the teapot; add the tea, pour on a little boiling water, enough to steep well, say 3 to 5 minutes. Fill up with boiling water. Serve.

To Clean Silk, page 252

Silk should never be ironed; heat takes out all life and leaves it stringy and flabby. A nice way to clean silk is to sponge with gasoline and water until thoroughly damp and them rolling smoothly on a round stick.

Starch, page 252

One ounce of sperme, 1 ounce of white wax melted together and cut into small pieces; in making the starch put in at first a trifle of kerosene, and cook the starch 20 minutes stirring all the time, and just before it is done put in a small piece of this mixed sperme and white wax and let it melt and strain through cheese cloth. Use only pure white wax and Kingsford's starch. Starch so thick as when cool to be jelly. Stand over night before using. Very fine.

Mayonnaise Dressing, page 281-282

Yolks of 4 eggs beaten very light; add 2 table-spoonfuls of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of salt and 4 of mustard, (bought ready prepared is best); add 1 1/2 cups of butter stirring all thoroughly, add very slowly 1 cup of good vinegar, set on stove and cook until it thickens, add the beaten whites and a half cup of cream. This dressing will keep a long time. If it gets too thick, thin with vinegar. Excellent. For cabbage, after it is chopped, use the above dressing in quantity to suit taste; add hard boiled eggs slicing the whites and chopping yolks. It is very nice also poured on cucumber pickles cut in small pieces.

Mt. Vernon Cook Book, Second Edition, 1908, Thompson Company Printers, Carthage, Mo.