OLD-TIME

when it boiled she put in her “robins.” To make

these she tuok one egg for each cup of sweet milk,
and stirred in flour till it was a stiff batter; but I

 

 

think if you
should put in
asmuch cream
of tartar and
soda as youdo
in making bis-
cuits, your rob-
ins will be
more likely to
be light— if
they are heavy
your dinner is
spoiled. The
batter should
be as stiff as
you can stir
with 4 spoon; and as soon as the sweet porridge
boils you are to drop in bits, or “robins,” about as
large as an acorn. Drop them just where the boiling
makes a free space in the pot, and don’t let the boil-
ng Cease for a moment. Cover the pot, and let it

 

 

THE BAKE-KETTLE,

COOKERY. 108

”

boil a few moments after the last robin isin. A little
salt should be put both into the robins and the por-
ridge, the salt taste being quite distinct in the
robins.

Salt was one of the anxieties and trials of the
housekeeper; it required two bushels of wheat to
buy one bushel of salt, and the exchange had to be
made several miles away. It was coarse salt when
bought; all the fine salt used for butter and cooking
was pounded in a mortar— the Whitney boys hated
the salt mortar worse than they did the churn.

The first maple syrup brought in demanded “ flap-
jacks” for its full enjoyment. These were baked in
a frying-pan, with a handle three or four feet long,
and cook, who was perhaps the good deacon himself,
held the pan over the fire, while the mass of batter
was baking; when well done on the under side he
shook the pan lightly till the cake would slip upon
it; then, with a skilful toss, he /apped the cake over,
still holding the pan over the fire — this made flap-
jacks of the cakes, I suppose, for they were what
we call griddle-cakes or pancakes. But Madame
Whitney’s pancakes were different; they were made
much like the dumplings in Pop Robin, and dropped
by spoonfuls into hissing lard. No one could stand
over the blazing fire to do this, so a parcel of coals
was drawn out on the hearth, and in them was set a
a long-legged
spider con-
taining the
lard. All iron-
ware was then
made with
long legs to
stand in beds
of coals. A
* short-cake ””
was baked in
a spider over
the coals until
the bottom
was done, then
turned up be-
fore the fire till
the top cooked
and browned. Biscuits were baked in a bake-kettle
—a kettle holding ten or twelve quarts, with a heavy
cast-iron cover, which was surrounded by a deep rim,
The kettle was put on the hearth over a bed of live
coals, the dough laid in, either with or without a