This section is from the book "Twenty-Five Cent Dinners For Families Of Six", by Juliet Corson. Also available from Amazon: Twenty-Five Cent Dinners.
Carefully wash one quart of potatoes, removing any defective part, cut a slice from the top of the potatoes, take out a little of the inside, chop it fine, mix it with half a pound of highly seasoned sausage or mincemeat, (cost six cents,) fill it into the potatoes, put on the piece you first cut off, and bake them for about three quarters of an hour in a quick oven. Serve them as soon as they are soft. Ten cents will cover the entire cost, and they will make a very-hearty and nutritious meal, especially if the meat used is pork.
You can generally buy a pig's brain and haslet at the slaughter house for about ten cents; wash them thoroughly; slice the heart, liver, and lights, and fry them light brown in a cents' worth of drippings. Put the brain over the fire in cold water with a tablespoonful each of salt and vinegar, let it boil for fifteen minutes, and then lay it in cold water to get hard. Make a suet crust, as directed for Suet Dumplings, (cost five cents,) roll out a cover for the pudding, line the edges of the dish two inches down with it, and put any bits you may have remaining, into the dish in layers with the haslet and brain sliced; season the pudding with one level tablespoonful of salt, one onion chopped, and half a level teaspoonful of pepper; cover it with the suet crust, and bake it for about an hour in a moderate oven. Serve it hot. The pudding will make a very hearty dinner, at a cost of about fifteen cents.
Mix together in a deep plate the following ingredients, which will cost about three cents; one ounce of butter, half a level teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful each of mustard, and any table sauce or vinegar, and as much cayenne as you can take up on the point of a small pen-knife blade; toast half a loaf of stale bread, (cost three cents,) cut in slices one inch thick; wash, split, and broil one pound of pig's or sheep's kidneys, (cost ten cents or less;) while the kidneys are broiling dip the toast in the first named seasonings, lay it on a hot dish, and lay the kidneys on it as soon as they are broiled; season them with salt and pepper, and serve them hot with one quart of plain boiled potatoes, (cost three cents.) The cost of the entire dinner will be less than twenty cents.
Thoroughly wash two pounds of tripe, (cost sixteen cents,) boil it until tender, about one hour, in plenty of water and salt; then lay it on a clean, dry cloth to drain; put half a pound of rice, (cost five cents.) into the same water, and boil it fast for twenty minutes; cut the tripe in pieces two inches square; slice two cents' worth of onions, frying them in two ounces of drippings, (cost two cents,) season with one teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a level teaspoonful of pepper, and one tablespoonful of vinegar, add to the tripe, and cook all together for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Just as you are ready to serve it, stir in one teaspoonful of curry, which, with the other seasonings, will cost two cents. Drain the rice in a colander, shake it into a dish, and send it to the table with the tripe. The dinner will cost twenty-seven cents, and be very satisfactory.
Boil one pound of yellow Indian Meal, (cost four cents,) for half an hour, in two quarts of boiling water with one ounce of drippings, (cost one cent,) stirring it occasionally to prevent burning; meantime fry in one ounce of drippings, (cost one cent,) a sheep's or pig's haslet, (cost five cents,) well washed and sliced; when the meal has boiled half an hour, put it into a greased baking dish with the has. let, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper; bake it fog. twenty minutes in a quick oven, and serve it hot.
The dish, which is palatable and nutritious, costs less than twelve cents.
Chop the remainder of the A la mode Beef; make a suet crust, (cost five cents,) as directed for Suet Dumplings, roll it out quarter of an inch thick, cut it out with a round tin cutter, lay a table-spoonful of the mince-meat on each round, wet the edges of the crust, and fold it over in the shape of an old-fashioned turn-over; pinch the edges together, put the patties on a floured baking-pan, and bake them about half an hour in a moderate oven. When you put them in the oven, put one quart of potatoes, (cost three cents,) to boil in boiling water and salt. When both potatoes and patties are done serve them together; the dinner will cost about thirty cents.
 
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