Mother's Best Helper

¶ “Children and chickens must always be picking"’—thus runs a wise old Danish saying. The plump, pinky fists of the “Darling of the Gods" never feel easy unless they are delving into the depths of dishes in search of novel experiences. Her busy, budding brain evolves fanciful fairy lore out of kitchen common-places. Intent upon being “Mother’s best helper,”the wee-woman swings, pendulum-like, between a help and a hindrance. Pretty, coaxing infant wiles, however, cover a multitude of sins. The infatuated mother prizes the child’s co-operation. To her glamored vision a rosy radiance hovers around the tiny, restless fingers.

¶ Children are angels whose wings decrease in size as their legs increase in length and strength. There comes a time when the kitchen holds no lure for the growing girl —when the mother finds that she must depend upon other help to lighten and brighten her culinary labors. She rebels against spending all the time “from dawn to sunset’s marge,” extravagantly consuming the plus of her vitality in planning and cooking meals. That is a fetich of the past before which the Twentieth Century housewife refuses to bow and cringe.

¶ Then commences a ceaseless quest for time and labor economizers. After many fruitless experiments the panacea for all kitchen ills — “Mother’s Best Helper”—is found in the little jar of Beef Extract — provided it is Armour’s.

¶ There may appear to be beef extract and beef extract—but in the last analysis the only one that stands the test is Armour’s. I speak from experience. Armour’s Extract of Beef has so many points of vantage that a conscientious cook quickly abandons. all other brands in its favor. Only the finest quality of fresh beef is used in making it. This renders Armour’s more deliciously tempting and stronger than any other beef extract—and more economical because less of it is required to produce desired results.

¶ Soup-making, sauce-cooking, flavoring and seasoning all evolve out of the experimental stage into scientific safety when Armour’s Extract of Beef is used as a basic constituent. It provides a precision, an absolute certainty as to the outcome, which is gratifying to a hurried, flurried housewife. It is invaluable as a seasoning for vegetable, egg and cheese dishes and for restoring the pristine primebeef flavor to cooked-over meats. It gives the French and Italian piquancy and zest to the simplest dishes, which so many American cooks desire to accomplish and so few attain.

¶ Some people labor under an impression that the range of soup dishes covered by Extract of Beef is extremely limited. Armour’s Extract of Beef may be substituted in any recipe in place of stock. It also is well to bear in mind that, in this case, the Extract contains all the fine flavor of the meat with none of the waste ordinarily attendant upon the manufacture of stock.

¶ The following is a dainty soup conception. Try it for dinner tonight. It will prove a pleasant surprise:

Royal Bisque a la Creme

1 can of tomatoes,
1 stalk of celery,
1 bay leaf,
½ medium sized onion, cut up fine,
2 tablespoonfuls of butter,
2 tablespoonfuls of browned flour,
1 teaspoonful of allspice,
1 teaspoonful of sugar, pepper and salt to taste,
2 cupfuls of water,
½ teaspoonful of Armour’s Extract of Beef.

¶ Fry the onion in the butter and add to it the celery, bay leaf, and water. When thoroughly cooked strain through a sieve and add the other ingredients. Let it boil a few minutes, then strain it again through a sieve. Return to the fire to heat. Serve it with whipped cream heaped on top of each bouillon cup. If whipped cream is not available, pass around rich cream along with it, which may be poured into the soup, just as cream is used in coffee or tea, to suit the taste of those who partake of it.