This section is from the book "Cooking For Profit", by Jessup Whitehead. Also available from Amazon: Cooking for Profit.
June 26. The supper ordered for to-night is a very different affair from that of the actors. It is for some professors and teachers but mostly for girl graduates who are not hotel boarders. It is con-demed in advance as an affair that will be more bother than it is worth; that will not pay a cent; but, that must be accepted for the sake of popularity in the town. Perhaps it will turn out more profitable than is anticipated. It is to be fifty cents a plate for all who eat except five musicians who are free. There is a guarantee of forty persons with a possibility of seventy-five. Orders to provide for fifty and take the chances on more 01 less; to make nothing expensive and not lose any more on the party than was absolutely unavoidable
The bill-of-fare:
Thin sliced baked ham 5 dishes.
Thin sliced corned tongue, 5 dishes.
Thin sliced bread, 10 plates.
Ham sandwiches, 2 dishes.
Butter; the usual dishes and individual chips.
Cream rolls (No. 260) 10 plates.
Pickles cut in thin strips, 10 plates.
Coffee cakes, (No. 262) 10 plates.
Lemon tartlets (like No. 134) 15 plates.
Angel Food cake (No. 2) frosted, 4 stands.
Butter sponge cake (like No. 299) 4 stands
Strawberries, 5 glass bowls.
Vanilla ice cream (No. 196) served individually from a side table.
Lemonade, an unmeasured quantity well iced.
Coffee; cream; powdered sugar.
Cost of material: Ham, 4 1bs @ 15 60
Corned tongue, two, @ 30 60
Butter, 4 pounds @ .25 1 00
Pickles, 1 qt. 10
Cream rolls, sixty 50
Coffee cakes, seventy-two 90
Lemon tartlets, seventy-two 90
Angel Food with thirty whites, -etc, 70 Butter sponge cake, frosted 80
Strawberries, 10 qts. @ .12 1 20
Ice cream, 5 qts. cream, sugar, etc 1 60 Lemons, 3 doz 75
Sugar for lemonade, four lbs 35
Cream for table, two qts. 50
Powdered sugar, two lbs 18
Coffee, one-half 1b 20
_____ $11 43
Sixty-nine persons partook of the supper of whom sixty-four paid fifty cents each - $32. There was quite enough of everything, and nothing left; the only thing requiring to be eked out by a plan of dishing up light was the ice cream. The only freezer in the house held nominally eight quarts. Five quarts of pure cream put in increased to seven quarts in freezing and was all the freezer would hold. Among the best things to make for such an occasion are the coffee cakes referred to. These were made like split rolls in shape, then the edges notched with a knife to make what the boys call "dog-toes," then set to rise. They open up in baking, are rich looking and when brushed over with syrup and dredged with sugar are the showiest things on the table.
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