THE COOL KITCHEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1937, Page 16

THE COOL KITCHEN.

HOT WEATHER CATERING. SOME WELCOME RECIPES. So far it has been a cool summer; indeed, rather a cold summer, that we have been experiencing, but we are promised some hotter weather in the immediate future. Xo one really enjoys a heat wave, and perhaps the housewife finds it more trying than most, for r?he has to keep her'family well and happy, and this alone may tax her ingenuity, while in addition the preparing of meals and the cooking of food can be a real penance, especially when appetites are Of course, as far as possible, cooking should be done in the morning, before the heat of the sun strikes the kitchen, - little heat in your cooking as possible. If you are using a gas stove, try and light the oven only once during the day, and then do as much baking as must lie done, so that the oven need not lie heated If you possess an electric fan, then move it into the kitchen and place it on a shelf on the wall so that it keeps the air moving above the work table or the sink. Feeding the family is the principal difficulty. Appetites need to be tempted, the children and those who are engaged in strenuous work must get sufficient nourishment, and while the preference is definitely for fruits ami salads, yet the menu must still be reasonably balanced. It is hardly necessary to say that hot meals which are rich in fat should be avoided, and that preference should be given to meats that can be served cold with salad or with aspic. But hot dishes need not be entirely excluded from the menu. Sometimes a very thin vegetable soup served before the evening meal will be refreshing, am! will as we'll stimulate the appetite. At other times iced soup may be liked. Cold Dishes Must be Cold. If you have a refrigerator, now is the time to make the best of it, and if you possess an ice chest then be a little extravagant with the ice, and see that the dishes you serve are really cold. Remember that important rule in cookery —hot food must be very hot, or else it is nasty, while cold dishes must be very cold, or the jaded hot (lay appetite will turn from them in disgust. An ordinary lettuce and vegetable salad gains' in appearance and taste if after it is prepared it is left in the ice chest for a while before serving, eo that it will appear on the table crisp and firm, but if you are serving it with an uncooked mayonnaise dressing, then do not add this until you remove the salad from the ice chest immediately before putting it on the table. Cold dishes in aspic or jelly, sweet or savoury, are not a great deal of trouble to prepare if you will use plenty of ice in the initial stages. You can use one large mould or little individual ones, and these should be placed in a deep tin, a meat dlrth will do, and then packed round with roughly chopped ice or ice cubes. Put just sullicient jelly, a sweet one if you intend making ,i dessert, or aspic, for a savoury dish, into the bottom of the moulds—it should be just sullicient to cover the bottom anil allow it to set. Have the decorations cut ready in a small saucer of liquid jelly. Then using two long skewers, transfer the decorations one by one to the mould, arranging them in a design. Cover this witli a little more jelly, and allow this to set. If a lining is required all round the inside of the mould, then about a quarter of a pint of liquid jelly should be put in in the first instance, and the mould kept moving in a bed of ice. When the jelly begins to set, disperse an even covering quickly over the inside of the mould, and drain away the superfluous jelly as it becomes solid. Decorate as before." and cover in the decorations with another coating of jelly. It is possible by using small moulds to arrange some attractive garnishes and salads" which can be turned out around a centre dish of cold meat or fish. Very attractive dishes can lie made by utilising a ring mould, and a jellied potato set in this way is excellent t<) serve with cold meat." Cook together for 15 minutes 4 cupful* of tomatoes, cut small, 2 medium sliced onions, half a cupful of diced celery, 1 teaspoonful salt, and a little pepper. Tress the whole through a sieve, and add 2 tablespoonfuls of granulated gelatine, softened in \ cupful of cold water, and stir well. Allow to set quite cold, and then, just before the jelly begins to thicken, fold in three cupfuls of diced cooked potatoes and half a cupful of celery. Turn the whole into the wet ring mould, and set in the refrigerator or ice chest to set. When ready for serving turn out the salad, fill the centre with crisp shredded lettuce decorated with sliced stuffed olive and mayonnaise dressing, and arrange over-lapping slices of cold lamb around the outside of the ring salad.

Cold Sweets. Once, not long ago, the eating of ice cream by children was frowned' on by grown-ups, and indeed they rarely ate it themselves, but nowadays ice cream has taken its place among the recognised hot weather foods, and if it is made with good ingredients it can he botli delicious and nourishing. It is possible to buy very good ice cream in cartons packed to keep for a certain number of hours, while with the wide variety of crank freezers, electric freezers and vacuum freezers, to say nothing of the automatic refrigerators, there are plenty of ways of making the ice cream at home. Quite a number of people still seem to find the making of ice cream in the trave of modern refrigerators a little difficult. It should not be, though certain type* of ice cream are better made in a bucket or crank freezer. This applies to the making of water ices, because of the high proportion of water, which crystallises in the process of freezing. Ice cream mixtures, too, which contain a large percentage of milk cannot, for the same reason, be made as well in- the refrigerator as by the' other method. The important thing in making ice cream in a refrigerator is to see that the mixture is perfectly cold before it is put into the trays, and to stir the mixture at least every half hour during the freezing to ensure an even texture, and even freezing. A fork or a line whisk should be utilised for this, and care must be taken to see that the door of the chest is not left open longer than necessary, and so reduce the temperature. Generally speaking, better results I will be secured by the use of evaporated or condensed milk, or by using a certain proportion of cream, while a little golaI tine gives body and helps to prevent 'the formation of large ice crystals in freezing the mixture. ' Too much sugai will also prevent proper freezing.