IN THE ĶITCHEN

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 52, 24 November 1928, Page 18

IN THE ĶITCHEN

Invalid Beef Tea.—Select one pound of nice fleshy beef, without fat. Cut it into small pieces, put it into a saucepan. with one pint of cold water, leave for one hour, then place over gentle heat and bring to boiling point. Add one salt-spoonful of salt, and simmer gently from half to thrill-quarters of an hour. Strain, and set in a cool place. The meat left after straining may be boiled a little longer and pounded with spices for potting. This makes an economical and tasty breakfast dish. If it is necessary to serve the beef tea at once, pass it through a clean cloth wellsaturated with cold water, and reheat. Not a particle of fat will then be left. Chicken Soup.—Cut the chicken into joints, and put it into a jar containing about two pints of cold water. Place the jar in a saucepan of boiling water, and allow the chicken to cook slowly at the side of the fire for about two hours, adding more boiling water to the saucepan from time to time if necessary. Strain by putting a muslin cloth over the mouth of the jar and letting-the broth flow into a jug. If the invalid is very delicate, seasoning should be avoided. Chicken in Aspic.—Prepare a chicken as for boiling. Place it in a "saucepan with sufficient cold water to cover it, add a sprig of thyme, an-onion, a tablespcoiiful of vinegar, a thick slice of lemon, and salt to taste. Simmer gently till tender. Meanwhile, soak half an ounce of gelatine in sufficient water to cover it. When the chicken is done, add the gelatine to the liquor in which it was boiled, and reduce it by boiling. Skin the chicken, cut it into neat joints, place in a basin, and, when the liquor is sufficiently reduced, strain this over, and allow to set. COOKING TROUT. Many readers will appreciate these recipes for cooking trout, now that it is available. Boiled Trout. — 2 medium-sized trout, 1-3 of a pint of melted butter, 1 table spoonful of coarsely chopped gherkin, salt and pepper. Empty and wash' the trout, barely cover them with hot, but not quite boiling, salted water, and simmer gently from 10 to 12 minutes, according to size. Have the sauce ready, add the gherkin, season to taste, pourover the fish, and serve. Soused Trout.—Clean the trout well and cut into neat pieces. Lay it in a small baking tin with a couple of onions chopped small, a few herbs, mace and nutmeg, pepper and salt, a few bits of butter, and vinegar to cover. Cover over the top, and cook till tender. Good eaten cold. Any oily fish may be cooked in this way. Trout Potted. —Take four fish, of a pound or less each ; clean them, cut them open, take out the backbones, cut off the heads, fins, etc., and season them inside with a mixture of salt, pepper, cayenne, and nutmeg; using about a dessertspoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of pepper, with very little cayenne and nutmeg: then sprinkle over each some dried herbs in powder. Put them two and two together, sandwich fashion; lay them in a flat dish or tin to just hold them, and pour over them a glass of white wine, an ounce of butter, and the juice of a lemon; then bake the fish; drain them, and lay them in a shallow pie dish, pressing them well together, each pair being laid in a contrary direction. Fill up any vacant places with lumps of fish aspic, then cover them a fourth of an inch thick with clarified butter, and set in a cold place. This must be done when the fish are cold. This method answers for many kinds of fish. It is an 1 excellent picnic dish. If liked, the

fish may be cut up, and the aspic put in when cold, then a dish of any size or shape can be used.