Planning The Festive Meal-of-the-Year

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 70, 15 December 1933, Page 28 (Supplement)

Planning The Festive Meal-of-the-Year

FROZEN DESSERTS CUPS AND COCKTAILS "

Recipes for Hot Weather Delectable Summer. Drinks

Lemonade and all cold drinks and punches are far smoother and richer if sweetened with a sugar syrup rather than with plain sugar. A simple sugar may be made in small quantities, and kept for a week or two, and will be found most convenient and satisfactory during a hot Christmas week. Dissolve lib. of granulated sugar in a quart of water, letting it come slowly to the boiling point; add 1-8 of a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, and boil for 5 minutes. Cool, pour into a jar, and keep m a cool place.- S ’. Grape Juice Lemonade will require four large juicy lemons to 1 quart, of water, and a quart bottle of grape juice, with two cupfuls of sugar, and 1 orange. Boil the sugar and water 10 minutes, cool, and stir in the lemon juice and grape juice. Cut the orange into wafer-thin slices, then into eights, and add to the beverage. Sparkling Lemonade: Prepare a syrup of 2 cupfuls sugar and 3 cupfuls water, boiled ten minutes. Cool, add the juice of 3 lemons, and 2 bottles of ginger ale. Apricot Cup: Press a quart tin of apricots through a sieve, and to the pulp add 1 pint of water, the juice of 1 orange, and 2 lemons, and the cupful of powdered sugar. Stir well, and when the sugar is dissolved, add ice and water to taste. Serve with thin slices of orange floating; on top of each glass. ’ Fruit Cocktail; Halve as many grape fruit as required, and scoop out the flesh. Take the skin from the quarters and break them up small.’ Make a mixture with diced pineapple, halved cherries, strawberries, any fruit liked, and the grape fruit. Put back in the peel cups, .dd a little brandy, a dash of maraschino, and sprinkle with sugar to taste. This cocktail may be varied in many ways. Remember that ice is nearly always essential for a cocktail, so order plenty, and that the larger the shaker itself isl in proportion with the ingredients it is to contain, and the more vigorously it is shaken the better. . Here are two more or lesis simple cocktails. The first is the “Princess Mary,’ and was invented -by “Harry,” .who was famous for his original cocktail bar at Giro’s in London, in honour of Princess Mary’s wedding to Lord Lascelles in 1922: — 1-3 gin. 1-3 creme de cacao, 1-3 fresh cream. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Then there is the “Mayfair Cocktail, invented by “Robert,” of the famed and fashionable Embassy Club: 1 gin, i orange juice, 3 or 4 dashes apricot syrup, flavoured with a little clove syrup. If you do not want the trouble of preparing your own, quite good cocktails ready to serve can be bought by the bottle. Before a formal dinner party, cocktails or sherry are usually served as the guests arrive before dinner is announced. The clever hostess takes full advantage of this opportunity to get all her guests' acquainted, and in a good mood to enjoy the evening.

The cold desserts that we crave during the summer really have two points to- recommend them. They are very cooling to the jaded, finicky appetites we somehow acquire during these warm days, and' they do not require very much time or labour for their preparation. They may be got under -way in the early cool hours of the day and set aside to “ripen” until time to serve them. \ To the uninitiated, there seems some-' thing mysterious and awesome about the preparation of frozen desserts. It is a very simple process, however, and with a little practice one becomes quite adept In the making of a variety of desserts that are appetising, nutritious and wholesome. The two things, necessary for freezing;. desserts are ice and salt. While the mixture that is to be frozen is cooling, the ice may be got ready for use. The most convenient’ way in which to ’ prepare it Is to place it in a heavy canvas bag and pound it with a wooden mallet. After the ice has been broken into small pieces empty it into a large pan. Then decide pn the proportion of nee and salt accord-; ing to the tables given bn this page, caretfully measure each, and mix them together in one large pan, when they are ready for immediate nee.. Place the ice-cream mixture in the can, Cover securely, and set in the outside container. Then pack the ice and salt mixture down into the space between the can arid the container into which it fits. Be very careful in doing this as .it is very easy to allow some of the salt to get into the can. Pack as tightly as possible so that the ice comes higher than the surface of the mixture inside the can. After finishing the packing, attach the top securely, when everything is ready to begin the final work of freezing. . r Always turn the crank slowly in the beginning, for nothing is gained by turning the mixture rapidly at the temperature at which it is put into the freezer. Of course, when the temperature drops and the mixture begins to thicken a trifle, the crank should be turned more rapidly as considerable air should be incoporated into the mixture during the time it is freezing. •. . If the ice cream is not to be served at once, as is generally the case, freeze it only moderately and then pack it carefully and allow it to freeze more. During this second freezing process the flavour of the dessert improves and this condi; tion is what is known as ripening. The following ice cream.is perhaps the easiest to make. It consists of cream, sweetened, flavoured, and then frozen. Instead of plain flavouring, fresh or preserved fruit may be added, if desired. As this is an uncooked mixture, it would come under Table I shown below. By consulting this table you can easily see how the proportion of ice to'salt affects the time for freezing and the volume of the finished product. Table II applies to ice creams that have a cooked foundation. Simple ice cream: ,1 qt. cream, 1 Tb. vanilla, Ic. sugar., Scald the cream in a double boiler, add the sugar and the vanilla, and cool. If desired, add 1$ cupfuls of crushed fruit. If pineapple is used, it may be grated, shredded, or put through a food chopper. For plain ice cream, one can use ingredients that are somewhat less expensive than those used in the preceding ice cream. A custard foundation is used with often a small amount of corn starch or flour to thicken it. The mixture must be cooked sufficiently to eliminate the raw taste of the corn starch or flour. It should not, of course, be boiled but should be cooked in a double boiler. Plain Vanilla Ice Cream. 1 qt. milk 2 eggs 3 Tb. corn starch 1 pt. cream 1} e. sugar 1 Tb. vanilla Scald the milk and stir it into the corn starch mixed with half the sugar. Stir until thickened, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Beat the eggs, add the remaining sugar, mix with a-little of the hot mixture, and stir into the double Iboiler. Remove from the heat add the lerenm, strain, cool, add the flavouring, land freeze. A favourite with children and grownlups alike is chocolate ice cream, an extcellcnt recipe for which is as follows- — Chocolate Ice Cream. 2 c. sugar 2 c. thin cream •J c. water -} tsp. salt 3 sq. melted choco- 4 Tb. flour ■ late 2 eggs 5 c. milk 4 tsp. vanilla Mix the sugar and water and cook unrtil a syrup forms. Add this to the melted

chocolate, and cook together until the two are well blended. Add this mixture to the heated milk and cream, which have been seasoned with the salt and thickened with the flour. Beat the eggs and add to the hot mixture, stirring rapidly to prevent curdling. Remove from the heat, cool, add the vanilla, strain, and freeze. If an ice cream a little out of the ordinary is desired, the following recipe will be found very good : — Banana Ice Cream. 4 well-ripened 1 c. sugar bananas Pinch of salt 1 qt. thin cream Tb. lemon juice First remove the skins and scrape the bananas; then force them through a sieve. Add the remaining ingredients in the order named and freeze, using the correct proportion of salt to ice as desigi noted in Table I. - TABLE I —lce Cream with Uncooked ; Mixture.

IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS. DINNERS LARGE AND SMALL

(By

“Martha.”)

HE first thing to remember in planning the Christmas dinner is the fact that our climate is so (Syf®) arranged that it must be a mid-summer, instead of, according to tradition, a mid-winter repast, and that whoever is to be responsible for its preparation will be working in hot weather. Another point for consideration is that in the household where no maid is kept, the bulk of the" work will fall -on the housewife, who is probably coping at the same time with a family reunion. This will be a matter for careful consideration, if she is to' - enjoy their leisure with them, and not find all her’energy used up in the kitchen.

On this page will be found a choice of three Christmas dinners, as well as recipes and suggestions for cooking and serving. I have tried to include dishes that will not demand too much time on the day itself, but which may be prepared beforehand. The result achieved in each case is a certain amount bf festive display, though the items of the feast are neither elaborate nor expensive.

A' great deal always depends on table appointments and quick service. The glass and cutlery should be attractively set out on perfectly laundered,napery, and the decorations should show some special design to fit the season. In New Zealand, where the flowers are at their best, there should be little difficulty in designing a colour scheme, both gay and effective. Red geraniums as a centre-piece, and red bonbons to carry , out a pattern, red candle-shades and red favours, can be charming on shining white damask.

Proportion of Time for 'Freezing Percentage of Increase in Ice to Salt Minutes Volume 3 to 1 4 - 18 8 to 1 o * 12 to 1 9 37 TABLE II--Ice Cream with Custard Foundation. Time for Percentage of Proportion of Freezing Increase in Ice to Salt Minutes Volume' 3 to 1 17.7 6 to 1 6 21.3 8 to 1 y 28.3 10 to 1 s 28