WOMAN’S WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 16398, 14 April 1917, Page 4

WOMAN’S WORLD.

[By Vita.] ** will in this column answer all reasonable questions relating to the home, coohcry l domestic economy, and • any topic of interest to her sea;. But each letter must bear the writer’s bona fide name and address. No notice whatever will be taken 0} anonymous correspondence. Questions should be concisely put, and the writer’s nom de plume clearly written. HOUSEHOLD RECIPES. Savory Rissoles.—Required; Sis tablespoonfuls of mashed potato, two tablespoonfuls of fresh while crumbs, two teaspoonfuls of chopped onion, two teaspoontuls of chopped parsley, two raw eggs, one ounce of butter, one hard-boiled egg, seasoning, breadcrumbs, and fat for frying. Melt the butter gently in a saucepan, add the potato, fresh crumbs, parsley, and onion, and mix well together. Shell and rather finely chop the hard-boiled egg. Mix it well with the potato mixture, and season it carefully. Beat up one raw egg, and add it to the other ingredients. Stir them well over the fire to bind the eg<t well, and then season somewhat highly. Make, the mixture into even-sized balls or cylinder shapes, roll them in crumbs, then brush them over with beaten egg, and again coat them with crumbs. Have ready a pan full of smoking-hot fat. deep enough to cover the rissoles. Pry them a pretty light brown, then raise them carefully, and drain thoroughly on paper. Serve on a lace paper on a hot dish, and garnish with fried parsley. These can be varied by adding two tnblespoonfuls of grated cheese or ground nuts. If intended for any meal but breakfast, hand with them a tureen of good brown or tomato sauce. Alpine Eggs.-—Required; Four eggs, four ounces of cheese, oae and a-hulf ounce of butter, one small onion, salt, pepper, half a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Peel and very thinly slice the onion. Melt a small piece of dripping in a frying pan, and fry the onion a light brown. Do not over-color it, or the rings are apt to taste bitter. Thickly .butter a fire-proof baking dish, line It with fried onion, and next with a layer of thinly-sliced cheese. Carefully break the e ggs on to the cheese, and season them and cover them with the remaining cheese, either grated or finely chopped. Put small bits of butter here and there on the top, and bake in a quick over for about 10 minutes, and serve at once. If liked, after a few minutes’ baking, the surface may be browned under the grill or in front of the fire. This dish will do for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Cream of Haricots.—Required; Half a pint of haricot beaus, one quart of water or vegetable slock, half an ounce of butter, one gill of milk, one gill of cream, one tablespoonful of chopped onion, hunch of herbs, seasoning. Wash and soak the beans lor at least 12 hours. Then drain olf any' water not absorbed. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and beans, and stir them over a geutie heat for five minutes. Add the water or stock, and boil the soup gently for about four hours, or until the beanos are soft. It is a good plan during the cooking to crush the beans now and again against the side of the saucepan with a wooden spoon, as it breaks them up. When they' are soft, rub them through a fine wire sieve to remove the husks. Rinse out the pan. pour back the soup, and acid sufficient milk to make it the consistency of good cream. Reboil the soup well, stirring it carefully. Then add the cream and seasoning. Serve with croutons or toast cut in dice.

Cheese Pudding.—Required ; Four ounces or grated cheese, two ounces of fresh white crumbs, two raw eggs, about half a pint of milk, salt, pepper. Well butter a pie dish, and mix the cheese and crumbs. Beat (be eggs until frothy, stir them into the cheese etc., and add enough milk to form a rather thin batter. Season according to taste adding cayenne if liked peppery. Pour all into the pie dish, and bake the pudding until a Je.icate brown in a moderatelv-hot oven, serve immediately with thin rolls of brown bread and butter.

Macaroni a I'Americame.—Rcquired; Four ounces of macaroni, one ounce of butter, half an ounce of hour, half a pint of tomato puree, two ounces of grated cheese, salt pepper, castor sugar. Break the macaroni into short lengths, and cook it in plenty of fast-boiling sailed water until soft, then dram off all moisture. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir into it tho flour, mixing it in smoothly. Add the puree of tomato (this "T 1 ? elt!l « r tinned or fresh tomatoes rubbed through a hair or fine wire sieve) and stir the mixture over tho lire until it uons. Add the cheese, macaroni, and seasoning. the sugar is used to remove the sometimes too acid taste of the tomatoes. i n . llxtl ‘ ro '"-to a buttered augraton dish, heat m the oven for about five minutes then arrange sippets of fried bread round inside the dish, and serve it at once. Use spaghetti for a change sometimes instead of macaroni.

Rice and Apricot Pudding .—Required: £, nc p V' lt , of lnilk . three ounces of rice, two eggs halt a pound of stewed apricots or quarter of a pound of dried ones stewed ™° tablespoonfuls of apricot jam, half an ounce of castor sugar. Wash and cook the nee m the milk until it has become a thick ireimy mass. Add more milk, if it is thick’ centre it is soft, and remember to stir it well and keep the lid on the pan. \ double cooker is handy if you have one. When cooked, cool it a little, and stir in the jam, sugar, and yolks of eggs. Turn the mixture into a buttered pie dish Put the stewed apricots over the top of the rice. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth stir lightly into them about three tablespoomuls of castor sugar, and heap this meringue over the top of the pudding. Bake U in a moderately-hot oven until the whites have become crisp on the outside, and tinted a delicate biscuit color, then serve it at once. It can be made very successfully with gooseberries, cherries, and currants, etc., varvinv ihc jam according to the fruit you are usin^. Lentil Rissole ties.—Bolt the lentils (fib) in salted water, and do not use more water than is necessary. When soft pound them in a mortar with an onion which has been minced and fried, salt, pepper, and cayenne. \v hen smooth, add two well-beaten Roll into very small balls, egg and crumb them, and fry. Serve very hot. Pickled Apples (by request).—Pare and halve seven pounds of firm cooking apples divide each half into four sections, and after removing the core place them on a dish sprinkling each layer generously with salt’ ISext day drain the fruit well. In a large jar or porcelain-lined preserving pan mix a, level teaspoonful each of mustard, ground ginger, and turmeric, a half teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, a teaspoonful of allspice, 12 cloves, three cloves of garlic bruised, one pound of brown sugar, and three pints of vinegar. Keep the vessel covered, and ''“ter bringing slowlj to boiling point, let the contents simmer gently for a few minutes before putting in the fruit, which must be carefully watched and transferred in jars or wide-necked bottles as soon as it shows signs of softening. Pour the hot vinegar over the fruit, distributing the spice equally Orange Pie—Required: The yolks of three three-quarters of a cupful of su<rar two tablespoonfuls of butter, juice and grated rind of half a lemon, half an oran a e, and a little nutmeg. Beat butter and sugar together, add yolks of eggs, then orange a.nd lemon. Bake with one crust. When done beat the whites with a little powdered sugar, and brown on top of pie. HINTS. Eggs that are fresh have dull shells. To keep a new-laid egg fresh rub it over with oil or pure glycerine. By using, soapy water when making starch the clothes will have a glossy appearance, and the irons are less likely to stick. Tar stains may be removed from cotton fabrics by covering the spot with butter and allowing it to remain for a few hours before washing.

If you wish to keep books in good condition, have open shelves. Glass doors certainly exclude dust, ' but they are apt to keep in damp and harbor moths. .White paint can be kept in good condition any trouble if whiting is mixed to a stiff paste with warm water and used instead of soap. Rinse off with clear water and dry with a duster or leather. When ironiqg a blouse on the right side turn the sleeves inside out. This will enable you to iron round the armholes and shoulder without creasing. To Preserve Leather Straps—Before putting straps away wash them with Castilla soap, dry them, and then rub with olive oil.

To remove scorch marks from linen, take nn onion, cut it in half. and rub the scorched place with it. Then wash in cold water, leave to soak for an hour or two, and the mark wili disappear. ’ To Shrink Flannel (by request).—Before making up flannel for winter use it should be shrunk. To do this fold the flannel up flat and smooth, and place it in a bath. Pour boiling water over it, allow to cool, then press (do not wring) the water out. Pass through a mangle. Then place a cloth over the flannel, still folded up, and iron with a hot iron till nearly dry. This will thoroughly shrink the flannel," am} yet it -fill not look as if it had been washed. To Keep Maidenhair.—Before arranging maidenhair fern in vases soak .it for two hours in pold water; then singe the end of the stem with a match. Perns thus treated fowl thfw. w long and keep «■»« £ad fresh lor several days, * '

To Dry-clean Gloves.—White kid gloves that are not very badly soiled can be quite well cleaned at home with a mixture of finely-powdered fuller’s earth and alum. It should bo nibbed well in with a clean piece of flannel, and then thoroughly brushed off with a clean soft brush. AN IRISHWOMAN’S VIEW OP THE SITUATION. I have been permitted to make this extract from a letter written by a North of Ireland lady who is in a position to give a dependable account of the political situation in that country:— “We are delighted to find that the Prime Ministers of the Overseas Dominions are to take part in the deliberations of the War Council, or whatever name Mr Lloyd George means to give to the tribunal which will discuss and it is to bo hoped will settle effectively many of the post-war problems that demand solution. I sincerely hope that the cause of Ireland will pass under the review of the colonial statesmen, because they have a live acquaintance with and have confronted successfully many of the difficulties that are said to surround the vexed question of selfgovernment Now, it is acknowledged that the Overseas Dominions have governed themselves very well all these years, despite tho fact that they are separated from tho Homeland by thousands of miles of ocean. Surely they will be willing to give us a helping hand in bringing about self-government for Ireland. Hibernia is near enough to her mother to have her ears well boxed if she should prove obstreperous. We have had a visit from your Prime Minister, who has visited Belfast and his native town, where lie created a very favorable impression. I hope that he has been able to get at the heart of things, for it is tho business of some people to make others believe (to parody Kipling) that North is North, and South is South, And never tho twain shall meet. You may take it for granted that Ulster will not be coerced. But it is quite unreasonable that she should prevent three-fourths of Ireland from getting the benefits of selfgovernment if they want them, simply because she (as representing one-fourth of oifr people) has taken into her head to say ‘No.’ If Ireland gets self-government 1 opine that Ulster wifi soon find it to her interest to share the fortunes of the other three-fourths of tho country. Besides, many of the Ulster folk are getting to be more liberal in their ideas, as I have hinted to you before, and they feel that tho past lurid campaign against Home Rule was very much like tilting at windmills. Like their immortal model, they might well have said: ‘Mad we were, and mad we had to be,’ for some of them had no choice in tho matter. One illustration that helps my argument -. X haven’t heard tho Pope's name taken in vain for quite a long time, and you know there was a time (mst very long since, either) when he used to be consigned to a nameless place with much vigor and frequency. It is a great pity that we couldn’t shut up the leaders of the opposite Irish parties, like the jurymen, and leave them to ‘high thinking’ till they came to a mutual understanding. “I was much interested, my dear, in your diagnosis of considered opinion in New Zealand relative to Britain's political alliances, and particularly to the alliances with German princelings. I often hear the_ same opinion expressed by Irish people of intelligence. We are getting to he much more democratic in the Homeland, though a certain section of the people tries by fair moans and by foul to crush this progressive spirit.

“You have been a true prophet regarding the length that the war is likely to run. Save for the balking of the plans of the German High Command at Mons —a great feat, it is true—we aro much to-day (January 22) in the same position we wore in two and a-half years ago. There is something wrong somewhere, and it seems to mo that this orgy of drunkenness at Home and abroad is responsible for much of the _ non-success of the British arms. Public opinion, however, is running very strongly towards National Prohibition, and with tongue and pen is insistent in its demand to adopt this experiment in dealing with this national scourge. It is shocking to think of the splendid youth from the various Overseas Dominions who have been turned into sots while in some of the British training camps. No wonder that the mothers are voicing their indignation through the columns of the English newspapers. Win ß , we want is preventive measures. and as a means to that end I rejoice greatly to find that ths ‘ Star ’ has spoken out as it has done for the employment and due recognition of the policewoman.” THE BAKERS' OPPORTUNITY. Britain, as well as Germany, is to have war bread (writes an English correspondent by the mail). No longer will the white, crusty—more often half raw —loaf beloved by the Britisher appear on his breakfast table. We are so conservative, even to our. loaf, that we contemplate changes with dislike and distrust. Tin's conservatism has stood in the way of Britain's advancement in many departments for centuries, and every country that records progress can see it but -ourselves. But to . come back to where I started. The white loaf, embodiment of extravagance, antenna, not to mention dyspepsia, will give place to the loaf made of the whole constituents of the wheat, with the exception of tho coarse outer layer or husk. Let us see just what this moans. Scientists tell US:

The centre of wheat is composed of starch cells, containing also proteid, from which the gluten of dough is formed; the germ is also represented. This central part is also heat and fat producing. Next comes a layer of cells called the aleurone layer, containing flesh-forming materials, and vitimines, which are indisponsible to life. A dietary deprived of them produces serious diseases, and will result in death. Tho outer five layers of the wheat contain mineral substances' which form bouc and teeth, and nourish the bruin and nerves. The process of modern milling separates these. Millers extract the aleurone and bran layers containing all the flesh-forming material, tho oils, phosphates, and vitiraines to obtain the white, flour.

About 50 years ago flour was produced by one operation, and was called “straight run,’’ and in some country districts in Ireland this custom in milling is still practised, and fanners who grow wheat send a quantity of it to those okl-fasliioned mills to have it ground, and thus secure the sweet, nourishing wholemeal for their households. War bread is to bo a return to this. To those who have always had the. wheaten loaf on our tables—though far from the perfect loaf it ought to be, as it is often composed of second-quality flour and a little bran—the change will not appear very drastic, for we have long realised that broad made from bleached, and very often adulterated, white flour will not go far towards sustaining the human trams, much less will it produce energy and the necessary building power that the body requires. But we want something more than a perfect flour; we want a more perfect loaf.

I have often wondered why so-called scientilio bakers cannot produce anything equal to the sweet, nutty, delicious home-made, bread, even when made from very indifferent flour, that is made in ordinary kitchens, in small ovens, by comparatively untrained women. Why, If women had the magnificent ovens and scientific appliances that the bakers Imve at their command the bread would surely assume greater variety in taste, appearance, and nourishing and appetising qualities. Ac It is, the ordinary white loaf, and as often the brown loaf, is a stodgy, often half-cooked mass, and the few varieties of the so-called “ home-made bread ” obtainable from the baker's cart are even more raw arid sodden. Chesterton has said that “ good cooking and good housekeeping have done more to make men happy and the world tolerable than all the humorists, philanthropists, and statesmen of the ago.” And another wise man has truly said; “We can live without books, but we cannot live without cooks.”

In France I hare eaten delicious bread, and still- more delicious rolls and calces. In Switzerland the scones nro light and digestible, and made of the purest ingredients, though not of the whole meal. During a holiday spent in the Swiss Alps we often had afternoon tea in a pastrycook’s shop in the village. I remarked one day to the lady proprietor: “ Your cakes and scones are so good." “Yes,” she said, "we always use butter in bur pastry.” _ “Oh!' said my companion, who was English, “ they use butter only in their cakes in England, too.” "Excuse me, madam,” said the Swiss girl, “ I was two years in a pastrycook’s shop in England, and they used lard chiefly in their cakes and pastry there." And the delicious buna and rolls we always hod for breakfast in Switzerland had undoubtedly some butter in their composition. Cheap fats are certainly ranch used by the British confectioner, as well as eggs that are quite unfit for feed, and nothing short of a miracle could convert such ingredients into wholesome and toothsome fare. Anyone can tell the difference between such doubtful pastry and good baking where butter and fresh eggs are used, or now in war time fresh raargerine, which has proved such a good substitute. In Norway and Sweden much time and attention have been given to the art of breadmafcing. An English diplomatist in Stockholm told my informant that he had been cured of a painful indigestion by Swedish bread. In Sweden = the working man sits down, every day to a table I laden with «. doaeu varieties of bread.

and the British workman sees on his table the white loat for breakfast, tea, and very often dinner. What wonder that he is underfed, undersized, and with a leaning to the disgusting public-house to satisfy the cravings of an unneurished body? In Ireland the laborer and artisan arc in exactly the same position, for few of their womenfolk can bake or cook intelligently, and this state of affairs is becoming worse owing to the large ■ number of women and girls employed in factories. (Wo are not referring to war work.) In the middle class in Ireland the professional man’s wife, and the wife' of the well-to-do farmer and business man, are usually skilled bakers of all kinds of " home-made bread ” and cakes, though they, too, require supplemental supplies from the baker’s cart.

Might I suggest that a number of skilled bakers from such countries us Sweden and Switzerland be invited to "o out to Australia and New Zealand, at a salary big enough to bo an inducement to them, and set up a national school of bakery to teach your bakers to produce something hotter than the. stodgy loaves they have been supplying up to tho present time? Three centuries ago Thomas Adams said: “If men stumble in the, dark it is not strange; to fall at every stubbo in the day argues wilful neglect, or want of eyes.”