COOKERY COMPETITION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21251, 3 August 1932, Page 3

COOKERY COMPETITION

THE BEST SOUPS DECISION OF THE JUDGE FIRST AND SECOND PRIZES NEGLECT OF LIMA BEANS The winning competitors in tho No. 3 Cookery Competition instituted by the New Zealand Herald for four recipes for soup, these comprising fish, meat, vegetable and diabetic soups—tho judging to bo based on tho best three out of tho four, are announced to day. They are:— MISS M. WADDELL, 26 Arthur Street, Ellerslie, Auckland, first prize, £1 Is. MRS. S. DONKIN, Rolleston Street, Thames, second prize, 10s 6d. Other meritorious entries have been selected and have been awarded 2s 6d each. The winners of these are as follows: MRS. LOUIS SKINNER, 116 Ladies' Mile, Remuera. MRS. A. HUNTER, 2 Hinemoa Road, Birkenhead. MRS. W. GILMOUR, 18 Patterson Street, Sandringham, Auckland. MRS. W. LINDSAY, Whakane Street, Rotorua. MRS. R. B. HAMMOND, Milford Road, Takapuna. 4 MRS. A. J. HALL, 80 Cook Street, Auckland. MRS. R. S. DOBBIE, 12 Rewa Road, Mount Eden. MISS J. WHITEHEAD, Bombay. MRS. W. A. MANNING, 23 Oxford Terrace, Devonport. MRS. R. A. JOHNSTON, Box 3, Kaitaia, North Auckland. MISS D. M. COYNE, 24 Patterson Street, Sandringham. MRS. R. W. WISE, Nihotupu, via Glen Eden. * Entries for the competition came from many distant parts, showing the great interest that was aroused. Mrs. A. M. Mann, lady demonstrator at tho Auckland Gas Company's cookery department, was the judge. "There were many excellent recipes, that evidently came from experienced nurses," said Mrs. Mann, when discussing the entries. "There was one in particular, however, plainly taken from tho same source, which was repeated through many of the entries." The great use that was made of vegetable water in making the soups was also commented upon. In quite a number of recipes, however, the liquid was not in proportion to tho solids, Stated Mrs.' Mann, showing a want of balance. Nor was the difference in time necessary for cooking different kinds ol soup always taken into consideration. Points such as these showed the difference between tho skilled and the inexperienced cook, and in judging they could not be overlooked. In further discussing soups and soupmaking Mrs. Mann gave some interesting information. "Consommes or clear soups," she said, "have very little nutrition in them, except the salts and soluble extractions of the food from which they were made. Milk soups have the nutritive elements of the milk and this is a very good way in which to eat milk, .for milk should be eaten, not drunk like water. "The thickened soups have but little additional food values," continued Mrs | Mann. "A soup made with milk without thickening is much more nutritious than one thickened, but without milk. At soups properly made and eaten are wholesome, but 1 think preference should be given to the moderately thin soup and especially the milk soup. One may eat with soup a piece of firm bread or hard cracker, or it may be served with croutons: Eating much bread with soups is not advisable, however." With reference to fish soups, Mrs - Mann said that the. fins and tails should not be removed as they are most gelatinous and contain much that is nouushinsr Many good soups were spoilt tor want ol a good finish. White made more attractive by being seived with chopped parsley or celery K[ ce ": Soups should not be thickened with cornflour but with wholemeal, wheat hour, or cereals. Mrs. Mann did not consider that lima beans were used in soups nearly as much as they should be, considering their food value. First and Second Prizes The following are the entries which have been awarded first and second prizes in the No. 3 competition. Although tne judging was based on three out of the four soups in the competition all four in both cases were considered of equal merit and arc therefore published. They are as follows: — FIRST PRIZE, £1 Is; Miss M. Waddell, 26 Arthur Street, Ellerslie, Auckland.—Fish. Clear schnapper soup: * illet a medium-sized schnapper ready for frying after washing well. Place head, bones an trimmings in saucepan with three cups water. Bring to the boil,,skim, add pepper and salt to taste, and simmer 20 minutes. Strain and return to saucepan. Add one and a-half tablespoons of tapioca which has been washed in strainer, sun mer until tapioca is clear, add one tablespoon of lemon juice and one dessertspoonful of chopped parsley just before serving. Cost 2±cl. Meat. Brown Gravy Soup.—Cut up lib. gravy beef into, fair-sized pieces, skin one sheep's kidney ami split in half. Dust well with flour. Melt a little fat pan, place in meat and kidney and brown well. Put in saucepan with four cups of lukewarm water. Slice one medium-sized onion and brown well, and add to meat. Bring to boiling point and skim well. Add salt and pepper to taste, thrGe cloves and six peppercorns, a sprig ot thyme, and a saltspoon of mixed spice. Simmer gently for two hours. Strain into basin. Put kidney through mincer and return to soup. Mince rest of meat and put aside with little stock to make into Cornish pasties or beef steak pudding. Leave soup to cool and then remove all fat. Keheat and add a little Worcester sauce before serving. Cost 4£d. . Vegetable Soup.—Tomato. Open a pint preserving jar of tomatoes, cut up small with one onion, a little celery, about three staiks. Place in saucepan with liquid tomatoes were cooked in and add s" l ' l ' cient water to make up one quart. Add a few sprigs of parsley an " coo ' c a '{ gently for one hour. Press all through a seive and return to saucepan. Season with salt and pepper and thicken with one ounce of butter worked into a ball with one ounce of flour, and added to soup. Stir and let it thicken gradually and keep stirring while all boils for five minutes. Serve with rusks made of thin slices of bread cooked at lowest temperature till quite crisp. Cost: Tomatoes, 3d; onion, butter, flour, etc., 2d. Total cost 5d Diabetic Soup. Rabbit Broth —Make the soup with the legs and shoulders ol a young rabbit, and keep the nice pieces for a pie or entree. Put them in warm water and draw the blood. When clean, put in saucepan with half k a small cauliflower, about a quarter pound of Brussels sprouts and ono leek, and a little parsley. Wash and cut up vegetables finely. Cover with a quart of water, add a fow pieces of bacon rhind, a bifida oi

mace, salt, and pepper, pinch of soda, a littlo grated nutmeg, simmer gently for tiirco and a-half hours; tako off fire and strain. Warm stock through in saucepan, add one cup of milk before pouring out. Part of rabbit, 3d; milk, Id; vegetables, 3d. Total cost 7d. SECOND PRIZE, 10s 6d; Mrs. S. Donkin, Rolleston Street, Thames.—Fish cremc: Cover three schnapper heads with vegetable water or salted water and boil one hour. After straining, add one onion, one potato and half a carrot, finely diced. Simmer three-quarters of an hour, 10, say, cups stock, add 1£ cups milk; then reheat, but not to boiling point. Have ready two level dessertspoons flour, a pinch of pepper and a-quarter teaspoon grated nutmeg mixed to a smooth pasto with lemon juice. Stir this in and cook a few minutes longer. Add one teaspoon butter and some chopped parsley. Serve with sippets. Three cups cockles with their juico will make a substitute for the fish heads. Cost.—Fish heads, Id; milk, 2d; other ingredients, Id; total cost, 4d. Meat Soup.—Take half rump bono or twopenny worth of bones. Cover with salted water, then boil four hours. Strain and let stand all night. Remove fat. Add to one qudrt of stock 0110 onion and one carrot, cubed; also a-quartecr teaspoon mixed spice. Roil three-quarters to one hour. Before serving, add pepper and, if needed, more salt. Beforehand, the meat may bo cut away for uso as mince or rissoles. Cost, 3d. Vegetable Puree. —Brown one large tablespoon of flour with a chopped onion. Add one quart vegetable water, saved for this purpose; also two carrots, one parsnip, two small potatoes, chopped. Bring to boiling point, then add three-quarters of a cup of lentils, previously washed and soaked half an hour. Boil one hour. Rub through a seive, add pepper and salt, one teaspoon tomato sauce and a little dripping. Serve with sippets. Cost, 3d. Diabetic Soup.—Separate the meat from half a shin. Cut into small pieces. Crack or break the bone in several places. Cover meat and bones with salted water. Leave for three-quarters of an hour, then boil three to four hours. Strain, let stock stand overnight. (If needed the same day, strain hot stock through a wet cloth.) Remove fat from jellied stock, lake two cupfuls, which is sufficient for one person for a day. Add half a blade of celery and either two spring onions or one small leek, chopped finely. Boil three-quarters of an hour. Add pepper and, if required, more salt. Before serving, add a sprig of parsley, chopped very finely. Cost, 3£d. As many vegetables, with their valuable mineral salts, are denied diabetics, the best meat and bones should be used. Stock made as above is rich enough to require vei'y little additional flavour or nutriment. Soup made on following days from the same bones will be poorer in quality and may be improved in food value by a little gelatine or a beaten egg. The value of leeks is equal to that of tomatoes, which are used extensively in diabetic diet. Stale bread can be cut into tiny cubes, sprinkled with pepper and salt and baked, with a tiny speck of dripping, till hard and thoroughly browned. Keep in an airtight jar, ready for use with soups as croutons.