Cookery.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1032, 11 December 1891, Page 5

Cookery.

STRAWBERRIES. From one end of this colony to the other strawberries are now coming in plentifully. They are the most delicious fruit we grow, at the same time being the most wholesome. Besides using them for dessert there are several ways of preparing them for table. The following methods will be found useful. STRAWBERRY PUDDING. Cut half a pound of stale sponge cake into slices and dip for a moment in milk. Arrange these in layers in a dish, with strawberries plentifully sugared, letting the top layer be of cake. When the dish is half full pour over all a custard made from a quart of milk, two beaten eggs, and two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Bake half an hour and eat cold. STRAWBERRY DUMPLINGS. Make a paste from one pint of sifted flour, two tablespoonfuls of butter (half lard if you prefer), a teaspoonful of salt, and enough milk to moisten sufficiently to roll out—about half a teacupful. Mix very lightly with the tips of the fingers, and roll out about a quarter of an inch in thickness ; cut in rounds with a cake cutter ; put from three to six berries, according to t>heir size, in the centre of each, and pinch shut. Steam twenty minutes. A nice sauce is made by beating to a cream a cup of powdered sugar with two tablespoonfuls of butter, and adding, a couple at a time, enough berries to give it a pink appearance. Mash and beat while adding them until light, then place them in a cold place until wanted. STRAWBERRY TARTS. The very attractive fruit tarts which one sees in the confectioners’ windows may be very easily made at home. Supposing that you have mastered the art of making a good, light paste, roll it out very thin and cut three rounds for each tart; from the two upper rounds cut out the centres with a smaller cake cutter ; place two of the rings thus made on a solid round of paste, and stand by the ice until vei'y cold. Bake in a rather quick oven, take them out, brush over with beaten white of egg, dust with graulated sugar, and return to the oven long enough to glaze. Fill with fresh berries, and put a spoonful of whipped cream on top or simply dust with powdered sugar. STRAWBERRY CREAM. Sprinkle a cup of sugar over a pint of fresh, hulled strawberries, and mash them with a wooden spoon. Extract the juice by rubbing them through a hair sieve, and add a pint of rich whipped cream, and an ounce and a half of gelatine dissolved in a pint of fresh milk. AVet a mould with cold water, pour in the mixture, and set on the ice until firm, when it is ready to serve. In order to dissolve the gelatine, soak it for an hour in the pint of milk, and then place the vessel containing it inside another of boiling water, and stir until dissolved. STRAWBERRY ICE. Mash two quarts of berries with two pounds of sugar ; let them stand for an hour, strain off the juice, add the juice of one lemon and one orange, and a pint of water, and freeze. STRAWBERRY SHERBERT. Boil three cups of water with two of sugar and the juice of a lemon for half an hour ; pour it over a quart of strawberry juice, and freeze. CANNING. Canned strawberries* to keep their flavour and colour, must be put up while perfectly fresh. If possible, they should go directly from the field to the kettle. Do net wash them ; if any are soiled reject them. Put them in a granite preserving kettle in alternate layers, after weighing both fruit and sugar. Use half a pound of sugar to half a pound of fruit; let them stand an hour and then set over the fire. Heat slowly, and as soon as heated through fill the jars; seal, and when cool set away in a aark closet. PRESERVES. To seven pounds of fruit allow five and a half pounds of sugar and three cups of water; boil the water and sugar for fifteen minutes, skimming the while ; add the fruit, and cook slowly forty minutes. STRAWBERRY CHARLOTTE. A most delicious dish is the Strawberry Charlotte and easily made. Stew one quart of fine ripe strawberries in one pint of water. Squeeze through cheese-cloth, letting all but the seeds go through, then sweeten to taste, and heat again. Fill a bowl or oval mould with soft stale bread, crumbled finely. Pour the boiling fruit over the bread, moistening each layer of crumbs, and using as many as the liquor will admit. Press each layer down that all the crumbs may be equally moistened. Set in a cold place—on ice if possible —and when ready to serve turn out on a pretty dish and serve with cream. Anything more simple, easily made and delicious for a hot summer day can hardly be found. It is particularly suitable forthose to whom the small seeds in these fruits are objectionable. A decided improvement is to add a wineglass of sherry, or better still, of hock, to the stewed fruit just before pouring over the bread crumbs.