COOKERY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1291, 26 November 1896, Page 15

COOKERY.

SUMMER SALADS. Salads are a welcome addition to the bill of fare at any time, but during the summer they are specially relished. The system requires just such cooling topics. They are inexpensive, and those requiring: little work in their preparation are ofteo as palatable as more elaborate ones. Nearly any "green thing" growing can be converted into a salad. The secret of success is to have the ''green things" fresh, crisp, and daintily served. Plain salad dressings are composed of oil or melted butter, vinegar, salt, and pepper in proportions to suit the taste. The more elaborate ones may contain yolks of eggs mashed fine, or raw eggs, well beaten and cooked in the dressing, onion juice, celery, salt, mustard, lemon juice, or other seasonings. Cream dressing may be made of thick, sour creara with pepper, salt, and a little lemon juice if liked, with or without the mashed yolks of eggs. Or, two tablespoons of whipped sweet cream, to two of sugar and four of vinegar, is sometimes used, the vegetables for the salad being salted and peppered. Cold boiled asparagus furnishes the foundation for a variety of salads. It may be cut in inch lengths, arranged with boiled carrots, sliced thin, served with a plain salad dressing, and garnished with slices of hard-boiled eggs. Lettuce is served with any salad dressing, and also used with other greens. If cub iinely with young onions and mixed with a plain dressing, it is generally liked. Fresh lettuce heads in the centre of a platter, surrounded by cold, boiled beets, make a pretty appearance. Any green vegetable garnished with slices of hardboiled eggs gives a good contrast in colour.

Young onions chopped fine with hardboiled eggs may be moistened with vinegar, melted butter, and seasoned with pepper and salt. Wo often use cold boiled potatoes, young onions, and hard-boiled eggs in equal quantities, chopped together, and covered with a plain dressing. String beans, broken in inch pieces, cooked in Baited water, and drained well, may be combined with finely chopped onions, pepper, vinegar, and molted butter. Chopped onions, with cool baked beans, dressed with oil or butter, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper make ua a favourite salad. Peel and slice cucumbers : mix with salt, and let stand half an hour ; drain, arrange with sliced onions, and pour over a dressing of vinegar, pepper, and a little sugar and oil. Spinach should be boiled twenty minutes, drained, returned to the fire with salt and butter. Chop with a knife; remove, and Btir through it a dressing made of one cup of cream, yolks of two eggs, pepper, and a little mixed mustard. Tomatoes make an excellent salad. Remove skins from the ripe ones, and when thoroughly cold, slice and serve with a dressing of salt, pepper, vinegar, ank sugar, or a cooked dressing. Tomatoes are sometimes chopped with celery, and covered with a salad dressing.

Cabbage is served in a variety of salads. It may be combined with chicken, meat, or almost any vegetable. Chopped raw cabbage with a cream, French, or mayonnaise dressing, forms as appetising a relish as one could wish. MIXED CABBAGE SALAD. Chop cabbage, lettuce, and a small onion together ; sprinkle with sugar and salt, place in a salad dish, lay sliced eggs on top, and pour over a cup of vinegar. A FEW WAYS OF PREPARING CHICKEN. CHICKEN FEITEAUX. Chop enough cold roasted chicken to fill two teacups. Beat three eggs light, add one teacupiul sifted flour and sufficient ice water to make a moderately thin batter; to this add one tablespoon ful of celery chopped fine and the minced ckicken ; drop spoonfuls in hot fat and fry a delicate brown. FRIED CHICKEN. Cut up the chicken as for fricassee, wash thoroughly, and let it stand in salted water for'an hour, when remove, drain and wipe dry, after taking off the skin. Have ready sufficient flour to roll each piece in, in which has been mixed a bit of cayenne pepper, white pepper and salt to taste. Into a deep spider thoroughly heated, place a generous amount of butter, and when boiling hot roll the chicken in the prepared flour and fry a goldenbrown. CHICKEN SANDWICH. Boil a chicken until very tender, and when done have only water enough to prevent burning. Remove all bone, gristle, and skin, then chop fine. Season the meat with salt and pepper to taste, pour over this the liquor left in the pot, and put all in a square bread tin to cool. Slices cut from this make a very nice sandwich filling. An addition of chopped celery, or a little celery salt is an improvement for some persons. CHICKEN PIE. Boil your chickens very tender, remove from the bones, season with salt and pepper, and a good sized piece of butter. For the crust take one quart of flour, stir in two tablespoonfuls of baking powder, one-third of a cupful of melted butter, mix with sweet milk stiff enough to roll out. Roll half an inch thick or more, place in a deep baking dish, put in the chicken meat with sufficient broth in which it was boiled to make it moist, but not run

•over. Then put on the top crust, wet the edges, and press them together, and make a large hole in the centre of top crust to let out the steam. For a large pie use double the amount of crust. CHICKEN FRICASSEE. Boil the chicken until tender, then cut small. Make a gravy of the water in which it was boiled, allowing half a cupful of flour and two tablespoonfuls of butter to every quart. Mix the butter and flour, season with skit and pepper and put in the chicken, letting it boil ten cr fifteen minutes, so it will be well seasoned ; then garnish with boiled rice. BROILED CHICKEN. Select nice tender chickens, wash thoroughly, split them down the back, and soak them in salted water for an hour, then drain and wipe them with a dry cloth, place them on a broiler over nice hot coals, with the inside next the fire till half done ; then turn and broil till a nice brown colour. Bemove to a platter and spread with well saltsd butter.