A CHEAP DINNER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1323, 7 April 1877, Page 19

A CHEAP DINNER.

By Jay Charlton.

Mrs 0. says that it is as cheap, though not quite as easy, to give a dinner in courses as to have one dish. In my boyhood, when we had soup, we had a " soup dinner ;" that is as many platesful as one wished, of good, hearty, strong liquor, made by boiling a great piece of beef with potatoes, onions, and rice. It was delightful, but it seldom came. When we had fish, we had it ; and one ate as much as he wanted. Monday was corn-beef and cabbage day. But I have learned from experience that one may have a little dinner in courses just as cheaply as if the dinner were all of one great dish. As I hinted, the cook has a little more trouble. Sometimes one has for company a gentleman who is used to course dinners. It ia necessary, in order to make him feel easy, to give him a studied course dinner. One ofrthe best dinners I ever ate was comppsed of baked potatoes and pork gravy. But let us suppose that we are to have a stuck-up friend for dinner, and that cur means are moderate. Here is our menu, as big as life :—: — MENU. Potage, a la julienne (Julienne soup.) Macaroni an fromage (Macaroni with cheese.) Ragout de mouton (Mutton stew.) Epinards aux ceufs (Spinach with eggs.) Souffles de pommes (Fried apples.) Cafe (Coffee.) The first dish is a vory simple soup, and if well-made is delicious. Recipe : All the pieces of meat of any kind, chicken necks, bones, (Francatelli uses ham, too,) are put into a pot with cold water, and boiled slowly until' all the juices are extracted. This is "stock," and if it is poured into a bowl or jar, it will jellify, the fat hardening on the top like a cake. Take the latter off. You know how your bowl of gravy hardens. The juice underneath the yellow fat is soup stock. We make it about once a week, to last a week. Put a pint of this stock into a stewpan. Having put some very thin slices of turnip and carrot, say a half a carrot to a ' half a turnip, a half an onion, a bit of celery, and the least bit of sugar, into a frying-pan for a few minutes, pour the whole into the stew-pan, and leave to simmer slowly on the back of the stove. If. you experiment on this, you may obtain eventually a socp that would cost twenty-five cents a plate at Delmonico's. The housewife will see that it costs almost nothing for two plates. Macaroni with cheese. Get very thin macaroni. It cemea in five sizes. It should I be about twice as thick as vermecilli. | Macaroni should never be washed. It j should be put in pieces as long as you choose, into salty water and boiled, while being constantly stirred to keep from burning. It ought to boil tender, in less than twenty minutes. Then it should be thoroughly dried. Do not let it boil so long that it loses shape and adhesiveness, and becomes mush or pulp. On this put melted batter and grated cheese. Ifprefer that the macaroni should be boiled in soup stock, then when dried, well mixed with a very little tomato and rolled cracker, keeping it wet, and having plenty of melted butter and grated cheese upon it. This is a cheap, nutritious dish. Ragout de mouton. Mutton stew may be made from end pieces of mutton, necks, sides, &c. ; though, for my part, I cannot see why a stew should not be made of the very best parts of meats. We always use sirloin steaks for beef stews ; and so we eat all the meat. Fry inch-square pieces of mutton in suet fat ; or take cold mutton already cooked ; and then add enough water for juice ; adding very plenty of onion, as many dice of potatoes as there are dice of meat, just a Jittle carrot, and ■pepper, salt, and allspice to please the caste. You may even drop bits of dough as big as marbles into the stew, but look out that you do not get it too thick. I like mushrooms in my, stews. But this is a luxury not always to be afforded. With -'his stew you will have bread. In Europe no butter ia eatan with it. I like it with pickled t*©ts, or a little horse-radish on my bread. Epinards aux ceufs. Spinach may be had all winter. We boil it until it is done, and then mash it through a sieve or colander, until it is a dark-green mush. Then we put it into a frying-pan where there is butter, a little lemon juice or vinegar, pepper and salt ; and (now look out) just as little mace or nutmeg as will not spoil it. Generally, Mrs C. uses soup stock to fry it in. Put a tablespoonful of this spinach, after it is fried, not dry, but done, on a half slice of dry toast, and on the top put half of a haid-boiled egg. Egg is neceasary, but toast is unnecessary. Souffle de pommes ia a successful dish of my own invention. As Mra C. made it, there was much to like in it. Cut a very delicate apple into half-moon slices, not more than a fifth of an inch thick on the back. Put into a baking-pan such proportions of butter and syrup (or sugar) and a little lemon as will make a nice boiling liquor, and, if you wish, cinnamon and nutmeg. * When it is boiling, put in your slices of apple, and let them boil and fry until they are nearly dry ; but by no meana bake or bum them. < When done put on a little sugar and spice, and set them out doors until they ara very cold. They are delicious. Cafe. Take equal parts of fresh Mocha and Java. On two tablespoonfuls of the ground coffee, for each cup, pour a small cupful of boiling water. Pour the liquor out of the pot, and again upon, the coffee

until it is of a proper colour. If you have a sieve pot, all the better. It costs little. After the right colour is obtained ; put it upon the stove until it just begins to boil ; and serve in very small cups, with sugar, but without milk. The above dinner is good enough for a king. I have given it to gentlemen, who have praised it honestly. Twenty such cheap dinners may be given with success. They cost a mere nothing. Everything is in the cookery.