HOME INTERESTS,

Otago Witness, Issue 1895, 16 March 1888, Page 34

HOME INTERESTS,

Butter Scotch. — Boil together for half an hour one spoonful of water, two of butter, four of molasses, and nine of sugar. Stir briskly, and cool in thin sheets.

Nut Candy. — Boil 21b ot brown sugar, half a pint of water, and one gill of molasses until it will harden when cool ; then add the meats of the nuts, and allow to cool and harden on flat plates.

Tomato Fbittjers. — One quart of stewed tomatoes, one small teaspoonful of soda ; stir in flour enough to make a batter like that for griddle cakes. Have some lard very hot on the stove ; drop the batter in, a teaspoonful at a time, and fry.

Washington Cake. — One pound of brown sugar, lib of flour, of butter, 2lb of stoned raisins, four eggs, two teaspoonfuls soda dissolved in half cup of hot water, half pint molasses, two grated nutmegs.

Cookies. — Two eggs, one and a-half teacupfuls of butter, half cupful of sweet milk, two teaspoonf uls cream of tartar, one teaspoonful of soda, nutmeg to taste. Mix in enough flour to roll, cut into round cakes, and bake in a quick oven.

To prevent pie juices from running out in the oven, make a little opening in the upper crust, and insert a little roll of brown paper perpendicularly. The steam will escape from it as from a chimney, and all the juice will be retained in the pie.

Stewed Tomatoes. — Slice a dozen omatoes into a small stewpan, season with pepper and salt, and pour over them half a pint of good gravy. Thicken with a little flour. Let; them stew until tender, and then serve in a vegetable dish. Tomato Salad.— Cut six ripe tomatoes into slioes, and remove all the seeds; rub a dish with onion, and pour into it a mixture of oil and vinegar (in the proportion of two spoonfuls of oil to one of vinegar), sprinkle on the tomatoes pepper and salt, and leave them in the dressing two hours. They will then be ready to serve. Vegetable Marrow Jam .—Take the greenest marrow, the yellow are the most insipid. Wash and dry it, peel it carefully, and cut it into thin slices ; weigh it, and to every pound of marrow pub l£lb loaf sugar, the rind of a lemon cut very thin. Boil for an hour, at the end of which it should be quite clear ; if it is not, let it boil a little longer; when done, add the juice of the lemons, having first strained it, or a little essence of lemon. The flavour should be strong of the lemon. A glass of brandy or whisky many think a great improvement. Pickled Nasturtiums. — Gather the nasturtium seeds in dry weather as they are ready, and before they get old and hard. Put them into a clean glass bottle, and cover them with vinegar, in which has been dissolved loz of salt to each pint. Put a few peppercorns in each bottle. Cork the bottles and resin the cork, and keep for 12 months, when they will be fit for use. Cucumber Pickles. — To lgal of good cider vinegar add one teacupful of sugar, half a teacupfui of salt, one tablespoonful each of white mustard seed, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and ginger; one cupful of grated horseradish, and a piece of alum the size of a small filbert. Let this come to a boil, turn into a stone crock, cover tightly, and let it stand until cold. Now pick the cucumbers the size required, turn boiling water over them, let them stand until cold ; then take them out and wipe dry ; put them in the pickle, cover over with horseradish leaves, and put on a weight. In a few days they are ready for use. Apple Sponge.— Boil lib of sugar in half a pint of water until clear. Pare lib of large ripe apples, and slice them into the syrup. Stew until tender. Dissolve half a box of gelatine and add to the apples ; then strain through a sieve ; add the grated rind and the juice of two lemons ; stir until thick. Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth ; stir into the apples, and beat until cold ; then pour into a mould to harden. Serve in a dessert dish with whipped cream, sweetened and flavoured with vanilla. Peach, raspberry, strawberry, currant, lemon, and orange sponge may be made in the same way, and will be found delicious desserts.