HOME INTERESTS

Otago Witness, Issue 2369, 27 July 1899, Page 53

HOME INTERESTS

TIPSY CAKE.

Take a good Madeira cake; stick almonds cut in fillets (first scalded and peeled) all over it at regular intervals; pour as much Bherry or brandy over the cake as it will absorb; smother it with a rich thick custard, and surround the cake with raspberry or apricot jam. ORANGE CHIPS. Take the rind of some nice large oranges, cut them into strips, and weigh them; place them in boiling water and cook until they are tender. Place on sieves, and put in the screen or cool oven until dry. To 2lb of fruit take 2lb best sugar and oue pint and a-half of water, boil the sugar and water together until it is a nice, clear syrup. Place the orange strips in a dish, pour the syrup over, and allow them to soak in the syrup for 24 hours ; then strain the syrup off the orange strips, boil until it crackles, and pour it boiling over the orange rind. Again let them stand for 2t hours. This process may be repeated a third and fourth time. To know when sugar crackles, dip a clean stick into the boiling sugar, and then plunge it immediately into cold water. If the sugar that hangs to the stick becomes at onco hard, in kitchen parlance the sugar is said to crackle. When the crystallising process has been repeated often enough the orange chips must be dried in the screen or cool oven. If kept in a dry place they remain good for an indefinite length of time. Ingredients: Two pounds of orange rind, 21b sugar, one pint and a-half of water. OX CHEEK. The easiest way to cook an ox cheek is to stew it. Wash well, and soak in salted water all night; next morning put into a pan, with three quarts of water ; boil up once, skim, cover closely, and simmer (don't boil) for two hours. Then add carrots,, turnips, onions, and leeks — a breakfast cup of each, cut into- small pieces, a bunch of sweet herbs, salt, whole peppers, and loz of allspice. When the meat is tender take it up, cut in iDieces, place them in the centre of a hot dish, with the vegetables all round, and pour over some of the liquor, thickened and seasoned. BANANAS IN JELLY. Any of the jellies sold in packets may be used. Pour into a mould sweet jelly to the depth of a quarter of an inch. Peel the bananas, and cut them in slices across. Place them on the jelly when it has set, arranging them in a, circle, one resting on the other. Make small circle in the middle of the mcrald ; drop on each piece a little melted but cold jelly to keep them in position. When they are set cover with jelly, and when that is firm put in more bananas, and so on until the mould is full. - HARICOT MUTTON. Cut a neck of mutton into neat cutlet 3, and fry them for five minutes in 2oz of butter or dripping. Remove them from the pan and put in a sliced carrot, turnip, onion, and a stick of celery. Pry them likewise; then add a tablespoonful of flour, and when this is brown pour in about a pint of water or stock ; add the meat (there should be sufficient water to cover the chops). Put on the lid and simmer gently for two hours. Serve the meat on a hot dish, strain the- gravy over it, and garnish with little heaps of nicely cut vegetables boiled separately. SALAD DRESSING. Three tablespoonfuls of water, two tablespoonfuls vinegar, one teaspoonful made mustard, one teaspoonful sugar, one saltspoonfnl salt, oue egg beaten well, one piece butler size pigeon egg. Heat over the fire, on top of the kettle, in a bowl, and stir often. It ought to be like a good boiled cußtard when made. COFFEE CREAM. Allow one egg and two large or three small lumps of sugar to each half pint of milk. "Put on the milk with the sugar and the flavouring, whether it be vanilla, chocolate, or coffee; bring it just to the boil, and pour, stirring it all the time, on to the whole eggs ; pour the mixture into a mould, and put this mould into a saucepan with water enough to come three-quarters up the mould, and cook till set, which will be in about 15 minutes. Done in this way, it requires no gelatine; but it will turn out easier, of course, if you add about Joz gelatine. " ANGELS ON HORSEBACK." J Required: Twelve oysters, 12 thin pieces of bacon, 12 rounds of fried bread, cayenne, a little lemon juice. Beard and trim each oyster, then put them and their liquor into a saucepan, bring | them to the boil, and then strain them. Cut the slices of bacon very thin — about 2in long by l£in wide. Place an oyster on each piece of bacon, sprinkle on it a little cayenne and lemon juice, then roll it up in the bacon. Lay the roll on a small round of fried bread, put on a baking tin in a quick oven, and cook till the bacon is a nice pale brown colour. Then serve very hot. GERMAN SPICE CAKE.One cup of brown sugar, one of molasses, one of butter, one of milk, one teaspoon each of ground nutmeg and cinnamon, one teaspoonful of ground cloves, three eggs, four small cups of flour, and two teaspoonfuls of baking powder. PANCAKES. Three beaten eggs, one pint of milk, a little salt, sufficient flour to make a batter. Grease a pan and pour in batter sufficient to cover the bottom to about the thickness of a shilling; brown on both sides, turn on to a heated plate, put a little jam over, roll up, and serve at once. ROCK CAKES. Whisk three whole eggs till light; mix them I with ilb aue:ar, lib flour, and a t&bleanoonful

of currants; beat all thoroughly together, drop the dough in lumps upon a buttered tin, and with, a fork make them look as rough as possible. Bake the cakes in a .moderate oven for about 30 minutes. CROQUETTES. Chop up the remains of any broken ; meat, fowl, or game into small bits, dust with pepper and salt, and mix with a good thick white sauce into a firm paste, shape into balls, rolls, or little cakes, dip into flour and ..water batter, and then into fine bread crumbs, or dip in beaten egg and then, into bread crumbs, and fry in boiling fat. JUGGED RABBITS. Skin, draw, wash and cut into neat joints two rabbits. Fry them a light brown in dripping. Put them in a stewpan, and fry two large onions cut in roimd slices. Drain the onions and put them with the rabbits, add three cloves, a bunch

cf sweet herbs, and parsley, 10 pepper corns', and peppei and aalt to taste. Pour over enough good stock to well cover them, and add a tablespoonful of ketchup. Simmer gently for one hour and a-half, and serve in a deep dish gart nished with fried seasoning balls, rolled bacon, j and sippets of toast. * ORANGE MARMALADE. Required: Twelve oranges, four sweet oranges, two lemons, six quarts of cold water, and 101b sugar. Wash and wipe the oranges and lemons. Divide all into quarters, and carefully remove every pip. Then slice them all very thin, and put the slices into a large pan, pour over the cold water and altow them to stand for 24 hours. Then put all into a preserving pan, also the sugar. Boil all carefully about one and a-half hours, or until some will jelly on a plute when cold. Take off the scum that rises. Pour into dry jars, and when colcl tie down tightly.