HOME INTERESTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3488, 18 January 1921, Page 50

HOME INTERESTS.

A MEAT PIE. Note the lining of the dish with pastry. This enables it to be turned out when eaten cold. Required:—Stewing steak, l£lb; potatoes, jib ; liver, 4 lb ; onions, lib. hor pastry:—Flour, ljlb; dripping, Jib; baking powder, one te-aspoonful; salt, one teaspoouful. Wash, wipe, and cut the meat and liver into pieces about two inches square. Put these in a saucepan, add the onion and cold water to cover, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Simmer till tender (time depending on the quality of the meat; about one hour and a half, most likely). Meantime, make the pastry. Mix the flour andi salt and baking powder. Flake finely, and rub in the dripping. Mix to a stiff but not crumbly dough. Knead lightly together. Grease the piedish well inside. Roll the pastry out on a floured board to the thickness of about one quarter of an inch. Line the dish all through with it as you would the basin for a boiled pudding. Fill it with layers of the meat, chopped liver, onion, and - thin slices of peeled potatoes, cooked or raw, which you please. Take sufficient stock to barely half fill the dish, and season it well. Pour it in, and cover the pie with pastry in the usual way. But, if you mean to use it turned out, do not bother to decorate the top with pastry “leaves,” etc. Merely make a large hole in the centre to allow steam to escape. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about two hours. Then take a pint of the stock in which the meat was stewed!, season it, dissolve in it half an ounce of gelatine, and when the pie is nearly cold pour it in. through the centre hole. Of course, if the pie is eaten hot, omit the gelatine. To turn it out, slip a long, thin-bladed knife down between the dish and crust, and turn the dish over when the pie seems loosened.— N.B. —Other fillings, such as veal and ham, chicken, or rabbit, or lean mutton, with tomatoes and macaroni, are all delicious for a change. COOKED MAYONNAISE. Required:—Preserved, unsweetened milk, one tin, or fresh; eggs, raw, three; oil, six tablespoonfuls; vinegar, four tablespoonfuls; made mustard, two teaspoonfuls; salt, sugar, pepper, to taste. Beat the eggs well. Put them, with all the other ingredients, except the vinegar, into a double pan, such as is used for boiling porridge; or you can use a jug, standing it in a pan of boiling water, if you like. Stir and cook the mixture gently till it thickens. Treat it exactly aa you would a custard made with milk and eggs. Take care the mixture does not reach boiling point, or it will curdle. It is done as soon as it thickens. Cool down, then add seasoning and vinegar. Bottle when cold. You can add almost any other flavouring you like to these dressings. It is said one needs a dash of eccentricity to mix a really tiptop salad. Some like a pinch of currypowder added, or a little Worcester or other bottled! sauce. Garlic, vinegar, chutney, and anchovy essence are also used. Most dressings keep well if bottled and put iu a cool place. MOCHA MOULD. Required:—Milk, sweetened, one quart; cornflour, 4oz (light weight); coffee essence or strong coffee, about four tablespoonfuls, or to taste. Remember, the amount of coffee depends on its strength and indit vidual tastes. Mix and put the milk on to boil. Blend the cornflour to a thin, smooth cream with cold water or milk. When the milk is just on boiling pour and stir it on to the cornflour. When it has thickened return it to the saucepan and oook and stir it gently for about five minutes to make it of velvety smoothness. Add the coffee to taste. Pour into the bowl and leave it till quite cold. For this reason it is best made on the previous day.