HOME INTERESTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3571, 22 August 1922, Page 56

HOME INTERESTS.

MEAT PIES. Take 2oz of butter, 2oz of lard, and about thieo-quarteioi a cupful of water. Put them into a saucepan, and bring them to the boil. When boiling- stir in a liea-oed cupful of flour. Stir for a few minutes, beating out all lumps. Turn the mixture on to the pastry board, and knead it well. Divide it into five pieces, form each piece into a ball, and then with the knuckles gently press the middle of the ball, shaping with the knckles until a nest has been formed. Do this with four of the pieces; roll the fifth piece thin, and cut it round to form tops for the pies. Mince seme fresh raw mutton fine, season with pepper and salt, and, if liked, add a little finely-chopped, parboiled onion. Fill the pies with this, put the tops on, and with the fingers pinch the tops and sides together squarely. Make a hole in the centre of the top to let the 3team escape. Bake in a moderate oven for about three-quarters of an hour. A good gravy made from slock should be prepared and served with the pies, as they arc apt to be a little dr\ r without it. CHEESE FRITTERS. Cut slices of ehecse—about the size of your first two fingers by half the thickness. Spread each lightly with a very little mustard. Now put into a basin six heaped tablespoonfuls of flour, one level teaspoonful of baking ponder, and a good large pinch of salt. Sift them well together; make a hole in the middle of the flour, pour in a little beer, and proceed to mix, just as you do for ordinary frying batter. When it ia nearly thin enough, add a good tablespoonful of tho best olive oil. Give it a brisk beating. Dip in the slices of cheese, and throw them straight away into deep fat heated to frying point. Let them cook to a good deep brown in order that the chees9 may be well done. Drain well, and serve very hot, piled in a folded napkin and decorated with parsley. You simply can’t think how good they are—crisp and crackling, and filled with cheese which has become creamy in the heat. If you ere having a few friends to dinner, arid you want a very nice little savoury, you could certainly find nothing better than this KANSAS SOUP. Uncommon and exceedingly nutritious. Required: Half a pound of honeyoomb tripe, Boz of chopped onion, £lb of potatoes, Boz of celery, 2oz of butter, 2oz of flour, three pinte of white stock or water, half a pint of milk, half a bunch of watercress, seasoning to taste. Put tho tripe in a saucepan with cold water to cover it and a little salt. Heat till boiling; boil for five minutes; then pour off and throw away tho water, and scrap# anj' fat off the trip-, next cut it into small elite. Melt the butter in a sauceman, add

the ©men, raw potatoes peeled and cut in dice, and the celery washed and cut into thin rings. Saute them until a delicate brown. Add the flour, and slightly brown that also. Then pour* in the stock, stirring}, it over the firo until the soup boils ana thickens. Add the piecee of xripe and a teaspoonful of salt. Simmer about an hour and a-half, or until the tripe is perfectly tender. Pour in the milk and washed and finely-chopped watercress. Only the leaves, not the stalks should be used. Add any seasoning necessary, and servo with toastsippets. THE VICTORIA PUDDING. A good hot baked, pudding. Time, about three-quarters of an nour. Required: Two ounces of flour, 2oz of ground rice, 2oz of butter, 2oz of sugar, one egg. about one gill of milk, a few spoonfuls of jam, one teaspoonful of baking powder. Well grease ft pjedish. Put in a good layer of jam. Warm a basin, put in the butter, and let it warm till it is soft, but not oily. Add the sugar, and with a wooden spoon beat the two together till they look like whipped cream (this is called “creaming the butter and Sugar’'). Break the egg into a cup, beat it till frothy, and whisk into the sugar and butter. Mix the flour, ground rice,, and baking powder. Stir these in lightly. Add sufficient milk to make the mixture like a thick batter that drops easily from the spoon. Pour it on the jam. Put it in the hot oven, qx;ite close up under the solid iron top shelf. When a golden brown on the top, put it on the solid shelf to cook more ©lowly. Not more than a half-inch long flame of gas, or less even, will be needed in the oven. To see if ix is cooked, push a warmed skewer—not a hatpin, this time—into the centre, and if it comes out clean and bright the pudding is cooked. To serve dust fop with sugar, and send m a little extra 'hot jam as a sauce.