HOUSEHOLD RECIPES.

Southern Cross, Volume 12, Issue 15, 9 July 1904, Page 3

HOUSEHOLD RECIPES.

Haricot Puree.—One pint of haricot beans, 'One onion, one teaspoonful of salt, pepper, one pint of milk, and two quarts of water. Soak beans in cold water all night. Then put into a saucepan- with water, salt, and sliced onion. Let it boil gently for four hours. Then put it -through, a colander into a basin, stir in the milk, add pepper and salt, and pour back into a saucepan to get hot, pour into a tureen, and serve. Celery Soup.—Celery soup is so generally popular that a recipe for it will be appreciated. Boil three or four large heads of celery with an onion and three large potatoes until tender. Drain them, and pass all through a sieve. Dilute the pulp to the right consistency with equal parts of milk and water in which the vegetables were boiled, add half an ounce of butter rolled) in flour; season with white pepper and salt; boil np and serve Hand dice of fried bread with the soup. Fish Pie.—After removing the skin take the flesh from the bones of two pounds of fish; divide it into nice-sized pieces, and season with pepper, salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice. SMm half a pint of shrimps, and pound in a mortar with half an ounce of butter and some cayenne pepper. Boil the skim and bones slowly in water till the liquor is thick enough to form a jelly when cold. Put the pieces of fish in a pie-dish with the pounded shrimps, and coyer the fish with a nice pie-crust. For gravy add a little melted butter, sauce, or cream to the fish before covering the pie. Macaroni Mould.— Take a plain mould, grease it, scatter with bread crumbs, and then line it with thin short crust. Mince together three-quarters of a pound of cooked veal, and a quarter of a pound of cooked tongue or ham. “ Boil three or four eggs hard, chop roughly, and add to the mixture with half a pound of boiled macaroni, strained and out into small pieces. Season 'a® with chopped parsley, fine herbs, salt, and pepper. Fill the mould with this mixture, pour in half a pint of either thick brown gravy or wbite sauce. Cover with crust., and bake in a slow oven for about three-quarters of an hour. Turn out to serve; garnish the mould with a few slices of egg, and serve. Meat Shape.—Half a pound of cold meat minced, quarter of a pound of bread crumbs, three ounces of suet finely chopped, one salt-spoon of pepper, a little nutmeg, half a teaspoonful of curry powder, salt, one teaspoonful of powdered herbs, two tablespoonfuls brown bread ‘crumbs, two eggs, eight tablesponfuls of milk or stock. Grease a plain basin, cover thickly with brown crumbs, mix all the ingredients together in the order given above. Put into the basin, cover with a buttered paper, steam one hour. Serve with brown gravy. Fig Fritters. —Steam one pound of good figs in a potato steamer until they are plump and soft, but not broken. Dry carefully in a cloth, roll in sifted sugar, dip into a good frying batter, and fry in deep fat till a golden color. Drain, dust with sugar, and serve. A good dish is made also by soaking the figs in rum for an hour after steaming. In this case it will be necessary to dredge each fig with flour before dipping in batter. Economy Pudding.— Take one cupful of chopped raisins, one cupful of currants, two cupfuls of flour, one cupful of sugar, half cupful of molasses, one cupful chopped suet, two-thirds cupful cold water, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, a pinch of soda, teaspoonful each of salt, cloves, and cinnamon. Bake on© hour, and serve with lemon sauce.

Stale Cake Pudding.—A delicious pudding may be made of crumbs of stale cake, or even bread crumbs. Place a layer in tbe bottom of a pie-dish, then a layer of raspberry jam. Continue putting in these alternate layers until the dish is nearly full. Then pour over it two eggs beaten up in a pint or a pint and a-half of milk, and bake slowly till set. This may be eaten hot or cold. Tomato Toast. —It is a favorite breakfast or supper dish, which can often be made from stewed or scalloped tomatoes left over from dinner. The extra juice from canned tomatoes, which often makes them seem too watery, is useful for the toast. The tomate is simmered with the proper flavoring strained through a sieve, and then thickened with flour and butter before being poured over the toast- If one wishes to make more of a dish, crisp fried bacon may be served with it, or a spoonful of minced ham or other cooked meat may be put on the top of each piece of toast before the tomato is poured over it. Bananas are very good with breakfast.—■ While the steak is on the broiler, slice two bananas in rounds about half an inch thick. Fry them in a little butter, and arrange over tbe beefsteak on a hot platter. Garnish with plenty of parsley. Fowl a la Tartare.—Joint a cold boiled fowl, removing all skin and as much bone as possible. Dip the pieces into egg, and then into bread crumbs highly seasoned with pepper and salt, and fry in boiling fat. Serve with tartar sauce made.thus: —Into a clean pan put the yolks of two eggs, a dessertspoonful of vinegar, and a little salt, whip quickly to a cream, then add, drop by drop, a tablespoonful of salad oil, stirring all the time. Season with a teaspoonful of mustard, a suspicion of cayenne, and some minced parsley. Stand this in a saucepan with the chicken, which should be garnished with parsley and slices of lemon Broiled Fish.—Split open and clean a good-sized fish, and steep it in the follow-

ing mixtnr« for an hour:—Three tablespoonfuls of oil, two of vinegar, half a small onion minced, half a teaspooniul of mixed herbs, pepper, and salt. Take up the fish, drain it, then flour it well, and broil it over a) clear fire. Serve with this piquant sauce: —Make a gill of good butter sauce, and stir into it a tablespoonful of finely-chopped piccallilli. . Chocolate Bread Pudding.—Soak two cupfuls of bread crumbs in two cupfuls of scalded milk, add two-thirds cupful of sugar, two squares of chocolate previously melted, and one teaspoonful of vanilla. Mix well, and bake in a buttered! dish one hour. HINTS. Try fraying the ends of a lamp wick—the end that is in the oil—and see what an improvement it makes in the amount of light the lamp gives out. When the knob comes off from the tea kettle or coffee pot, put in -its place a cork, fastening it on the under side of the lid with a very fine nail, or even a large pin will do. It will save you many a burned finger.

A paste made of plaster of paris and well-beaten white of egg will mend valuable china so that the join is hardly visible. But it must be washed quite clean at first. To soften brushes that have become bard, soak them twenty-four hours in raw linseed oil and rinse them out in hot turpentine, repeating the process till dean, or wash them in hot soda and water and soft soap. Pickles should be kept in stone or glass jars, never in glazed earthenware, on which the vinegar acts dangerously. A wooden spoon must be used when making pickles, and no metal allowed to come near them.

When washing saucepans use very hot water and a little soda. Rinse with cold water and rub dry. Then turn them upside down on a shelf, with a little edge overlapping, so that the air can get in. This will keep the pans clean and sweet. Oiling latches and hinges about the house regularly once a week will allow doors to shut smoothly and without creaking, a single drop of kerosene preventing the banging and harsh grating disagreeable to all and detrimental to the sick.

To Keep Silver Bright.—Silver in daily use may be kept very bright if allowed to soak in strong borax water for four or five hours occasionally. The water must be perfectly boiling when it is poured over the plate. This simple hint may save much elbow grease. Care of Mantles.—When about to clean the globe, etc., of an incandescent burner, the best way to remove the mantle without damaging it is to take a steel knitting needle and put it through the loop of the mantle, then stick the needle across a glass tumbler, allowing the mantle to go inside; thus it will be quite safe until ready to go back again. When filleting fish it is important to use a sharp knife, and the edges should be trimmed with scissors.

Instead of keeping parsley in water, which often turns it yellow, put it in an air-tight jar in a cool place.' This will keep it fresh for some time. For vegetables, be sure the water is at boiling point before putting them in to be cooked. If cold or lukewarm, the freshness and flavor will soak out into the water. Place the saucepan over the hottest part of the stove, so that it will boil as quickly as possible, and be careful that the boiling does not cease until the contents are thoroughly cooked and ready to be dished.

Darn stockings on the cross instead of up and down. The darns will wear far better.

Tall, slender vases, if filled with rather heavy flowers, are Liable to topple over. Drop some fine shot into the vase before filling, and it will stand quite firmly. When being measured for shoes press your • foot firmly on the ground, or the shoes, when made, will probably be uncomfortable. When pressed on tbe ground the foot spreads out to its widest extent.