FOR THE KITCHEN

Southland Times, Issue 19658, 7 October 1922, Page 14 (Supplement)

FOR THE KITCHEN

PICKLES AND CHUTNEY. The spring season has arrived and its advent suggests the usual change in the menu, from hot dishes to cold meats and their accompanying relishes, in the shape of pickles, sauces and chutneys. Now that cauliflowers are so plentiful it might be wise to set about making a supply of mustard pickle by the aid of the following recipe, which makes a piquant, wellflavoured relish of an attractive colour and just the right consistency. Required:—ll cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 3 tablespoons mustard, 2 tablespoons tumeric, and 1 tablespoonful each of curry powder, pepper, peppercorn and allspice, 3 quarks vinegar. Cut cauliflower in small pieces, and soak in brine for 24 hours. Heat, brine just enough to scauld and soften vegetables, and then drain. Now mix all ingredients to a paste, and add sugar and vinegar. Boil till itthickens and then add cauliflower. Bottle at once, and cork when cold. Here is a recipe for apple chutney:—Mince together 10 lb apples, 2 lb onions, 1 lb currants and 1 lb raisins. Place in preserving pan, and add a pint of treacle, a small packet of mixed spice, a teaspoon of ground ginger, salt and pepper to taste, and add enough sugar to thoroughly sweeten. Pour over it just enough brown vinegar to barely cover, and set over the fire. Place a teaspoon each of cloves, whole allspice and mace in a bag; bruise well, and place in the mixture. Boil till the chutney thickens, remove the spice bag, and bottle. THE HOME COOK. NUT FRITTERS. Barcelona nuts or almonds are best for this recipe. Crush with a pestle and mortar or roll out on the pastry board 1 good cup nuts, mixed with l-3rd cup wholemeal flour or rolled wheat, 1 egg, l-3rd cup caster sugar, and sufficient milk to make into a stiff batter. Let stand for an hour, then drop into hot butter or frying oil in dessertspoonfuls. APRICOT PATTIES.

Boil 3oz. sugar and 3 tablespoons liquor from a tin of apricot until thick, then put in as many half apricots as required and simmer a few minutes. When cold, place each in a patty tin lined with cooked puff pastry, and ornament with whipped cream, sweetened, and flavoured with essence of vanilla. SUSSEX PUDDING.

Take lib. of any stewed fruit, one pint of milk, Aoz. of gelatine, one lemon, 1 Aoz. castor sugar. Rub stewed fruit through a sieve, and put into a glass dish, after sweetening to taste- Put milk and very thinlypared lemon-rind into a saucepan and heat slowly; then add sugar and remove rind. Put in the gelatine after dissolving it in a littie boiling water. Mix well, and stir now and then, until just on the point of setting, when pour it gently’ over the fruit and leave until cold.

DATE CHUTNEY. Take 41b. dates, 1 teaspoon allspice, IHb. Spanish onions, fib. crystallised ginger chips, }lb. salt, lib- treacle, -jib. sultanas. Stone and cut dates lengthways, cut onions and ginger into small cubes. Boil all in a quart of vinegar until tender and of a rich chocolate colour. Put into jars and cork up while het. Seal corks next day. LEMON TEACAKE. Rub into Hb. flour 3oz. butter, add 6oz. castor &ugar, grated rind of lemon, and a little juice. Mix into a stiff paste with two eggs. Divide into rocky pieces on buttered tin. Bake twenty minutes. TO PRESERVE LEMONS. Smear them over completely with the white or yolk of egg, and place them on a shelf to dry. They must not touch each other. Lemons treated in this way can be kept for a long time, even in the hottest weather. Another way is to place them in a jar of water, the water to be renewed | every day or two. This will keep them fresh several weeks. TO KEEP POTATOES A NICE COLOUR. Potatoes often discolour when left in a saucepan after they are cooked. To prevent thia try keeping them in a basin in a steamer, or in an enamelled colander over some hot water in a saucepan. Do not boil mint with new potatoes, as it discolours them. A better plan is to pour a little incited butter over them and sprinkle a little chopped mint on them. A little milk added to the water in which they are boiled will make old potatoes a good colourYORKSHIRE PUDDING. "Take 2oz flour, J pint milk, 1 egg, a pinch of baking powder, salt and pepper to taste. Make into a batter, beating well. Then turn into a baking dish with some dripping taken from the dish in which the meat is baking. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes and serve with the roast. NORFOLK DUMPLINGS. To every cup flour allow one teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of. salt. Mix with water and lightly roll into balls, about the size of an apple. Put into boiling water and cook for 20 minutes. The dumplings can be eaten with meat and gravy or treacle. Norfolk people eat them with meat and gravy. The poor people make a big pot of pea soup and boil the dumplings in the soup—it is a good, substantial meal where there are a lot of children. SOLES WITH CREAM SAUCE. Fillet two nice sized soles, place in cold water and salt, which gradually bring to the boil. As soon as the water has boiled (about ten minutes) take out soles, place in a clean stewpan, then cover all over with alx>ut half a pint of cream. Lemon juice and a little salt may be. added after the soles have been allowed to simmer in the cream. To be served very hot. MEAT ROLLS. Take lib steak, Jib bacon (minced), Jib breadcrumbs, two well-beaten eggs, mace, nutmeg, salt, pepper to taste. Knead into a very neat roll; tie in a floured cloth. If made with uncooked meat and bacon, boil two hours. If made with cooked meat boil one hour. Press under a weight until cold, and glaze or crumb. HOW TO FRY EGGS. Not long ago the writer learned how eggs should be fried to be satisfactory. Many otherwise good cooks often spoil eggs in cooking, but if one follows these directions, they will be found to be very simple indeed. Take an iron frying pan, in which has been melted some fat, such as butter or bacon drippings—in fact any desired fat may be used—and heat it. Do not let the pan get too hot. Only hot enough so that the eggs will not stick. Almost as soon as the eggs are dropped in the frying pan should be moved to a cooler place of the range. Cover closely and after a moment. or two put in a tablespoon or more of boiling water and let it stand until the tops of the eggs are evenly cooked. Every egg top should be white and soft without turning. MACARONI TARTLETS. Ingredients.—3oz. of cooked macaroni. 1 gill of well-flavoured white sauce, 3ox. of grated cheese, butter, short crust pastry, salt, pepper. “‘Method.—Line some very’ small tartlet cases with the pastry, cut the macaroni up small, and mix it with the sauce and half the cheese. Fill the pastry cases with the mixture, cover with cheese, and put tiny pieces of margarine or butter here and there over the top. Bake in a quick oven to cook the pastry, and brown the surface of the macaroni. Serve hot. RHUBARB FLUMMERY. Ingredients.—2lb of rhubarb, soz of sugar, loz of gelatine, J pint of cream, carmine or cochineal. Method.—Wipe the rhubarb and cut it into small pieces. It need not be peeled. Put it into an enamelled pan with the sugar and 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of water. Simmer gently until soft, then strain tiirougji a hair sieve. The rhubarb may be pressed to extract the .juice, but should no? be rubbed through the sieve. The juice of an orange may be added to the rhubarb juice if liked. Return the juice to the pan and boil until reduced to i ! pint. Skim when necessary; add the gelatine, and stir until dissolved. Strain into a basin and put. it in a cold place. When cold whip the cream and stir in lightly; colour with carmine or cochineal and pour into a mould rinsed out in cold water. Turn out when set. Note. —Unsweetened condensed milk may be used in place of cream, or custard made with powder could be used if a plainer pudding be desired. WALNUT JAM. Ingredients.—Fifty walnuts, 50 cloves, IJoz. of bruised root ginger. J-pint of water, YJlb'of brown sugar. Method. —Test the walnuts, as they must be used before the shell begins to form. Prick all over, and boil in water until perfectly soft. Strain off the water, stick a clove into each walnut, and strew the bruised ginger over. Put the sugar and water into a pan, stir until the former has melted, then boil to a syrup; add the walnuts and ginger, and boil for twenty minutes, stirring continuously. Put into pots and cover. Note. —This jam is laxative in effect, and can be used medicinally.