In the Kitchen

Ladies' Mirror, Volume V, Issue 6, 1 December 1926, Page 100

In the Kitchen

Sardine Sandwiches Remove skin and bones from sardines. Now have ready two firm tomatoes, remove skin and pres;, through a sieve, also pass the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs through the sieve. Mix with a little butter and lemon-juice and salt. Spread slices of bread with butter, spread over this the tomato mixture and halves of the sardines. Cover with buttered bread. Anchovy Sandwiches These call for curry butter, which is made by mixing very thoroughly a quarter of a pound of butter with a teaspoon of curry powder and a half-teaspoon of lemon-juice. Now put ten anchovies, the yolks of three hard-cooked eggs and two tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese in a bowl and work to a paste with a wooden spoon, adding a little butter to moisten. Spread slices •of bread with curry powder, spread half with the anchovy mixture, and make into sandwiches. Sweet Sandwiches Stone and mash some dates; spread the fruit between brown bread and butter. Spread slices of bread and butter with thinly sliced bananas, squeeze lemon juice over and press on top of each a slice of bread and butter spread thinly with apple jelly. Brown bread may be spread with honey and Devonshire cream, or butter. Spread thin bread and butter with red or black currant jelly, and add a layer of chopped nuts. Mince some preserved ginger, add a little of the syrup and spread on bread and butter. Grate some milk chocolate on to thin white bread and butter. This is delicious. Fillings for Calces Layer cakes are always popular, whether at outdoor or indoor meals, and may be varied by the fillings and decorations. The simplest of these cakes are filled with jam or fruit jelly, whipped cream being spread over this if desired. Coat the top of the cake thinly with sieved icing sugar. Nut Fillings. Blanch 3 ounces of any kind of shelled nuts and put them through a mincer. Mix them with about three tablespoonfuls of apricot, strawberry or raspberry jam previously rubbed through a hair sieve and add vanilla, almond

or maraschino essence to taste. The cake may be iced with white glace icing and decorated with chopped nuts. Orange or Lemon Filling. an ounce of butter in a pan, add 4 ounces of castor sugar, the grated rind of an orange or lemon, and the yolks of two eggs. Stir over low heat until the mixture thickens, but do not let it boil. Add one ounce of cake crumbs, the juice of the orange, and a teaspoonful of lemon juice, sc when cold. Ice the cake with orange icing’ and decorate with slices of crystallised oranges. Fruit Fillings. Bottled or tinned apricots, peaches or pineapples, drained from their syrup, make pleasant fillings. Put a layer of whipped cream one one half of the cake, cover with a layer fo halved apricots, peaches or pineapple cut into dice. Put the other half of the cake on the top of this. Orange sections, peeled and stoned grapes, fresh strawberries or raspberries, stewed cherries, or peeled, stoned and halved greengages, when ripe, may be used in this manner. Eat More Raisins Raisins should be used in every household. The fruit is inexpensive, delicious and most nutritious. One pound of raisins is equal . in food value to 131 b. of steak, 20 eggs, 2 quarts of milk, or 431 b. of fish. Seeded raisins between thin slices of buttered bread make attractive luncheon sandwiches for children or adults. All baked milk puddings arc improved by the addition of this fruit, while tarts filled with raisins, currants and sultanas invariably meet with appreciation. Devonshire Junket It is not the dish itself but the way it is served that creates the real triumph in the subtle art of cookery. Down in the West Countrie we know a thing or two, says a Devonshire woman, and one of those things is how to prepare a real dish of Devon that takes merely five minutes to prepare and that is hard to beat. I have been served with so-called “junket” in houses out of Devon, but in those houses the cook did not know the mere A.B.C. about preparing it. She just poured some milk into a saucepan, stirred in some rennet that was all ! The first important thing in the ritual of junket-making is to select your best bowl into which the junket is to go. Then secure a generous dessertspoonful of sherryrum

will answer the purpose if you have no sherry, but it is not quite so good. You then take a pint of perfectly fresh creamy milk and pour it gently into saucepan. Placing it on the gas half turned on, you slowly warm it up to blood-heat, with two wellwashed leaves of the bay tree floating on its surface. Directly the milk arrives at blood—you can test this by dipping the tip of your little finger into the saucepan— lift it off the gas and pour it slowly into your bowl. A wooden spoon lies beside the bowl with which you stir in a little rennet. Then leave it in a warm place to set. Just before luncheon or tea grind a little nutmeg on to the junket and then with a large spoon spread portions of Devonshire or whipped cream all over the top, a portion for each person. Cooling Drinks What to drink is always a consideration in warm weather, because many refreshing thirst-quenchers are very lowering to the system if indulged in too frequently. It is well, therefore, to observe a certain amount of caution, and not to serve

day by day the same liquid refreshment. No apology is offered for inserting a recipe for home-made lemonade, as, although this is so ordinary a beverage, there one or two points which should be insisted upon and are shown in the following method: Lemonade Put one pint and a half of cold water into a clean saucepan, add three-quarters of the thinly pared rind of a lemon, and from two to three ounces of loaf sugar, according to taste. Have ready a quart jug, and into this squeeze the juice of two lemons and one orange. Bring the water in the saucepan slowly to the boil, simmer for four minutes, and then pour it upon the juice in the jug. Stir well, cover the mouth of the jug with a piece of kitchen paper, and when quite cold strain into a glass jug. Another method, which slightly differs from the above, is to pare off all the white pith from the fruit and cut each into thin slices, removing the pips. The slices should be placed in the jug in place of juice, and the procedure is then the same as in the first recipe. The orange may be omitted if a more economical lemonade is desired.

Barley Water Barley water makes an excellent summer drink, as it is not only pleasant to take, but very nourishing. It is necessary, however, to make it fresh each day and to pour away any quantity which may remain over at night, as it ferments and sours very rapidly. If required for use in the night it should be made late in the evening. Barley water, also, must never be reheated after being cooled, as it will be unwholesome to drink. The preparation, therefore, involves rather more trouble than that of lemonade, hut if properly made and due precaution observed it is a most valuable drink, and repays well a little attention. To make barley water use 2oz of pearl barley to each quart of water, half the rind and juice of two lemons, and one ounce and a half of loaf sugar. Put the barley into water and bring it to the boil, then strain away the water and add to the grain one quart of cold water, the lemon rind, and sugar. Bring again to th beoil and simmer for twenty minutes. Put the lemon juice into a jug and pour the boiling water over it. Cover the jug, let it go cold, and strain for use. Otofyos This is a most refreshing and strengthening drink much favoured in America since Prohibition was carried. It is easily made. Put into a large pan jib of fine fresh oatmeal, 6oz white sugar, half a lemon cut into small pieces. Mix with a little warm water, then pour a gallon of boiling water into it; stir all together thoroughly, and use when cold. The lemon may be omitted, raspberry vinegar, citric acid, or any other flavouring may be used instead. More oatmeal may be used if preferred. Harvest Drink Boil joz of hops, ioz of ginger (bruised), in U gallons of water

for 25 minutes; add lib of brown sugar, and boil 10 minutes more; then strain and bottle while hot. It will be ready for drinking when cold. It should be kept in a cool place. Dried horehound may be used instead of hops. Ginger beer: Pour two gallons of boiling water over lib of lump sugar, loz bruised ginger, 2 lemons sliced; let it stand till lukewarm, then add one tablespoon of brewer’s barm, or one small teacup of baker’s balm; let it stand 12 hours then bottle it. It will be ready in 24 hours. Lemon Squash Wipe carefully six large lemons and thinly pare or grate off the rinds. Squeeze all the juice out, and put it with the rind and lib of the best loaf sugar into a jug. Pour over 1 pint of freshly boiling water, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. When cold, strain, add one tablespoonful of brandy, and bottle. If tightly corked this will keep good for months. It is best, therefore, to store in small quantities. One tablespoonful of the mixture is sufficient for a tumblerful of lemonade. Either water or soda water can be added. Lemon Syrup Boil 61b sugar and 6 pints water together. Put 3oz tartaric acid into a jug and pour the syrup into it. When cold add 2 teaspoonfuls essence lemon and bottle. Use 2 tablespoonfuls to a tumbler of water. Boston Cream For this beverage you require loz of tartaric acid, 1 breakfastcupful of sugar, 21 breakfastcupfuls of boiling water, 2 teaspoonfuls of essence of lemon, white of one egg. Pour the boiling water over the sugar, stirring occasionally. When cold, add the, acid and essence. Then the whisked white of egg. Bottle, and for use allow two tablespoonfuls to one tumbler of water; i saltspoon-

ful of carbonate of soda may be stirred in, if it is required as an effervescing draught. Ginger Beer

Three pounds of loaf sugar, half a pound of bruised ginger, two ounces of cream of tarter, three lemons, two gallons of boiling water, one tablespoonful of brewer’s yeast, a slice of toasted bread. Cut the rinds thinly from the lemons, and squeeze out the juice into a bowl. Now put the sugar, cream of tarter, ginger, and the rind and juice of the lemons into a preserving pan, and pour over the boiling water. Cover the the pen with a thick cloth. When the liquid is nearly cold put the yeast on the toasted bread and lay it on top of the liquid where it will float and ferment. Let the whole stand for twenty-four hours, then strain and bottle the beer, when it should be ready for use in three or four days. Potatoes German Fashion Arrange upon a dish some freshly boiled potatoes, which must be quite floury; leave them whole. Fry in butter some dry bread-crumbs and a little finely chopped onion until a golden brown, and sprinkle over the potatoes. Note. —An even more savoury dish of potatoes is prepared with the boiled potatoes served as above directed, but replace the onions and bread-crumbs with a little finely chopped bacon fat fried, the whole of which is poured over the potatoes. Spinach in Brown Butter Prepare about two pounds of fresh spinach. Boil in a large saucepan half full of water, to which has been added a good pinch of salt and a tiny piece of washing soda. Boil with the lid off; drain and pour over it a little cold water. Press well to extract the moisture; chop finely. Put a quarter pound of butter into a frying-pan, let it get hot but not very brown; add the

chopped spinach. Stir all together briskly; add a little salt and a pinch of nutmeg if desired. Serve very hot. Asparagus

Wash in two separate waters the asparagus, cutting the ends slantwise half way up. These should be carefully put aside to flavour soup later. Arrange in bundles with the heads all one way. Lay them in a wire vegetable basket which will stand in your saucepan. This prevents the risk of breaking the heads in dishing them up. Boil in salted water fifteen to twenty minutes. When the head of the asparagus is soft, it is cooked. Should there be a little delay in serving, pass tue basket with the asparagus through some fresh cold water and then place it again in the saucepan to get hot. Asparagus can be served hot or cold with a great variety of sauces. Stewed Celery Roots Peel six or more celery roots, cut them in quarters, slice them not too thin. Put into a frying-pan a quarter of a pound of butter with half a teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper. Cover the pan and turn them frequently, cooking till tender. Serve them in a vegetable dish with a little parsley sprinkled over them, and the remains of the butter poured over. Stewed Tomatoes Put two pounds of fresh tomatoes into a bowl and pour over them some boiling water. This will enable you to take off the skin without breaking the tomato. Cut them in half and remove the seeds. Put three dessertspoonfuls of olive oil into a deep pan with two finely sliced schallots; fry them a golden brown. Add the tomatoes; sprinkle with salt and pepper; shake them and turn them over with a wooden spoon. Let them remain on the stove ten or twelve minutes. Serve on a deep dish with a little chopped parsley over.