ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 25, 20 June 1891, Page 91

ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

* Pollie. ’ —As you ask for directions for making a good haricot, I shall be pleased to give you a recipe, and I should advise you to wait a little while, until tender carrots are procurable, as you say you like plenty put into this dish. Take about two pounds of the neck of mutton, and remove all the unnecessary fat and cut up the meat in neat pieces, season the meat with pepper and salt, cut up five or six onions in dice shaped pieces, two or three carrots and turnips also cut up in dice-shapes ; put a very little grease into a stewpan, and then put the vegetables and meat into it, and fry them all together until a good brown colour, then sprinkle a little flour over the meat and cover with cold water ; let it come gently to the boil, and then let the haricot simmer gently for about two and a-half hours, removing any scum or grease which may rise to the surface. A bunch of herbs should be cooked in the haricot, and a short time before the haricot is ready to serve, some cooked French beans and some peas should be added. The vegetables should be arranged in the centre of the dish and the meat placed round them. ‘ Beta.’—l wonder whether you will like a cake made from this recipe. When well made, it is very good ; and, if kept in a tin, will remain moist for some time. Take threequarters of a pound of Vienna flour which has been passed through a sieve, a small teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, and rub into it until smooth a quarter of a pound of butter, then add half a pound of sultanas, a quarter of a pound of raisins chopped finely, a quarter of a pound of mixed peel, and the same quantity of castor sugar. Mix half a teaspoonful of ground mixed spice in a wineglass of brandy, and add it to the above ingredients, together with not quite half a pint of milk and three eggs. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about an hour and a quarter. This is a very good luncheon cake. * Scenta. ’ —l do not know whether you can manage to properly blend the ingredients, but the following simple and inexpensive recipe was considered the best among over 200 competitors in a recent prize competition for the best Eau de Cologne formula :—Essence of bergamot, two drachms ; essence of lemon, one drachm ; oil of neroli, twenty drops ; oil of origanum, six drops ; oil of rosemary, twenty drops ; S.V.R. treble distilled, one pint; orange-flower water, one ounce.