ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 42, 17 October 1891, Page 495

ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

•Ginger.’—l cannot find a recipe for ginger ale, lam sorry to say. Here is one for hop beer :—To 10 gallons of rain water add half a pound of hops and half a pound of bruised (not ground) ginger ; let it come to the boil, stirring occasionally. Mark the time it commences to boil, and when 20 minutes have elapsed add nine pounds of sugar (light brown), stir till dissolved, and immediately take up without allowing it to boil again. (It is in the long boiling of hops that all their delicate aroma escapes, while all the bitterness is brought out; boiling the sugar causes muddiness. ) Strain into an open wooden vessel, and leave until milkwarm ; then add one quart of yeast, and cover it with a thick woollen cloth, and let it work for 24 hours ; in the meantime one ounce of tartaric acid and one ounce of brewers’ isinglass should be soaking in one quart of cold water, and at the end of twenty-four hours should be added to the beer to clear it. It will be ready to bottle the next day, and will be fit to drink in two days, but it is much nicer if left for a week. The bottles should be washed at least a day before, and left upside down to drain, and any corks inside them should be extracted ; they must' be perfectly dry before being used. The corks should be soaked in some of the hop-beer, and left with a weight on them till wanted; The brewing-tub should be used for no other purpose, but should be kept filled with water from one brewing to another. If the isinglass used by brewers cannot readily be obtained, save up the eggshells used a week before for custards, puddings and cakes, and take the whites and shells of two fresh eggs, beat them all together, and add with the ounce of acid. Tie the corks down tightly, and when the beer is put away throw a damp blanket over and around the bottles, so as to insure a cool and pleasant drink. ‘ Olive.’—Sausage rolls are very easily made, only requiring some well-made puff pastry, and if you like to have the sausage-meat made at home that can be so easily done, cutting up and passing through the mincing-machine some fresh pork, then season it with a little pepper and salt, and to each pound of meat add two ounces of breadcrumbs, and if you like the flavour of sage add half a small teaspoonful very finely chopped, then mix well together. Roll the puff paste out about a quarter of an inch in thickness, then cut it in stripes about three inches wide and four inches long. Moisten the edges with a little cold water and place in the centre a small quantity of the sausage meat, fold the paste over and take care that the edges are firmly fastened, then place the rolls on a baking-tin—the side with the folded edges being next the tin. The tin should have been previously brushed over with cold water. Brush the sausage rolls over with whole beaten-up egg and cut the tops of them here and there with a sharp knife and bake in a fairly quick oven for about twenty-five to thirty minutes. Patty-pies are very good. The patty pans must be thinly lined with puff pastry, and then veal and ham cut in thin slices and seasoned with pepper and salt, a little inace, and finely chopped parsley must be arranged in the tins, and a little clear well-flavoured meat jelly put into the tins, then cover with pastry, which should be rather more than a quarter of an inch thick, and brush the top over with whole beaten egg, and bake for about half an hour. These little pies are very much improved by having an oyster in each, but they are very nice when plainly made. They are also very good when made with mutton, and should then be flavoured well with black pepper and salt and a little finely minced onion. After these little pies are cooked, the lids should be carefully removed and a little good clear meat jelly should be poured into them and the lids put on again, and they should be left in the tins until they are cold and the jelly has set.