QUERIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue X, 7 March 1896, Page 282

QUERIES.

Any queries, domestic or otherwise, will be inserted free of charge. Correspondents replying to queries are requested to (five the date of the question they are kind enough to answer, and address their reply to ‘ The Lady Editor, New Zealand Graphic, Auckland,' and on the top left-hand corner of the envelope, ‘Answer’ or ‘ Query,’ as the case may be. The KUIXSfor correspondents are few and simple, bid readers of the New Zealand Graphic are requested to comply with them.

Queries and Answers to Queries are always inserted as toon as possible after they are received, though owing to pressure on this column, it may be a week or two before they appear.— Ed. Rules. No. I.— All communications must be written on one side of the paper only. No. 2.— A1l letters (not left by hand) must be prepaid, or they will receive no attention. No. 3. — The editor cannot undertake to reply eaxept through the columns of this paper.

RECIPES.

English Beefsteak and Kidney Pudding.—Two pounds of lean, juicy beef, free from gristle (the under side of the round or chuck is best). Cut it and two lamb kidneys into pieces no larger than the end of your thumb ; roll each piece of meat in flour and season with pepper and salt. For the crust use one pint of sifted flour, three ounces of suet, and water enough to make the dough soft enough to roll out. It should be at least half an inch thick. Grease a quart bowl well, preferably with dripping or suet, and lay the crust in it, bringing it well up on the sides and being careful not to cut it off so close that it may slip. Put in the meat, pour in a gill of cold water and cover the pudding exactly as you would a pie. Some line the bowl and allow the crust to turn over to form the top, but it is better to cut it off and put the top on separately, pinching it down well. Tie the bowl containing the pudding in a floured cloth and boil four hours, observing the same precaution as with other boiled puddings—that is. not removing the lid except to put more water into the pot, and this added water must always be briskly boiling.

Salads.—Salads are especially desirable during the spring and summer ; the vegetable and fruit salads give zest to a poor appetite, and cool the blood, while satisfying a craving for a sub-acid food. Everything used in salad should be of the best quality and perfectly fresh. Vegetables for salad should never be prepared long before serving. The dressing ought to be made some hours before it is needed, unless it is Mayonnaise made in the salad bowl on the table. It is a good plan to make a quantity of dressing from a good recipe, and keep it bottled in a cool place, ready for immediate use. In mixing salad dressings the ingredients cannot be added too gradually or stirred too much. Lettuce, endive. celery, cabbage, cress, lentils, peas, string beans, cauliflower, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and beets can each be used in making a vegetable salad,

or in combination with each other; or, they may be combined with fowl, or some kinds of fish and meat. Chervil is a French herb whose leaves resemble parsley, and a few of them give a delightful flavour to a salad. A simple salad or lettuce, endive, or cucumbers, with a French or Mayonnaise dressing is nice for breakfast; a fruit salad of oranges and bananas, or oranges and strawberries, or all three fruits, sprinkled with lemon juice and sugar, or red and white currants and raspberries sprinkled with sugar, is nice for luncheon or tea. A hearty salad of pototo, chicken, veal or lamb, lobster or salmon, using always a sufficient quantity of celery, lettuce or cabbage with the meat and fish, with a nice dressing, is desirable for the salad part of a luncheon or supper. Of course a salad for dinner will be selected to harmonise, not conflict, with the other courses.

Cabbage Salad. —Stir half a cup of vinegar into two well-beaten eggs, and cook until it thickens When cool, add two tablespoonfuls of thick sweet cream, with Sepper, salt, mustard, and sugar, to taste. Pour over alf a cabbage shaved or chopped.

Gei.ee de Prunes.—Stew the plums with a little sugar and a very little water, pass them through a sieve, add to the pulp a small quantity of dissolved isinglass, pour it into a mould, and leave till set. Serve with whipped cream.

.To Preserve Fruit. —Three cupfuls of sugar, ij4 pints of water for the syrup. Wipe the fruit, put into the jars, press down, pour the boiling water on the sugar, then pour over the fruit, set them into a deep pan (with a cloth at the bottom to prevent the glass from breaking), then fill nearly to the top with cold water ; let it boil till the fruit is quite done, stand out and cover while hot.

Pickles.—Here is a splendid recipe for making Piccalilli pickles:—Slice a sound-hearted white cabbage, divide a cauliflower into small branches, and take a few gherkins with kidney beans. Lay all vegetables on a sieve, scatter them with salt, and expose to the sun for four days. By this time the water should be all extracted. Then lay them in a stoneware jar, scattering mustard-seed freely over them. To each gallon of best vinegar add one and a half ounces of turmeric and three ounces of sliced garlic. Boil all together, and while the liqnor is still hot pour it over the vegetables. Let these remain for ten days or a fortnight near the fire, the top of the jar closely covered with thick paper; by this time the vegetable will have becomes quite yellow, and have taken up a large quantity of vinegar. Then boil three quarts of white wine vinegar with one and half ounces of cloves, ditto nutmeg, and long pepper, for ten minutes. Skim well and pour over the pickles. Tie the jar down tightly with a bladder.

HOME HIHTS.

From the days when the too energetic carver had to trouble his next door neighbour to return him the goose which had taken flight from the dish, through the process of his not too skilful manipulation, ingenuity has always been at work trying to advance the best way of getting food on to the plates of the guests. Nearly all dinners are served d la Russe nowadays, but even the passing of dishes has its drawbacks, especially when there is a maximum of guests and a minimum of room, so most hostesses will welcome the oblong entree dish which has just made its appearance in our midst. It is only to be had now in plated silver, but will shortly be produced in common or garden china. There is no doubt that it is very much easier to pass such a shaped dish between two guests, seated closely together, than one of the old-fashioned shape.

Somebody was asking me the other day particulars of a complete cover for a grand piano, and I lately came across a very handsome piece of work of this kind, which I have had sketched. It was in the very palest of shellpink brocaded silk, the bottom being joined to the top with a sort of twisted rope of a darker shade in velvet. The design was in rocaca style and very conventionally

treated ; there was a lattice work at intervals carried out in fine gold braid and thread ; the large cluster of flowers was worked chiefly in outline, though filled in in parts and worked in stem stitch and satin stitch, in multicoloured shades of silk, all kept fairly delicate in tone so as not to stand out in too strong a contrast to the pale tint of the background.

It does not seem to be so generally known as it ought to be, that the sting of a bee may be relieved by applying a thick slice of raw onion. This should be renewed about every ten minutes until pain is removed. The acid of the onion drawsout the poison and prevents the injured part from swelling. This knowledge may be of great utility at this time of the year. Can any reader imagine anything nicer and more apropos in this weather than lavender water. It is nice and refreshing, and if made at home is not extravagant. Mix together four ounces of rectified spirits of wine, one drachm of English oil of lavender, three drachms essence of bergamot, one drachm essence of ambergris.