RECIPES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue I, 4 July 1896, Page 30

RECIPES.

Mullet with Lobster Sauce. —Procure a mediumsized mullet, and soak for two hours in salt and water before boiling. Do not cut off the fins, and rub the fish all over with lemon. Lay it in the kettle with sufficient warm water to cover it, and add a handful of salt. When boiling draw the kettle to the side and see it keeps simmering gently for twenty minutes ; take out the fish, drain it well, and dish it on a hot napkin. Garnish with tufts of parsley and slices of lemon. Lobster Creams.— yi pint milk, 3 eggs, 1 lobster, 2 teaspoonfuls anchovy sauce, a little cayenne, a teacupful of cream, 1 teacupful breadcrumbs. Boil the milk, pour it over the breadcrumbs, beat the eggs, and add to the breadcrumbs. When the latter are nearly cold, chop the lobster meat very small, mix it with the breadcrumbs and anchovy sauce, and a little cayenne ; stir in the cream, and mix well. Butter some small dariole moulds, fill with the mixture, cover with buttered paper, and steam for 20 minutes.

Chartreuse of Apricots.—2lb. stewed apricots, 6 oz. sugar, J 4 pint water, a glass of sherry, 16 sheets French gelatine, 3 eggs, 1 pint of cream, vanilla essence. Turn the apricots into a saucepan, add the sugar, water, and sherry ; let them boil up ; strain off the syrup, and add to one pint of it the gelatine ; when it is dissolved, add the well-whisked whites of three eggs ; let it boil and remove all scum. Have a border mould ready, pour in a little of the jelly ; when it is quite set add some of the apricots cut in rather small pieces, and fill up with the jelly. Stand aside till set, then turn it out on to a glass dish, and fill up the centre with the remainder of the apricots, and the cream whipped to a stiff froth, sweetened and flavoured with vanilla. Tinned apricots do excellently for this dish. First soak them for an hour or two in cold water, then stew.

Birthday Plum Pudding. — The following ingredients for the pudding are sufficient for a party of twelve. The pudding should be made beforehand, as it improves by keeping. Put on a very large pan half full of water before you commence preparing the pudding ; have also a smaller pan full of boiling water to replenish the large one as the water evaporates. Ingredients :— One and a quarter pounds of beef-suet, one pound of breadcrumbs, half a pound of flour, one and a half pounds of muscatel raisins, ditto of currants, threequarters of a pound of sugar, a quarter of a pound of lemon peel, half a nutmeg grated, the juice of half a lemon, nine eggs, and a wineglassful of brandy. Mode : —Free the suet from the skin and chop it very finely ; a little flour sprinkled on the knife and suet will prevent its sticking to the knife. Have a large basin ready and put in the suet when it is fine enough. Cut the crust from a stale loaf, and rub it through a moderately fine wire sieve till you have the required weight of crumbs, and put these into the basin. Dry the flour before the fire. Mix all the dry ingredients together well first, then beat the eggs very lightly for ten minutes ; add them, and next the lemon juice and brandy. It is now necessary that the whole household have a hand in stirring the pudding, ‘ for good luck.’ The pudding-basin is now well buttered, and the pudding put in. It is then tied rather loosely to allow for swelling. It is then taken out, and hung by a loop in the larder. When required on the birthday it is boiled for four hours, then turned out of the basin, and blanched sweet almonds stuck all over it. A little brandy is often poured round the pudding, and lit before it is carried into the dining-room, so that the pudding is wrapped in a sheet of flame when it is placed on the table. CURING AND PRESERVING MEATS. To many housekeepers the care of the year’s or halfyear's supply of meat is thoroughly understood and consequently is not a dreaded task, but to many just beginning housekeeping it seems a vast collection of unknown terrors. If we learn more from our failures than our successes, as someone has said, I have certainly learned a great deal since I first attempted this piece of work. At any rate, though I do not ‘ know it all ’ I think I may be able to help some one a little. Taking the unromantic hog for discussion first, we will suppose that the carcass is cut into hams, shoulders and side-meat, with the lesser accesso i s of ribs, backbone, etc. The hams should be trimmed into a neat rounded shape. These trimmings are to be reserved for sausage.

The shoulders must be cut rather square. You can trim off more or less from these parts, as you want more or less sausage. I would advise packing the hams and shoulders carefully in dry salt. I have found this by far the most reliable method, whether for immediate use or for summer meat. In the former case your pork is safe against sudden changes of the weather ; in the latter you can take it out of the salt in the spring before the weather has become warm enough to cause the salt to penetrate too much, and smoke it, returning it afterwards to the salt as a safeguard against the foes the summer brings. But to return to our work. The hams and shoulders being out of the way, the side-meat next requires attention. Part of this will look almost like clear lard. Trim the lean from such pieces for the sausage jar, and throw the rest into the vessel destined for the lard. The best of the side-meat should be left in large pieces to go with the hams and shoulders for bacon. There are two ways of cutting up pork ; one is to split the backbone in the centre. The other is to cut on each side of the backbone. I prefer the latter method, though there is really not much difference. In either case, you can have the bone chopped apart into convenient lengths for cooking. This meat is best eaten fresh, unless yon desire to trim closely for sausage. If you do this, you can then boil the bones and use every tiny bit of meat for the famed pork pies. You may make large ones with seasonings of various kinds and slices of hard-boiled egg ; this is to be eaten cold. Or you may make little affairs in pattypans of piecrust, with only a spoonful of meat and broth in each. These are best, served very hot. If you do not use the backbone meat for sausage, it will make excellent roasts. Some can be trimmed off for frying, and some can be boiled with vegetables. The ribs are best roasted, though they may be boiled, and some people make pies like chicken pie of the- boiled ribs, placing them crisscross in the pan to hold up the crust, and pouring over them the thickened broth in which they were boiled. The feet should be kept in a cold place until leisure is found to clean them. This is done by singeing them and scalding in lye water, scraping thoroughly and trimming off hairy portions. Put on in cold water and boil until very tender. They may be eaten thus, hot or cold, or may be pickled by covering them with vinegar while hot and letting them stand over night before using. The heart and tongue are simply boiled and cut in slices, cold. Some put this in with the headcheese. The liver and kidneys are thrown away by some and highly appreciated by others.