Trade Topics

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 736, 14 April 1904, Page 23

Trade Topics

We regret very much to report that the health of Mr James Rolleston, the popular proprietor of the Central Hotel, is anything but satisfactory. He has been obliged to go to a private hospital, and latest accounts are disquieting. Mr Rolleston has not been well for some considerable time, and the cares of his large business have pressed somewhat heavily upon him. It was his intention to ' have taken an extended holiday in Australia, and arrrangements were made to that end, but it is quite out of the question ai present. We sincerely hope that the next few days will witness a change for the better, and that the genial host of the Central may soon be about again.

Mr J. Fischer, late of the Provincial Hotel, Napier, has purchased Mr Arthur Bach’s interest in the Albert Hotel, and takes possession forthwith. Mi- and Mrs Bach’s faces will be missed by a host of country visitors who have made the Albert their home while in town, and all who know them will wish them good luck wherever their new sphere may be. ♦ * * —- Mr Edward Blair, late of Panmure, has taken the Carlton Clu Hotel, Newmarket. As Mr Blair has had an extensive experience, we feel sure the house will be conducted in a manner to please both old and nevi friends. We may mention that Mr Blair was one of the first of our pioneer Association football players, which will no doubt endear him to the followers of the game.

Amateur inn-keeping in Lincolnshire has not proved the success that the Public-H ouse Prust Association anticipated. The* Boat Inn, at Clifton, according to the report presented at the annual meeting of the Association just held at Lincoln, has involved a considerable loss, and the Council has decided to surrender the license, having come to' the conclusion that there is no need for the house. The Sheffield Arms, at Burton S father, which was also taken over on Lady Day last year promises, it is said, to develop into a very satisfactory Trust house. Still, the net result of the year’s business is—liabilities £1,848, and assets £l,BOl, leaving a loss to be carried forward o) some £47. During the year 300

new shares have been allotted, and a call of 5s per share has been made. So far, for the Dean of Lincoln and his fellow councillors, this business has proved one of philantnrophy minus, instead of plus, 5 per cent.

Mr John Kilmister. who died at Wellington on February 25, in his ninetyseventh year, was doubtless the oldest maltster in Australasia and New Zealand. The deceased nonagenarian was the son of Gloucestershire cooper, and on his father removing to bath (Somerset), young Jack was brought up in his fathers’s trade in Beech’s Brewery. After finishing his apprenticeship, he went over to Dunn’s Brewery, which was also in Bath, and there, besides coopering, he learnt th** the general business of brewing. It was while at Dunn’s Brewery that a son of his employer set forth the attractions of faraway New Zealand so effectively that Kilmister —who by this time had a wife and family of four children—decided to join Dunn, jun., in. the voyag*' to Maoriland. They arrived in Welington Harbour in March, 1841. By the way, Mr Dunn, a few years later was drowned in that same harbour in a boating accident. Mr Kilmister became the, first malster in the first brewery established in Wellington, that of Messrs Northwood and Drake, somewhere about the year 1843. That brewery, which did not pan out a success, was erected upon the site where now stands the Wellington Club. Never more did Mr Kilmister venture into the brewing trade. After pioneering road work and bossing Maoris, he ultimately settled down upon the hills at the back of Wellington as a dairyman, and at the milk business made a competence sufficient to enable him to retire thirty-six years before his death. There were a series of remarkable coincidences in the life and death of him who may be termed New Zealand’s first brewer. His wife and he played together as (boy and girl, became sweethearts, married, and lived just over seventy-four years together. It was an ever-present desire with them that they should not he separated in death, and it actually happened that in the last week of their lives he was laid aside on Monday and she went to bed the following day. Mrs Kilmister died at 2 a.m. on the following Thursday, and her husband, who lay in the next room unconscious, and was not aware of her death, passed away seven hours later. So was remarkably fulfilled their desire that they might die and be buried an the same day. “A.B. Journal.”

The Vicar of Woodborn, in Northumberland, propounds in his parish magazine for the current month a “cure” for drunkenness which has the double merit of being at once cheap and original. Temperance activity in his church is not very apparent, nor does the worthy vicar consider concerts, speeches, and -hymns-really effective methods of combating the national curse. ...“A better plan, surely, than all those weak devices is for a man who has a drunken neighbour to thrash him, as being a scandal to the neighbourhood. If some straightforward way like this were adopted, we should soon hear of fewer drunkards. We are suffering from softness.”

DUNEDIN NOTES.

(From a Correspondent.)

The whirligig of time corrects where correction is wanted, and brings about its attendant results. The Otago Licensed Victuallers’ Ass. of Dunedin, which has bean in existence for a number of years, has, by mutual consent, breathed its last. Why, and for what reason ? asks the man in the street. The reason must have been very apparent to those who have watched its working, and as an object lesson, though distasteful, it is best to hear the truth, as Lord Ranfurly once said, “It is no use of a Governor

always trying to say popular things ; it is better to administer the dose wmen it will suit the patient.” The Trade have been, and are, jealous of one another, and to their cost they have found out that they are helplessly unfit to guide themselves as an asssociated body, and have brought themselves into the peculiar position of having every hand against his neighbour—“Beware, my lord, of jealousy, It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock The hand it feeds on.” They have nursed the monster so long; that they have procured untold injuries to themselves which have been their schoolmasters. The members of the Dunedin L.V. Ass. have, however, learnt one lesson, that though the watering and the pruning will be anything but ageeable to them in future, they must submit if they wish to gain prizes. The old association has, it is to be hoped, worked out its destiny, which has been the foundation of a new and re-formed association under the name and title of “The Licensed Victuallers’ Association of Otago and Southland. It consists of a president and a committee of fifteen members. At a repi esentative meeting of property owners, brewers, wine and spirit merchants, cordial manufacturers, bottle license holders and licensees Mr G. L. Denniston was unanimously elected its first President. It is hoped that the Trade will be forced to turn its attention to fair-trading, and also to the carrying-out of the Licensing Act to the letter as regards Sunday and after-hour trading. It must in future, as far as Otago and Southland are concerned, be the imperative duty of all those who were represented at that meeting and consented to enrole themselves as its members, to see that the Trade carry on their businesses on proper commercial lines. It will therefore be well that the Trade should with all the abovementioned interests centred in them, rise to the occasion, and on their future conduct during the coming season base their claims in no uncertain sound for the security of tenure and protection of property. The Hon. the Premier, on behalf of his Government, is ever laying flattering unction to his soul, and never spares an opportunity to tell the people that he has a claim on them, because his Government is always just in all its dealings. If then as head of his Government he is jealous, how much more so have the Trade and those interested a right to demand that justice shall be meted out to them who, though a section, are still part and parcel of the people.

COOKERY FOR LICENSED VICTUALLERS.

THE PREPARATION OF SOUPS.

(By “Cbisinier,” in “L.V. Gazette.”) Tn the course of my peripatetic wanderings I. have sometimes seen in the windows of a public-house a placard bearing the legend, “A good Basin of Soup served at the Bar, with bread, 3d.” On a cold winter’s morning nothing can be more grateful to the stomach or more bouiishing to the body, and as a welcome “stay” between breakfast and luncheon nothing can be better. The placard aforesaid has often tempted me tQ enter the portals of a house previously unknown to me, and I have always found in such cases a most civil and attentive landlord or landlady, whose courtesy and desire to please were powerful inducements to repeat the visit.

In England we do not pay sufficient attention to the preparation of soups and broths. If our working-class women were better instructed on this subject we should hear a good deal less about the distress in the East End. It is quite possible to make a gallon and a half of nourishing barley broth, or pea-soup—-

sufficient for a family for two days—for sixpence. Too often bones, bacon rinds nan frin-mingH, dripping, the water in which the vegetables and even beef have been boiled, and other items, are thrown the dog or poured down the sink, instead of helping to make a good pot of soup. So long as the cult of the oven and the frying-pan prevails things will nQt improve ; but I. am not without hope that the lessons inculated at an increasiag number of public elementary schools will soon begin to tell, and that the wife ef the English working-man will, in time, follow the good example which has been SO long set her by her sisters in Scotland and France. But the customers of the licensed victualler require a soup of a better class than that I have alluded to, particularly if his uhouee is in' a good neighbourhood 1 or thoroughfare. This can be done satisfactorily and profitably with very little trouble.

The basis of most soups is what is generally called “stock.” To make this, take shin, leg, shoulder, or top-rib of beef in the proportion of 11b of beef tQ One quart of water. Take out the bones •nd chop them into small pieces, add any fresh meat or bacon there may be, salt slightly, and set the whole in cold water to boil. Skim carefully, and just before it attains boiling point add a pint of cold water, removing the scum as it rises. Let it simmer gently at the side of the fire, and add (for ten gallons soup) four carrots, two turnips, one parsnip, four leeks, a head of celery, two onions—into one of which •tick two cloves—and a little pepper and ■alt. See that the soup boils very gently. It is a great mistake to cook the meat all to shreds. From three to four hours is quite sufficient to give the necessary body and nutriment to the soup, while the meat is left in such a condition as to permit of its being afterwards employed m stews, hashes, and many excellent dishes. When the meat is cooked take it out of the saucepan at once. The vegetables should also be taken out at the same time, and, as they are far better than those boiled in water, they can be used to great advantage. The beef and vegetables having been removed, the stock must be allowed to stand for a few minutes to permit any deposit to settle. After the scum is removed it must be passed through a cloth into a basin, and placed in the open air or in a cool larder until it is quite cold. It should be boiled up daily while it lasts, and should never be kept overnight in the pot in which it is boiled. When required at short notice an excellent stock can be prepared with Bovril as a basis in the place of beef. I will now proceed to give the eecipes

of some popular soups that can be easily prepared from this stock.

Julienne Soup.

Take two quarts of stock, two carrots, two turnips, an onion, half a head of celery, ana any other vegetable in season. Cut the vegetables into strips of l£in long and let them all be of the same thickness. Fry the carrots in 2oz butter, but co not let them get brown ; add the boiling stock and the other vegetables, and let all simmer gently for at least an hour. Skim and serve. This soup has a better appearance if each vegetable is boiled separately and then added to a good clear stock.

Mulligatawny Soup. Slice a large onion and fry it a golden brown in loz butter, add three tablespoonfuls mulligatawny paste (Edmunds), stir in half pint stock gradually ; add a tablespocnfu’ of red currant jelly, the juice oi half a lemon, and dessertspoonful of chutney. Mix well, add a quart cf stock, and leave it to simmer half an hour. Melt 4oz butter in a stew-pan, acd 2oz flour, keep stirring all the time; gradually add the soup, stir till it boils, add salt if necessary. Skim carefully, strain through a sieve, and serve with boiled rice in a separate dish. Giblet Soup. Take two sets of giblets, scald them well, put them in a saucepan with two quarts of stock. Add a small carrot and two onions, sliced, and a stick of celery, along with a bunch of parsley and herbs, peppercorns and salt. Simmer gently for three hours, skim well, strain into a basin, and when cold remove the fat. Pound the livers in a mortar, mix with loz butter and a little flour, fry it a f ew minutes, put it in the saucepan, and gradually mix in the soup. After it has boiled up add a glass of sherry and the juice of half a lemon. Season to taste. Macaroni Soup. Take 3oz macaroni, drop it into boiling water, and let it boil for twenty minutes. Drain, and cut into inch lengths. Have ready two quarts of clear stocK, boiling hot, into which throw the macaroni, and simmer for about ten minutes. Serve with grated cheese in a dish ; Parmesan is the best, but any hard cheese may be utilised for this purpose. Many soups do not require tne aid of the stock-pot in their preparation, such as tomato soup, pea soup, Scotch broth, and ox tail soup, of which I will now give the recipes.

Tomato Soup. Take a tin of tomatoes, or eight fresh tomatoes, a sliced onion, and a small bunch of parsley, and put in a saucepan

with two quarts of water, and pepper and salt to taste. Simmer for threequarters of an hour, rub through a sieve, add two tablespoonfuls of cornflour smoothly blended with half pint of milk, and boil for another seven minutes, stirring constantly. It should be of the consistency of cream. Pea Soup. This is one of the most nourishing and universally popular of soups. Soak a quart of* split peas all night in cold water. Put them in a saucepan with three quarts of water, a ham-bone well cracked, two onions, a head of celery, two grated carrots, and pepper and salt to taste. Let it boil till the peas are quite tender ; pass through a wire sieve. Boil it up again, and if too thick add a little milk. Serve with dried mint and sippets of toast. v Scotch Broth.

Take the scrag-end of a neck of mutton and put it into four quarts of cold water, with Alb of Scotch barley and a little salt. Let it come to the boil, and simmer gently for an hour. Put in two carrots (one cut into small dice and one whole), one turnip, and one onion sliced ; let it noil another hour. Then take out the mutton and put in two pints of green peas. Let it simmer another hour. Serve in a tureen. The mutton may be served separately with some of the vegetables round it. Should green peas not be available, dried ones will serve the purpose, but they must previously have been soaked overnight, and must be put in with the barley. Ox Tail Soup.

Melt 2oz butter in a stewpan, cut 4oz ham alld two onions into dice, and . fry them L*l the butter for ' seven or eight minutes, then add an ox tail, disjointed, and three pints of water. Heat to boil, ing point and skim carefully. Add two' carrots cut into dice, a sprig of parsley and Otte of thyme, twelve peppercorns, and half teaspoonful salt, and let all simmer gently for four houts. Take out the tail, remove all the meat from it, and cut it lin dice. Strain the soup into a fresh saucepan, add a teaspoonful of arrowroot and wineglassful of sherry mixed smcoothly together, and stir over the fire for a few minutes until it slightly thickens ; then put in the pieces of ox tail, let them heat slowly in the soup by the side of the fire, and serve the soup very hot. A few drops of browning will give- the desired brown colour. In this an-1 in other cases a little Bovril added to the soup is a great improvement.

HOW DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES DRINK.

Drinking habits and drinking resorts of men of different nations differ almost as

essentially as their dress and amusements. For style and cost there is no bar equal to the American, because money is spent more lavishly there than elsewhere. If you want a drink, and have no time to waste, there is nothing to compare with the first-class American bar. Neither London nor Paris can compare with it. But, persons with whom time is no object prefer institutions of the foreign class. In London people in the swell set rarely drink outside their clubs. The barmaid is a British article. She was introduced in New York more than once, but she never prospered, because she couldn’t learn how to prepare cocktails, cobblers, or flips, and altogether she was too slow. But London couldn’t exist without her. At the Crierion or St. James' in Piccadilly, or the Gaiety in the Strand, ther are half-a-dozen or more goldenhaired goddessess before whom you can plank down your “tuppence” and ask for a glass of “bittah beeah,” or “’arf and ’arf,” according to your inclination, and if you want to go one better you can call for a “bwandy and sodah.” There is no handing out the bottle, no help-yourself and make-yourself-at-home kind of business in any place in London. This only one of many types of Lon-, don drinking places. There ,are many quiet little little resorts like the “Pig and Whistle.” of Cockspur Street, or, like the “Cock,” near Temple Bar, immortalised by Tennyson. Then there is the typical corner “pub,” where cabby gets' his gin and bitters and Tommy Atkina slakes his thirst, besides the East End gin palace, with its flaring lamps and filthy odour. There is no stand-up drinking done in Paris except by foreigners—principally Americans The Frenchman takes his beverages seated at a little table in his cafe, or in front of it if the weather is’ fine. The American does so if he is a stranger. But the man who is initiated goes to the American bar on the Rue Daunou or the English bar on the Boulevarde des Italiens. He may be induced to patronise the Cafe American or the Cafe Julien, jwhere l he will findr a miscellaneous assortment of men and women.

But give the Bouevard cafe to the Frenchman. Here monsieur, madame, and bebe sit together, add watch the passersby. Monsieur takes absinthe and sucks it leaisurely through a straw. Madame drinks a glass of bottled beer Or a little cognac and seltzer, and bebe gulps down a long tumbler of sirop de groseille. The bigger the crowd the better tkey enjoy themselves.

When the bebe is in bed a different set takes possession of the chairs and tables; some become hotbeds of canards, and heated discussions end in free fights. In the others actors, poets, painters, and

BQiisicans foregather, give point to wit, and add brilliancy to scandal. The Spaniard likes repose when he drinks. He is happy in the leafy shade before the door of a bodega. To talk is too much exertioa, but he manages to lift big goblets of Mapsiello—the rough wine of the country —to his lips, and twirl innumerable cigarettes. In Italy everyone takes a glass of Vermouth at 5 o’clock, after the afternoon walk, but the national drink is the ruby-hued wine of Chianti. For honest pride in the decorations of his drinking-place, and a similar conceit In the numbter of bocks hd can stow un- , der his waistcoat, the German licks crea- ' tion, and the Heidelberg student, who ; thinks nothing of putting away fifty or , more of these mugs in the course of an • evening’s sitting, takes the cake among ! the Germans. The Teutonic rathskeller, 1 with its private hooks for mugs, its ; brotherhood chairs and reserved tables,‘ has been successfully imported into America, but it lacks the student element to give it local colour. Uader Hie awnings of imitation Paris- | iaß cafes in Cairo one finds frock coats anh befezzed pashas drinking whisky and soda with the English officers in mufti. ! If you want a real oriental cocktail, you must go to the native quarter ; there, in the shape of a small cup of delicious black coffee, blended with the fragrant fumes of the nargileh of peace, you will find i+. The people of Northern Russia, Finland, and Lapland, like the strongest possible kind of raw spirit ; quality is gauged by the throat-burning possibilities and powers of intoxication ; they are not at all particular where they drink, so long as they can get a straight pull from the demijohn. Tn Southern Scandinavia, while they like their lotion strong, they also like it sweat.