VII SIMPLIFIED COOKERY RECIPES

General directions have been given with regard to cooking of meat and vegetables, making soups, and so on, in the previous chapters, but for handy reference the colonist will like to refer to the recipe itself as he wants it and when he wants it.

Soups and Broths

Gamekeeper’s Broth.—Strain off clear about a quart of stock obtained by stewing the bones of game, poultry or rabbits with any meat bones available. Brown scraps and trimmings of meat will have made this stock richer and deeper in colour. Fry till brown a few small onions and carrots, and in the same fat any scraps of game or meat that seem good. Add these to the strained stock and mix with the rest of the fat in the frying-pan a little flour, some pepper and salt, stir up well and thin with a few spoonfuls of the stock, then add all to the remainder and boil up once. A little red wine would, of course, make this richer, but is not necessary.

Ox-tail Soup.—Joint the tail and place the pieces in a deep stone jar with peeled onions, say three or four, as many carrots, and some salt and pepper. Fill up the jar with water. One tail should make three or four pints of strong soup. Stew in a corner of the hearth or oven for four or five hours, and serve a few pieces of meat with the liquor. It is not necessary to thicken the soup, but if it is preferred so, it can have a little flour and dissolved butter rolled together and stirred into the hot liquor gradually, and boiled up once.

Sheep’s Head Broth.—Wash the head well and put on in a pan with cold water, a good spoonful of salt, a large cupful of well-washed barley, some onions and turnips, carrots and leeks if to be had, and a piece of celery likewise, and boil very gently for at least three hours. Add cold water always, say two quarts to one head. A little fresh parsley chopped small will give a very nice flavour to the broth, put in when cooked.

Scotch Broth.—The neck and other lean parts of mutton make the best broth, and should be cut small enough to serve a little meat in each plate. Turnips and onions are cut into small pieces and put in with the meat in liberal quantity. A little salt and pepper, and some fresh green peas when in season are added when the rest of the broth has boiled, and pearl barley, previously washed and soaked in cold water, is put in with the first vegetables as it takes long to cook. Boil two hours.

Gravy Soup.—Parts of lean beef, such as the shin and tougher pieces of the leg, with any large bones broken in pieces, make the best gravy soup. The meat should be cut into pieces and put into a deep jar with the bones, and just enough water to cover well. Put in a spoonful of salt and a few peppercorns and leaves of any sweet herbs available, but no vegetables save one or two onions. Cook very slowly indeed, never allowing it to boil hard. After cooking about six hours, strain off, let it get cold to enable any fat to be skimmed off, then warm up as wanted. It should be a rather deep colour and very strong and clear.

Rabbit or Hare Soup.—The bones and larger joints, heads, and so on, without any blood, of course, are put on to cook in cold water, and with them put onions and carrots. Cook a long time, then strain and pick off any nice bits of meat to return to the stock. Mix a large spoonful of flour with cold water, also a teaspoonful of salt and half one of pepper, and same of sharp sauce if available. Stir into the hot liquor and boil up for five minutes.

Beef Bouillon.—Take a nice piece of fresh beef, say two or three pounds weight; put it on in a pan with warm water rather more than enough to cover it. Bring it up to the boil quickly, and as soon as it boils add pared carrots and parsnips—no turnips—onions, leeks and celery, as many as the pan will hold, then let all boil very gently for three hours or so. The beef and vegetables can be eaten as a dish after the soup has been taken off clear. The latter is most reviving and appetising as well as wholesome. The point is not to let it boil hard, and to keep the broth clear and well-flavoured.

Fish Soup.—The water in which a large fish has been boiled will make a foundation for good fish soup, straining it clear then returning to it flakes of fish carefully picked from skin and bone, and a little minced onion and parsley. Melt a small pat of butter and stir into it some white flour till quite smooth, then a little cold milk, and pour into the stock. Add pepper and salt at discretion, and bring to boiling-point. Small fresh white fish are sometimes boiled in the stock till quite soft and the whole strained through a colander, then finished off as indicated.

Potato Soup.—Boil three or four large potatoes after peeling, and when done mash them down to a pulp; chop finely a large onion and fry it in butter or lard, but do not let it brown. Dredge a little flour on to this, then add a teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper and stir up with the mashed potato, and thin down with milk to make it like cream, stir well till it boils and serve.

Soak white haricot beans for twelve hours, and then boil them until they will mash down smoothly, and treat exactly as above, and an excellent white soup will result.

Onion Broth.—Peel, slice thinly and boil, several white onions, using a deep saucepan and enough water to cover them well. When quite tender and soft stir in half as much milk, and a large spoonful of cornflour or barley meal, with butter, pepper and salt enough to season well, let it boil up a minute or two and serve.

Or bone stock can be used instead of water, leaving out the milk.

The water in which ham or bacon has been boiled will make excellent foundation for peas or lentil soup. Pea flour is less trouble and quite as satisfactory as using dried peas, but if the latter are preferred let them soak at least twelve hours before boiling in this liquor. Boil till soft, then crush through a colander with wooden spoon and season the puree well, adding a little butter also. If too thick, thin down with either milk or water, put in a spoonful of fresh mint chopped or of dried and sifted herbs.

Treat lentils in just the same way, except that they will not need the previous soaking that dried peas do.

If pea flour is used, mix it well with cold water first, boil the stock and stir in the paste when it is hot and boil well, stirring frequently; season and add the herbs or mint as before.

If fresh green peas are used, they need no soaking, only boiling till very soft, mashing and thinning down with stock.

Pumpkin or Vegetable Marrow Soup.—Pare, split down and take out the seeds from large marrows or from portions of ripe pumpkin. Boil in enough water to cover well until quite tender, then rub through a colander. Melt some butter and mix with it a large spoonful of flour, and stir this into the marrow, thinning down with a little boiling milk, adding salt and pepper and a spoonful of sugar, a little spice if liked, and boil till all is smooth as a custard.

Tomato Soup.—Cook half a dozen large tomatoes in a little butter, after cutting them in slices and some slices of peeled onion. Cook till tender, and rub down with wooden spoon or pass through a colander. Add enough clear bone stock to make the required quantity of soup, and salt and pepper, with a teaspoonful of sugar also. Then finally stir in some butter and flour mixed together to a smooth paste, boil well and serve.

Mixtures of vegetables like turnips, parsnips, artichokes and potatoes, with onion to make a savoury flavour, make an excellent white soup. Carrots and tomatoes and onion go well together for a soup that is made up with bone stock.

It is an improvement in all these soups to use baked flour where flour is mentioned, as this gives the soup a richer flavour. To make it, spread a little white flour on a sheet of paper and bake very slowly in a cool oven, then keep in a tin.

Boiled, Baked and Fried Fish

Boiled Fish (which is never really boiled but is cooked just under the boiling-point) is done after much the same method, no matter what the kind of fish. It is better when boiling large fish to wrap them in a piece of clean calico or muslin as the thinner parts get cooked before the thicker are done, and with a wrapping it is easier to lift the fish out without breaking it. Cook in water that is well salted, and if the fish is a white one, like cod, add a little vinegar to the water.

Another way of boiling fish is to lay it in a dish with just sufficient stock—fish stock by preference—to cover it, with a few small onions round it and a little wine or vinegar added.

After boiling, drain the fish well and serve plenty of nice sauce separately, and boiled potatoes left whole. A large cod, boiled whole, with plenty of mealy potatoes and a dishful of parsley or egg sauce will make an excellent meal.

In boiling portions of fish, like middle cuts, it is better after draining to take away skin and all bones and then serve it in flakes masked under a sauce. It is a neater and more appetising way than to have each one leave a mess of skin and bones on their plate, and a very pretty dish can be made by sprinkling a little grated cheese or parsley on the top and browning the dish before serving.

Watch fish carefully while it is boiling, and as soon as it shows signs of parting from the bone it should be drained. If boiled too long all its flavour is gone, and if boiled too fast it will be raggy and yet tough. Small fish like fresh herrings and mackerel, likewise soles and plaice, all of which are very nice when carefully boiled, should rather be poached, much as one would poach an egg.

Baked Fish.—The best way of baking any fish is to do it in a paper wrapping. If the right kind of paper bag is not to be had, wrap it in white notepaper, having buttered this first and put a little pat of butter inside with a sprinkle of pepper and salt. Close up tightly and bake in a rather hot oven and serve in its paper case if possible. If a large piece of fish is baked in a paper bag the wrapping can be pulled away when it is safely landed on the dish. Small fish are delicious when baked in a paper case, and all the flavour is kept in and the natural juice of the fish as well. This is a clean way of cooking when the oven is nothing but a flat hearthstone, only care must be taken that the paper wrapping cannot catch alight.

Fried Fish.—A clear hot fire is the first consideration when frying anything, then a clean hot pan, some good fat such as rendered suet or lard, and not too much of it, and the fish must have been well dried after cleaning, then rubbed with flour. If cleaned an hour or two before they will be cooked, the fish should be dipped in milk and coated with flour, then left to dry, in this way a crust forms on them which browns quickly when fried, and is little if at all inferior to the more troublesome method of frying what has been coated with beaten egg and dipped in crumbs of bread. The rough and ready way of flouring fish after drying and then frying in hot fat is quite satisfactory when flavour counts for more than appearance, but you cannot fry fish without first coating them with dry flour.

Another way is to make a batter with an egg, a little flour, salt and milk, making it rather thick, and dipping the fish into this, then putting them at once into hot fat. This, too, is an easy method and a nice crust forms on the outside of the fish which keeps in all the flavour.

Flat fish, like soles, flounders and plaice, are the best for frying, or slices cut across a large fish.

The fat in the pan must be very hot indeed, which is told by a faint blue smoke rising from it.

Grilled or Broiled Fish.—This is the camp ready way of cooking freshly-caught fish, and very good it is. After cleaning and emptying, the fish is split down the back, rubbed lightly with oil and laid on a grid and held over the coals. It wants a little skill to grill well, and not to burn the fish, but if quickly cooked in this way, turning frequently on both sides, the result is excellent. Herrings and mackerel broil well, so do trout and some of the small river fish. A pat of butter, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a few drops of vinegar are all the sauce that is needed.

Sufficient directions for roasting, boiling or braising meat have already been given, so that we may pass on to savoury dishes, among the best of which are—

Hotpots

For a Lancashire Hot-Pot take about a couple of pounds of lean beef and as many potatoes and several onions. Cut the beef into small pieces about an inch square and roll these in flour that has been liberally seasoned with salt and pepper. Pare the potatoes and cut them in very thick slices; peel the onions and chop roughly. Make a layer of beef, onions and potato alternately in a stewpan just large enough to hold the whole quantity comfortably without leaving much space. Pour in enough water to barely cover, then put on the lid and set in a moderate oven for quite two hours, to simmer well but not boil. It should be very tender and lightly browned on the top. Serve in the same pan. The flouring of the meat keeps that more tender and makes the gravy richer.

For a Hunter’s Hot-Pot take any game or rabbits, and after cleaning and skinning, joint them and roll in seasoned flour, then form layers of rabbit, onion, whole potatoes or pieces of turnip or other sweet roots, and fill up with warm water, closing tightly and stewing for two to three hours or even longer. Venison would be good stewed in this way. Game birds are better stewed without vegetable additions, but with a little pork or bacon cut in strips and put with them. Flour well all the same.

For Irish Stew take the neck and breast of mutton and cut in convenient sized pieces, flouring well in seasoned flour as before, and lay in a deep stewpan with whole onions and potatoes, as many as the stewpan will accommodate. Put in less water, only enough to cover the bottom well, then lay a plate face downwards on the top before putting on the cover of the pan, and cook in good oven for three hours. The plate helps to keep in the steam and to keep the top of the stew from browning.

For making a Hot-Pot with breast of veal or lamb, as sometimes it is possible to do in the spring or summer time, the meat is cut in strips and across in short lengths, is floured and put in a deep jar with a few very young onions, some herbs like mint and parsley, plenty of seasoning and a spoonful of vinegar, as well as sufficient water to just barely cover the whole. The vegetable additions are cooked separately, although a few boiled green peas might be put into the pot just before serving.

A Vegetarian Hot-Pot is very savoury when no meat is procurable, and a mixture of vegetables, such as carrots, onions, potatoes, turnips and so on, should be pared, cut into neat rounds and fried well in clear fat till all are lightly browned, then sprinkle with pepper and salt and dredge flour over very lightly, put the vegetables in the stew pan, rinse out the frying-pan with hot water, add just a tablespoonful of vinegar or sharp sauce, and pour over the rest. Cover down closely and stew for an hour in the oven. A little American green corn taken from the husk and put into a vegetable stew makes it very nice.

A bottle of curry powder would be of great assistance to a camp cook, as a spoonful of this stirred into a stew or a sauce would make a wonderful difference to the savouriness of the dish, to stews of mutton especially, and of vegetables without meat. After frying the vegetables, let the curry powder be stirred into the fat in the frying-pan and mixed with that and the flour, then a little hot water or stock added, and just cooked a little before pouring it into the stewpan. The addition of an apple or a ripe tomato, or failing everything else a spoonful of vinegar, will give the desirable flavour of acidity which a curry should have.

Fried Steak and Onions

In making this very favourite dish it is well to remember that the best results are gained by combining frying and stewing, that is, frying first and stewing for a short time afterwards. Only so do you get the mellow flavour and the full savour which frying should give. Thus, cut the steak into small squares and flour well, then fry in a little, not much, hot fat, on both sides, rather quickly, so as to brown well. Then lay the pieces of steak as they are done at the bottom of the stewpan. While these are being fried a quantity of onions can be peeled and sliced up, and with a little more fat added they are put into the frying-pan after the meat is finished. Toss them frequently to brown lightly all over, and to make them thoroughly tender cover for five or ten minutes with a plate large enough to fit the frying-pan, and so let them steam through. Then add to the steak, rinse out the pan with warm water, add pepper and salt to it, and pour over the onions, cover the stewpan down closely and set in a corner of the fireplace to simmer for an hour or so. Then the dish will be found both appetizing and digestible.

Calf’s Liver, Pig’s Fry, etc.

In frying liver follow the same method as just described for steak, only cut the liver or the pig’s fry into slices, not too thick, and flour very thoroughly, frying till just lightly browned. Fry some bacon afterwards which has been cut into strips, and add to the liver; then fry the onions as before, season them and add with a little stock to rinse out the pan, and cover the stewpan and cook for an hour or more in the corner of oven or fireplace.

When frying Mutton Chops coat them with flour first, as this keeps the outside from getting dry. Make a nice gravy to go with fried chops by adding a very little flour to take up the fat in the frying-pan, some spoonfuls of sharp sauce, salt and pepper and a little stock or water, boiling this and serving it with them. It takes but a minute or two to make gravy, and it makes a great deal of difference to the dish and its value.

After frying anything like bacon or ham it is an improvement just before it is quite finished to cover it over in the pan with a plate and let it steam through for five minutes, thus making it very tender.

Toad-in-the-Hole

Beat four tablespoonfuls of flour and two eggs, and a saltspoonful of salt, together with a little cold milk, adding more milk when the batter is perfectly smooth, enough to make it like thick cream. Cut about a pound of beefsteak and one or two kidneys into small pieces, lay them at the bottom of a well buttered baking dish or pie-dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then pour over them the batter. Set the dish in a hot oven, but shield the top to keep from scorching before the meat is done through. Mutton chops or sausages can be substituted for the beef and kidney, and mushrooms help to give a nice flavour. Australian tinned mutton or American corned beef may be used this way also and make a very savoury dish, though less savoury than fresh meat, of course, and therefore where cooked meat is used a little gravy should be made separately and poured over the portions as they are served. Fresh meat can be lightly fried before covering it with the batter, to make it more savoury.

Beefsteak, Kidney and Mushroom Pudding

A plain suet crust made with half a pound of beef suet chopped, a pound of flour and teaspoonful of salt, rubbed together and mixed rather dry with cold water, then rolled out twice before lining the mould with it, is the first step towards making this pudding. Grease the mould well, line it with crust rolled to about half an inch thick, and cut out a piece for the top to fit exactly. Then proceed to fill with steak cut into small squares, each one rolled in flour mixed with salt and pepper, and add a few pieces of ox kidney cut small, and mix with the meat some peeled mushrooms if these are to be had, or oysters if these are available, and failing either the pudding will be very good without them. Fill level with the top, wet the edges of the crust and pinch down the covering piece, after pouring in sufficient cold water to nearly but not quite cover the meat. Then tie down with a cloth, or screw on the cover of the mould, whichever kind of mould is used, and plunge it into a deep pan of boiling water, and keep boiling very fast for four hours—certainly not less than three. If making a larger pudding give it still longer time to boil. The moulds with screw on covers are much to be recommended, as when using a cloth, however carefully this is tied over, some of the gravy and goodness of the pudding is apt to ooze through into the water. Take off the cover, bind a clean cloth round the mould, and serve, or turn it out into a deep dish if preferred.

Where mutton is more plentiful than beef, lean parts, chops trimmed from all fat, and kidneys cut in half, with mushrooms, or without them, would make another delicious pudding.

Mushrooms alone, plenty of them, liberally sprinkled with pepper and salt and floured, might be packed inside a mould lined with suet crust, and a few strips of bacon or salt pork put with them, then boiled for a couple of hours, and a very savoury pudding would result.

When boiling beef or mutton with vegetables, as before directed, small balls of this plain suet crust dropped into the broth when it boils and cooked for an hour or so, are, in the opinion of many people, a great addition to the dish and certainly help to make it a little more substantial.

The same crust lines the mould when sliced apples, plums, berries and wild fruits are used for the filling, with sugar added, and when boiled this turns out an excellent pudding. Boil always two hours. A suet crust improves with long boiling, but is not at all good when too little done.

For a Jam Roll make the crust in the same way, rolling it out to about a quarter of an inch thick, in a long strip of ten or twelve inches wide. Spread with jam, or treacle, with chopped fruits, soaked dried fruits and syrup, or anything that is available, and then begin at one end and roll up, not too tightly, pinching down the edges to keep it compact. Take a cloth, wring it out of hot water, sprinkle lightly with flour, and place your roll pudding across one corner, fold over the sides towards the middle, then roll up neatly and securely, but again not too tightly, as the pudding wants room to swell, fasten securely, and plunge into fast boiling water, and keep boiling without intermission for two hours. Unroll from the cloth and serve on hot dish.

A plain boiled suet pudding may be boiled in a cloth, or in a greased mould tied down, and served with hot treacle or cane syrup, or white sauce in which some spoonfuls of jam have been boiled, sweet sauce with wine, and so on, or with the gravy from meat.

The plain pudding may be made richer by adding currants or a liberal quantity of stoned raisins to it, or mixing with it treacle, marmalade or jam, and then boiling and serving with sauce.

Golden Pudding is of the same type, but may be called the Sunday edition of the weekday variety. It is made by mixing the same plain ingredients with eggs instead of milk or water, adding a little baking-powder to the dry flour first, then a spoonful of orange marmalade and two of clear sugar syrup, and after mixing and putting into a buttered mould this is boiled for two hours and served with a sweet sauce containing a suspicion of something spirituous—whatever Sunday rations permit of!

While on the subject of boiled puddings, it will not do to leave out a recipe for Christmas Pudding, as there may be occasion for the colonist to make his own some day.

Equal quantities (whatever the weight, this depending upon the size of pudding required), say, half a pound each of stale crumb of bread grated finely, flour, suet minced, currants and stoned raisins and sugar; mix these together first, then add two ounces of candied fruit shred small, half a packet of mixed spice and teaspoonful of ginger, a teaspoonful of salt, four eggs and quarter of a pint of brandy or rum. Mix thoroughly and keep for two or three days before boiling, then put into moulds and tie over closely, and boil five hours.

To simplify this, leave out the candied fruits and spices, using only the plainer ingredients and all raisins can be used instead of currants if preferred. A pound of figs cut very small might take the place of any other fruit, and the spirituous liquor can be omitted altogether, using milk in place of it.

Equal quantities, say half a pound, of stoned and chopped raisins, suet and flour, mixed together with cold milk, and boiled for four or five hours, make a very excellent substitute for a rich plum-pudding.

Baked Milk Puddings

It is a mistake to put eggs in baked milk puddings, except it be when a custard is required. A deep dish makes the best puddings of this type, and the heat at which they are cooked must be only moderate; they do exceedingly well on the flat stones in front of a fire or in the hearth after a fire has been swept away, or at the bottom of a clay oven as mentioned in the early chapters of this book.

Wash whole rice and barley very thoroughly before using, then allow three large tablespoonfuls of either to each pint of milk used. Roughly speaking, it is sufficient to cover well the bottom of the dish that is used. Add sugar and a little salt and spice if liked, then pour in the milk—cold—and stir up well and set to cook.

Tapioca is done the same way, but is not washed before using. Tapioca is more nourishing than either rice or barley. Sago makes another change, and is also very nourishing, and hominy is likewise good, though it is improved by preparing as ground rice, namely, by boiling in a saucepan with the milk first, till stiff, and when cool one or two eggs and a little spice are beaten in and the mixture is poured into a buttered dish and baked till just brown on the surface.

Macaroni is broken into inch lengths and thrown into boiling salted water and cooked till just tender, then drained, mixed with one or two beaten eggs and a little milk, with grated cheese, pepper and salt, or instead with a little sugar and spice, poured into a buttered dish and cooked till firmly set.

Or, after boiling till tender, and draining from water, it can be returned to the saucepan with plenty of butter and grated cheese, pepper and salt, with either a little cream or some tomato sauce, and after tossing with a fork cover down and leave to simmer for ten minutes, then turn out into a dish and eat with a fork.

Batter Puddings

To make a light batter, good either for baking as a Yorkshire pudding, for boiling to eat with sauce, or for frying as Pancakes, allow to every egg two large tablespoonfuls of flour, half a saltspoonful of salt and a breakfast-cupful of milk.

When mixing, break the egg first into a basin, add the salt, then the flour and a quarter of the milk, then beat well and briskly, so as to work out all traces of lumps, and gradually beat in the rest of the milk. A little water as well as the milk makes the batter lighter than one made with all milk. Increase the proportions according to the size of pudding or the number of pancakes required.

This batter can be poured into a shallow baking tin containing some hot fat—for a Yorkshire pudding—and baked rather quickly in hot oven, or poured into a buttered mould which it will three-parts fill, tied down and boiled or steamed for two hours, or taken by small cupfuls and poured into a well-greased frying-pan and turned over as it sets and browns.

Omelettes

For an omelet the freshest of eggs will be needed, and they are broken on to a plate, salt and pepper added and not more than a tablespoonful of milk; this is lightly beaten with the blade of a knife until just mixed, then poured into the pan, which contains butter that is on the point of turning brown. Leave to set, then pass a knife round the edge and underneath, fold one half over the other and slip on to a hot dish.

If a cheese omelet is wanted, add some spoonfuls of grated cheese to the mixture and cook as just directed.

If minced herbs or mushrooms are added, put the herbs with the eggs, but cook the mushrooms in a separate pan with some butter, and just before folding the omelet over slip in the cooked mushrooms between. Fried giblets and livers and strips of bacon are introduced in the same way to make another variation.

Cheese and Stale Bread

By grating the bread and cheese and mixing these with an egg, salt and pepper and just a little milk, the mixture can make a kind of pancake in the ordinary way, or be baked in a buttered pie-dish in the oven as a savoury pudding.

Supposing there are some stale crusts and a bit of dry cheese, but no eggs or butter. Pour a little boiling water, or better still a little boiling milk, over the crusts in a dish and leave to soften, then put a little ale or cider into a frying-pan, slice up the cheese very thinly, lay it in the hot liquor, and while it is getting hot through beat up the soaked bread with a fork, add a sprinkle of salt and then put all into the frying-pan and toss up till the whole is thoroughly light and hot through.

Another way is to pour milk over broken crusts and set these in a dish inside the oven and when hot to cover thickly with grated or sliced cheese, salt and pepper enough to season well, and return until just browned on the surface.

If very dry crusts of bread are dipped in milk and baked between two plates, then spread with butter and toasted cheese, they make a very relishable supper.

Using Tinned Provisions

In place of fresh milk condensed milk makes excellent milk puddings, batter puddings, bread, and so forth. If using the sweetened milk leave out sugar mentioned in the recipes. Do not add too much water to the milk.

Corned Beef can be cut into small squares and lightly fried, then served inside a wall of mashed potato, with a tomato gravy made and poured over. Or served inside a batter baked in dish as mentioned in Toad-in-the-Hole.

Make a curry sauce by using some bone stock, or stock made by dissolving a soup square, adding to it a good spoonful of curry powder or paste, a little salt and pepper and tomato or Worcester sauce, and a spoonful of baked flour mixed smooth with dissolved butter. Boil up and allow to simmer. Fry till very brown some thinly sliced onions, dredge with seasoning, and fry also slices of corned beef in same pan after the onions are done. Place all in the curry sauce and leave to simmer for half an hour, then serve with boiled rice or mashed potato.

Tinned Australian mutton chops can be added to a stew of onions and potatoes when these have partly cooked, and with plenty of seasoning make a very palatable Irish Stew.

Tinned Rabbit is improved by having a little curry added to the gravy after it has been made hot and by cooking it gently to mix the flavours. Some boiled onions and white sauce accompany tinned rabbit excellently well.

Tinned Fruits and Vegetables can be made hot and served with cooked rice or custard sauce, according to what they are, and whether sweet or savoury. Tinned peas, for instance, and tinned mushrooms, go well with rice and a curry sauce; tinned tomatoes, cheese, pepper and salt, are tossed together and fried for a few minutes.

Kitchen Wrinkles

Fill all saucepans with cold water as soon as done with and set aside; when ready to wash them heat the water and it will be easy to scour them with soda and sand. Never leave a pan to be dry before washing, as it will be ten times harder to clean and probably require scraping.

Pour all fat that has been used for frying or baking into a jar containing a few spoonfuls of boiling water; this clarifies the fat and causes all crumbs and sediment to fall to the bottom. The fat can then be lifted off in a cake and used over and over again.

Soup that has been over-salted can be corrected to some extent by putting in raw potatoes and bringing up to the boiling-point again—not letting the potatoes break up and spoil the colour of the soup.

Raw potatoes are one of the best preventives of scurvy, and can be eaten if they are grated, while plain boiled potatoes, eaten hot or cold, are the best corrective in a diet that contains too much salt meat.

Sliced raw onions placed about in saucers are excellent disinfectants where there is infectious sickness about; change at least every day and substitute fresh onions. Small-pox and other fevers have been kept away by having onions hanging in the room. Saucers of slaked lime are also good disinfectants, particularly where there is any damp or bad smell about.

To take the stains from steel knives clean first with damp earth, then rub with a cork and some emery powder and methylated spirit, or with powdered wood ash.

To Boil Rice

Rice is so often badly-cooked that the Black Man’s way of boiling it may be worth quoting. He says—

“Wash him well; much wash in cold water; rice-flour make him stick. Water boil all ready, very fast. Shove him in; rice not burn, water shake him too much. Boil twenty minutes. Rub one rice in thumb and finger; if all rub away him quite done. Put rice in colander, hot water run away through; put cold water through him, then put back in pan, cover him and keep hot, then soon rice all ready. Eat him up.”

Vegetables which have strong flavours, such as green cabbage, nettles, turnip-tops, and so on, should be drained from the first water, then returned to the pan with fresh boiling water. They will be much more easily digested if this is done.