THINGS IN SEASON, IN MARKET AND KITCHEN.

FEBRUARY.

By LA MÉNAGÈRE.

It might seem a superfluity to be at the trouble of compiling and writing a menu for the small home dinner-table. If anyone thinks this, let them first give the experiment a trial before pronouncing upon it; they will, I venture to think, be gratified by the result.

In every household the dinner, be it early or late, is the important meal of the day, and it merits whatever dignity can be given to it by such accessories as service, care in laying the table, decoration, etc., and not the least of these will be found the menu written for every day. Especially if there be a guest at table is this little mark of attention appreciated.

We must remember that imagination plays a very important part in the human organisation; a good name goes a long way towards bringing a dish into favour, and I have found that the very fact of a name being given to a dish has its influence with the cook, who feels in a way bound to see that its character is “lived up to.” Then again it is a help to the caterer if the menus are kept, and those which have been particularly liked marked for future repetition. Much racking of brains is spared, and precious minutes are saved that else would have been spent in answering the puzzling question, “What shall we have for dinner to-day?”

Our market list in February varies little if at all from the previous month in the main things, but as the game season is practically drawing to an end, we find our resources fewer than they were. Guinea-fowl however are excellent, so are woodcock and snipe, also ptarmigan. Turkeys are still to be had, but they are very dear, as all poultry is. Hares and rabbits are very good.

Our supply of vegetables will be apt to run short if the weather is at all severe; savoys will not have suffered so much, and about this time we usually receive large consignments of cauliflowers from Italy. The South sends us also fresh lettuce, chicory, forced beans, and other “primeurs,” but their price is often beyond what a slender purse can afford. Anyone with a garden may at this time have corn-salad growing therein, which will be getting tender and eatable. Celery should still be good, and we ought to have an abundance of Jerusalem artichokes, Swede turnips, parsnips, carrots, onions and suchlike root vegetables.

In fruits we have imported apples and pears, oranges—getting to their best—lemons, citrons, and all dried fruits.

This month, by the way, is the time for making our yearly supply of orange marmalade; if we delay any longer the true Seville oranges will be gone, although bitter oranges are procurable up to April. After we have studied our menu we will consider the subject of marmalade making, for that toothsome sweet has now become one of our necessities of life.

MENU FOR FEBRUARY.

Purée of Haricot Beans.

Fried Smelts.

Boiled Beef, with a “Plat de Carottes.”

Roast Ptarmigan. Bread Sauce.

Apple Fritters.

Cheese. Biscuits. Coffee.

Purée of Haricot Beans.—A pint of beans will make a large quantity, say two quarts, of soup, therefore half-a-pint would suffice for one dish of soup for an ordinary family. These beans should always be soaked overnight in cold water; they will dissolve so much more readily. Place them in a stewpan with rather more than sufficient water to cover them, let them simmer for three hours, then rub through a tamis. While the rubbing goes on, cook a finely-minced onion in a little butter, add the bean purée to this, some salt and pepper, and then sufficient hot milk and water to make up the requisite quantity. This might simmer a while longer, and then just before serving a spoonful of cornflour wet with a little milk should be stirred in, and all brought up to the boiling point once more.

Smelts should be wiped with a clean cloth, coated with beaten egg, rolled in bread raspings, and fried in butter. Serve fresh lemon cut in slices and thin brown bread and butter with them.

A dish of carrots for eating with boiled beef is nice done in the Flemish mode:

Pare the carrots and cut them in strips lengthwise, and then cut them up precisely as you would kidney beans; put them in a stewpan with well-fitting lid, add to them a good spoonful of beef dripping and a little pepper and salt. Cover closely and let them cook in their own steam for an hour or more, seeing that they do not catch on the bottom. Pour the fat off and add a few drops of vinegar just before dishing up.

Ptarmigan are rather dry birds and they require a thin piece of bacon wrapping round them before roasting, also to be frequently basted. Let them do rather quickly, so as to be nicely browned, but they will take rather less than an hour. Serve good gravy and bread sauce with them.

Apple Fritters.—For frying these a good depth of boiling lard is necessary if they are to be done successfully. Take the cores out of large apples, and pare them thinly. Cut across in slices not too thin. Dip each slice in batter made from the whisked whites of two eggs, a spoonful of flour, a pinch of salt, and enough salad oil to make it like thick cream. When fried drain each ring on kitchen paper and sprinkle with castor sugar. Pile high on a paper doyley.

And now as to the directions for the making of orange marmalade. The following plan is one I have pursued for several years and it has always produced excellent marmalade:

To every twelve Seville oranges allow two lemons; slice them across, rind and pulp, as thinly as ever it is possible to do with the sharpest of knives. Pick out the pips as you go along, but put these in a basin instead of throwing them away, for it is surprising what amount of gluten clings to the pips, which is lost if they are not saved. When all the fruit has been cut up into lined earthenware pans, cover it with water until the vessels have as much as they will hold. Set these aside out of the way of dust, and let them stand so for twenty-four hours. After this boil fruit and water together for perhaps two hours, but gently so that it does not burn; then turn it back again into the vessels and let it stand for another twenty-four hours. After this it should be stirred up and weighed, and to every pound of fruit and liquor allow a pound of lump sugar; when the pulp has boiled for about an hour the second time, the sugar may be put in, and then constant stirring will be necessary and faster boiling. From the time the sugar is added half-an-hour’s boiling ought to suffice. Put it into hot jars, but do not tie down until it is cold.