Housekeeper.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 361, 9 April 1903, Page 7

Housekeeper.

*- CUBBIES.

64£f£UBBIES, if properly made, are in«m\ variably appreciated, but, alas! the average curry of the 'average' cook is not as a rule properly made, and for this state of things two errors are chiefly responsible. The meat, if it has already been previously cooked, Is done to rags, instead of being, as it should be, reheated only, und the rice too often comes up a soddened mass, alike unappetising to both eye and palate. Appetising and Cheap. Few cooks, too, seem to realise what exceedingly delicious curries it is possible to compound with fresh fish, fowl, or meat. Besides being bo appetising, curries are so cheap, too, another which should commend them to the housewife whose catering has to be done on very limited allowance. A Fish Cubby, Thus a small tail of cod, if properly curried, will provide a meal for three, perhaps four, people. Here is the recipe : Boil the fish first, and reserve it on a hot plate, or take the remains of any cold fish on hand. Cut a large onion into very thin slices, place loz of butter in a clean stewp&n. Directly it melts, add the onion, together with.a small apple peeled, .cored, and very thinly sliced, a spoonful of mangoe chutney, and a dessertspoenful of curry powder. Fry all together for five minuses, then add by degrees, and stirring all the time, a gill and a half of either stock or water. If the fish is freshly boiled use the liquor in which it was cooked, bringing very gently to the boil, then draw the pan to the side of the fire and simmer slowly until the apple and onion are quite cooked. Meanwhile, free the fish from skin and bone, and divide or flake it into pieces of a suitable size. If a very thick curry sauce is required, the curry must now be thickened with from soz to loz of butter and the same amount of flour, kneaded together. Stir until the sauce thickens. Add salt to taste, and then a large teaspoonful of vinegar and a teaspoonful of sifted sugar. Finally add the fish, and make all very hot. Dish up on a hot dish, garnish with a border of well-coQkea, dry rice, and send to table at once. Curries should never be kept waiting longer .than is absolusely necessary. All kinds of fish may be curried successfully after the foregoing recipe. To curry either cold rabbit, cold fowl, beef, mutton, lamb, or veal, proceed exactly as in the foregoing recipe. The quantity ef vegetables, meat, and currypowder must be increased if a large number of people have to be catered for. It is important to note, however, that it is hot the amount of curry powder used that makes a hot curry; ic is the time which it is allowed to cook that makes all the difference between a mild, a medium, and a very hot dish.

A CUBKT OF POBK. When a curry of pork is in question, the flour, instead of being added merely as a liaison, should be fried at the same time as the vegetables and curry powder. The reason for this is, of course, obvious, since pork is in itself so rich a most, that if much butter be used it would become sickly instead of appetising. A nice way to make curry of fresh fowl, or say mutton cutlets, is as follows: Sprinkle the meat or poultry lightly with salt. Place one ounce of butter in a clean stewpan, and directly it oils add the meat or fowl, together with a large onion peeled and sliced, a large apple peeled, cored, and sliced, a bit of celery cut into tiny pieces, and, if liked, half a carrot scraped and cut into tiny squares. ¥ry all well together for six or seven minutes. Then add just enough stock to nearly cover the meat, draw the pan to the side of the fire, and simmer slowly until quite tender. Meanwhile mix a large desertspoonful of flour and loz of butter. As soon as the meat is judged to be sufficiently tender, replace the saucepan on the fire. Add a heaped spoonful of mild mungoe chutney, a spoonful of vinegar, and, a small teaspoon! ul of sifted susrar. Then thicken with the flour and currj powder, e'e, stirring all the time in order to avoid burning j when sufficiently thick, taste. Dish up on a very hot dish. Garnish with a border m. well-cooked rice and send to table at once.