THE QUEEN IN THE KITCHEN.

Evening Star, Issue 3283, 28 August 1873, Page 3

THE QUEEN IN THE KITCHEN.

A ROYAL OMELETTE. The Queen and the Princesses Christian and Beatrice were at the Exhibition in London on Friday, and saw an omelette made in the cooking section. Mr Buckmaster, the lecturer of the school, said : —“ May it please your Majesty,—The specimen of cooking which is now to be presented takes only four or five minutes, and is within the reach of the poorest of your Majesty’s subjects. The materials cost 3id, and they furnish a wholesome nourishing dish, acceptable for two persons. The omelette is never found in the homes of the poor of this country, and in the houses of the rich it is often very badly cooked. The ordinary frying-pan and spoon found in every house will answer perfectly well. We wish to show in this school the best and most economic methods of domestic cooking, and the various uses to which kitchen utensils may be fairly applied without injury. To prepare a plain omelette, see that the frying-pan is thoroughly clean,; for cleanliness brings with it habits of domestic order, which are among the first and best methods of-happiness in every household, nor it is without i.ts. influence on the moral character, for virtue and dirt can never dwell comfortably together. Place in the fryingpan about one ounce of butter. We use gas-stoves, but what we do at these gas-stoves we can equally well dp at an ordinary kitchen fire-place. Break three eggs, beat them up with a little chopped parsley and a pinch of pepper and salt. The eggs should not bo beaten too much, or the white of them separates and you produce a watery mixture which destroys the flavor and the appearance of the omelette. Now that the butter is melted, pour into the frying-pan the omelette mixture and stir till it begins to set or thicken, shako the pan occasionally, and fold over the omelette neatly into an oval shape, and when it is of a golden colour turn quickly into a dish. If you require a cheese omelette, introduce into the omelette mixture about a dessert-spoonful of grated cheese with a little pepper and salt, and sometimes a few grains of cayenne popper. In a sweet omelette no pepper or salt, but a little grated sugar ; and just before the omelette is folded in the pan, distribute evenly over a little jam. if a bacon omelette, a few pieces of previously cooked bacon cut into small dice, and so on for various kinds of omelettes. Bemember five things—a clean pah, the mixture, not too ( much

beaten, omelette not too large, three eggs are better than six, which make two omelettes ; they should not be too much cooked ; they should be eaten immediately, or they become tough and more lik 3 a pancake. An abundant supply of food and the proper preparation of it by cooking are matters intimately connected with the physical well-being and happiness of your Majesty’s subjects, and, from a Jong connection with the working classes, I may be permitted to say that the interest which your Majesty has shown in this school of popular cookery will be gratefully appreciated by all classes of your Majesty’s subjects.” This demon* stration occupied just four minutes, and the Queen and the Princesses each tasted the omelette, which her Majesty pronounced to be very good.