HASTY DINNERS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2233, 25 April 1881, Page 4

HASTY DINNERS.

Not the least amongst the worries of some young housekeepers is that of receiving a note at midday to the effect that 41 So-and-so is coming homo to dinner with me ; have all nice, but don’t make any extra fuss.” This happens frequently in places where shops, Butchers, &s., are inaccessible, and maybe, when the larder hss reached its lowest ebb. The last joint has boon roasted for the early dinner, and its remains, with those of a cold chicken, have been destined for the “ high tea” or supper. A few hints os to how a small hasty dinner can be arranged may be useful to some who cannot afford to keep an experienced cook, and yet like to preside over more recherche and varied fare that can be obtained at the hands of the general servants. In the first place, much time may saved, and bread also, by daily putting aside trimmings of toasts and crusts, which must be browned and crisped in the oven, crushed with the rolling-pin, ond kept in a tin box or bottle. These give a mush better appearance than fresh crumbs, and are always ready when baste is required for fish, cutlets, &e. It is well also occasonally to make some browning for giving an agreeable appearance to soups and sauces, as frequently when the untidy habit of burning sugar in a spoon is resorted to, the result is most unpleasant. Take four tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, stir in an iron saucepan over the fire until nearly black ; then add boiling water. Let it cool, and bottle for use. By chopping and well boiling down all the bones and meat trimmings, the stock pot should always be able to furnish a foundation from which various soups may be made • but, failing this, if fresh or dried vegetables, or Italian paste, are first boiled, then add to boiling water, in which Liebig’s extract of moat has been dissolved, allowing a small teaspoonful to each half pint, a clear, light, and refreshing soup is speedily prepared. It is probable that fish can only be obtained on certain days, and the hasty dinner will assuredly be required on one of the intervening ones. Therefore, it is well to bo provided with tins of salmon and lobster, from which several palatable dishes may be prepared, For instance, pour away the liquid, which often has a metallic taste, and turn out the fish into nicely prepared melted butter made with milk. Season with cayenne, mace, and a few drops of anchovy. Let it become thoroughly hot, but do not let it boil. Serve in china scallop shell, or on a flat dish; sprinkle well with prepared bread crumbs, and garnish with parsley. Or the fish may be made hot in water, and dressed a la Tartars, by pouring over it sauoo made by mixing half a teaspoonful of mustard with oil and tho yolks of two eggs ; add a little milk or cream, and thicken carefully over the fire ; add a few drops of plain or flavoured vinegar, such as chili, tarragon. &c, Make all hot in the oven, and serve. Lobsters made into outlets by mixing with bread crumbs, buster, and egg • roll into shapes, egg and bread crumb, and fry in boiling lard. Most men who have luncheon prefer several small dainty difijos to a plain joint, and with a little trouble and tact these are not difficult. A small mincing machine is a great assistance, as by its aid apparently insignificant remnants may be used, and with the addition, perhaps,_ of cooked rice or cold potatoes, delicious little rissoles may be speedily turned out. Slices of meat may be rolled and tied with cotton, eaoh sprinkled inside and out with chopped parsley and lemon peel; a sauce piquant, made by boiling in half a wine-glass of vinegar, chopped herbs, and a little whole spice; thicken with flour, and pour on sufficient stock or gravy ; add browning; lay the rolled meat in a pie-dish, and pour tho sauce over ; beat in the oven, and serve on a flat dish with pyramid of brown mashed potatoes or plainly cooked tomatoes. The remains of cold fowl will make a small dish of curry, or may be served with white sauce and mushrooms, or made hot in brown gravy, and plentifully garnished with fresh watercress, which is a delicious accompaniment, especially so to some tastes, if the oreas be first sprinkled with a few drops of oil and tarragon or elder-flower vinegar. Many other methods may be adopted for using up remnants, and it must bo remembeaed that the true art of useful cooking is not so much tho carrying out of certain recipes as the tact of using to advantage the ingredients within reach, and producing variety by delicate flavorings, &0,, which cannot always be trusted to a servant. A vegetable according to the season, may be served with one of the dishes; or asparagus, green artichokes, stewed celery, &0., is better served between or after, alone, on toast with melted butter. A sweet omelette, apple, orange, or any fritters of fresh or preserved fruits may follow, and a small dish of maccaroni, made as follows, is a welcome addition. Drop the maccaroni into boiling water, and cook until quite tender. Make a sauce of milk thickened with flour and butter, to which add a small spoonful of made mustard, cayenne, and salt to taste. Let the maccaroni remain in this a short time, turn out on a buttered dish, and oo ret with grated cheese and prepared bread crumbs ; brown in an oven or before the fire.

A prettily arranged salad is an acquisition, also plain biscuits and butter. A little care mnst be bestowed upon the table, that the saltcellars and flower glasses bo freshly arranged, and the cloth spotless. A tastefully laid table has more to do with the enjoyment of a repast than many are aware of. One or two dishes of fresh or dried fruits and a pretty biscuit box placed amongst low glasses of flowers, leaves of grasses, help to furnish the table, and where the maid is neat and quick it is better to have the different dishes which compose the dinner handed round. It is quite practicable to prepare a most enjoyable Kttle hasty dinner in an afternoon, and I have seen it often done with more favorable results than when more time and resources have been available; and, notwithstanding all that has been said and written about the proverbial thoughtlessness and exactions of our “lords and masters, ’’ in all that concerns household management, I am sure there are few who do not appreciate the privilege of being able to ask a friend home, with the certainty of finding more dainty fare than cold meat, or plain chop and steak, and it is well worth a little time and trouble to experiment upon a few dishes by a hasty dinner and gain experience therein,— 41 The Queen.”

THE HOME. Potato Oboquettbs. For croquettes mash your potatoes, season with butter, milk, salt, a dash of nutmeg and a dash of cayenne pepper : add the beaten yolk of an egg. Beat thoroughly, and mould up into balls or oblongs ; roll those in egg and then in fine cracker crumbs and fry in boiling lard.

Bbbad Omblbt.— Put a cupful of bread crumbs into a saucepan, with about as much cream, salt, pepper and a very little nutmeg. Lot stand until the broad has absorbed all tho cream, then break six eggs into it, and beat together; turn into a pan, with a little melted butter, and fry like other omelets.

A Ebobipt bob a Good Stew fbojt Cold Meats.— Get a knuckle of veal and put with it a ham bone'acd any bones of roast meat of any kind. Btew slowly till the bones can be easily removed. Then put to the meat — celery tops or seed, onions, and pepper and salt. Thicken with flour rolled in batter. Add six or eight good mealy potatoes, peeled and quartered, and let it all stew slowly till the potatoes are done. Serve hot. Hints on Cooking. —Some articles that are very palatable when cooked fill the house with such offensive odors while being prepared that one inclines to dispense with their use rather than make tho house so uncomfortable. But a little care will remedy this evil almost entirely. For instance, what can can be more sickening than the smell of boiling cabbage or turnips ? A lump of charcoal put into the boiling water with the cabbage will almost entirely remove the offence. In boiling “ greens” the atmosphere all over the bouse is often tainted with the offensive smell until it seems like a low class boarding house. Take a lump of bread as large as a hen’s egg, tie it up in a clean cloth, and put into the kettle with the greens, and it will absorb all troublesome odour,—“ Christian Union.”