The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER. 15. 1911. PAPER BAG COOKERY; IN LEVIN AND AUSTRALIA.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 September 1911, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER. 15. 1911. PAPER BAG COOKERY; IN LEVIN AND AUSTRALIA.

Dumonstkationk in paper-bag cookery ;ut being given in. Levin this vwk, and .bevies of interested in<iiriring. .and critifnl housekeepers — actual and prospective— are evincing Keen interest in. the '"new" cooking and its simplicities. The .Socialist party, 110 doubt, will welcome paperboy cookery as a boon, for evidently it will .supply them with an effective reply to the female scoffers who ometimes enquire wiiio will do the unlovely work of dishwashing in the days when, all 111011. (and women) will he equal. Jsut whether paperbag cookery will be an enduring fashion or merely a fleeting fad remains to bo proved. It seems to have 1 been merely a fad 111 its first stage, ' seeing that the system was used in the fa 1-off times of Charles 3>a 111'h ; (suggestive word) and almost forgot- ; ten in the yea is that have intervened, thoiigb by : hi 111 the method' was commended as a. good way of properly preserving the flavours of meats. r.ll those times, however, ,ho : u.sehold> "helps" Mere less scarce than fine gold; to-day they are priceless pearls: and theilce may have'arisen an unwillingness on the part of mistresses to-juaintaiii the diskless system of -mating and boiling or broiling. To-dav, however, when Jemina is as good as her mistress and sometimes considers herself even better, the .mistress is compelled «t times to fill Jem i ma's .shoes; and, consequently, the mistress is keenly interested in the problems of all contrivances or .resources for the minimisation of household labour, it follows, then, that if the paper-bag cookery processes really are sufficient lor iill needs, their labour saving aspects must effectually serve to -perpetuate them. From our own flight knowledge of the system— gained in the days when frequently we breakfasted by the roadside and .had dinner ten or fifteen miles further 011 —we can say that "paj>erbag" cookery as applied to mutton chops yields one of the most appetising of dishes. Our process—shown ns by a fellow Australian backwoodsman— was to wrap ithe ali'op in newspaper and place it 011 the burning emibers. The fat would moist-.n the paper and prevent -it from 'burning, and the ' essential .juices of the chop were so pent up aaul saved so suflicie-u.y that *he cooked result when well assimilated invariably caused tlno degustator to '•aise Jiis voice in song. JJl.lt • ;Ut » all far behind us; long ago and far away" (as Kipling has sung), and the processes now in progress at T evin are as far removed from those of the 'nineties as wo are. Therefore we forbear from giving our readers details of how to cook scones on live coals, without burning them., nmtl of one or two other culinary methods regarding which wo once flattered 'ourselves we were .reasonably good exponents. Cooks have arisen who have 110 need of hot coals; and' the kerosene stove, the electric heater, the paper bag, and so forth, have made our knowledge out of date and our methods crude ■and, unsatisfying. Yet we retain even now our pleasant memories of the days when the flannel flowers scented our roadway, and tho flaming wara-. tah brightened the bush, and 'billcvvy miles of sun-kissed plains around Mudgee and, Bath ur st and CoonamMe were one blaze <of glory m it'll myriads of red and blue ancl yellow and piuk and white wild flowers rclling in the spring breezes. And, even if the chops "did" Lave scraps of Sydney Morning Herald leaders printed on them after we had picked off all the paper from them, we cfould stand even that test of stamina in those healthy, happy, far-off days.