THE HOUSEHOLD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 16 July 1891, Page 4

THE HOUSEHOLD.

Gooseberry Compote. — Into a stewpan, with two ounces of sugar and a gill of syrup, place a pint of green gooseberries, and cook over a brisk fire, as they will keep the Color r better than if done slowly. When tender, but not broken, pour into a dish, and wheu cold they will be ready to serve. Curried Eggs — A Breakfast Dish.— Mince a small onion very fine ; put a tablespoonful of butter into a hot frying-pan, and brown tbe onion in it ; mix a teaspoonful of curry powder with half a cup of milk/ pour into the pan, and let it boil until thick ; break the eggs in carefully, and poach them •in the mixture. A little lemon-juice may be squeezed over them before serving. Gooseberry Fritters. — Make ,a thick batter of six well-beaten eggs, three-quarters of a pint of sweet milk (or cream), a tablespoon ful of yeast, the same of orange-flower water, and a little grated nutmeg, mixed with as much flower as necessary. Mix with thft batter some gooseberries which liave been stewed till quite tender, chop it into bqiling lard, and fry to a good colour, {jerve with sugar strewed over them. Bread and Parsley Fritters.— Pour boiling water on six ounces of bread, without crust, cover it up for an hour, and then beat it up with a fork until quite smooth ; add pnd mix thoroughly an ounce of finely chopped parsley, pepper, and salt to taste, md four eggs well beaten. Fry, in fritters, a nice brown, and serve with brown sauce. To Crisp Parsley.— Pick and wash yonnjy curled parsley, dry it in a cloth, f;.nad it on a sheet of clean paper in a. | ) >utcb oven before the fire, and turn it freruently till it is quite crisp. It may also be Itcely crisped by spreading it on a dish 1 efore the fire, putting small pieces of butter i pon it, and turning it frequently with afork. To Preserve Parsley for Winter Use. —In the season take fresh-gathered sprigs; [ ick and wash them clean ; set them on a. etew-pan half-full of water ; put a little salt in it ; boil, and skim it clean, and then put in the parsley, and let it boil for a couple of minutes and take it out and lay it on a sieve before the fire, that it may be dried as quick as possible; put it by in a tin box, and keep it in a dry place ; when you want ii liiy it in-a basin,. and cover it with warm v.ater a few minutes before you use it. Cheap Baking Powder.— Take of tartaric »:ld eight ounces, sodium bicarbonate sixt> en winces, slarch sixteen ovnees, animo-r-.uiii carbonate two ounces. Powder the c tides separately— with the exception of f. 'iir.oiiiurn cmbonate — and dry each t '. oi<;Hi.;hly ; then rub through a fine sieve t.ntll a unliorni tni.Unre is obtained, the ammonium carbonate being reduced to a fine j mvder immediately before adding. "I he ainnu nium salt may also be left out ; Lut its use favours the productions of a finer and whiter bread than can be obtained without it. To Fry Liver.— To fry liver nicely, cut it in nire slices a third of an inch thick, put them in a pan and pour boiling water over tl:em ; they should remain ,in the water Beveral minutes, until the blood is drawn out, then roll them in sifted flour, sprinkle salt and pepper over eaqh side of eecn slice, jw.d fry until brown, in butter, parboil and clop fine some: onions, and when the liver U half done ppt tbe onions over it, let them ft y until brown ; when done ' transfer to a hut dish, and make a brown gravy and pour over all. A very handsome dish can be nwde in this way. Vegetable-Marrow Marmalade.— Take p fine fleshy marrow and peel it, arid take out all the seeds, cut in pieces about half an iuch thick, and three or four inches long. Add half a pound of loaf sugar to every pound of marrow, with rind and juice of large lemon, and half an ounce bruised J ginger (tied up in muslin bag). Let all 6Und together twelve hours, and then boil the juice and lemon rind and ginger for a short time, then add the solid marrow, and b.'il altogether lor several hours, till the liquid has become a thick syrup, and the marrow soft. The ginger may be tied up in a separate jar, and kept for flavouring apple puddings. „,.,. v To Preserve Green Peas— Choose pas freshly gathered, and, in order to have tlismallof the same size, pass them through a fine riddle ; no small ones must be used. Fill champagne bottles with the peas, add one teaspoonful of powdered sugar to each bottle ; then cover the peas with salt arid water thick enough to float an egg ; cork and tic down firmly, taking care that there is one inch space between the cork and water. Fut some hay in the bottom of a fish-kettle, place the bottles on it, and pour in enough water to half-cover them ; let them boil once, then simmer for two hours. Let the bottles get cold in the water. When required for use, soak the peas in water, then 1 boil in the usual way just to warm them. Nettle Beer. — Boil a good bunch of nettles, freshly gathered, in two and a half gallons of water for fifteen minutes ; strain the water from the nettles, and add two and a half pounds of loaf , or moist sugar and two ounces of cream of tartar ; stir until tbe sugar and tartar dissolve. When just lukewarm, add two large tablespoonfuls of good brewer's yeast or half an ounce of German yeast, mixed smoothly in a cup with a little of the beer first ; stir into the beer, and leave it twenty-four hours to ferment, covered with a board or cloth. At the end of the twenty-four hours skim every particle of yeast and scum off the top, pour the beer carefully from the sediment, and bottle it. The corks should be sound and soaked in boiling water ten minutes before being used. It is safer to tie the corks down with wire or string. The beer will be ready to drink in two days, and forms a cool, pleasant beverage. It is difficult to define the exact quantity of nettles to use; but, guessing roughly, about a- hundred big stalks — with the leaves on, of course— would make a good bunch. Gooseberry Champagne. — Select the berries when they are full grown, but not ripe. Pick them clean, and mash them without breaking the seeds. About six pounds of green gooseberries Inay be put to each gallon of water, adding also about three and a-half pounds of the best lump sugar. After the berries are bruised pour on the water, having first taken the chill off it, and then stir so as to get the pulp, seeds, and skins well separated. After stirring, coyer up the whole of the stuff for about thirty hours, and then strain it carefully, squeezing out all that can be got out of the mass. Let the tub be large enough to contain the whole, add the sugar, and aid its melting by more stirring. Place the tub in a warm place, closely covered, to let the liquor ferment for a day or two ; then cask 1 it in clean barrels, and set them away so as to get out the scum, filling up as needed with a portion of the must retained for the purpose. As soon as active working or , ferment has stopped, fill up again and bung tight, making a spile hole for vent. In four or five months rack the wine into clean , casks, in which has been placed a taste of brandy ; set these aside for about five weeks, and then clear with a little isinglass if required — half an ounce or so for every five gallons. A good deal of trouble must be taken to ensure success, and there are many little things requisite which can only be learned by experience. It is best not to Attempt ft Urge brewing at first.