HOME INTERESTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 4028, 26 May 1931, Page 61

HOME INTERESTS.

FINDON HADDOCK CUSTARD. Custards should be slowly baked or stealned; they must on no account be allowed to boil. The eggs must be beaten very little so that the custards may be smooth and free of holes. When baking, it is a good plan to set the custard in a roasting tin with cold water and carefully allow the water to reach boiling point. If these directions are followed successful results are practically assured. Skin and bone two good-sized Findon haddocks, cutting them into neat pieces. Have ready two small teacupfuls of fresh breadcrumbs. Put a layer of fish in a buttered pyrex, then a layer of crumbs, with a few dots of butter and a shake of pepper. This is followed by more layers until all the ingredients are used up. Beat two eggs, pour over them two full teacupfuls of boiling milk, adding a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Pour the custard over the contents in the dish, and bake for half an hour in a moderate oven. BAKED MARMALADE PUDDING. Required: Half a pound of breadcrumbs, Jib of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, Goz of suet, three tablespoonfuls or marmalade, quarter of a teaspoonful of ground ginger, five dessertspoonfuls of sugar, one egg, milk to mix. Sieve the flour, ginger, and baking powder. Chop the suet finely and add with the breadcrumbs and sugar. When well mixed put the marmalade- in the centre. Beat up the egg, and add some milk as required, and mix all together. Put into a greased pie-dish and bake in a moderately hot oven for about one hour and a-half. (Sufficient for eight persons.) BROWN BREAD PUDDING. Required: Half a pound of stale brown bread, 2oz of flour, Goz of suet, Jib of glace cherries. Jib of raisins, 2oz of candied peel, one lemon, Jib of sugar, some grated nutmeg, one egg. Put the bread into a basin, cover with water, and leave to soak until soft. Then strain off the water and squeeze all the moisture out of the bread. Turn the soaked bread into a dry basin, and break it up with a fork. Wash, stone, and chop the raisins. Cut up the peel and cherries. Chop the suet finely. Add the flour and suet to the bread, also some grated nutmeg, lemon-rind, sugar, and prepared fruit. Mix all well together, then whisk the egg and stir in. Put into a greased pie-dish and bake in a moderately hot oven for about one hour and a-half. (Sufficient for about six or eight persons.) PEAR JELLY. The fruit must be juicy. Cut In quarters without peeling or coring, Sib of the fruit,

and put It Into your preserving pan—a lined saucepan will do as well—with one quart of water. Boil to a pulp, drain through a cloth as directed above, and next morning add to each pound of juice Mb of sugar and a little lemon juice. Boil quickly until it jellies, and when cold tie down. QUINCE AND APPLE JAM.

Required: Four pound of quinces, 11b of apples, 51b of sugar, five teacupfuls of water. Peel the quinces and apples, quarter, and cut out the cores. Put the skins and cores into your preserving pan with the water and boil for about 30 minutes, then strain off the water and empty the pan; in it put the fruit and the strained water, and boil till tender enough to mash with a wooden spoon. Add the sugar, and boil twenty minutes. When cold tie down. TREACLE TOFFEE. Melt a po.und of Demerara sugar in a saucepan with two tablespoonfuls of water and two tablespoonfuls of black treacle. (Note: Try to get real black treacle, and use it also for making ginger bread, as it is far better than molasses.) Add Jib of butter, and boil the toffee until it is thick, stirring constantly; test in the usual way, by dropping a little in cold water. If it becomes hard at once, the toffee Is ready. RUSSIAN TOFFEE. Melt 11b of white sugar, half a teacupful of syrup, half a teacupful of condensed milk, half a teacupful of ordinary milk, and a Jib of butter; . boil this until it becomes fit to make a soft ball when a little is dropped in cold water. Then add a teaspoonful of vanilla essence, stir well, and mark in neat squares immediately after pouring into a buttered tin. COCONUT ICE. Melt half a pound of white sugar in a quarter of a pint of water, add 2oz of desiccated coconut, and a pinch of cream of tartar, boil this very slowly until the soft ball consistency is reached. Pour half the mixture into a greased dish, add a drop or two of carmine, and pour over the other half. SULTANA CARAMEL. Put 2oz of butter into a saucepan, add two large tablespoonfuls of syrup, and when these are melted add a teacupful of milk, two breakfastcupfuls of sugar, and when this comes to the boil let it simmer for ten minutes ; then add two squares of cooking chocolate and boil for another five minutes. Remove the pan from the fire and beat the caramel until it is creamy, and just before pouring into a buttered tin stir in three tablespoonfuls of sultana raisins.