THE HOME OFFICE

Southland Times, Issue 21088, 21 May 1930, Page 13

THE HOME OFFICE

OYSTER AND POTATO PATTIES. “R.S.” Gore, sends this recipe. Drain two cups of oysters from their juice, and mix with one cup of cold cooked mashed potatoes. Add a-quarter cup of fine dry crumbs, one teaspoon of salt, quarter teaspoon pepper, and a teaspoon of chopped parsley. Mix in one tablespoon of butter. Moisten the mixture with the oyster liquor and form into small patties. Dip them into crumbs and fry in three tablespoons of fat. VEGETABLE MARROW PICKLE. “M.G.” Winton, sends this recipe. Take a good-size marrow, and cut it up into small cubes. Put it into a preservingpan, with a layer of brown sugar upon each layer of marrow, and enough vinegar to cover it. Let it cook until completely tender; then add some stoned raisins, mixed spices, ginger, pepper and salt to taste, and let it go on boiling until it is quite thick and stiff. Take it off the fire, Mid let it cool down a little before bottling. OX TAIL SOUP. Sent in by “Lena,” Invercargill. One ox tail, 3 pints water or second stock, good dripping, 1 dessertspoon flour, 1 carrot, bunch celery, 1 onion, 1 bouquet garni, 10 peppercorns, 3 cloves. Cut the ox tail into joints, and divide the large joints at root of tail into four, hry till brown in some good dripping. Add the water and simmer gently until tender — perhaps three or four hours. It may be necessary to add more water from time to time. Strain off the stock into a basin, dip the pieces of tail quickly into hot water to remove the fat and set them aside. When the stock is cold, remove fat and put the stock in a saucepan with vegetables and seasoning. Simmer slowly. This soup may be thickened by a puree of carrots, turnips, peas, or lentils, made by boiling the vegetable until very tender and pressing through 11 sieve. Add to the strained stock and mix well. TO USE CELERY. Housewives may find this useful. (Editor Home Office.) The celery is ready for use when it is fairly well grown and developed—as soon as there is a fairly large head. It should not be used when it has been allowed to grow until the flower head begins to appear. The stalks are used either raw in salad or cooked and served with white sauce. The stalks in either case should be washed and scraped if there is any brownness. To cook it cut it in 4in lengths, and boil in . boiling water to which about half a teaspoonful of salt has been added. Cook until tender, and then take up and drain. Serve with a rich white sauce. In salad the celery may be cut into small dice and served with apples cut in the same fashion. It is also attractive to eat with bread and cheese, and ip this case is served in pieces about 3in. or 4in. long cleaned. The whole head may be cut in half, tied to keep the stalks together, and boiled till tender. The halves are then dipped in beaten egg, coated with breadcrumbs and a sprinkling of grated cheese, and fried in plenty of smoking hot fat for about five minutes.

TO PICKLE MUSHROOMS. Take some “button” mushrooms and wipe them clean with a piece of flannel dipped in vinegar. Then place them in a saucepan with pepper and salt, two cloves and a little pounded mace. Let them stew over the fire until they have produced a great deal of liquor; then place the saucepan on the side of the fire until they have soaked up all the liquor again, shaking the pan occasionally to prevent them sticking to the bottom. Boil sufficient vinegar and allow it to get cold. Then put the mushrooms in wide-niouth bottles, pour the cola vinegar over them, and cork tightly. This pickle will keep a long time. “Editor Home Office.” HOWE TO SAVE GAS. From an experienced housekeeper come the following hints for keeping down the gas bill: “All that, is needed,” she said, “is a little careful thought before planning the meal. For instance if I cook a roast dinner, I serve a baked pudding also. If boiled meat, I cook vegetables and pudding on top of the stove by steaming or boiling. The oven is not then needed.” “An excellent idea is to put a sheet of tin, say the top of a kerosene tin, on top of the stove. Three saucepans instead of one may then be heated, with only one jet. I find tin better than asbestos. This, besides saving heat, prevents burning.” This housewife extols the virtues of the casserole and the roaster. Both preserve the natural juices of the meat, instead of allowing it to evaporate in steam. “A joint cooked in a covered roaster actually swells in the cooking, and is much juicier than an ordinary roast. No fat is needed either. The meat is simply placed on a stand in the roaster and water poured in—half a pint for a 61b. roast. It will cook in any part of the oven. The potatoes are roasted in a dish by themselves.” This is what she says about puddings:— Making one boiled pudding is no more trouble, and uses no more gas than the making of a batch of three or four, each wrapped in its individual cloth. It only takes a small gas to keep anything boiling or steaming. A fruit pudding keeps a month wrapped in the cloth it is cooked in. A batch may be hung on a rod in a cool spot, and when the unexpected guest or the extra busy day arrives, may be heated ready for serving in about half an hour. Tiny puddings make excellent gifts for one’s friends. FOR YOUR GUEST’S ROOM. Have two bowls of powder, one rachel and one pale rose. One or the other is bound to serve your guest in an emergency when she has forgotten to bring her own. Fill a pretty box with little screws of cotton wool. These will serve in place of a missing powder-puff, and place an ornamental basket by the side of the dressing-table, so that the wads may be thrown away tidily after use.

In the drawer place a ring of ordinary nickel safety pins and also a bunch of gilt ones. A stocking darning outfit is also likely to prove a heaven-sent blessing to someone. A neat- little box with small reels of 18 different coloured mending threads can be bought with darning needle.

TO USE UP VEAL. Slices of cooked veal, brushed with egg, spread with forcemeat, and rolled with a piece of fat bacon or ham, then dipped in breadcrumbs and fried, will make a tasty dish; stewed or fried mushrooms are an improvement to the taste. Veal of any kind will make broth with barley or sago. Curried veal and rice make another good dish. Cut veal from the neck into cutlets, fry them and serve with fried minced ham and forcemeat balls, with brown gravy. You can stew veal and add carrots to improve the taste. Veal finely minced, well seasoned and used as a stuffing for baked potatoes makes a nice supper dish. Minced very finely, pounced and seasoned well, veal is nice as potted, meat. Ragout of cold veal is also "delicious; any part of veal can be used garnished with ham rolls and forcemeat. With a little ham, a hard-boiled egg, mushrooms or a small sweetbread, veal makes a delicious pie. A veal mould is excellent cold. Alince veal ham and half a Spanish onion ■together, grate a little lemon rind, and salt, pepper and pounded mace to taste, and bind mixture with one egg. Macaroni served with minced veal, sprinkled with herbs and finely chopped ham makes a savoury dish. Joints of veal roasted, grilled or stewed are improved when served with ham. A cutlet cooked the day before can be used up with the same kind of sauce, after the meal has been warmed through and sprinkled with breadcrumbs. A knuckle of veal is very nourishing. It should be gently stewed three hours, with a ham bone and bouquet of herbs tied in muslin. Veal must be well cooked. GENOESE CAULIFLOWER. Sent in by “R.S.” Gore. Take 1 cooked cauliflower, 3oz grated cheese, 2oz butter, salt and pepper. Divide cauliflower into neat pieces and put them into a well-greased fireproof china dish. Sprinkle the dish ever with half the cheese befcre putting in the cauliflower. Cover the cauliflower with the rest of the cheese and well sprinkle salt and pepper. Cover with bread crumbs, pour over the melted butter, sprinkle a few more crumbs, and brown in a fairly hot oven. Serve in the dish in which it was cooked.