LADIES' COLUMN.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 212, 20 November 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

COOKERY. Charlotte Russe. quart of good cream, J cup ot powdered lugar, 1 teasjoouful vanilla, of sponge finger biscuits, half a box of gelatine, i gill of slurry (if liked). Preparation : Cover the gelatine with cold water and allow to roak half an hour. Whip the cieam and lay it on a sieve to drain. Lii.e two plain two quart moulds with the finger biscuits. Turn the cream into a large basin and place it in a pan of cracked ice ; add to the soaked gelatine just enough boiling water to dissolve it, then add the sugar carefully to the cream, then the vanilla and the wine, and lastly strain in the gelatine. Cooimence to stir immediate'y : stirring from the sides and bottom of the basin, until it begins to thicken, then pour it into the mou'ds Mid set away in a cool place to harden. t t t

Salad Dressing.—lngreclieuts : The yolks of three hard boiled eggs, 1 tablespoonful of vinegar, teaspoonful salt, 3 r o!k of one raw egg, 1 gill of o'ive oi' (where oil is objected to, use cream instead) a few grains of cayenne. Preparation : Mash the cooked yolks un?il perfectly smooth, then add the raw one, and work with the point of a knife for five minutes, in order to get them thoroughly blended, thin add the salt and eayecne, mix again, and add the oil drop by drop, stirring rapidly and steadily all the time, then add the vinegar by degrees, mixing well. More oil aud vinegar may be added if a larger quantity of dressing is required. t t 4-

Stuffed Tomatoes. —Choose 6 large, smooth tomatoes, cut a slice off the stem ends and carefully scoop out the seeds with the finger. Put one cupful of stale breadcrumbs into a bowl, add to them 1 teaspoonful of oniou chopped very finely, half a teaspoonful of salt, a few grains of cayenne and moisten with a tablespoonful of melted butter. Fill the tomatoes with this stuffing, heaping it up in the centre. Place the tomatoes in a deep baking dish or pie dith and bake in a quick oven half an hour. When done lift them up carefully and place them on a warm dish and serve.

Stewed Mushrooms, No I.—Peel the mushrooms, wash them in cold water, and cut off the bottom of the Btalks. Put them in an enamelled saucepan, and to each pint of mushrooms add one tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour. Let them cook in their own liquor and the butter for fifteen minutes, then add salt and p?pper and serve immediately.

Stewed Mushrooms, No. 2.—Proceed as in the foregoing recipe ; after the mushrooms have cooked fifteen minutes add two tablespoonfuls of thick cream ; take them from the fire and add the well-beaten yolk of one egg, and if liked one tablespoonful ot sherry. Serve at once.

Stuffed Cabbage.—Select a nice head of savoy cabbage. Pour over it boiling water, allow to stand fifteen minutes, drain, scald again and let stand half an hour; then drain and shake till dry. Make the s'tuffing as follows : Wash two large tablespoonfuls of rice in cold water, then mix with it |lb. oi sausage meat, add one tablespoonful of chopped onion and one tablespoonful of chopped parsley ; nvx all well together. Open the cabbage carefully to the very centre, put in half a teaspoontul of the mixture, fold over two or three of the small leaves ; now cover these with a layer of the mixture, fold over this the next layer of leaves, and so on until each layer is stuffed. Press all firmly together, tie in a piece of cheese cloth, put it into a saucepan of salted boiling water, and boil two hours. When done, carpfully remove the cloth, stand the cabbage in a deep round dish, pour over it some good cream sauce, and serve very hot.

Boiled Beetroot.— Wash the beets carefully, but do not cut or scrape them. If the skin is broken before cooking, they lose their flavour and colour in the boiling water. If young, they will cook tender in one hour ; old ones require two hours or longer. If very tough and wilted, they will never become tender. When done, throw them into a pan of col i water and rub off the skins quickly. Cut them into slices, pour over them one tablespoonful of melted butter, sprinkle them with a little pepper and salt and they are ready to serve. The cold ones left over may be covered with cold vinegar and used as pickles.

To Picklk Cauliflowers.—Cut the cauliflowers into small sprigs of equal size. Throw them into boiling, salted water. Place them at the back of the kitchen range, and when they are just about to boil take them off and drain them. Put them into jars. Boil enough vinegar to cover them fifteen minutes, seasoning it with £oz. of cloves, loz of allspice, loz. of root ginger sliced, loz. of nutmeg, loz. of mustard seed, and -ioz. of mace to each three quarts of vinegar. Pour this hot over the cauliflowers, adding a little sweet oil the last thing to cover the top. Cover them while warm with a bladder or fine leather over the corks.

Breast ok Chicken.—This ia a very dainty dish for an invalid. Choose a tender chicken and cut out the breast ; season it. rub a little butter over it, put it to cook over a nice clear, hot fire. Watch it constantly, turning often so that it may cook evenly on all sides. If skilfully done, the surface will be very little charred, and the inside meat will be more tender and juicy than if cooked in any other way. Cut off any parts that may be much crisped. Season with butter, pepper and salt. Form the breast into a cutlet with the leg, rub it with butter, and broil it carefully on the gridiron. Garnish it with lice steamed with rich milk. It is especially tasty with tomato sauce.

+ t t Plain Paste fok Fruit Piks —lngredients : 3 cups of silted flour, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1 do. sugar, 1 cup or Jib. of butter, nearly a cup of cold water. Preparation : Have everything as cold as possible. Sift the flour, measure it carefully and put it into a large mixing bowl, add the salt and BUjjar, then place the butter in the centre of the flour and with a sharp knife cut it quickly into small pieces, at the same time mixing it with the flour, now add the water gradually, lifting with the knife that portion which has been moistened first and pushing it to one side of the bowl, wet another portion and so continue until all is moistened. Then cut and mix it together until you can lift it from the bowl with the knife. The water must be added very carefully, wetting only the dry flour, never stirring twice in the same place. Dredge the baking board lightly with flour, turn the paste out on to this, dredge with flour and roll lightly and quickly from you into a long thin sheet. Fold first the sides and then the ends, turn the paste round and roll from you as before, fold and roll again, then fold and set away in a old place (on ice if to be had) till wanted. To have this paste a perfect success the materials should be very cold, mixed and rolled quickly, using as little flour as possible in fiuishing.

GrantonGingkrbkead.—lngr clients: 1 cupful brown sugar, 1 do. (half a pint) of boiling water, butter the s : Ze of an eg?, 1 teaspoonful each of ground cloves, ground cinnamon, ground ginger and carbonate of soda (cream of tartar should not be used with sugir), scarcely -Jib. of flour. Preparation : Melt the buctcr slightly, put it into the sugar, then the spices, dissolve the soda in the boiling water, stir it into the sugar, then add

the flour, mix quickly iilul lightly with a kni'e, then turn out into a cake tin wlrch lias been I'netl with buttered paper, bake in a moderate oven one liour and a quarter.

Pervect Sfonoe Cake.—This is the most perfect of sponge cakes when properly made. Ingredients : 5 eegs, Jib of i owdered sugar, jib. flour, juice of half a lemon, and the grated rind. Preparati n : Fiist butter the tins, then sift the flour and sugar, grate the lemon pec' and squeeze out the juice, the success of the cake depen Is upon the healing of the eggs. Two persons should beat them at least half an hour, one beating the whites and the other the yo'ks with half of the sugar. Next put the yolks into the whites, then stir in lightly the remainder of the sugar, then the flour and lemon by degrees. The oven heat should be rather moderate at first, as the batter should be evenly In attd through before it begins to rise. When baited, spread over the cakes a thin coating of icing slightly flavoured with vanilla.