LADIES' COLUMN.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 278, 23 April 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

COOKERY. Mock Sweet-breads.—Thh is suitable for a breakfast dish and may bo propared tho previous day, or they may be used as an entree. Ingredients : £lb of veal, 2oz suet, 2oz bread-crumbs, pepper, roaee, salt, 2 egg?, 1 table-spoonful milk, 2oz flour. Preparation: Mince tho veal finely then pound it in a mortar, shred tho suet finely, add it to the veal with tho breadcrumbs and seasoning beat up the rggs and milk and work them into the mixture make it into a stiff pa-do with the flour. Then form it with floured hands into small pieces the shape of sweetbread. Brush over with melted butter, and brown them in the oven. Serve with good brown gravcy. t * + Parisian Desskbt Sweet. —Lino a glass dish with pieces of spongo cake soaked in apricot (tinned) syrup, and pour over them a pint of custard mado with threo egus and a pint of milk aud leave to pet. Place halves of apricots on tho custard, cover with moro ocstard, allow this layer to set also, and decorate it with triangular pieces of sponge cake, t T Schwartzwald Pudding. Ingredients : lib rice, .Jib prunes, 4.1 b apples. Mb raisins, loz sugar, peel of a lomon, 1 teaspoonful salt, a fow cloves, a little cinnamon. Preparation: Pare and quarter the apples, boil the prunes in a little ■wattr, keeping tho saucepan uncovered wash the rice and raisins well, dip a cloth iu hot water and wring it tightly, put it in a basin, lay the rice all rouud it, and the fruit in tho middle in layers, sprinkle a little salt between, add the sugar, cloves, grated lemon peel, and cinnamon. Cover tho fruit all round •with the rice, tie the cloth rather loosely to allow room for 'the rice to swell. Plunge into boiling water, putting a plate at the bof om to prevent the pudding stacking to the pan, boil for two hours in plenty of water. S-rvo with sweet sauce. t t t Cold Mushroom Pie.—Wash, dry and peel some mushrooms, and cut them into hlices with an equal quantity of potatoes cut up. Put then into a piedish with a little chopped parsley, pepper, salt, and a few drops of lemon juice, melt some butter and pour over, bake in the oven until the mushrooms and potatoes are quite tender, strain off all the juice or gravy, thicken this with a little cornflour dissolved in milk, put this back into the pie dish and mix all well together piling it high in the centre. Let this get quite cold, then cover it with puff paste, when the pastry is cooked, take the pie out of the oven and allow to become cold. This can now be cut in slices. t t t Fried Mushrooms.—When mushrooms are very small they are more easily fried than grilled. They should bo washed, dried and peeled, melt_ some butter in the frying pan, put in the mushrooms, season with pepper and salt and cook until tender. Have some neat pieces of toast ready, pour ovei them the butter in the frying pan, then arrange the mushrooms neatly on the top, squeeze a fow drops of lemon juice over them and serve at once. t t r Mushroom au Gratin.—This dbh is made from what are called cup or button mushrcoms and is often served as an entree, being greatly esteemed; Have the mushrooms as Dear the same size as possible, the cup being about 2 inches in diameter. Peel them very carefully without breaking them, cut out the stalks close down with a spoon, scoop out the inside of the cup, so as to make it hollow Peel tho stalks and chops them up with all the scooped part of the mushroom with a small piece of onion finely chopped, add to this a large teaspoonful of chopped parsley, a saltspoonful of dried thyme or half this quantity of dried thyme. Fry all of these in a little butter. Then add sufficientdried bread crumbs to make the wholo into a moist paste, fill each of the cups with this mixtuie making the top cone shaped, having first seasoned it well with pepper, salt and lemon juice. Shako some fine bread raspings over the top so as to make them a golden brown colour. Mel tsome butter in a baking tin, place the mushrooms in it and b'ike them gently till the cup part becomes tender, care must bo taken not to over cook them or they •will break. Lift each one out carefully ■with an egg slice on to a small meat dbh, and decorate with some nice, crisp fried parsley and a few slices of lemon, t t + Aptle and Cream for Centre Dish. —Whisk 1 quart of good thick creain •with some eifted sugar and a little ltmon juice; mix in gradually a quantity of stewed apple pulp, and beat very lightly, serve in a centre dish and dredge oyer some Bifted sugar. Decorate edges with finger biscuits cut in halves. + t t Icing fob Biscuits.—Hb of sugar to one white of egg. Beat them together on a plate, with a knife, until quite light add a very small piece of citric or tartaric acid or a few drops of lemon juico. Spread on the biscuits while warm. Part of the icing may be coloured pink with cochineal or brown with chocolate, yellow with the yolk of an egg or green with ft little sap green dissolved in a very little water. T t t Jersey Wonders.—lngredients : \\b butter, Hb sugar, 2 eggs, 1 large cup of flour, 1 teaspoonful baking powder. Preparation: Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the flour, beat well, then the eggs well beaten, beat five minutes, then the powder, it tht paste is not stiff enough to roll out add more flour, cut with a small cutter into rounds, make 3 slits in each, turn the outside through the centre slit. Drop into boiling fat, cook until a pale brown, drain on kitchen paper, sift sugar over and serve hot if possible. FASHION GOSSIP. Our London lady correspondent writes : —I could not help noticing in Eegentstreet, a day or two ago, one remarkably pretty and graceful girl, who was quietly yet stylishly dressed. She had a black cloth costume of beautiful texture, the skirt rather long and quite plain, with about six or seven close rows of machine stitching round the bottom and the same about halfway up the skirt; quite plain, tight-fitting jacket, with pointed back, just reaching a little below the waist, and a drawn violet Bilk Spanish belt outside; the front of jacket, mado with revers, also stitched and open at the neck, showing full violet silk within, narrow black neck ribbon, and low sleeves, stitched bke skirt from wrist nearly to elbow, where slight fulness commenced, then stitched agaiu at top about six times round; small stand-up collar lined with grey fur; black velvet toque with violets encircling it, fastened at the siele with grey feather wing, surmounting au abundance of fair hair, very simply dressed ; and, lastly, a charming little black muff, lined and ruched with violet silk, on tho outside of which was fastened an exquisite bouquet of violets aud lilies of the valley. Fancy belts arc much woru outside costume jackets. I don't like the tucked blouses which are now exhibited very much in the shop windows ; a few narrow tucks with plain part between arc pretty, but I think it quite spoils a silk blouse or bodice to be entirely tucked throughout, either across or lengthways as close as cau be ; it takes away from.the softness and richness of the silk. Some are made with rows of cording and narrow lace between, which does not look at all bad. For evening or dress occasions, embroidered skirts are all the rage, also embroidered capes and opera cloaks. Many of them are done by hand, which of course adds greatly to the cost. Some of the designs of flowers and leaves, worked on white, black, or delicate-hued rich satin, with differentcoloured sequins and beads, are real y exquisite, but the embroidery is chiefly confined to the skirts.