SOME " DEMONSTRATION" DISHES. UNKNOWN

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1583, 26 August 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

SOME " DEMONSTRATION" DISHES. UNKNOWN

One of the chief essentials to good cooking is method in preparing and arranging everything necessary for the dinner which is to be served, At some demon Htration recently given by a (hplomce of South Kensington Training School, this fact w<is insisted upon most strongly, and its advantages shown to us,— a neat little dinner being cooked and served up without hurry or fuss in an hour and a quarter, because everything had been got ready to hand. The dinner, in fact, had been " thought out" a little beforehand, and every requirement had been placed within leach, so that when the actual cooking had to bo commenced there was no hunting for a particular spice, nor a frantic rush after a little more butter or another bunch of paisley for garnishing. It was also pleasurable te note that two large (loan towels wero closo by and a plentiful supply of kitchen paper for draining. Among the many dishes we were taught how to prepare at different times, were macaroni pie, braized steak, 6colloped cauliflower, haricot beans in two ways, stuffed potatoes, and a cheap savoury ©melette. M.vraialadk. — Six Seville oranges, three sweet ones and three lemons, 12 pints of water and 121b of sugar. Slice all the fruit as thinly as possible, tako out the pips, add the water to the fruit, and boil for tluee hours, or until the peel seems tender. Then add the sugar and boil rather quickly for half an hour, or until a thin skin forms on a little syrup ; set to cool. Cover, while hot, with two la3'ers of thin paper, eacli brushed over with common paste. Macaroni Pie. — This, our instructress told its, was an American dish : the ingredients were a quarter or a pound of macaroni, half a pound of sausages, a small bunch of parsley. The macaioni is fitst stewed till tender in a pint of water, to which is added a gill of good stock, and a pinch of salt. The sausages are opened lengthwise, and the.' meat scraped out of the &kins ; then in a small pie dish a layer of macaroni is placed, another of sausage meat, a &prinklin? of chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and so on, hi alternate layers until the dish is full and well piled up in the centre. Two tciblespooufuls of \\ ater are added for moisture. A good light pastiy made of-eight ounces of flour aud six ouncesrof" lard (or well clarified Ueef diipping, which we were told is quite equal to any other fat for this purpose) was added, and the pie was baked half an hour. As pastry is the tiling which all lady amateurs and most plain cooks cannot make, I need hardly say that I watched the process by a professional with great interest. The chief secret appears to be lightness of touch, and as little of that as po&sible ; in fact, the less it is handled the better. Falf the lard or dripping is first gently and lightly pressed, not mbbed, into the flour, which is then heaped up on the paste board and a hole made in the centre, into which enough cold water is poured to make a moderately stiff paste. The mixing is done with a spoon. When mixed, the rolling pin is well floured, also the board, but none must be added to the pastry, or it occasions heavy streaks and lumps. Three times it must be rolled, always one way, and after each rolling, parts of the remaining half of the lard are to be distiibuted over the surface till all is finished. Pastry we were told, should be made in a cool place and baked at once, not allowed to stand by, sis it so often is, till it is convenient to bake it. We were also warned against blaming the cook because of the bad pastry, unless we are sure that the oven is as near perfection as possible ; for "an oven in which the heat is not evenly disti United can never produce a well-baked pie or tart ; whore there is au unequal degree of heat the pastry liscson the hottest side in the shape of a large bubble and sinks into a heavy indigestible lump on the coolest." This is a truism which many people with old-fashioned grates must have discovered for themselves, as they would be accustomed to the sight of miniature mountains and tableland on their tarts and pies. This pie at our "demonstration" was cooked in a small gas stove, and during the thirty minutes it remained in it never once required turning or even looking at, and the pastry when drawn was perfection — rich golilcn brown in color, atid light enough to melt in the mouth.