More About Cooking For Two

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 53, 28 June 1940, Page 44

More About Cooking For Two

_ FIND that my little chat on "Cooking for Two" in The Listener of June 7 aroused a great deal of interest, and brought many requests, which I will answer now:

Roast Joints for Two Most people > Tike’ ‘hot roast meat, but when there até only two in the household, they are often a little disappointed in the small joints necessary, which are apt to be less tasty than good-sized ones and drier. This need not really be so, but it depends on the kind of joint. Do not put mueh: fat in the baking dishfor a small joint which has just sat and "stewed" in hot fat is sodden and indigestible. It is better to put the joint on a raeék-lI use the one out of the grilling dish-and then the potatoes can cuddle nicely underneath, and kumaras, too. In’ the modern gas oven, there is no neéd to add a little hot water to the fat; but in other ovens this can be done, and the steam helps to keep it moist. Lamb, Mutton or Pork Buy a piece of loin, with just as many chops as you require-four or five would be enough, or an extra two or three if you wish to have enough left over for a cold lunch with a salad or pickles. Get the butcher to separate the joints, but not to cut them right through-just enough to make it easy to carve. Dredge it with seasoned flour,.so'that the fat. will brown nicely, and bake in a medium oven-hot at first to "seal" the meat and then turned lower, so that it is not dried. up. If the "crackling" on the pork has not already become nicely crisp and brown, just put it, for the last five minutes or so, nearer the top of the oven with a little extra heat. Beef Buy a small sirloin, and cook it with the bone in. The flank part, however, is generally wasted when roasted, so slice it off beforehand and use it for a dish of fresh mince. The "undercut" piece, also, can be cut out with a sharp knife, and used for grilling, sliced up.. Very nice with mashed or chipped potatoes! Then the rest of the joint makes quite a nice-sized roast, and it has a better flavour when cooked with the bone in. Dredge it with seasoned flour, and put a dab or two of dripping on it. The Mince Mince the flank part of the sirloin of beef, and cook it like this. Brown a chopped onion in some good dripping in a small. saucepan, then put the minced meat on top, and let it also brown for a few minutes. Add about one and ahalf: ‘tablespoons of flour, a seasoning of: pepper ‘and salt, and. stir ‘in; then cover with water and simmer gently for an hour. This can be made into a tart with a short" pastry crust, putting sliced Taw potatoes under the crust.

Pot Roasts A two pound "pot-roast" is quite as satisfactory as a larger one, though it may require a little more watching. Have a heavy saucepan, or else put an asbestos mat underneath, and keep the heat very low and steady, after first browning the joint thoroughly all over in the very hot dripping. The vegetables

can be put in beside the meat-potatoes, carrots, or any root vegetable. Croquettes These are tasty, and a "good way of using up any cold meat or fish. Make a good thick white sauce (that useful friend of the housewife)-for which I gave full directions in the issue of June 7. To each. cup of sauce, add 144 or 2 cups of finely chopped or minced meat, with a little onion and parsley to flavour, Let it get cool, when it will be quite thick. Shape the mixture into little

cakes, round or square like chops-or any shape you like-and roll them first in breadcrumbs, then in beaten egg with a tablespoon of water beaten with it, then in breadcrumbs again. Fry, then, in deep boiling fat, for about five minutes; drain on brown paper, and serve very hot. The breadcrumbs are made from stale crusts and pieces baked brown in the oven, and then minced and afterwards put through the sifter. Casserole of Cooked Meat and Rice This is is just a variation, and has no white sauce foundation, Mix the chopped or minced cold meat with half as much fine soft breadcrumbs, and season with pepper and salt and a little onion juice. Add a little finely chopped parsley and bind it with a beaten egg and a little gravy or stock. A taste of vegetable extract in the stock is a good idea. Then line a buttered casserole with wellcooked rice-nicely dried, with the grains separate-fill the centre with the meat mixture, and cover over with a layer of rice. Put dabs of butter over, and fit on the lid. Bake at Regulo 4, or 350° for about an hour, and serve with either tomato, or curry, or mushroom sauce. Puddings for Two Most steamed puddings improve with keeping, so that it is quite possible to make up any recipe and divide them into small moulds or basins; then cook them all, and just put away the untouched ones. These are then just steamed up again when required. Even if a portion of a steamed pudding is left overeither a meat pudding or a sweet oneit can be re-steamed in its basin next day, covered with a buttered paper. Panca kes These are always a standby as dessert for the family of two, because they must be éaten straight from the pan, as it were. Try this one-2 eggs, 142 tablespoons of flour, 14% tablespoons of milk, 1 dessertspodn~ef water, a pinch of ground nutmeg and a pinch of salt. If possible, add a half teaspoon of ground almonds, which makes the pancakes extra delicious, piting them an elusive, but exquisite flavour, Stir: all. the ingredients together till very .smooth-it should be about the consistency of thick olive oil. (I once saw, this recipe made up in a hotel kitchen, by a French chef, and ate some of the pancakes afterwards!) Have ready a small frying pan, and heat in it a tablespoon. of butter. When it bubbles, pour in batter, to cover the pan; and keep -shaking- and, moving the pan to spread the batter thinly and keep a moving, After one minute, turn, the pa cake upside down (the eer & tossed and after another minute, turn it again, and then again, until it is nicely browned, Slip the pan cake off the pan, spread it with strawberry jam; and fold and circle in half and then in half again, to form a -trianglee Serve. with 1a. ve of lemon juice,