FROM THE MAIL BAG

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 70, 25 October 1940, Page 45

FROM THE MAIL BAG

A Hollow Cake Dear Aunt Daisy, I wonder if you can help me with the following two problems? First, each time I bake a fruit or date cake, the fruit always sinks to the bottom. I have floured the fruit well, but still it makes no difference. Second, the last two banana cakes I have made have had a complete hole in the centre. They really look good when turned out of the tins, but as soon as I cut them there is this hole in the middie of the cake. Can you please tell me how to prevent this?-‘Ponsonby." Well, it is difficult to give a definite pronouncement on the failure of your cakes without knowing the recipe you used and the temperature of your oven, and the method of mixing, and so on. When fruit sinks to the bottom of the cake it is not always because it has not been floured, but because the mixture was too wet, or because there was too much butter, or too much sugar, or too much rising. Sometimes, also, the oven is too hot to start with, so that the cake rises too fast and then subsides; all sorts of reasons combine to cause these troubles. It is a good plan to warm the fruit, too, before flouring it; and the flour should be taken from the measured quantity already prepared for the cake. As for the banana cake’s disconcerting behaviour, you probably had too much " rising" in that, too, or else did not mix thoreughly enough after adding the rising. Try this recipe. Cream lb. of butter, 1 teacup of sugar; add 2 well-beaten eggs, then 3 bananas mashed to a pulp. Add 1% breakfast cups of flour in which has been sifted 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Then 14 teaspoon of soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons of milk, lastly 2 teaspoon of vanilla essence. Bake in a moderate oven in a flat tin for half an hour; or fifteen minutes in patty tins. Ice with 2 tablespoons of melted butter, and enough icing sugar to set, adding vanilla or banana essence to flavour, Instead of adding the eggs already beaten, many people prefer to add them one at a time unbeaten, thus giving a better beating to the whole mixture. Home-Made Cough Medicine Dear Aunt Daisy, Could you please give me a good home-made cough medicine? An old lady, who has died now, gave me a good one, but I have forgotten it. I know there was linseed in it, so could you please try and get one for me, as this old recipe was good?-J.E.T. (Invercargill). Perhaps this is it, J.E.T. It was given to me as a good old cough remedy. The three essential oils must be bought from (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) a chemist, who will check up the quantities for you too. Quarter of a pound of linseed, six-pennyworth of the best liquorice, 1421b. of sugar, 3 pints of water. Boil all together gently for 2 hours, then add 2 pint of best vinegar, three-pennyworth of essence of aniseed, six-pennyworth of essence of ginger, and six-pennyworth of oil of peppertint. ‘Strain, bottle and cork. Give small doses when the cough is troublesome. Old-Fashioned Furniture Polish Dear Aunt Daisy, I wonder could any of your older mothers, or grandmothers, give me the tecipe for making the real old-fashioned furniture polish? I remember my Mother used to make it. years ago; but being very young myself, I suppose I was not sufficiently interested to bother how it was made. We had some oak furniture, and this polish seemed to feed it and give it a wonderful rich depth. I have tried all sorts of polish for mine, and all I seem to achieve is a glassy finish, on the surface, which seems to show every mark. I know that linseed oil formed one of the ingredients, and vinegar another, canhot remember whether there was beeswax or turpentine included, or in what proportion.-‘ Listener" (Auckland). Here are a couple of old-fashioned recipes for furniture polish: (1) Soak 4 ounces of beeswax all night in one pint of turpentine. The beeswax must be finely cut up. Next day, stir, add 1 pint of boiling water in ‘which 1% oz. of soap has been dissolved. Stir for a few minutes, and bottle for use. This will polish easily, and does not leave a sticky surface. (2) Equal parts of linseed oil, turpentine, vinegar, and methylated spirits. Shake well. Or ordinary salad oil and vinegar in equal parts is good. I do think, however, that it is just as cheap, as well as satisfactory to use one of the up-to-date furniture creams which are on the market. Thete is one, a white liquid, Which I have used myself, with excellent results, on a dressing table which seemed dull and dry and "thirsty." This preparation seemed to "feed" the wood as well as polish it. It is almost ike a polish-soap, and is excellent for a highly polished radio set, of a piano. I can give you the name if you send a stamped and addressed envelope. Surprise in Hogskin Gloves Dear Aunt Daisy, In reply to the letter about the hogskin gloves, I have worn them for years, and dutifully taken them to the drycleaners to be cleaned, paying 1/6 each time. Imagine how I felt last week when I found that they wash perfectly! They had become light in colour, so I thought I'd try staining them darker. I put on a leather dressing which didn’t work, then I tried iodine, and what a mess. Finally, I decided to see what washing would do. I washed them in warm water, using soap, and put them out in the night air. I hurried out to see them in the morning, and they were as good as new, and a little darker in shade-as I wanted. I pressed them on the inside with an iron, then laid a thin cloth on the outside, and pressed again, and I now have. great nee: in Becca them,

Thank you for your Page, which is an education to women. -" Success" (Palmerston North). Thank you ever so much. What a victory-and after all the attempts at staining, too, as well as having been to the cleaners, which we ‘had ‘thought would: prevent the home-washing from being a success. A very reassuring letter. To Keep Mutton Dear Aunt Daisy, As most "new chums" write to you for hints, recipes, etc., and the older ones send replies, I am wondering if in your store of knowledge you have the answer to my ptfoblem. Meat (which means mutton with us), will not keep by the sea; and as we have a whole sheep for just my husband, myself and two kiddies, the majority of this would go bad if not salted or pickled somehow. Now I have no knowledge of how to do this, and I do hope you can assist me. I am an absolute newcomer here, and although we are on the ’phone, I feel I would rather ask you for assistarice, than a stranger.-"E.E.C," Well, certainly a whole sheep takes a lot of eating, except on a farm where you have hungry helpers to feed. First, and simplest, here is a brine in which you can put the joints to keep until you are ready for them. If they have not been in more than a day or two, they would not be really "salted," and could be cooked in the ordinaty. way if washed well, and perhaps soaked for an hour or two in cold water, and cooked without any more salt. Just pour boiling water overt common salt-about half a gallon of water to a pound of salt-and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Leave until perfectly cold, and then test it by putting in a potato. If it floats, the brine is right, if it sinks, add more salt just dissolved in boiling water. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of sugar to the brine. This will serve your purpose quite well. Do not use saltpetre for mutton, only for corning beef; or for making a "dry salt’ for curing a mutton ham. This is very nice indeed too, and need not necessarily be smoked. Hete is the method-a very old and well tried one: CURING A MUTTON HAM: Mix well together I1lb. salt, 60z. brown sugar, loz. of saltpetre, a grated nutmeg and %o0z. pepper. Rub well into the mutton every day until all is used up. Then put a weight on the meat as it lies in the bowl or tub; and turn it over every day for a fortnight, or even a day or two longer, being careful to rub the pickle in well each time. Then take it out and let it drain; after which you can hang it up in a dry place. The kitchen would probably be better than’ a pantry; and you could cover it from the dust in a muslin bag. When wanted, soak it for a few hours in water, as you would an ordinary ham; then put it into cold water, bring gradually to the boil, and simmer till tender-probably 2 hours. SPICED SHOULDER OF MuUTTON: This is another very nice way of keeping meat, and needs only a week to cure. Get ready 40z. of coarse brown sugar, 1 dessertspoon of powdered cloves, 1 teaspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of ground mace, 1 saltspoon of ground ginger, and 3oz. of salt. Mix all but the salt, and rub into the shoulder. Next day, rub in the salt. Turn twice a day, and rub occasionally with the pickle for 8 or 9 days. Then roll it up. This may either be boiled, or cooked