The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-04-23 00:00:00

A FEW HEW DISHES.

Roast beef and boiled beef, roast mutton and
boiled, varied only by broiled beefsteak and mutton I
chops, form a rather monotonous meat diet, and yet
this has been the staple fare of many a well-to-do
family on both sides of the Atlantic for many genera-
tions. No doubt mighty hunters have been reared
upon it as well as hard-working agriculturists, who I
have tilled the ground heartily, and rejoiced in reap-
ing the harvests with which it rewarded them. But
somehow times are changed. People work with their 1
heads rather than with their hands, and they turn
from the "heavy feeds of their grandfathers with a
desire for lighter, though scarcely less nutritious fare.
It is rather trying for housewives who have been
brought up on the old lines, but they must learn to
adapt themselves to the new order, and will, no
doubt, be thankful for hints as to a few new dishes.
Veal is just coming in, and it is possible to per-
suade the butcher to let one have a few calves
tongues. They are usually sold with the head, but
some cooks do not use them; and, if they did, some
families would not eat them. If, however, calves'
tongues are difficult to get, sheep's and pig's tongues
are not, and, when nicely cooked, it would puzzle the
proverbial conjuror to say which was which.
Having first procured your tongues, make a good
brine by boiling a pint of salt in three pinta of water,
skiauning it, and, when cold, pouring it over half-a-
dozen tongues in an earthen pan. Let them stand in ,
a cool place for a week, and then wash each thoroughly '
from the brine, put them into a stewpan, cover with
boiling water, and simmer for three hours. Take I
them up and plunge into cold water, which facilitates
taking off the skin. Cut the meat into very thin I
slices, garnish with any pretty green stuff, such as
parsley, endive, beet, watercress, &c., and you have a ,
delicious supper or luncheon dish.
The remains of a leg of boiled mutton may be made
into a rich and delicate mince by being chopped fine,
mixed with a teaspoonful of made mustard, a little '
pepper and salt, a dash of cayenne, a little flour, a.
cupful of milk, and a bit of butter the size of a wal-
nut. Put all in a stewpan, keep stirring till it just I
boils, and then serve very hot poured over small I
squares of fried bread.
Now for a dish of scalloped fish. Take cold cod,
hake, or turbot, flake it and season with salt and
pepper, moisten with a little milk, and stir in a good-
sized piece of butter. Put this mixture in small scal-
lop-shell tins, and bake a light brown. They look
most appetising if served on a white serviette on a rich
dark blue dish. This may seem a trifle, but life is
made up of little things.
There is a famous new floury potato called Beauty
of Hebron, which steams better than it boils. It is
perfection for the following soup, which cannot be
called extravagant even by the most economically
minded. Boil a quart of milk with a stalk of celery
and an onion. Boil six potatoes soft, and mash fine
and light. Add the boiling milk, a teaspoonful of
butter, and pepper and salt. Rub through a strainer,
and. serve immediately.
Oysters for cooking are not so expensive as to be
quite beyond the reach of ordinary middle - class
people, and a lovely little meal for a delicate person
may be made by filling the inside of a fowl with
them after removing the beards. Put the fowl into a
covered jar, and that jar into a saucepan of water, as
is so frequently done with jugged hare. When the
water has boiled for an hour and a-half, put enough
butter and flour into the jar to thicken the gravy,
and send the fowl to the table on a hot dish with the
gravy poured over it.
Mrs. Rundel, of culinary memory, used to advise
her clients to bone a small turkey and also a small
fowl, and use the latter as stuffing for the former,
filling up all interstices with sausage-meat. The
turkey was then to be slowly roasted until thoroughly
done through, and the carver's duty was to cut it into
slices right across, so that each serving might com-
prise turkey, fowl, and sausage-meat.
Sweets must not be altogether left out of our cate-
gory, and here is a recipe for a very nice cake. Take
one teacupful and a-half of sifted sugar and rub it into
a cream with half a-teacupful of butter; add two tea-
cups of flour in which you have thoroughly mixed
two teaspoonfuls of baking powder,"one teaspoonful of
essence of lemon, one half teacupful of milk, and
lastly, the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth.
Beat wag together, and bake in a moderate oven.—
The Lady.

SYRUP OF GlNGER.—Bruised ginger, 4 oz.; pour
over this 11, pints of boiling water, macerate for 4
hours, strain and add 3 lbs. of white sugar, and boil
to a syrup.

SYRUP OF HORRHOUND.—Freah white horehound, 1
lb.; boiling water 1 gallon • infuse for 2 hours, press
cut the liquor, filter through paper, and add the usual
quantity of sugar to make a syrup.