The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-09
QUEER BoER FOOD.
An Instinct for Good Eating-Old Dutcl
 and New African Dishes.

| and New African DlsneS
 The instinct of good feeding is inher-
 ent in the Boer character In a great
 many cases it Is impossible for him to
 indulge his predilection because of his
 poverty, his isolation from markets and
 the scarcity of provisions.
 1 But If he has the opportunity he feeds
 well and often-certainly far better than
 a man In a like position in England
 This must not be taken, however, as 1 typical of the average country Boer,
 but rather of the domestic arrangements i of the better-class educated Pretoria officials and the like.
 They are fond of sweetmeats In ev-
 cry shape and form, and are exceeding ly clever at home made preserves. Tan ! gerines or naarties are very common
 fruit, and preserve called ''naatie
 comfyt' is quite excellent. The fruit is preserved whole, with sugar or syrup
 and has an exquisite aroma peculiarly its own. There fa an excellent kind of
 cake called moss bolletjes," made of
 grapes or raisins and moss" which is
 the juice of the grape In its first stages
 of fermentation. During the wine mak-
 ing season in parts of the Cape Colony
 this is commonly used instead of yeast
 by the country folks for buns and such
 like.
 An old Dutch sweetmeat is called
 "koesieters," and is made of flour, sugar,
 spices, eggs, butter and yeast. They are
 dipped in syrup and dried Their par
 ticular excellence lies in the fact that if they are properly made they will keep for months "Honing koek' is just honey cake, and Is very sweet and rich; it is favored with brandy and is not unlike the French pain d'epices. Me bos' is very common and universally appreciated preparation of dried and ealted apricots They are dried in the hot sun, then hattened out and the stone extracted crystallized sugar and salt are sprinkled over them, and they are then stored for winter use Many people declare that 'mebos" is an effi- cacious remedy for seasickness. ''Rys kluitjes" are simple rice dumplings which are usually eaten with curry or with boiled corned beef, and they form an excellent accompaniment to sweet 1 which are luxury in them- selves
 A very excellent form of chicken pie | is called 'ouderwetse pastel" It is an elaborate sort of dish, with spices, on- | Ions, wine, lemon, eggs and ham. It Is, | however, exceedingly toothsome, and | might with advantage be added to an English bill of fare. A typical Beer dish Is called ''sasaties," or kabobs," and Is probably derived from a Malay origin. This consists of a leg of mutton cut lp into little squares, fried curried, and then grilled on skewers. It may, per haps, somewhat suggest the homely ,at's meat, but it is very good indeed, and there is great deal of local color about this most appetizing dish.
 "Swartzuir" is made of ribs of mutton with spices and tamarinds Some old recipes recommend the use of the blood of a duck instead of tamarinds A fa- vorite sweet s ''tamelettjes, which is sugar favored with almonds and tangerine peel. "zoete l1oellies," ire tea biscuits rather sweet and rich. A peculiar ingredient in their compost ion, according to our ideas is sheep tail 'at
 In South Africa ther is a peculiar breed of sheep with broad, fat tails, which make excellent soup, and which Ire also used for other delicacies, as in he above mentioned cookies" Blat- ang is a hot condiment made with chill ies, and is an extremely agreeable ad- unct to cold meat. "Bobotee' is pecies of Indian curry, and brood duties" are bread dumplings, which Ire served with soup ot steWed chick IL
 "Boontjes bredee'' is a dry bean stew. \ 'bredee" is a sort of stew in which nything may be put with advantage uinces, for instance or tomatoes. In ome parts of South Africa it is called brady" but ''bredee' is the correct Dutch spelling. "Gesmoorde hoender" i ounds rather appalling, but it is noth- lg more than fried chicken with onions, pice and chillies 'Wentel jeeftjes' re a sort of pancake, but crisp and lore f1avorsome "Wafels" are wafers, uch as one gets in Switzerland and ome parts of France. { The most typically Boer food of all purposely left until the last. This is the provender of the Boer on xra16t sfn m form ]