Wilhelmina Rawson

“ Dripping for cakes should always be clarified as for pastry, and when using it for a good currant cake, if a little butter is mixed with it, it does away with the taste, though, if the exact quantity in proportion to other ingredients is used, dripping makes as pleasant cakes as butter. Many cooks imagine they should use more dripping than the quantity of butter directed, but on the contrary they must use less. Sour milk is a capital thing to mix a cake with instead of eggs, but, of course, when it is used plain soda must take the place of baking powder in the flour. ”

“ The reason so many people dislike soups of all kinds is merely because what they know of soup is either a greasy, thick mixture, or else tasteless and watery. You should stir up your bones and meat well before drawing off your stock, or else you will not get the best of it. When the fat is removed, you have the foundation of your soup; the flavoring, seasoning, etc., determines its name. The stock pot can always be added to, and always taken from, if a sufficient supply of water is kept in it. The usual quantity is a pint to every pound, but there is no occasion to be so very accurate. ”

“ A great many, indeed, almost all servants who call themselves plain cooks, put the joint of meat into the baking dish, then proceed to smother it in fat, and so it goes into the oven. This is utterly wrong and is quite as bad as putting steak to be fried into cold fat. It is just as easy to do it the right way as the wrong, and the right in this instance is to put your fat into the dish, let it become hot, and then put your joint into it, the difference being that, with the cold fat, the meat absorbs it, and in the hot it does not. ”

“ Bread-making is really of the utmost importance, and yet, as I said before, so few young women can make a good loaf. I would suggest to fathers who have several daughters, that they offer a prize for the best loaf; or do as a friend of my own did—give £1 to each one who made bread for the household for one week. Of course they must make the yeast as well. One would think bread-making very simple, yet I have met ladies who could not make a good batch, try as they would, and simple as it is. Nearly every one has a different way of making it. ”

“ Here will be the best place for me to say something about washing powders and fluids of which there are so many on the market. I think I have tried all or most of them and I do not believe any one of them has saved me half an hour’s labour or made my clothes any whiter than I could get them with the ordinary soap and soda. Some of them ruin the clothes, others turn them yellow after a few washings. When washing very greasy or dirty things a tablespoonful of kerosene added to the boiler is a great help, but unless put in just at the right moment, which is when boiling, it is useless. ”

“ Many people are prejudiced against the flying fox on account of its extremely powerful and unpleasant smell; but once the bat-like wings are got rid of, that goes, and when the flying fox is properly skinned and cleaned, the flesh is clean and white, looking somewhat like a fowl that has been skinned. Judgment is required in choosing them to get those that are young and plump. They can be stuffed with bread crumbs and herbs or mashed potatoes, and either roasted or boiled. A young flying fox, split like a Spatch cock and grilled, is a capital breakfast dish. ”

“ Make a stuffing of parsley, boiled onion, breadcrumbs, dripping, salt, pepper and one egg; stuff the breast first,then fill the body.
The young cook will do well to study her cookery book, not merely to take recipes from it, but to learn the different seasonings, flavorings and stuffings that go with the various meats, and having mastered such details, experiment on her own account. If economy is necessary in the household, she must learn to make up all cold meats and to utilize cold vegetables and scraps of dry bread, in fact, every morsel of food that comes under her hand. ”

“ No actual rule can be given for boiling fish, as some cook quickly and others not. The signs when they are done are the meat separates from the bone, and the flesh loses all redness and transparency. Fish should always be well cooked, as it is most unwholesome if underdone; but the opposite extreme must also be avoided.
All fish to be boiled should be rolled in a floured cloth, and put into boiling water, to which salt and a little vinegar has been added. The vinegar keeps in the flavor and tends to harden the flesh. ”

“ The soup should be a good colour, if properly boiled, and should not need any thickening, but if it is necessary, a dessertspoonful of flour blended smoothly with a little water, can be added, and the pot stood on the fire again for a minute. If colouring is required a little burnt sugar can be added, but if the above directions are strictly followed neither colouring nor thickening should be needed. The meat should be boiled to rags, and the bones be perfectly clean. One of the nicest accompaniments to soup of almost any kind is bread dice, fried in fat till quite crisp. ”

“ Almost every housewife knows something worth telling for the benefit of others. It may be some trifling matter which she has discovered when experimenting, or it may be something she has thought of, and carefully worked out to her own satisfaction. ”

“ As cakes are considered a part of the institution it is well to know a few recipes, which are at once cheap and quickly made. Take one tablespoonful of butter, one of good dripping, and two tablespoonsful of sugar. Mix these together, break the yolk of an egg into it, beat the white to a froth and add it, also mix half a teaspoonful of baking powder with five tablespoonsful of flour, stir it all in, adding a little milk to moisten the mixture, drop in two tablespoonsful of currants, beat all together, and pour into your tin, and bake in a quick oven. ”

“ The more you work it the closer it must become; and the quicker it is all done with and put into the oven, the lighter and whiter it is. The way you set your sponge does not matter. I think the only difference being the time saved one way and lost the other. However, I will give my own mode; it is the simplest I have ever seen.
To Make Bread.—Measure out your flour into your dish or basin, and let me impress upon all bread-makers to have one utensil—be it basin, tin dish, or what it may—let it be kept wholly and solely for the bread, and never used for anything else. ”

“ Colouring is another thing the cook must always have beside her. A bottle of good colouring will last a long time if properly made. To make it you should use an old pan, or a pint panniken will do, but a pan is by far the best. Put into it three or four tablespoonsful of sugar, and melt it over the fire, when it froths up stir with an iron spoon till all the sugar is burnt and frothing, then pour in a pint of warm water and stir quickly; when cool, bottle. A very little is sufficient to colour soups, gravy, stew, etc. ”

“ IF you are anxious to become a good cook, do not despise the smaller details and say to yourself, "Oh, anyone knows that," or, "Everyone can cook this," for it is very often the smallest details that will spoil the effect of a really good dish. ”

“ It is better not to mix too much at a time, as it is apt to get damp. About four teaspoonsful of soda and two of acid is a convenient quantity, and to about a pound of flour use one teaspoonful of powder. Many cooks prefer cream of tartar to the stronger acid: possibly one is as good as the other, but the tartaric acid being stronger I prefer it. In mixing the baking powder into anything, it should always be rubbed in with the dry flour; if put in when the mixture is moist it effervesces at once, so half or three parts of its effect is lost before the cake is ready. ”

“ Every grain should be separate from its fellow. Rice should be washed in three or four waters to get rid of the glutine or rice-flour that is on the grains. If making rice-water you need only wash in one water and keep stirring, but it must not be stirred for any other purpose, as it bursts the grains and dissolves all the goodness into the water. If you are in a hurry you can put the rice into boiling water, then it will only take from six to eight minutes to boil. ”

“ A few parrots, if not used otherwise, can be put in, and give a nice gamey flavor. Salt is the only condiment that should be put into the stock. Every night the bones and meat should be taken out and fresh put in. As stock is wanted for soup, gravies, etc., it is drawn off, and allowed to stand till the fat can be taken off. With a little care you can take off every particle of fat. At the last, if the stock becomes disturbed and the fat floats about in globules, by using a piece of blotting paper you can take them. One of the chief things in soup making, is removing the whole of the fat. ”

“ Boil several eggs for about an hour, or even longer, for the egg that is boiled a long time is less indigestible than the one only just allowed to become hard. When taken from the hot water, plunge them into cold, and leave till cool enough to peel. In the meantime cut up an onion, and boil it in a little milk till quite tender. Put a pint of sweet milk into a stew-pan, let it come to a boil, and then thicken with half a cup of cornflour. Add salt and pepper to taste. A spoonful of fresh butter and grated cocoanut, if liked, but some do not care for it with egg curry. ”