Dr. Allinson's cookery book Part 30

1/2 lb. of Patna rice, 1 dessertspoonful of curry powder, salt to taste, and 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter. Wash the rice, put it over the fire in cold water, let it just boil up, then drain the water off. Mix 1 pint of cold water with the curry powder, put this over the fire with the rice, b.u.t.ter, and salt. Cover the rice with a piece of b.u.t.tered paper and let it simmer gently until the water is absorbed. This will take about 20 minutes. Rice cooked this way will have all the grains separate. For the tomatoes proceed as follows: 1 lb. of tomatoes and a little b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt. Wash the tomatoes and place them in a flat tin with a few spoonfuls of water; dust them with pepper and salt, and place little bits of b.u.t.ter on each tomato. Bake them from 15 to 20 minutes, according to the size of the tomatoes and the heat of the oven. Place the rice in the centre of a hot flat dish, put the tomatoes round it, pour the liquid over the rice, and serve.

APPLE CHARLOTTE.

2 lbs. of cooking apples, 1 teacupful of mixed currants and sultanas, 1 heaped-up teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, 2 oz. of blanched and chopped almonds, sugar to taste, Allinson wholemeal bread, and b.u.t.ter.

Pare, core, and cut up the apples and set them to cook with a teacupful of water. Some apples require much more water than others.

When they are soft add the fruit picked and washed, the cinnamon, and the almonds and sugar. Cut very thin slices of bread and b.u.t.ter, line a b.u.t.tered pie-dish with them. Place a layer of apples over the b.u.t.tered bread, and repeat the layers of bread and apples until the dish is full, finis.h.i.+ng with a layer of bread and b.u.t.ter. Bake from 3/4 of an hour to 1 hour.

_MENU IV._

RICE SOUP.

3 oz. of rice, 4 oz. of grated cheese, 1 breakfastcupful of tomato juice, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt to taste. Boil the rice till tender in 2-1/2 pints of water, with the b.u.t.ter and seasoning. When quite soft, add the tomato juice and the cheese; stir until the soup boils and the cheese is dissolved, and serve. If too much of the water has boiled away, add a little more.

HOT-POT.

2 lbs. of potatoes, 3/4 lb. of onions, 1 breakfastcupful of tinned tomatoes or 1/2 lb. of sliced fresh ones, 1 teaspoonful of mixed herbs, 1-1/2 oz. b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt to taste. Those who do not like tomatoes can leave them out, and the dish will still be very savoury. The potatoes should be peeled, washed, and cut into thin slices, and the onions peeled and cut into thin slices. Arrange the vegetables and tomatoes in layers; dust a little pepper and salt between the layer, and finish with a layer of potatoes. Cut the b.u.t.ter into little bits, place them on the top of the potatoes, fill the dish with hot water, and bake the hot-pot for 2 hours or more in a hot oven. Add a little more hot water if necessary while baking to make up for what is lost in the cooking.

CABINET PUDDING.

4 slices of Allinson bread toasted, 1-1/4 pints of milk, 8 eggs, 1 oz.

of b.u.t.ter, sugar to taste, 2 oz. of chopped almonds, 1 teacupful of mixed currants and sultanas and any kind of flavouring--cinammon, lemon, vanilla, or almond essence. Crush the toast in your hands, and soak it in the milk. Whip the eggs up, melt the b.u.t.ter, and add both to the soaked toast. Thoroughly mix all the various ingredients together. b.u.t.ter a pie-dish and pour the pudding mixture into it; put a few bits of b.u.t.ter on the top, and bake the pudding for 1 hour in a moderately hot oven.

_MENU V._

LEEK SOUP.

2 bunches of leeks, 1-1/2 pints of milk, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 lb. of potatoes, pepper and salt to taste, and the juice of 1 lemon. Cut off the coa.r.s.e part of the green ends of the leeks, and cut the leeks lengthways, so as to be able to brush out the grit. Wash the leeks well, and see no grit remains, then out them in short pieces. Peel, wash, and cut up the potatoes, then cook both vegetables with 2 pints of water. When the vegetables are quite tender, rub them through a sieve. Return the mixture to the saucepan, add the b.u.t.ter, milk, and seasoning, and boil the soup up again. Before serving, add the Lemon juice; serve with sippets of toast or Allinson rusks.

MUSHROOM SAVOURY.

4 slices Allinson bread toast, 8 eggs, 1 pint of milk, 3 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 lb. of mushrooms, 1 small onion chopped fine, and pepper and salt to taste. Crush the toast with your hand and soak it in the milk; add the eggs well whipped. Peel, wash, and out up the mushrooms, and fry them and the onion in the b.u.t.ter. When they have cooked in the b.u.t.ter for 10 minutes add them to the other ingredients, and season with pepper and salt. Pour the mixture into a greased pie-dish and bake the savoury for 1 hour. Serve with green vegetables, potatoes, and tomato sauce.

CHOCOLATE MOULD.

1 quart of milk, 2 oz. of potato flour, 2 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 heaped-up tablespoonful of cocoa, 1 dessertspoonful of vanilla essence, and sugar to taste. Smooth the potato flour, wheatmeal, and cocoa with some of the milk. Add sugar to the rest of the milk, boil it up and thicken it with the smoothed ingredients. Let all simmer for 10 minutes, stir frequently, add the vanilla, and mix it well through. Pour the mixture into a wetted mould; turn out when cold, and serve plain or with cold white sauce.

_MENU VI._

ARTICHOKE SOUP.

1 lb. each of artichokes and potatoes, 1 Spanish onion, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 pint of milk, and pepper and salt to taste. Peel, wash, and cut into dice the artichokes, potatoes, and onion. Cook them until tender in 1 quart of water with the b.u.t.ter and seasoning. When the vegetables are tender rub them through a sieve. Return the liquid to the saucepan, add the milk and boil the soup up again. Add water it the soup is too thick. Serve with small dice of bread fried crisp in b.u.t.ter or vege-b.u.t.ter.

YORKs.h.i.+RE PUDDING.

4 eggs, 1/2 lb. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 pint of milk, pepper and salt to taste, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter. Thoroughly beat the eggs, make a batter of them with the flour and milk, and season it. Well b.u.t.ter a shallow tin, pour in the batter, and cut the rest of the b.u.t.ter in bits. Scatter them over the batter and bake it 3/4 of an hour. Serve with vegetables, potatoes, and sauce. To use half each of Allinson breakfast oats and wheatmeal flour will be found very tasty.

BAKED CARAMEL CUSTARD.

1-1/2 pints of milk, 5 eggs, vanilla essence, 4 oz. of castor sugar for the caramel, and a little more sugar to sweeten the custard. Heat the milk, whip up the eggs, and carefully stir the hot milk into the beaten eggs; flavour with vanilla and sugar to taste. Meanwhile put the castor sugar into a small enamelled saucepan and stir it over a quick fire until it is quite melted and brown. Add about 2 tablespoonfuls of hot water to the caramel, stir thoroughly, and pour it into a tin mould or a cake tin. Let the caramel run all round the sides of the tin; pour in the custard, and bake it in a moderate oven, standing in a larger tin of boiling water, until the custard is set.

Let it get cold, turn out, and serve. This is a very dainty sweet dish.

_MENU VII._

POTATO SOUP.

2 lbs. of potatoes, 1/2 a stick of celery or the outer stalks of a head of celery, saving the heart for table use, 1 large Spanish onion, 1 pint of milk, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, a heaped-up tablespoonful of finely chopped Parsley, and pepper and salt to taste. Peel, wash, and cut in pieces the potatoes, peel and chop roughly the onion, prepare and cut in small pieces the celery. Cook the vegetables in 8 pints of water until they are quite soft. Rub them through a sieve, return the fluid mixture to the saucepan; add the milk, b.u.t.ter, and seasoning, and boil the soup up again; if too thick, add more water. Mix the parsley in the soup just before serving.

BREAD AND CHEESE SAVOURY.

1/2 lb. of Allinson bread, 3 oz. of grated cheese, 1 pint of milk, 3 eggs, pepper and salt to taste, a little nutmeg, and some b.u.t.ter. Cut the bread into slices and b.u.t.ter them; arrange in layers in a pie-dish, spreading some cheese between the layers, and dusting with pepper, salt, and a little nutmeg. Finish with a good sprinkling of cheese. Whip up the eggs, mix them with the milk, and pour the mixture over the bread and cheese in the pie-dish. Pour the custard back into the basin, and repeat the pouring over the contents of the pie-dish.

If this is done two or three times, the top slices of bread and b.u.t.ter get soaked, and then bake better. This should also be done when a bread and b.u.t.ter pudding is made. Bake the savoury until brown, which it will be in about 3/4 of an hour.

ORANGE MOULD.

The juice of 7 oranges and of 1 lemon, 6 oz. of sugar, 4 eggs, and 4 oz. of Allinson cornflour. Add enough water to the fruit juices to make 1 quart of liquid; put 1-1/2 pints of this over the fire with the sugar. With the rest smooth the cornflour and mix with it the eggs well beaten. When the liquid in the saucepan is near the boil, stir into it the mixture of egg and cornflour. Keep stirring the mixture over a gentle fire until it has cooked 5 minutes. Turn it into a wetted mould and allow to get cold, then turn out and serve.

A WEEK'S MENU

Nutritive Value and Chemical Composition of Various Fruits, Nuts, Grains, and Vegetables.

(a.n.a.lysis of the _edible portion_.)