Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

Quince Jam.— But another old-fashioned recipe from an Eno-lish book is worth recording ;— First boil your quinces for"half-an-hour, take off the outer thin skin (as you do tomato), cut the quinces in half, remove the core, and pulp them ; to every pound weight of quince pulp add h pint or cupful of the water in which the quinces have been boiled. Peel carefully and cut up some Blenheim apples, and take i lb. sliced apple to every pound of quince pulp, and i lb. sugar to every pound of fruit. Put iiito a copper or enamelled preserving-pot, rubbing this first slightly with Lucca oil ; boil for 3 hours, stirring carefully till done. , March 8.— Stewed auince and Pear.— K tells me that when they have stewed pears for dinner they always put slices of stewed quince between each stewed half-pear, in the circle of fruit, and that this is a great improvement. I should think a most excellent cold tart could be made of these two fruits with a good syrup, and the crust cooked separately as described elsewhere. Baked Pears.-K also told me that they often have pears plainly baked, just as apples are done, and that they be excellent so. We used to bake Calabash pears at home. PEARS IN JELLY AND STEWED March Pears in Jelly. — Another pretty variety of stewed pears she mentioned was for each half-pear to be laid in an ordinary saucer with the round side of the half-pear downwards ; the saucer is filled with pink jelly to the brim, and turns out when cold in a pretty shape with pear right side up, and is served with whipped cream. Colour of Stewed Pears. — To make stewed pears a really good red without cocliineal, one cook says she’ does them in a pot with a lid, which she keeps on, and cooks them slowly a long time. Another, an old Irishwoman, says, when she knows in time she leaves them in the oven to stew when she goes to bed, and they will be a good colour by the morning. Pish in White Sauce. — Here is a recipe (Miss Le Sueur’s) which is worth remembering for cooking fish in white sauce. Make a nice white sauce as follows ; — Rub an ounce or two of butter in 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, add to it a few spoonfuls of stock made of the fish-bones boiled with an onion till the latter is nice and tender ; and then take half a cup of milk and pour it over. Flavour with lemon, cayenne, chopped par,sley, pepper and salt. Cut up the fish, which must be raw, into neat pieces sufficient for a helping, and let it simmer in this mixture for a few minutes. March 12. — As to-morrow is little V ’s birthday, we have asked her and the other little cousins to tea, and have been making some cakes for the occasion. The children always specially enjoy this party if Easter happens to fall about the same time, as then, in German fashion, eggs stained with saffron for yellow, coffee for brown, and cochineal for red. Miss Marie de Bunsen’s way, are hidden March THE BIRTHDAY MENU in the garden for them to find— a great excitement. For to-morrow one dish is to be —