often spoils all the fruit ; dusting profusely with sulphur
is supposed to be a remedy for it.
Lemon Jam. — Lemons are plentiful in July, and make
an excellent jam, for which there is a recipe in Hilda's
Whei'e is it, p. 140.
Vegetables. — Carrots, turnips, cabbages, cauliflowers, and
sweet potatoes are in season.
July 4. — Planting Rose trees. — Last time we planted roses
I ordered a dozen rose trees from Messrs. Gowie, Grahams-
town, and was not disappointed. I also got garden seeds
from them, and I have never had such lovely carnations
as I had from seeds I got and sowed last July. The
colours are lovely, and most of them are double; as to
their phlox, they were perfectly lovely !
July 5. — Fish. — Among the fish in season in July is
“Roman,” a beautiful fish in form and colour, being a
bright cactus red with a dark-blue mark across the nose.
The flesh is white and firm. This fish is generally sold for
li-. 6d. each, being very choice and excellent for boiling or
frying.
“ Galjeon ” is another favourite dish with people at the
Cape — the flesh is greyish. The skin of this fish when
alive is brilliant with all the colours of the rainbow ; it is
caught with a bait of grey mullet. They cost is. or is. 6d.
each.
July 8. — To Cook an Old Hen. — Here is an extract of
G ’s last letter to me which is worth recording —
“You will be amused to hear that this week I had to
decide how best to cook an old hen! for you know zve never
keep any except young birds ourselves. But I was staying
with A , who is not very experienced about poultry, and
had advised her to weed out some of the old birds. So
163
TO COOK AN OLD HEN
July
she said she would, if I could make anything really eatable
out of them — a hard condition, but I did my best ; and
fortunately remembering a good recipe of Miss Anderson’s,
the result was so successful you may care to know what we
did, for I remember your recipe for making soup of them.
(Soup a la Reine, Hilda! s Where is it, p. 229.)
“ As the weather was cool we let the bird hang for a few
days after it was killed and cleaned, and then washed it
well, skinned and jointed it. We had ready an earthen-
ware jar with a lid, and into this jar we put the meat with
a spoonful of butter, a few blades of mace, some pepper-
corns, and allspice, these spices being all tied up in a
bit of muslin, and of course taken out before serving. We
also put into the jar a large white onion, cut in at the top,
a few spoonfuls of vermicelli (or sago would do), and a
teacupful or more of cold water✪ To Cook an Old Hen.
“The jar was then set in the stove for four or five hours,
and we repeated this next day for about the same time,
adding a little stock when necessary. When the meat was
nice and tender we took it out and put it on a heated entree-
dish, and kept it warm while we beat up the yolk of an egg
with the juice of a lemon and stirred this into the gravy,
let it get to boiling-pitch, then quickly poured it over the
meat in the entree-dish and sent it to table. This way
of cooking an old fowl is the best I know. The skin and
feet and head properly cleaned are a good addition to the
stock-pot.”
Neapolitan Chicken. — I can cap G ’s recipe with
another nice way of doing a fowl that is too old to roast.
This (Mrs. Cloete’s recipe) we call Neapolitan Chicken a la
R6n6.
First parboil it till tender. Then take off the skin and
164
✪ Neapolitan Chicken
Page 67 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1902. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
often spoils all the fruit ; dusting profusely with sulphur is supposed to be a remedy for it.
Lemon Jam. — Lemons are plentiful in July, and make an excellent jam, for which there is a recipe in Hilda's Where is it, p. 140.
Vegetables. — Carrots, turnips, cabbages, cauliflowers, and sweet potatoes are in season.
July 4. — Planting Rose Trees. — Last time we planted roses I ordered a dozen rose trees from Messrs. Gowie, Grahamstown, and was not disappointed. I also got garden seeds from them, and I have never had such lovely carnations as I had from seeds I got and sowed last July. The colours are lovely, and most of them are double; as to their phlox, they were perfectly lovely !
July 5. — Fish. — Among the fish in season in July is “Roman,” a beautiful fish in form and colour, being a bright carmine red with a dark-blue mark across the nose. The flesh is white and firm. This fish is generally sold for li-. 6d. each, being very choice and excellent for boiling or frying.
“"Galjoen" is another favourite dish with people at the Cape— the flesh is greyish. The skin of this fish when alive is brilliant with all the colours of the rainbow ; it is caught with a bait of grey mullet. They cost is. or is. 6d. each.
July 8. — To Cook an Old Hen. — Here is an extract of G ’s last letter to me which is worth recording —
“You will be amused to hear that this week I had to decide how best to cook an old hen! for you know zve never keep any except young birds ourselves. But I was staying with A—, who is not very experienced about poultry, and
had advised her to weed out some of the old birds. So
TO COOK AN OLD HEN
July
she said she would, if I could make anything really eatable out of them—a hard condition, but I did my best; and fortunately remembering a good recipe of Miss Anderson's, the result was so successful you may care to know what we did, for I remember your recipe for making soup of them. (Soup a la Reine, Hilda! s Where is it, p. 229.)
“ As the weather was cool we let the bird hang for a few days after it was killed and cleaned, and then washed it well, skinned and jointed it. We had ready an earthenware jar with a lid, and into this jar we put the meat with a spoonful of butter, a few blades of mace, some peppercorns, and allspice, these spices being all tied up in a bit of muslin, and of course taken out before serving. We also put into the jar a large white onion, cut in at the top, a few spoonfuls of vermicelli (or sago would do), and a teacupful or more of cold water.
“The jar was then set in the stove for four or five hours, and we repeated this next day for about the same time, adding a little stock when necessary. When the meat was nice and tender we took it out and put it on a heated entreedish, and kept it warm while we beat up the yolk of an egg with the juice of a lemon and stirred this into the gravy, let it get to boiling-pitch, then quickly poured it over the meat in the entree-dish and sent it to table. This way of cooking an old fowl is the best I know. The skin and feet and head properly cleaned are a good addition to the stock-pot.”
Neapolitan Chicken. — I can cap G ’s recipe with
another nice way of doing a fowl that is too old to roast. This (Mrs. Cloete’s recipe) we call Neapolitan Chicken a la R6n6.
First parboil it till tender. Then take off the skin and
Records on this page
To Cook an Old HenNeapolitan Chicken