The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

MACEDOINES. — There is probably no j form of tinned vegetables so useful to the cook as macedoines. The better the cook the more useful will they be found. Macedoines are simply, as the word implies, a mixture of different kinds of vegetables, the ingredients being carrot, turnip, green peas, etc. Perhaps the most useful form of using macedoines is to make soup at a few moments’ notice. A tin of macedoines added to some good, bright, clear stock transforms the stock into spring soup. _ The macedoines simply require warming up in the stock, which can then be served. Under the heading of Extract of Meat, I have already given directions how to make stock at a few minutes’ notice. With the assistance of some of Crosse and Blackwell’s extract of meat and a tin of macedoines the cook can always send up a nice tureenful of good, bright, clear, rich soup, at a quarter of an hour’s notice. Another very useful form in which macedoines can be served is that of German salad. Take a tin of macedoines, open them, turn them out, and dry them in a cloth. Then (although this is not necessary) the cook can slice Up the remains of any cold potatoes that may be in the house — and there are few houses in which potatoes are not left cold in the larder. Next add a little chopped parsley, and dress the salad in the ordinary method —namely, add first of all the oil, toss the salad well together in it, as every particle of vegetable should be slightly oiled over before any vinegar is added. Pepper and salt may be mixed up in a spoon with the oil. Then add one-third of the quantity of vinegar to the oil, and again toss it lightly together. By adding the oil first, and well mixing up the salad, you avoid the vegetables soaking up the vinegar and thus becoming more acid in one part than in another. A salad of this description may be improved by spreading a thin film of bloater paste or anchovy paste on these slices of potato, which can then be cut up into the same size as the macedoines, and all tossed together and dressed. Macedoines form an excellent salad also that can be served with a variety of cold dishes. For instance, take the case of a tin of larks (larks stuffed with truffles are now sold in tins). Take the larks out of the tin, and remove as much as possible of the fat which surrounds them by placing them for a few minutes in the oven. The larks can now be glazed a bright colour and placed round side by side in a silver dish. The centre can be filled up with a tin of macedoines piled up, and the exterior can be ornamented with aspic jelly (see Larks, Truffled). Aspic jelly is now sold in bottles of various sizes. No good housekeeper who values appearances should ever be without a bottle of aspic jelly in the store