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

When fruit is in season a little fruit mixed with milk and Swiss milk can easily be frozen, and in hot weather it is a very grateful addition to a good dinner. Preserved apricots and peaches, as well as preserved pineapple, can also be used for making ices. MILK-PUNCH.— Probably most of us associate milk-punch with turtle soup. Certainly, so rich and delicious a soup requires a delicate-flavoured liqueur to follow it. I will not now enter into the vexed question as to whether turtle soup should be followed by a glass of madeira or a glass of punch. Turtle soup, when made in perfection, of course is very rich and glutinous. The beauty of milk-punch is that it has the effect of cleansing the palate. Milk-punch can also be used for making punch jelly. MINCEMEAT. — Mincemeat is now supplied ready-made. Cooks who have gone through the trouble of making it will appreciate the advantage of being able to obtain mincemeat made in this form. Of course, in large families at Christmas time, especially where there are children, it is very satisfactory to have home-made mincemeat. There are, however, hundreds of thousands of families who rarely require mincemeat, except once a year, and that is at Christmas. To these a jar of preserved mincemeat will be very acceptable, as it is not a compound which can possibly be made in small quantities. The great drawback, to my mind, in making mince-pies is that too often the cook will not put in the pie sufficient mincemeat. A good mmce-pie should be crammed full of mincemeat, and the pie itself should be sufficiently hot to burn the mouth. There is, perhaps, no sweet for which heat is so essential as mince-pie. Mincemeat can, however, be used for other purposes than making mince-pies. One very delicious dish can be made as follows : — Take some slices of bread, thickly buttered — stale bread can be used for the purpose ; place the slices in a pie-dish and spread them with some mincemeat. Now fill up the dish with ordinary custard and bake in an oven. This bread-and-butter pudding with mincemeat is extremely good. A still richer dish can be made as follows : — Take some stale sponge-cake or any pound-cake ; cut it in slices ; spread each slice with a layer of mincemeat, and place the whole in a pie-dish. Fill it up with custard and bake till the custard is set. This can be eaten either hot or cold. Perhaps on the whole it is nicer hot. It is, however, exceedingly rich and very delicious, and, to my mind, a nicer way of serving mincemeat than mince-pie. MIRABELLES. — Mirabelles are a species of small plum, which can be had either crystallised or glacee. They form a nice addition to a, dish of crystallised fruits. MINT, ESSENCE OF.— Essence of mint is a very useful form of quickly imparting the flavour of mint when such flavour is required. Like other essences, it must be used with caution. Three or four drops of essence are amply sufficient to flavour a considerable quantity of fluid. In using any kind of essence I would advise the cook always to drop the essence into a spoon first, so that if accidentally too large a quantity is poured out the mistake can be rectified without spoiling the whole quantity. MIXED FRUITS IN JELLY. — See Fruits. MIXED FRUITS IN SYRUP. — See Fruits. MIXED FRUITS IN NOYEAU OR BRANDY.— See Fruits. MIXED SPICES.— See Spices. MIXED PICKLES. -See Pickles.