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

CURRANTS, BOTTLED. — Currants, both black and red, are sold in bottles, plain. Plain bottled fruit contains no sugar. When, therefore, they are to be used for the purpose of making pies, the liquor should be strained off and sweetened, and it will often be found best to boil the liquor and allow it to get cold. Cooks should, however, always bear in mind that the fruit is already sufficiently cooked, and therefore it is best to let the liquor cool before the currants are added to it. The pie-dish can be covered with paste, and as soon as the paste is cooked the pie is done. Should the currants be added to the liquor when hot, they get over-cooked, and then the tendency is for them to break up, and the pie will consist of rich currant juice containing a large number of pips. In using bottled fruits it is always desirable, as much as possible, to keep the fruit whole. CURRANTS AND RASPBERRIES, BOTTLED. — Currants are often bottled, mixed with raspberries, and by many currant-and-raspberry pie is preferred to currants alone. These pies are always intended to be eaten cold. One of the best additions to cold fruit pie made from currants and raspberries is Devon- shire cream. Very often when the pies are to be eaten cold, the cook will place them in the oven for a few minutes, as the heat renders the paste more light. This, however, should be avoided. The pie should either be thoroughly hot or stone cold. In hot weather it will often be found advisable to place the pie in an ice-chest for half an hour before dinner. One of the chief attractions to fruit pie is the fact of its being stone cold. CURRANTS IN SYRUP.-Currants are also sold preserved in syrup. These will make a pie, but no sugar should be added. They are more suitable, however, for the purpose of making open tarts. When used for making open tarts it will be found desirable to drain off some of the syrup, and to dissolve in it a small amount of gelatine or isinglass. Only sufficient should be added to cause it to be thick. When cold it should not set into a hard jelly. Open tarts made from currants in syrup are greatly improved by being covered over with a little whipped cream. The whipped cream should not be put on until a short time before the tart is served. Currants preserved in syrup will keep good till the bottle is opened, but when the bottle is once opened the contents should be used up in the course of one or two days, as after the bottle is opened it is apt, if allowed to remain, to get furred over. CURRIED MEATS, HALFORD’S.— A very nice and popular form of food is sold by all grocers under the name of curried meats (Halford’s). Mr. Halford in former years had the good fortune to be chef to the Viceroy of India, and his opinion, therefore, on curry is not to be despised. Of course, it is a truism to say there are curries and curries, and what will please one person will not always please another. One great advantage of the curried goods supplied by Mr. Halford is that while they possess all the essentials of good curry no one flavour will be found to predominate. Persons who have lived long in India can eat curry far hotter than those who have not ; but it is always easy to add, while it is impossible to subtract flavour, such as cayenne or chili. The essential point in Mr. Halford’s curries is that they are