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

Damsons can be used for making a variety of dishes | which space will not allow us to enter ! into, but for which I would recommend j reference to that admirable book, Cassell’s “ Dictionary of Cookery.” The juice of damsons will make damson jelly of a similar description to redcurrant jelly by simply being boiled with sugar. Most fruit jellies,. such as red-currant jelly, are made by boiling about a pint of juice with three-quarters of a pound of lump sugar till the whole sets. The same can bo tried with damson- juice. I may here add that when cooks use rice borders for entrees of meat, game, financiere ragout, etc., the rice should not be boiled in milk but in good clear stock. As I have previously said, rice borders for meat entrees should be baked in the oven to a nice bright brown colour. DAMSON CHEESE. — Damson cheese is now sold ready made, and is an extremely popular form of sweet, though it is not so often met with in the present day as it was some years ago. Damson cheese is really a form of damson jelly. Cooks will, however, find this is useful rather to send to table as a sweet or dessert dish, but it can be used for ornamenting other sweets. Strips of damson cheese can be cut and used to set off the appearance of many cold white puddings, such as cornflour pudding, arrowroot pudding, solid custard, etc., its value for ornamenting purposes being dependent on its extremely brilliant colour when cut. It is, however, generally served whole in a glass dish for dessert. DAMSON JAM.— Damson jam is another form in which damsons are sold in a preserved state. It is a cheap jam, and verv similar to plum jam, but it is rather thicker in consistency, and possesses a somewhat stronger flavour. It is therefore admirably adapted for making those puddings so popular with children known as roly-poly puddings. In making roly-poly puddings from very thin jam cooks often experience the difficulty of getting sufficient jam into the pudding, and they know what a tendency jam has to squeeze out at the corners when the pudding is rolled up. Damson jam, owing to its firmness, is therefore well adapted for this purpose, though, of course, in making all rolypoly puddings the greatest care should always be taken to firmly tie the cloth at both ends as well as to secure it in the middle. Damson jam, owing to its dark and beautiful colour, also forms a valuable addition in making a dish of tartlets, where as many different colours are desired as possible. It is also useful in making those flat, round, open tarts, ornamented with different kinds of jam of various colours. I have already alluded to these tarts under the heading of Apricot Jam. Where different shades of clear red colour are desired it will be found that damson jam is a very nice contrast to raspberry or strawberry, the latter two being bright red, whereas damson is of a deep purple hue, which renders it so valuable an assistant to the cook for ornamental purposes. DEVILLED HAM.— See Ham, Devilled. DE BARBIERE’S VERMICELLI.— See Vermicelli. DRIED HERBS.— See Herbs, Dried. DRIED TURTLE FLESH.— See Turtle Flesh, Dried. DRIOLI'S MARASCHINO.— Sec Maraschino. DURHAM MUSTARD.— See Mustard. GYPTIAN SPLIT LENTILS. - See Lentils. ELDER VINEGAR. — See Vinegar. ENGLISH MILK.— See Milk. ESCHALOT VINEGAR.— See Vinegar.