Cookery book and general axioms for plain cookery

Method : — Wash and dry the fish and cut it into nice pieces, not too small ; put it into a saucepan with the water, vinegar, salt and peppercorns, and simmer very gently from 10 to 15 minutes, or until quite done ; then take it up and keep it hot. For the sauce mix the flour and butter to a smooth paste, add the fish-water gradually, taking out the peppercorns ; boil it 3 minutes, stirring all the time, and let it slightly cool ; beat the egg, stir it carefully in, add the parsley and pour it over the fish. N.B. — (1) For a change, the egg may be boiled hard and chopped finely before adding it to the sauce. (2) Any kind of white fish can be cooked in this way; also the oily fish, but butter is not necessary for the latter, and the flour can be mixed smooth with a little cold water. BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING. Ingredients : — Thin slices of bread and butter. 1 pint milk. 2 oz. sultanas or currants. 1 oz. sugar. 1 egg. A pinch of salt. Method: — Grease a 1½ pint pie-dish and sprinkle a few sultanas or currants at the bottom, then add a layer of bread. Repeat this until the dish is three-quarters full, finishing with bread. Warm the milk, and beat it well with the eggs and sugar ; pour this custard over the pudding, let it stand at least one hour before cooking, and bake about one hour. Allow it to cool about five minutes before tur ning it on to a hot dish. N.B. — This pudding can be varied according to taste. Marmalade, or preserve, or grated lemon rind, used instead of fruit, is very good ; and at Christmas, when mincemeat is at hand a thin layer or two makes a pleasant change. STEWED LENTILS. Ingredients : — 1 lb. lentils. 1 lb. onions (parboiled or scalded whole). 3 or 4 medium-sized carrots. 2 or 3 " " turnips. 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley or mint. 1 quart cold water or stock. A little dripping. Vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Method : — Prepare the lentils as for soup (see page 45), then put them into a stewpan with the water and dripping, and simmer 1-L hours or until soft. Cook the onions with the lentils from -}j hour to 1 hour, according to size. Cut the carrots and turnips into strips 2 inches long and ^ inch thick, and cook them separately in a little boiling water with salt in. For serving, take the onions out and place them in the centre of a dish, then stir the parsley and seasoning into the stew, let it boil a few minutes and add the vinegar ; pour it round the onion, and pile the carrots and turnips on the top. N.B. — (1) The carrots and turnips can be cooked in the stew if liked, but they cannot then be piled on the top, and it will not look so tempting. (2) The stew must not boil after the vinegar is added, or the parsley will turn brown. • CORNFLOUR CAKE. Ingredients : — i lb. cornflour. 1 tablespoonful flour. 2 oz. castor sugar, or to taste. 2 oz. butter. 1 teaspoonful baking powder. 2 eggs, or 1 egg and a little milk. Method : — Beat the butter and sugar to a cream with a wooden spoon, then beat the eggs and add them with the flour and cornflour by degrees, and beatin<r well, adding the bakingpowder at the last. Pour the mixture in a greased cake-tin (do not let it be more than half full), put it immediately into a hot oven and bake about ¾ hour. If liked, the mixture can be baked in small patty-pans, and will then take only fromlO to 15 minutes to bake. MEAT CAKE.