Cookery book and general axioms for plain cookery

Ingredients : — 2 oz. hominy or semolina. 1 oz. lump sugar, or to taste. 1 pint milk. A pinch of salt. Method .-—Rinse a very clean saucepan with cold water, then poui’ in the milk, and sprinkle the hominy or semolina with the salt into it. Stir until it boils, draw it aside and cook very gently about one hour, or until it is quite soft and has absorbed the milk. Sweeten to taste, pour it into a wet mould, and when cold turn it out, and serve with Stewed Fruit. N.B. — (1) If the hominy be soaked over night in just sufficient hot water to cover, it will not require so long cooking, but it is not quite so nice. (2) When the blancmange is served plain, without the stewed fruit, the lump sugar rubbed on an orange or lemon is a great improvement, or any flavouring liked can be added. (3) When the sugar is added at the last, the blancmange is not so liable to burn. STEWED FRUIT. Ingredients : — 1 lb. fresh fruit. pint water. 2 oz. lump sugar, or to taste. Method : — Boil the water and sugar for 10 minutes, takingoff the scum, then add the fruit and simmer slowly until it is quite soft but not broken. Stir frequently, taking great care to keep the fruit whole ; when done, lift it out carefully, place it on a dish, let the syrup boil up, then pour it over the fruit. N.B. — (1) More sugar may be required according to the kind of fruit. A little thin lemon rind is an improvement to nearly all fruits. (2) Pears with this syrup poured over and stewed 5 or 6 hours in a very slow oven, will be a very pretty colour. SAVOURY MACARONI. Ingredients : — 3 to 4 oz. Naples macaroni or hominy. 1 pint milk. 2 oz. grated cheese, or to taste. I oz. butter. 1 tablespoonful bread crumbs. Salt and pepper to taste. Method : — Put the macaroni into a pan with plenty of boiling water and a pinch of salt. Let it simmer about hour, strain it, then add the milk and simmer 1 hour or until quite cooked and the milk is absorbed. Put this on to a greased meat dish, mix with it half of the cheese and season to taste. Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese and bread crumbs on the top, put the butter in small pieces here and there, and place it in the oven or before the fire for a few minutes to brown. If hominy is used, wash and soak it, and cook it in the water in which it has been soaked, but for macaroni the water must be boiling, or it will lose its round form and look and taste disagreeable. SODA BUNS. Ingredients : — 1 lb. flour. 1 lb. butter or clarified dripping. J- lb. castor sugar, or to taste. 2 oz. mixed peel. 2 eggs. _ 1 gill milk or more. I teaspoonful baking powder. ■1 ,, carbonate soda. A pinch of salt. Method : — Beat the butter or dripping to a cream, dissolve the soda in the milk, separate the eggs, beat the yolks, add . them to the milk, and shred the peel. Then add these ingredients and the sugar gradually to the fat, beating well. Whip the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, and stir them in lightly last thing ; also the baking powder. Shape the buns roughly with two forks, put them on a greased baking sheet, sprinkle with castor sugar, decorate with a little peel, and bake in a quick oven about £ hour. PLAIN SODA CAKE. Ingredients : — 1 lb. flour. 4 lb. butter or clarified dripping, i lb. sugar. T lb. currants or sultanas. 1 teaspoonful carbonate soda. H gills milk, or more.