Household cookery and laundry work

Flour. Butter. 2 Eggs. Sugar. Apples. Oranges. Fritters are pieces of fruit or meat dipped in batter and then fried. They may be made of fish, or any slices of cooked meat or tripe, and are an excellent mode of using up cold meat. They are frequently made of fruit, and any kind of fresh fruit does for the purpose. Batter. — Ingredients: 6 oz. of flour, a table-spoonful S5 of melted and clarified butter, dripping, or salad oil, a salt-spoonful of salt, and a teacupful of tepid water. Those ingredients must be rubbed together very smoothly and carefully, and should be a good thick batter, to which add the whites of two eggs, beaten up very stiffly, and mix carefully with the batter. Apple Fritters. — Peel the apples, and with a sharppointed knife take out the cores and slice the apples across, \ of an inch thick. Have a pan with plenty of dripping or lard heated till it begins to smoke ; and after dipping the slices of apples into the batter, in order to cover them with it, lift them out into the hot fat, and fry till they become a pale brown colour ; then sprinkle sugar over them on a plate, and serve very hot. Orange Fritters. — After taking the skin off, cut the orange in slices across, or divide it into its natural divisions, and dip each piece in the batter ; then with a spoon lift them into the hot fat, and fry them a pale brown colour. Fritters should be put on soft paper or a kitchen towel for a few minutes, to drain the fat off, after which sprinkle sugar over them, and serve very hot. Slices of meat, tripe, fish, etc., are cooked in a similar way, only sprinkle salt over them instead of sugar. The same batter may be used. STEWED PRUNES. 1 lb. common Prunes. 1 small Lemon, i lb. Sugar. Water. If the prunes are very hard soak them for 2 hours in warm water. All the cheaper kinds of prunes are the better of being thus soaked. Put into a pan } lb. of sugar, a breakfast-cupful of water, the lemon juice, also the rind of half a lemon thinly pared, and bring all to the boil. Drain off the water the prunes are soaked in, and put them in the pan, which cover up, and stew gently for one hour at least, but longer if they are very hard ; then pick out the pieces of lemon peel and serve. The lemon is a very great improvement to this dish, both as to the flavour and good properties of the prunes. French plums require no soaking and much shorter time to stew. When the stones slip easily out the plums are ready. CUSTARD To use with Stewed Prunes or other Stewed Fruit. 2 breakfast cupfuls of Milk. 2 Eggs. 1 dessert spoonful of Corn Flour. 1 table-spoonful of Sugar. 2 Bay Leaves. Ground Cinnamon. Put the milk with the bay leaves or a small bit ot lemon rind on the fire to come very slowly to the boil, then mix the corn flour with a little cold milk, which add and boil for one minute. After picking out the leaves, beat up the eggs and pour the boiling mixture over them, stirring all the time. Return the whole to the pan and stir over the fire till it thickens, but it must not boil. Pour into a nice dish and sprinkle a little ground cinnamon over the top. This custard may be served in either cups, glasses, or a glass dish. APPLE AND RICE MERINGUE. 6 Apples. 3 Eggs, i lb. Sugar. £ lb. Whole Rice. Lemon or Cinnamon. 2 breakfast- cupfuls of Milk.