Practical West African cookery

Milk. — It is usually safer to boil it, but if you can make perfectly sure that it comes from healthy animals and you have it in sufficient quantities, it is difficult to resist the temptation of having cream, and during the coolest months it is quite possible to keep the evening's milk till about ten o'clock the following morning. It should be put into a wide enamel basin or a very clean wide calabash, covered with a piece of muslin or mosquito curtain (the air must be able to penetrate freely), and stood in a cooler. The cream should be skimmed off in the morning and can be kept even till luncheon time if the day is cool. It is needless to say that the strictest cleanliness is necessary and milk should never be stood close to other eatables. If you wish to take boiled milk with you on trek, be careful that it has quite cooled down before pouring it into the bottle. Junket. — Can be made with dried rennet, obtainable from the Army and Navy Stores. The instructions are given on the bottle, and it is quite worth trying where milk is plentiful. The milk should be slightly warmed before the rennet is added, and it should be put to set in a cool place. Junket can also be made with boiled milk. Cream Cheese. — Boil the milk and add the same quantity rennet as you do for a junket as soon as the milk is nearly cool. Let it stand till the whey separates from the curds, then take off the curds, mix them with salt, tie them up in a clean fine cloth and let them hang till all the moisture has dripped out, then press them into shape with the back of a spoon. Butter. — Is generally bought from the Fulani, and if you have only a small quantity at a time and it looks fairly clean, it need only be washed with filtered water. Beat up the water and butter together with a fork, pour off the water, repeat the process, press the butter with the back of a spoon so as to drain off all the water, add a little salt and pack it tightly into an empty jar (an imperial cheese jar or small glass bottle having contained crystallized fruit would be the best). If you have a large quantity it is better to boil it. Put the butter on the fire in a large native pot and boil it till the water has evaporated from the butter, taking off the scum as it rises. When it boils silently and appears clear with little or no froth, take it off the fire. Let it stand for a few moments so that what little sediment is left goes to the bottom, pour it off without shaking into another native pot (or into glass jars if you have enough), and add a little salt. If you use a native pot in which to keep the butter, keep it tightly covered with a piece of thin cloth tied round the mouth of the pot with a string. Butter should never be kept in the kitchen, the cook should take his day’s supply every morning, putting the pot back again in a cool place. Carefully boiled and salted, this butter will keep for months, and its use will of course represent a great economy.