Australian Enquiry Book of Household and General Information

Cookery

COOKERY.

A COMPLETE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.

General Advice to the Cook.

IF you are anxious to become a good cook, do not despise the smaller details and say to yourself, "Oh, anyone knows that," or, "Everyone can cook this," for it is very often the smallest details that will spoil the effect of a really good dish. For instance, badly boiled rice may spoil a good curry, or ill-boiled or ill-mashed potatoes, the appearance of a dish of cutlets. Learn everything and take nothing for granted, and first of all learn how to boil rice, potatoes, cabbage, etc. Many cooks boil cabbage in two waters to do away with the strong odour.

A good cook should be constantly watching to see what dishes are liked best, and which are the most freely partaken of. If a dish returns to the kitchen untouched or nearly so, it is a sure sign that it is not in favour, therefore, she should not offer it again for a time. Of course, when a mistress gives the order herself, a cook has no option but to do her bidding, but these notes are meant chiefly for those young ladies of a family who do the cooking and have the ordering of the meals themselves. In many families, the girls, when they have left school, are put to learn cooking, either from the cook in the house or some professional, and when expert they are installed in the household as head cook, with one or perhaps two assistants under them. I cannot write too highly of such a custom, and I would impress upon every mother the real necessity of some such training for the girls who may marry, and some day be forced to cook for a very fanciful husband; but I have touched on this matter elsewhere so will proceed with the one in hand.

A cook requires to know and understand her oven before she ventures on any delicate baking. If she has a stove it is easily regulated, but with the colonial ovens, so much in vogue all over Australia, matters are not so simple, and she will have to watch everything she puts into the oven. In cooking scones, pastry and small cakes, she needs to let the colonial oven be well and evenly heated beforehand. All such things should be baked as quickly as possible, while bread, plum cakes, joints, etc., require to do more steadily.

One of the first things for a young cook to learn is punctuality, and until she grows used to, and understands her fire-place and oven, it is the most difficult. Experience will soon teach her how long a joint will take to cook, fifteen minutes for each pound is a fair time to allow when baking a joint, and if potatoes are baked with it allow them one hour, but they will require turning, and the joint will require basting.

If you want to have your potatoes crisp and very brown, you may have to take some of the fat from the baking-dish about ten or fifteen minutes before they are done, as, if there is much fat they will not become crisp.

A great many, indeed, almost all servants who call themselves plain cooks, put the joint of meat into the baking dish, then proceed to smother it in fat, and so it goes into the oven. This is utterly wrong and is quite as bad as putting steak to be fried into cold fat. It is just as easy to do it the right way as the wrong, and the right in this instance is to put your fat into the dish, let it become hot, and then put your joint into it, the difference being that, with the cold fat, the meat absorbs it, and in the hot it does not.

The best dripping is what the joint has been baked in, therefore, a good plan is to save all the fat skimmed from the soup, and use it to cook the joint in, by that means it will be improved greatly.

To make gravy for the joint, remove the latter from the baking-dish on to a nice hot dish (be sure to have hot plates always for hot meat, and the meat dish heated also to receive the joint), remove the potatoes very carefully so as not to break any of them, then strain the fat into the dripping jar, but leave the brown sediment or gravy. Now dredge a little flour, or, failing a flour dredger, dust a little from your hand, or half-a-teaspoonful or so, into the baking-dish, a little salt and pepper, and with an iron spoon mix and stir it about until blended smoothly with what little liquid is left from the meat, then from the kettle pour in some boiling water, place it at once over the fire and stir till it boils and thickens a little (be sure you do not put too much flour); the gravy should be a rich brown colour and just a little thickened. Pour it through a strainer into a gravy tureen and send to table, or, if preferred, pour into the dish with the joint.

One thing to be impressed upon all cooks is to send the meal in hot, not half cold, the fault lies in the dishing up generally, the joint gets cold while the gravy is making, perhaps stands uncovered on the table while the rest of the meal is being dished and the plates heated. If you have no dish cover, stand the meat in the oven or before the fire while the gravy is making. If there are sauces to be made, such as onion, bread or mint, they must be ready-made to dish with the meat, and the young cook should get to know all about such things and make them without orders if the mistress, who will most likely be her mother, forgets. Bread sauce goes with turkey and also roast fowl very often; mint sauce goes with lamb, apple sauce with roast goose, pork, etc.; onion sauce goes with many things, rabbit, bandicoot, etc.. boiled; currant jelly is eaten with roast mutton by many people; the great thing is to know and serve these things at the right time.

There are recipes for all the sauces given elsewhere.

A leg of mutton is often stuffed with thyme, onion, bread crumbs, well-mixed with one egg and a teaspoonful of dripping. The place to stuff it is under the flap. Another and better way is to remove the bone (the butcher will do it) by slipping the knife along. Do not cut the leg open. Fill the space with stuffing, which may be made by mixing together bread-crumbs, chopped parsley, small piece of butter, and a little pepper and salt.

In preparing poultry, do not attempt to draw or wash them till all the feathers are off and they have been singed, as, if washed beforehand, the flesh becomes blackened and dirty and the hairs will not burn off. Game that has been shot in the bush or swamps and carried some distance, has to be cleaned to prevent it going bad, and the plucking has to be done after. But with the poultry killed at home it is different. The best way of killing, I consider, is by bleeding, cutting the head right off is the simplest way, and the best so long as it is not cut too near the body, and so the breast spoilt for stuffing.

Be sure to take the crop or craw out whole, it is very easily done if you are careful, but do not extract the crop till the bird is drawn, because, the gizzard being attached to the crop, you might have difficulty.

Open a fowl in the left side, making the slit inside the leg, or in what might might be called the groin, so that with your right hand you can remove all the inside, it is a mistake to use a knife to cut away or scrape anything out; all that it is necessary to remove will come without effort. Many of the best cooks use only a small wire with a double hook at the end and only remove just what that brings. They never wash the inside and would be surprised at the suggestion, and when one comes to think of it there really should be no occasion to wash the inside of a fowl, unless the intestines were broken or torn, and that is what one must guard against always. The gall is the chief thing to get out entire, as, if broken, it may give an unpleasant taste. When the inside is out, if not washed, it must be well wiped out with a damp cloth. If washed, it is plunged into cold water and well washed. Many people cut the outer skin and flesh away round the vent, supposing that it is not clean, but that is quite a wrong idea, for when well washed it is as clean as any part, and it spoils the look of the bird to cut it away.

The feet can be cut off at the joint below the fleshy part, but do not throw away either head or feet, they can be cleaned with hot water, the outer skin of the feet and of the beak and comb being taken off, and with the gizzard they will make a very nice gravy, or a little drop of soup for an invalid.

Make a stuffing of parsley, boiled onion, breadcrumbs, dripping, salt, pepper and one egg; stuff the breast first,then fill the body.

The young cook will do well to study her cookery book, not merely to take recipes from it, but to learn the different seasonings, flavorings and stuffings that go with the various meats, and having mastered such details, experiment on her own account. If economy is necessary in the household, she must learn to make up all cold meats and to utilize cold vegetables and scraps of dry bread, in fact, every morsel of food that comes under her hand. She should always have a supply of bread-crumbs for bread-crumbing cutlets, meat-balls, potato croquettes, etc.; for this purpose let her save all the scraps of waste bread, bake them till quite hard and brown, but not at all burnt. When she has a few minutes to spare she can grind them up in the mincing machine, and sift through a fine wire sieve, or they can be pounded in a mortar, or rolled with a rolling pin. Always sift them as you then get them of a uniform fineness. When doing cutlets, prepare them some little time beforehand, as the crumbs stick better and are not so apt to fall off in the frying. If you have not an egg, a little drop of milk will answer in which to dip the cutlet before rolling in the crumbs. If the crumbs are kept in a tin or bottle in a dry place, they will be fit to use to the last grain, but it is not wise to do a large quantity at a time—a pickle-bottle full is enough. When making meat-balls, break one or two eggs into the meat and mix quickly: this will make the meat stick together or bind far better than if the eggs are beaten up and then stirred in. Then dip the balls in more egg, and roll lightly in the crumbs. Colouring is another thing the cook must always have beside her. A bottle of good colouring will last a long time if properly made. To make it you should use an old pan, or a pint panniken will do, but a pan is by far the best. Put into it three or four tablespoonsful of sugar, and melt it over the fire, when it froths up stir with an iron spoon till all the sugar is burnt and frothing, then pour in a pint of warm water and stir quickly; when cool, bottle. A very little is sufficient to colour soups, gravy, stew, etc. It you should run out of colouring, a little can be made for immediate use in an iron spoon.

You should always have three different receptacles for dripping or fat; 1st one for the ordinary dripping from roast joints, skimmings from soup (clarified), which you will use for frying, making pastry and roasting; 2nd for the fish fat, which should never be returned to the other jar, as it will taste of fish. If you use oil for fish it should be clarified before being returned to the jar or bottle, or it can be strained through muslin; 3rd for the fat or dripping poultry has been roasted in and which is very good eaten on bread, used for pastry, cakes, etc. In frying fish use plenty of fat or oil, a brisk fire, and do not turn the pieces till quite done on the one side, but keep your fish slice busy to prevent sticking or burning.

In boiling fish, if you have no proper fish cullender to lay it on in the boiler, use a dish and tie a muslin over it to lift by when it is done. If near the sea, use sea water for boiling your fish.

With boiled fish serve either egg, parsley or oyster sauce; the last named is made as follows: use half milk and half oyster liquor, when it boils stir in a teaspoonful of butter, blend a little corn-flour and thicken with it, and, having trimmed some oysters drop them in, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve poured over the fish. For egg sauce, make it just the same, but have the egg boiled hard, peeled and mashed, and having poured the white sauce over, sprinkle the egg evenly and lightly all over the fish. There is a great art in boiling fish: to know exactly how long it will take, as even the largest will only take a very short time. Having rubbed the fish with a slice or two of lemon, plunge it into cold water well-salted, let it come to the boil, then remove to one side and simmer till done, skimming well. The object of rubbing with lemon is to harden the outside of the fish; vinegar has the same effect. Soused fish or eel is a pleasant change. If doing eels cut them into joints or pieces, lay in a deep pie dish with salt, pepper, and a few pepper corns. Now pour in equal quantities of vinegar and water, put into the oven and bake till done. To be served cold.

The young housekeeper who has all her own housework to do, should always get her puddings and sweet dishes made through the day, that is, if she indulges in late dinners, as many young wives are obliged to do on account of their husband's business keeping him away all day. If the dinner can be in the middle of the day, so much the better, as tea is an easy meal to prepare, and there need be no greasy plates and dishes to wash afterwards. But in many households the husband takes his luncheon in town and dines late at home, and then, if no servant is kept, everything will depend on the good management of the wife.

If she makes her puddings beforehand and leaves them on the side-board ready to take the place of the previous course, she will not have to be running from the dining-room to the kitchen. All milk pudding's are best eaten cold, but boiled puddings will, of course, have to be taken up just before serving.

Two tablecloths should be enough each week where there are not many children, and where the cloth is carefully folded and pressed after each meal.

In the kitchen six tea towels and cloths for drying the china will be sufficient, and the young housekeeper should have a couple of kettle-holders and an iron-holder.

She must regulate her work so as to give each day its appointed duties.

Almost every housewife knows something worth telling for the benefit of others. It may be some trifling matter which she has discovered when experimenting, or it may be something she has thought of, and carefully worked out to her own satisfaction. How many wonderful inventions were first discovered by simple accident. The same thing happens daily in cookery: new combinations, new mixtures, unexpected properties in different things are always coming to light. For instance it was pure accident that caused the discovery of preservative qualities in coffee, and it was a careless accident that showed me what an improvement thick milk was in curry. Ladies in the bush who are in the habit of cooking regularly, either for pleasure or from necessity, are constantly finding out little hints and dodges that would be very useful to all situated in like manner, for often one runs out of certain things in the bush, and then it is either a case of discovery or inventing a substitute; or else doing without till the drays come from town. I have often thought what a good plan it would be to exchange hints with each other through some newspaper. Some years ago I belonged to a society of this kind, but it was merely among personal friends, and we exchanged recipes by letter. Anyone who discovered or invented a new dish or cake at once made it known to the others; and in this way each was benefitted by the cleverness of the whole number.

S.

BAKING MEATS

S a rule in this country all joints are baked instead of being roasted. No doubt this is owing to the inconvenience of our fires: it is well nigh impossible to roast before a colonial oven. But I believe there is a new roasting apparatus, consisting of a deep pan, and sort of high screen or fender, coming into fashion. However, in the meantime we bake our meat, and very badly too, in some households. The cook lays her joint flat in the baking tin, smears a quantity of dripping over it, adds a spoonful or two for the pan, and pops it into her oven, never once troubling to look at it till the dinner hour. As one remarked to me once:—“I likes a good joint to cook, it’s all straight sailing, for you just lay the fat on it and it cooks itself; the only thing is to keep up a right good fire.” This is the opinion of a good many. Few ever think of basting the meat, consequently, the joint is either dried up, or burnt outside and only half cooked inside. If carefully basted and the fire regulated, baked joint is quite pleasant to eat as one roasted in the old-fashioned orthodox style. The meat should be placed on a rest in the centre of the baking-dish: this will prevent it catching underneath. Put your fat or suet round and let your fire be gentle at first. No greater mistake can be made than putting meat into a red-hot oven. Common-sense must tell you that the outside will cook and become done before the inner portion is warmed through. Directly it begins to cook it should be well basted, and this repeated every quarter of an hour. About ten minutes to every pound is the usual time to allow with these colonial ovens, but it depends a good deal on the oven, for an old one will cook very quickly, and heat almost at once, while a new one will require some time to get heated through.

While on the subject of ovens, I may mention here a novel one which I have used, and found very successful. I mean an ordinary oil drum: a square one if possible. I built one in with some bricks, and the bushman's cement of ant-bed and sand. I made it secure, and had a tin the size of the opening to fit in as a door. It was a capital oven. I have baked bread, cakes, and a small joint in it. Shepherds’ wives, whom I told about it, when they once used one, preferred it to a colonial oven. Of course you light the fire above and below, as in the old fashioned camp oven. The only drawback is the smallness of the drum.

HINTS ABOUT BEEF.

A flank steak is more savory and quite as tender as one from the tender loin. Oiled and nicely broiled, it is a delicious morsel. Made into a pie and eaten cold, it makes an excellent luncheon or supper dish.

Few housekeepers are aware that the “church ribs,” as they are called, gives them really as good joints for the table as any part of the bullock.

For rolling, braising or boiling, you cannot have a better part, while the meat from next the bones makes very sweet steaks. If the ribs are not converted into soup they are very good as devilled or grilled bones.

Roast Beef with Lemon Juice—When the roast is tough and flavorless, as it very often is in this country, the juice of a fresh lemon squeezed all over it just before it goes into the oven will improve and give a pleasant flavor to the meat. With a very fat joint the lemon takes off the oily taste.

To Bake a Round—Bind the calico round the beef tightly (it will not require the cloth by which to lift it). Then make a thick paste or dough, it must be quite half an inch thick everywhere when rolled out, and enclose the round in it, wrapping it well over the top. A good plan to ensure the proper thickness top and bottom is to make extra paste, and, having wetted the first, put a second cover top and bottom. It will take a lot of flour, and it is useless when done with; many people prefer to boil for that reason.—But if one can afford it, the extra goodness of the flavour makes up for the waste of flour. If baked in a colonial oven do not make it very hot, and have top and under heat as equal as possible, and allow twenty minutes to the lb. and twenty over. When half the time has gone draw the under fire, unless the paste is not very brown, in that case it can be left; but sometimes when both fires are going the crust becomes very brown or burnt, then it is easier to attend to only one fire, and turn the meat when necessary. To know when it is sufficiently cooked, pass a knitting needle through from side to side, or half way only. When done let it stand till cool before knocking off the crust. To a round cured and cooked in this way you should be able to cut and come again down to the last morsel.

Baked Calf's Head.—Clean the head very carefully, and put it into a baking dish on a rest in the centre. Grate some nutmeg over it with some sweet herbs chopped; pepper and salt, crumbs of bread, and a little lemon peel; dredge a little flour over, put some pieces of butter here and there, and then put into the oven. Put into the dish a bunch of sweet herbs, an onion, some peppercorns, and a pint of water. Bake according to size, about ten minutes for each pound. Sauce for the above is thus made:—When the head is done take it out and strain the gravy from the dish into a saucepan. Have the brains boiled previously with a sprig of sage in the water. Add them chopped fine to the gravy; teaspoonful of butter rolled in flour, two spoonsful of port wine, boil for a few minutes, and when the head is on the dish pour over it.

Baking Hams.—Few people care to go to the trouble of baking hams, though there is no doubt it is by far the best way to cook them, as all the juice is retained. There is only the one way of doing them I know of, and that is in a thick paste of flour and water. Make a regular stiff dough of plain flour and water; roll it out to about half an inch thick; then lay your ham on this, and draw the paste well over on the other side till it is completely wrapped. Put it into a moderate oven, keep the heat even, and allow a quarter of an hour for every pound. Do not mind the paste getting very brown—it is sure to do so. When you take it out break away the crust, peel off the skin, and grate a brown crust of bread over it while hot, and ornament the knuckle with a paper frill.

Tongues done in this way are very good, and it is by far the best way to cook a spiced round of beef. Many people object to the waste of flour,but the flavour of the meat makes up for that.

How and Where to Stuff Joints.—A leg of mutton or pork is stuffed under the skin, in the knuckle end, getting as much as possible into the cavity made, then fastening the skin over it securely. Anything that is boned, such as breast of veal, loin of mutton, shoulder of mutton, the stuffing should be placed where the bone was as nearly as possible, and rolled and tied up.

Forcemeat for Stuffing.—Two or three slices of ham or lean bacon, not quite ¼lb. of suet, the grated rind of half a lemon, one teaspoonful of minced parsley, and one of minced sweet herbs, salt, cayenne, and a little pounded mace to taste, the crumb of half a stale loaf, and two eggs.

Panada (to be Mixed with Forcemeat).

Ingredients: Bread crumbs, half a cup of white stock, one teaspoonful of butter, one slice of ham or lean bacon, one teaspoonful of minced parsley, two eschalots, one clove, one blade mace, mushrooms if to be got, yolks of two eggs.

Mode: Swell the crumbs in warm milk, then put into stewpan with the stock. In another pan put the butter and other ingredients, and fry them over a gentle fire. When done pour in one cup and a half of stock and let it boil till reduced a good deal, then strain through a sieve into the bread crumbs. Place over the fire and stir constantly, adding a little butter and then the yolks of two eggs. Mix well, and turn on to a clean plate to cool. Use this with forcemeat.

To Cook a Beefsteak.

Ingredients: Steak, salt, pepper, one teaspoonful good dripping.

Mode: First prepare your fire, which should be clear and hot. Then pound or beat your steak well on both sides; salt and pepper lightly. Into a perfectly clean pan put the dripping, and when quite hot lay in your steak. Turn frequently while it is frying (about every two minutes). Have ready a hot dish, slightly buttered, and directly the steak is done pop it on to it. Add a tiny lump of butter, and send to table at once. Do not put into the oven to become dry and sodden. Some good cooks use a pan with a cover for frying steak, and only rub the pan with fat before putting it in.

Macaroni with Steak.

Ingredients: 1lb macaroni, ½lb. steak, grated cheese, bread crumbs, one egg, parsley, pepper, salt.

Mode: Take the steak, or the tender undercut of a joint. Cut it into small squares ¼in. thick. Season with pepper and salt, and dip each piece in some grated cheese, and then into some finely grated bread crumbs, first moistening the meat with the beaten yolk of an egg, or failing that a little drop of milk. Fry in hot fat, enough to cover the pieces, or the crumbs and cheese will fall off. A good plan is to do the frying in a small saucepan. Have the macaroni boiled in plenty of water and a little salt. Drain and dish the macaroni, lay the fried meat on top and shake a little grated cheese over the whole, with some very finely-chopped parsley. This will make enough for six people.

To Cook Sheep’s Kidneys (A breakfast dish).

Ingredients: Sheep’s kidneys, dripping, salt, pepper.

Mode: Pour some boiling water over the kidneys, then open them down the middle but do not quite divide them, peel off the thin skin and pass a skewer across them to keep them open, salt, pepper and dip into melted dripping, and broil over a clear fire on both sides, doing the cut sides first. When done, remove the skewers, and have ready some maître d’hôtel butter, and put a tiny piece upon each when on the dish.

S.

ANY people maintain that boiled meat is more suitable for delicate digestions than roast. This is a mistake, as anyone who gives a moment's thought to the matter must see. In the first place, the hot water deprives the meat of some of its most important constituents. They naturally become diluted with the water, and are thus unsuited to a feeble stomach. A roast or baked joint retains all its juices, therefore, all its nourishing qualities. At the same time, there are many things that must be boiled, and it also makes a pleasant change in the mode of cooking. There are a few directions that should be remembered in boiling meat, and which are so simple that any cook, however stupid, can be taught. In the first place, all meat should be boiled as slowly as possible, and in plenty of water. The usual time is a quarter of an hour for every pound the meat weighs; but in boiling pork or lamb, allow twenty minutes for the pot—that means twenty minutes after the allotted time per pound is up. All fresh meat should be put into boiling water; salt meat into water that is warm only. I know this last remark will be considered rank heresy by many housekeepers, for most either put their meat into boiling water, which renders it hard, or into cold, which should not be done unless the meat has been in salt some time. It is only of late years I have found out that meat put on in boiling water is not so good as that put into water just warm. The water, once it comes to a boil, should be kept at it and not allowed to boil for ten minutes, then cool down a quarter of an hour. If you allow this, your meat will not be done, and the people call out about the directions being all wrong. One lady for whom I wrote out my own method complained that her joint was not nearly done, when she allowed only a quarter of an hour for each pound. I asked, was she sure it boiled continuously, or only in fits and starts. Ah, sometimes she had to move it one side of the fire to make room for other things. Of course, if that is done the meat will not be cooked. It should be kept at an even boil the whole time: I do not mean a gallop, but simply a steady heat. All scum should be skimmed off as it rises, if not the meat will be dark. Boiling in a well-floured cloth improves a leg of mutton or lamb, and fowls should always be so enclosed, as well as fish. The only vegetables that should be boiled with meat are carrots and turnips.