The Art of Living in Australia Part 25

* 2 quarts of Water or Pot Liquor *

* Crusts of Bread *

* Salt and Pepper--2d.

* Total Cost, with b.u.t.ter--3 1/2 d.

* Time--Two Hours.

Peel and slice up the onions and put them into a sauce--pan with the b.u.t.ter or dripping, and brown them. Then let them cook, covered over, for an hour. Break in some brown dry crusts of bread.

Pour over the boiling liquor the water in which some vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, or cauliflowers, have been boiled, stir it well and boil for an hour; rub through a sieve. If it is not thick enough, let it boil again without the lid for ten minutes. Season well with pepper and salt, and serve.

SOUP MAIGRE

* 1/2 lb. Rice--1d.

* 2 oz. b.u.t.ter--2d.

* 1 gill Milk--1/2d.

* Salt *

* 2 Eggs *

* 1 Carrot *

* 1 Onion--2 1/2d.

* Total Cost--6d.

* Time--Half an Hour *

Wash the rice well in two waters, put into a saucepan with 2 1/2 pints of cold water and the onion and carrot whole. As the rice begins to swell add some more boiling water, until it is about the right consistency. Take out the onion and carrot and stir in the b.u.t.ter, a small piece at a time. Beat the yolks of the eggs in a basin, stir them quickly in, and bring again to boiling point, but do not let it boil; season with salt, and serve at once, with tiny rusks of bread. Make these by cutting up a dry crust into small pieces, dipping them in water, and baking until crisp in a moderate oven.

ARTICHOKE SOUP

* 2 lbs. Artichokes--3d.

* 2 Onions--1/2d.

* 1 1/2 pints Milk--4d.

* 2 quarts Bone Stock (White) *

* 1 tablespoonful Vinegar *

* 1 tablespoonful Lemon Juice *

* 1 doz. White Peppercorns--1d.

* Total Cost--8 1/2 d *

* Time--One Hour and a Quarter.

Peel the artichokes and lay them in vinegar and water for an hour; this will make them a good colour. Mix up half a pint of the milk with the stock, and boil the artichokes, onions, and peppercorns in this for an hour. Rub through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon. Stir in the milk and some salt, pour back into the saucepan and stir until it boils. If the artichokes do not thicken the soup sufficiently, sprinkle in a little sago or semolina when it is returned to the saucepan. Serve with fried bread.

CHAPTER XVIII.

FIFTY RECIPES FOR FISH.

The consumption of fish as a daily article of food is not nearly so large as it ought to be if we studied our health. It must be admitted that it is much more expensive than meat, and cannot be bought so readily. Then again, ordinary plain cooks only know how to fry and boil it, so that very little variety can be obtained; and even these two methods are often so badly followed as to take away rather than tempt the appet.i.te. Not one cook in a hundred knows how to boil fish properly. If a little more time and attention were given to fish-cooking we should not have so many complaints, and fish, instead of being a neglected food, would be a much desired one. It has one or two advantages over meat. It is easier of digestion, for one thing. It is therefore an invaluable food for people obliged to be indoors a great deal, or for those engaged in literary work, for it contains, besides other good things, a good proportion of phosphorus, and this is excellent food for the brain and organs of the chest. It is, however, with the cooking of fish that we have to deal. In the first place, be sure that it is perfectly fresh. The flesh should be firm and hard; if soft and leaving the mark of the finger if pressed, it must be rejected. It must also smell sweet; again, it must be thoroughly cooked. It is a matter of taste whether we like well or underdone meat, but underdone fish is the most unwholesome as it is the most repulsive food that can be offered to us, and in no process of cooking is more judgement required than in the cooking of fish. Fillets of fish of all kinds, either boiled, steamed, or baked, look transparent when raw, but are milk white when cooked sufficiently. If the French method of frying is practised, the large quant.i.ty of fat cooks it very quickly, and as soon as it is brown it is done. In boiling and steaming large fish so much depends upon the quant.i.ty of water or steam used.

Never leave fish in the water after it is cooked. Put it on to a hot dish and cover with a cloth, and stand over a saucepan of hot water till required; if left in the water it soon becomes insipid and watery.

In all dishes of dressed fish much depends upon the sauce served with it. Very simple directions for making several fish sauces will be found amongst the sauce recipes, and if these are carefully studied, the art will be easily acquired. In country districts where fish can be had for the catching, it should form the chief item in at least one meal during the day; and if variety in dressing it is studied, it will not be found monotonous, as it sometimes is if only fried and boiled. The ice chest will be found invaluable for keeping fish good and sweet.

FISH CAKES

* 1/2 lb. Cold Boiled Fish--5d.

* 1/2 lb. Cold Boiled Potatoes--1d.

* Pepper and Salt *

* Frying Fat *

* 1 oz. b.u.t.ter--1d.

* 1 Egg--1d.

* 1 tablespoonful of Milk, Bread Crumbs--1d.

* Total Cost--9d.

* Time--5 minutes.

Free the fish from skin and bone and flake it up; mash the potatoes smoothly, mix together and season with pepper and salt. Put the milk and b.u.t.ter into a saucepan, and when it is quite hot put in the fish and the potatoes. Beat up the egg, and put half in, and mix together till hot through; spread on to a plate and stand away to cool.

Add a teaspoonful each of water and oil to the egg. Make some bread crumbs on a sieve, and put them on to a piece of paper. Shape the fish mixture into cakes about one inch high and two inches across; brush them over with the egg, and toss them into the crumbs. Shape again and fry in very hot fat, arrange in the form of a wheel on a dish paper, garnish with fresh or fried parsley, and serve hot.

BAKED BREAM AND EGG SAUCE

* 1 Bream--6d.

* 1/2 pint White Sauce--2 1/2d.

* 1 Egg--1d.

* Parsley, Lemon Juice--1/2d.