THE ART OF LIVING IN AUSTRALIA TOGETHER WITH THREE HUNDRED AUSTRALIAN COOKERY RECIPES AND ACCESSORY KITCHEN INFORMATION BY MRS. H. WICKEN TEXT

* Total Cost--10d. * * Time--One Hour. * Put the stock into a stewpan; slice in the leek and add the fagot of herbs and the peppercorns. Boil them together for half an hour, strain out the vegetables and return to the saucepan; stir in the sage and continue stirring until it is clear and the soup is thick; pour in the boiling milk, boil up and pour into a tureen. Sprinkle finely chopped parsley on the top before serving. SCOTCH BROTH * 2 quarts of the Liquor in which Mutton has been cooked * * Salt * * 1 oz. Rice * * 1 Carrot * * 1/2 Turnip, and Stalk of Celery * * Total Cost--1 1/2 d. * * Time--One Hour. * Carefully remove all the fat from the liquor; put it into a saucepan. Wash the rice and cut all the vegetables into dice; stir them in, and simmer by the side of the fire for an hour. It must be cooked very slowly and without the lid. Add salt to taste, and pour it into a tureen. Pearl barley may be used instead of rice. LENTIL SOUP * 1 lb. Split Lentils--2d. * * 1/2 oz. Butter--1d. * * 3 Onions and 2 doz. Peppercorns * * 1 teaspoonful Sugar * * 3 quarts Water * * Salt--1d. * * Total Cost--4 d. * * Time--Four Hours. * Wash the lentils well in two or three waters and put them into a saucepan with the onions, peppercorns, sugar, salt, and half the butter, and sweat them for five minutes. Pour over the boiling water and boil steadily for four hours. If the soup gets too thick, pour in a little more water or stock. Rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan; stir in the butter, salt, and pepper to taste. Boil up and serve. Lentil soup is one of the most nourishing of all soups, and particularly nice during the winter months. PEA SOUP * 1 lb. Split Peas--3d. * * 2 Onions and 1/4 Head of Celery--1d. * * 1 oz. Butter or Dripping--1d. * * 2 Carrots * * 2 doz. Peppercorns * * 3 quarts Water--1d. * * Total Cost--6d. * * Time--Four Hours. * Wash the peas well in cold water, and put them into a saucepan with the vegetables sliced up, the peppercorns and the water. Bring to the boil and boil steadily for four hours, then rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan. Season well with salt, and stir in 1 oz butter or dripping. Bring to the boil and pour into a warm tureen. Send some dried mint and fried bread to table with it. This is a very nourishing soup, particularly if it is made with stock instead of water; it is very suitable for the cold season. VEGETABLE MARROW AND TOMATO SOUP * 1 doz. Tomatoes--3d. * * 1 Vegetable Marrow--2d. * * 9 Onions * * 1 oz. Butter * * 2 doz. Peppercorns * * 1 teaspoonful Sugar * * 3 pints Stock * * Salt--2d. * * Total Cost--7d. * * Time--One Hour. * Peel the vegetable marrow, slice it up, and take out the seeds; slice up the tomatoes and put them, with the marrow, into the saucepan with the butter, sugar, salt, and peppercorns; sweat them for five minutes. Pour over the boiling water or stock, and simmer for one hour. Rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan. Add more salt, if necessary, bring it to the boil, pour into a tureen, and serve. KIDNEY SOUP * 1 Ox Kidney--4d. * * 2 Onions--1/2d. * * 1 oz. Butter--1d. * * 1 oz. Cornflour--1/2d. * * Salt, Lemon Juice, and parsley * * 2 quarts Stock--1/2d. * * Total Cost--6 1/2 d. * * Time--One Hour. * Slice up the onions and fry them in the butter, strain them out and return the butter to the saucepan. Stir in the cornflour, and when well mixed pour over the stock and stir until it boils. Slice the kidney up into small pieces, and put it in; simmer very gently for one hour. Just before serving, season with salt and a little lemon juice; pour into a tureen and sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top. This soup must be cooked very slowly, or the kidney will be hard and tough. EGG SOUP * 1 quart White Stock * * 1 pint of Milk--2 1/2d. * * 3 Yolks of Eggs--3d. * * 1 oz. Sago--1/2d. * * 1 Onion--1/2d. * * Salt and Pepper--1/2d. * * Total Cost--7d. * * Time--Half an Hour * Boil the sago, stock, and onion together till the sago is clear; then take out the onion and season the soup with salt and pepper. Beat the yolks of the eggs in a basin, pour over the boiling milk, strain into the stock. Put over the fire and whisk till it comes to boiling point, but do not let it boil, or it may curdle. Pour into a tureen, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and send some fried bread to table with it. WHITE MACARONI SOUP * 1 1/2 oz. Macaroni--1d. * * 1 pint Milk--2 1/2d. * * 1 oz. Butter--1d. * * 3 pints Bone Stock * * Vegetables and Flour--1d. * * Total Cost--5 1/2 d. * * Time--One Hour. * The stock made from veal or mutton bones is the best for this soup, as it must be white. Nothing is nicer than the liquor in which a piece of veal has been stewed. If plenty of vegetables have been boiled in it none need be added when the soup is made. If not, boil an onion or leek, a slice of turnip, and a small piece of celery stalk in the stock for twenty minuets, and strain them out. Put the butter into a stewpan, and when it is melted stir in a tablespoonful of cornflour, pour over the milk and stock, and stir until it boils. Boil the macaroni in salt and water for twenty minutes, strain off the water, and cut it into pieces about 1 inch long; put these into the soup, and simmer for ten minutes. Just before serving, flavour with salt, a dust of white pepper, and a few drops of lemon juice. LOBSTER SOUP * 1 Lobster, Crayfish, or Tin of Lobster--1s. * * 2 quarts Fish Stock * * 1/2 pint of Milk--1d. * * 1 oz. Cornflour--1/2d. * * Lemon Juice, Salt, and Pepper--1/2d. * * Total Cost--1s. 2d. * * Time--One Hour * The fish stock for this soup should be well flavoured with vegetables. If a crayfish be used, remove all the white meat and boil the shells in the stock for half an hour and strain them out; thicken with the cornflour, pour in the milk, and boil up. Cut the lobster into small pieces and put into the soup; simmer for ten minutes. Flavour with lemon juice and salt, pour into a warm tureen, and serve with fried bread. Wash the shells well in cold water before putting them into the soup. FISH SOUP * 3 pints Fish Stock * * 1 pint Milk--2 1/2d. * * Cornflour--1/2d. * * Vegetables--1d. * * Fish--6d. * * Total Cost--10d. * * Time--Half an Hour * Remove all the fat from the fish stock and put it into a saucepan with six white peppercorns, an onion, one slice of turnip, a fagot of herbs, and some carrot. Boil this together for twenty minutes, then strain out the vegetables and pour back into the saucepan. Mix a tablespoonful of cornflour smoothly with the milk and stir it in; continue stirring till it boils. Skin and fillet the fish and cut it into dice, put these pieces of fish into the soup, and simmer for ten minutes. Just before serving add a few drops of lemon juice, and salt to taste. Pour into a tureen and sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top. CABBAGE SOUP * 1 Cabbage--3d. * * 2 oz. Butter--1 1/2d. * * 1 pint Milk * * Pepper, Salt, and Bread--3d. * * Total Cost--7 1/2 d. * * Time--One Hour * Wash and strain the cabbage well, and cut it up into slices; throw it into boiling salt and water, and cook for five minutes; strain all the water off and put it into a saucepan with the salt, pepper, and two quarts of boiling water, and boil for one hour. Add the milk and let it boil up again, toast the slice of bread and cut it up into dice. Put it into a warm soup tureen and pour the boiling soup over it. SYDNEY SOUP * 1/2 doz. Tomatoes--2d. * * 1 Carrot * * 2 Small Onions * * 12 Peppercorns * * 1 fagot Herbs * * 1/2 teaspoon Salt * * 2 quarts Stock--1 1/2d. * * 1 oz. Butter--1d. * * 1 oz. Cornflour and 1/2 oz. Tapioca--1d. * * 1 cup of Green Peas--2d. * * Curry Powder * * 1/2 teaspoonful of Sugar--1/2d. * * Total Cost--8d. * * Time--One Hour. * Put the butter into a saucepan, slice up the onions and carrot and fry them in it with the herbs, peppercorns, and a good pinch of curry powder. Mix the cornflour with a little stock and pour it over. Slice up the tomatoes and add them to the boiling stock; stir until it boils, and then simmer slowly for an hour. Rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan. Add the salt, sugar, and the tapioca; stir until this becomes transparent and thickens the soup. Put in a cupful of cold boiled peas; boil up and serve. WHITE ONION SOUP (SOUBISE BLANCHE.) * 1 pint of Milk--2d. * * 1 oz. Butter--1d. * * 4 Onions * * Salt and Pepper * * 1 pint White Bone Stock * * Dry Crusts--1d. * * Total Cost--4d. * * Time--One Hour. * Peel and slice up the onions and put them into a saucepan with the butter; make them very hot, and then cover them down and leave them to cook by the side of the fire for an hour, but they must not get any colour. Break in some dry, hard pieces of bread; it should be crust only for this soup. Boil the milk and stock together, pour it over the onions and bread, and let it simmer very slowly, closely covered, for an hour; rub through a sieve, season with salt and pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Boil up and serve with fried bread. CRECY SOUP * 6 Carrots--2d. * * 2 oz. Butter--2d. * * 1 Onion * * 1/2 teaspoonful Sugar * * 1/2 teaspoonful Salt * * 1 Turnip * * 1 stalk of Celery * * 3 pints of Boiling Water--1/2d. * * Total Cost--4 1/2 d. * * Time--Two Hours. * Slice up the carrots and vegetables, put them into boiling water, and cook for half-an-hour; strain them out of the water, which must be saved, and put them into a saucepan with the butter and a few scraps of bacon, if any are in the larder. Sprinkle over the sugar, make very hot, and cover down closely until the vegetables are very soft. Rub them through a sieve and pour on by degrees the water in which the vegetables were boiled; mix well together, return to a saucepan, and boil slowly for an hour. Stir in a small piece of butter and it is ready to serve. This soup should be perfectly smooth if properly made. A hair sieve should be used for the vegetables, and the soup should be cooked very slowly. LENTEN SOUP * 6 Onions--1 1/2d. * * 2 oz. Butter or Beef Dripping * * 2 quarts of Water or Pot Liquor * * Crusts of Bread * * Salt and Pepper--2d. * * Total Cost, with Butter--3 1/2 d. * * Time--Two Hours. * Peel and slice up the onions and put them into a sauce--pan with the butter 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. Butter--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 butter, 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 appetite. 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 quantity 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 quantity 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. Butter--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 butter 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. * * Total Cost--10d. * * Time--20 minutes * Wash the bream, rub some dripping on to a baking sheet, lay on it the fish, squeeze over a few drops of lemon juice; cover with a piece of paper well rubbed with dripping, and bake in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes or longer, if the fish is large. Remove the skin and fins, and put them on the dish; pour over the white sauce, which should be just thick enough to coat the fish. Chop the parsley finely, and boil the egg hard, cut it in half, and either chop the yolk or rub it through a sieve, and chop the white. Arrange these in alternate rows all over the fish, and garnish with a few lemon slices. FISH A LA MAITRE D'HOTEL * 2 Bream--8d. * * 1/2 pint White Sauce--2 1/1d. * * Lemon, Parsley, Pepper and Salt--1/2d. * * Total Cost--11d. * * Time--20 minutes * Fillet the fish, wash and trim them, roll them lightly up with the skin inside. Rub a baking sheet with some butter or dripping. Put on the rolls of fish close together. Squeeze over them some lemon juice, cover with a piece of buttered paper, and bake in the oven for twenty minutes or until they look milk white. Dish them carefully, make the white sauce by recipe given, season it with pepper, salt, and half a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Chop half a teaspoonful of parsley very finely and stir it in, pour over the fish, and serve. FISH AND TOMATO SAUCE * 2 Bream--8d. * * 1/2 pint of Tomato Sauce * * Salt, Pepper, and Parsley--3d. * * Total Cost--11d. * * Time--20 minutes * Fillet the bream; cut each fillet into two pieces, wash and trim them. Make some tomato sauce by recipe given. Butter a pie dish, lay in the fillets, and season them; pour over the sauce, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Garnish with a little chopped parsley, and serve in the dish in which they were cooked. OYSTER STEW * 1 bottle Oysters--1s. * * 1 oz. Butter--1d. * * 1/2 pint Milk * * 1/2 oz. Flour--1d. * * Pepper, Salt, and Lemon Juice--1/2d. * * Total Cost--1s. 2 1/2 d. * * Time--5 Minutes * Make a sauce by directions given, using a little of the oyster liquor mixed with the milk; flavour with salt and pepper, and a little nutmeg and lemon juice. Stir in the oysters and simmer for five minutes, it is then ready to serve. AMERICAN OYSTERS * 1 bottle of Oysters--1s. * * 1/2 pint of Milk--1d. * * 6 Soda Biscuits * * 1 oz. Butter * * Pepper and Salt--1 1/2d * * Total Cost--1s. 2 1/2 d. * * Time--5 Minutes * Put the milk and butter into a saucepan; when it boils put in the oysters and simmer for five minutes. Season with pepper and salt; break up the biscuits and throw them it. Boil up and pour into a deep dish, and it is ready to serve. FISH AND BUTTER SAUCE * 3 Whiting or Bream--1s. * * 1 1/2 oz. Butter * * 1 teaspoonful Parsley, Pepper and Salt 1 1/2d. * * Total Cost--1s 1 1/2d. * * Time--Three-quarters of an Hour. * Fillet the fish and cut them into strips, wash them well in cold water and dry in a cloth; twist them round, and lay in a buttered soup plate, sprinkle with white pepper and salt, and chopped parsley. Put in the rest of the butter, cover with another soup plate, and stand over a saucepan of boiling water for three-quarters of an hour; reserve the plates once while it is cooking, place in a hot dish, and pour over it the butter and parsley in which it was cooked. This is a nice delicate way of cooking fish for an invalid. FISH PATTIES * 1 Small Bream--4d. * * 1 oz. Butter--1d. * * 1 oz. Flour * * 1 teaspoonful Anchovy Sauce * * 1 gill Milk * * Pepper, Salt and Lemon Juice * * Flaky Pastry--6 1/2d. * * Total Cost--11 1/2 d. * * Time--20 minutes * Bake the fish in the oven, unless there is cold fish in the larder, which will do just as well; take away the skin and bone, and flake it up. Make a sauce of the butter, flour, and milk; season with