Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 - 1953), Thursday 6 December 1934, page 3


CHRISTMAS DISHES. "Christmas comes but once a year, And when it does, it brings good cheer." Though penned so long ago the sen-timents expressed in these words still hold good to-day, in spite of the pIrevailing fashion of dieting, slim-sing and smaller meals. Since Christmas comes in our hottest sea-son, summer, our appetites are not so keen as they are in winter. Never-theless, without the traditional pud-dings, cakes, mince pies, etc., which help to make it the chief festival of the year, Christmas would lose much of its interest for us. Here are two particularly good and economical Christmas recipes front this month's "Australian Jour-nal" Christmas Pudding. ½ lb. beef suet, ½ lb. sultanas, ½ lb. currants, ½ lb. raisins, ½ lb, bread crumbs, 1lb. flour, ¼ lb. mixed peel, ½ lb. brown sugar, grated rind of 1 lemon, & ½ gill rum or brandy, 6 eggs, ½ grated nutmeg, 1 grated carrot, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, 1 tea-spoon mixed spice, ¼ teaspoon salt. Clean and prepare all the fruit. Shred suet finely. Break the eggs. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and spices. Rub the suet into the flour, and add the breadcrumbs. Mix in the fruit and carrot. Add the beaten eggs and stir up lightly and quickly with a wooden spoon. Add the rum or brandy. Pour quickly into a greased mould or basin and lie a floured cloth over the top. Boil for 6 hours. If preferred, this mix-ture may be cooked in a pudding cloth, but make sure that the water into which the pudding is plunged is boiling, and keep it boiling briskly all the time. Christmas Cake. 1 ¼ lbs. flour, 1 heaped teaspoonful baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, ½ teaspoonful nutmeg, 1 lb. castor sugar, 10 eggs, 1lb. butter, 1lb. currants, 1lb. raisins, 1lb. sul-tanna, ½lb. dates, ½lb. figs, ¼lb. chrys-tallised cherries, ¼lb. Jordan al-monds, 1 gill brandy. Clean the fruit. Shell and blanch the almonds. Stone dates. Cut up dates, figs, almonds, raisins and cher-ries. To expedite the work on the day on which the cake is to be baked, this preparation of fruit should be done the day before. Break the eggs into a jug. Cream the butter and sugar. Sift, the flour, baking powder and spices. Add the eggs one at a time and mix in thoroughly. Add the fruit and flour alternately, a tablespoonful at a time. Lastly, add the brandy and beat well to en-sure the ingredients being thor-oughly combined. Should a dark cake be desired, dissolve ½ a tea-spoon of bicarbonate of soda in 1 tablespoonful of boiling water and add to the mixture. The addition of 1 tablespoonful of caramel to this recipe also darkens the cake consid- erably. Put into a tin lined with greased paper. Bake in a moder- ate oven for 4½ to 5 hours--lower-ing the gas once the cake has set. Host Holbook says : I have a var-iety of Olives called small Queens. They are economical and tasty.