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Show Mill mm - BAG DINNERS FCR THE WORK-INGMAN. WORK-INGMAN. By M. Soyer, Chef of Brooks' Clu'j, London. The era of paper bag cooking, which I have had the honor of recently perfecting, per-fecting, opens up a happier prospect to the wife of the workingman, the clerk or other employe on a small Balary, not only in the quantity of the dishes she may prepare, but in more leisure for herself. Lest any frugal house mother may be appalled at the prospect of having to use some two or three bags before she can produce a dinner, let me state that all the following recipes, each of which I have tested personally, can be cooked In one bag, leaving only the pudding, pie or tart to be considered. In drawing up these dinners for a week I have had in mind a household consisting of mother, father and three or four children, ranging from twelve to five years of age. It must be borne in mind that meat wastes practically not at all during the cooking procers in the bag; therefore, if you put four pounds into the bag, four pounds will come out. Sunday. Allow a quarter of a pound of meat per head for each child, and a half a pound per head for the two adults, pnd you will have two pounds left over, either for Sunday night's supper or for next day's dinner. As to vegetables, get some carrots, onions and turnips, mixed, and two pounds of potatoes. Peel the potatoes, slice them very thinly, and leave in water till needed. Peel and slice the onions and turnips and scrape the carrots. Cut all into small squares. Wash well; leave on a plate till needed. Take a little suet or two good tablespoonfuls of dripping. drip-ping. Rub this into half a pound of flour, and salt to taste, being careful not to overdo this and a little pepper. Mix to the ordinary dumpling consistency consis-tency with cold water, and shape Into dumplings about the size of a big j Brazil nut. Wash the beef well, but do not dry It SprlnKle It with seasoned flour that is, flour to which a little pepper and salt have been added on both Bides. Now grease the large bag thickly thick-ly with beef dripping. Take the potatoes pota-toes out of their bowl. Do not dry them, but sprinkle them lightly with tne seasoned flour. Then take the pot .toes, carrots, turnips and oVons, and mix them all well together, sprinkling sprink-ling them with a very little salt. Take a handful of this mixture and some dumplings, and put them into the hot-torn hot-torn of the bag. Then put In the flank of beef. Press It in as tightly and as closely to the vegetables as possible. Light the oven gas beforehand, lit it get as hot as it can for eight minutes. Then place the paper bag on the broiler, broil-er, put the broiler on the shelf of the oven, and close the door. Turn the gas down half way, and leave the bag in from an hour and a half to two hours. Monday. What is left over from Sunday will make dinner for Monday. Grease a bag well as before. Cut np the remains of the stewed beef into small square pieces. Dust these with fresh seasoned flour. Put two pounds of potatoes, cut small and dusted with salt, into a greased bag as before. Sprinkle the meat with a little powdered pow-dered sweet herbs put in the bag, and add to it a handful of either rice, barley bar-ley or oatmeal, which has been soaking soak-ing all night in cold water. If the water has not been quite all absorbed, add this also. Now add the remains of any gravy which may be over from the previous day. Close the bag, place It on broiler as before, and cook for 60 minutes. A Jam turnover will be Just the right sort of substantial dish to follow the beef. For this you must have a bag. Rub four ounces of lard or good dripping into half pound of flour salted to tas- till it crumbles well. Add sufficient cold water to make to a stiff paste; roll out twice. Mark out a square and spread this thickly with any kind of Jam liked. Fold over the two sides first and pinch well together. Now fold over the two sides in the same way. Brush over with water or milk, and sprinkle well with Lirown sugar. Put into the greased bag and bake for forty-five minutes. Tuesday. Take two pounds of cold boiled po-atoes, po-atoes, pour on to them two wineglass-tuJs wineglass-tuJs of hot milk or water, add a good big ftmrp of dripping or cold bacon fat, and mash to pulp, then beat up with a fork till quite light. Take one and a half pounds of either sausages or sausage sau-sage meat (if the former squeeze the meat out of the skins) and make into small cakes each sausage making two Jakes. Sprinkle a little finely chopped jnion on top of each cake. Make the potato pulp into thick round cakes, and put a sausage cake on top of each. Place in a wellgreased bag. Close It, and cook in a hot oven for fifteen minutes. Old-fashioned Irish plum porridge. Soak half a pound of oatmeal over night in cold water. At the same time soak four ounces of well washed currants cur-rants in another dish. Grease a bag well, drain the currants, add them to the oatmeal together with a bit of butter but-ter the size of a walnut Mix, place in the bag, close, and cook for fifty minutes min-utes in a moderately hot oven. Wednesday. Let the dinner be roast and stuffed breast of mutton. Take a lean breast of mutton four pounds weight, getting the butcher to bone it for you. Make a stuffing with two ounces of stale bread crumbs, a dust of salt and pepper, a finely chopped onion, and a heaped dessert, spoonful of minced parsley, or, 11 pressed for time, a little finely powdered pow-dered mixed sweet herbs. Add u good lump of dripping or cut a little fat from the thick part of the breast, chop this finely, and use instead of dripping Bind if possible with an egg, or, failing fail-ing this, use a little cold milk. Lay this mixture on the Inside of the meat Roll as tightly as possible, tie into place with clean tape or string. Grease the bag well. Put in one pound of peeled and halved potatoes, choosing these, all as nearly of a size as possible. pos-sible. Then put in the meat. Add the other and put in the rest of the potatoes. po-tatoes. Put in bag in a very hot oven. Lower the gas half way (or push In the dampers), and cook for an hour and a quarter or an hour and a half, according as the meat is liked well, over or underdone. Turn out, serve with a little red currant Jam, if Jelly is not possible. Baked bread pudding will be found very acceptable after this. To make it, soak half a pound or more of stale bread over night in cold water. Then beat up with a fork till quite light. Now add to It an ounce of brown sugar, two ounces of well-washed well-washed currants, two ounces, ditto ditto dit-to raisins, one ounce of candled peel, and a good lump of dripping. Beat up the mixture thoroughly. Sprinkle 11 thickly on top with brown sugar, Grease a bag thickly, put in the mixture, mix-ture, and bake for forty minutes. Open the bag, slip out gently, dust with sifted Bugar and serve. Thuraria v. Chop the cold mutton left over from Wednesday finely. Dust it with pepper, salt, a little powdered sweet herbs, and add to it a large finely chopped onion. Sprinkle the whole well with seasoned flour. Add any cold gravy which may be over from the day before, be-fore, and a couple of slices of lean flank of bacon and a tablespoonful of Worcester sauce, with the same amount of water. Grease the bag. Put in the mince. Cook gently for half an hour, turn out, and serve with baked potatoes. A Jam roly-poly pudding will be a nice finish to this dinner. It Is too well known to need a recipe. Friday. A little fish once a week not only makes a nice change in the monotony of the midday meal, but is often a distinct dis-tinct saving both in health and pocket. Stuffed and baked haddocks are delicious. de-licious. Make a stuffing in exactly the same way as described for stuffed breast ol mutton. , Wash the fish well and cut off the head; then put in the stuffing. Sew up the fish or secure tightly with white cotton. Grease the outside of the fish slightly, this to take the place ol the "bits of butter" put oh fish when the latter Is cooked in the oven In the old way. Grease the bag well. Put In the fish and bake for from 20 to 30 minutes, according to whether two small fish or one large one is used. Slip out gently and serve with baked potatoes. Dressed macaroni will serve for a pudding. Saturday. On Saturday the housewife usually has a good deal of cleaning up and mending to do for the morrow, so she will need something which does not require much preparation beforehand. Liver and bacon, always a highly appreciated ap-preciated dish, will meet the difficulty, and there is no fear of it "catching" in the bag if she should chance to be called away for a minute or two. Slice one pound of very fresh liver, dip each piece into flour nicely seasoned season-ed with salt and pepper. Put a piece of liver on top of each rasher of bacon. Grease the bag slightly. Put In the rashers and liver. Cook for twenty-five twenty-five minutes. Open the bag, and slip out the meat gently onto a very hot dish. Put boiled potatoes round as a border, and pour the gravy over the potatoes. (Copyright, 1911, by the Sturgls & Walton Company.) Coasting is claiming almost as many victims as football. |