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Some Kitchen Kinks: Farina

Ragout of Mutton with Farina Balls. 1½ pounds neck of mutton cut into small pieces. 1 tablespoonful butter. 1 tablespoonful flour. 1 onion. 1 carrot. 1½ can peas. 2 cups hot water. 1 teaspoonful salt. 1/4 teaspoonful pepper. 1 bay leaf.

Sprig parsley. 1 clove.

Farina Balls. 1/4 cup farina. 1 cup milk. 1/4 teaspoonful salt. 1/8 teaspoonful pepper Onion juice.

Yolk 1 egg.

Put butter in frying pan. When melted add flour and brown. Add carrot and onion, cut in dice. Remove vegetables and add meat, searing well. To meat and vegetables add hot water and seasonings. Put in a suitable kettle, cover and simmer two hours. Add peas ten minutes before serving in a dish with farina balls made as follows:

Cook farina and milk in double boiler one hour. Add seasoning and well-beaten yolk. Stir well and cool.

When cold roll into balls. Dip in egg and crumbs and fry in deep fat.

Rice may be used in a similar way.

MEAT PIES AND SIMILAR DISHES Meat pies represent another method of combining flour with meat. They are ordinarily baked in a fairly deep dish the sides of which may or may not be lined with dough. The cooked meat, cut into small pieces, is put into the dish, sometimes with small pieces of vegetables, a gravy is poured over the meat, the dish is covered with a layer of dough, and then baked. Most commonly the dough is like that used for soda or cream-of-tartar biscuit, but sometimes shortened pastry dough, such as is made for pies, is used. This is especially the case in the fancy individual dishes usually called patties. Occasionally the pie is covered with a potato crust in which case the meat is put directly into the dish without lining the latter. Stewed beef, veal, and chicken are probably most frequently used in pies, but any kind of meat may be used, or several kinds in combination. Pork pies are favorite dishes in many rural regions, especially at hog-killing time, and when well made are excellent.

If pies are made from raw meat and vegetables longer cooking is needed than otherwise, and in such cases it is well to cover the dish with a plate, cook until the pie is nearly done, then remove the plate, add the crust, and return to the oven until the crust is lightly browned.

Many cooks insist on piercing holes in the top crust of a meat pie directly it is taken from the oven.

Twelve O'Clock Pie.

This is made with shoulder of mutton, boiled with carrot and onion, then cut up, mixed with potatoes separately boiled and cut up, and put into a baking dish. The crust is made by mixing smoothly mashed potatoes to which a tablespoonful of shortening has been added, with enough flour and water to make them roll out easily. A pie made of a pound of meat will require 5 or 6 small boiled potatoes, a cupful of mashed potatoes, and E or 10 tablespoonsful of flour, and should be baked about twenty minutes in a hot oven. Salt, pepper, and other seasoning, as onion and carrot, may be added to taste. A teaspoonful of baking powder makes the crust lighter.

Meat and Tomato Pie.

This dish presents an excellent way of using up small quantities of either cold beef or cold mutton. If fresh tomatoes are used, peel and slice them; if canned, drain off the liquid. Place a layer of tomato in a baking dish, then a layer of sliced meat, and over the two dredge flour, pepper and salt; repeat until the dish is nearly full, then put in an extra layer of tomato and cover the whole with a layer of pastry or of bread or cracker crumbs. When the quantity of meat is small, it may be "helped out" by boiled potatoes or other suitable vegetables. A few oysters or mushrooms improve the flavor especially when beef is used. The pie will need to be baked from half an hour to an hour according to its size and the heat of the oven.

Meat and Pastry Rolls.

Small quantities of cold ham, chicken, or other meat may be utilized for these. The meat should be chopped fine, well seasoned, mixed with enough savory fat or butter to make it "shape," and formed into rolls about the size of a finger. A short dough (made, say, of a pint of flour, 2 tablespoonfuls of lard, 1 teaspoonful of baking powder, salt, and milk enough to mix) should be rolled thin, cut into strips, and folded about the meat rolls, care being taken to keep the shape regular. The rolls should be baked in a quick oven until they are a delicate brown color and served hot.

Meat Turnovers.

Almost any kind of chopped meat may be used in these, and if the quantity on hand is small may be mixed with potato or cooked rice.

This filling should be seasoned to taste with salt and pepper, onion, or whatever is relished, and laid on pieces of short biscuit dough rolled thin and cut into circles about the size of an ordinary saucer. The edges of the dough should be moistened with white of egg, the dough then folded over the meat, and its edges pinched closely together. If APPENDIX desired, the tops of the turnovers may be brushed over with yolk of egg before they are placed in the oven. About half an hour's baking in a hot oven is required. Serving with a brown sauce increases the flavor and moistens the crust. MEAT WITH MACARONI AND OTHER STARCHY MATERIALS Macaroni cooked with chopped ham, hash made of meat and potatoes, or meat and rice, meat croquettes-made of meat and some starchy materials like bread crumbs, cracker dust, or rice are other familiar examples of meat combined with starchy materials. Pilaf, a dish very common in the Orient and well known in the United States, is of this character and easily made. When there is soup or soup stock on hand it can be well used in the pilaf.

Turkish Pilaf. 1/2 cup of rice. 3/4 cup of tomatoes stewed and strained. 1 cup stock or broth. 3 tablespoonsful of butter.