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Chutneys and Curry Powder

In a dozen books about good food and how to make it even better we have recommended the use of imported Sun Brand chutneys and curry powder, and we see no let up for us, because more and more phoney condiments are manufactured in this country and called chutney, curry or something quite as misleading.

The very best outdoor sauce, bar none, especially for game and tame meats is genuine East Indian chutney which comes in a dozen different mixtures, with such names and characteristics as follow. All of them are good, a few too hot for our taste, however, and they're not only good, but good and expensive. The kinds that suit American taste best are Major Grey's and Colonel Skinner's, but you might hit one in the lot that has just the right temperature: Major Grey's-sweet, medium hot, with sliced mango to give it the oriental tang.

Colonel Skinner's-milder, but much the same.

Sweet Lucknow-rich, luscious, but pretty hot.

Tirhoot-tangy, unsweetened.

Mixed Fruit-mellow, fruity, but peppery. East Indians themselves admit it's "slightly hot."

Delicious-mild, sweet, fruity.

Sweet Sliced Mango-with more fruit than sauce.

Green Mango-too tart and hot for us.

Cashmere unsweetened, but not unheatened. Albeit, suave.

Madras-spiciest of all.

Bengal Club-great for game. Try it with your next Bengal tiger.

Bengal Hot-we'll say!

Tamarind dark, velvety, fruity, mysterious.

Tap Sauce-not really a chutney, but a by-product with crisp mango flavor. It's cheaper and almost everybody likes it with meat, eggs, seafood, vegetables, cheese, salad, etc. Nothing better for al fresco feeds. 4 SWELL SEASONINGS Besides salt and whole black peppers to be ground fresh in one of those little French pepper mills, which also serve for powdering allspice berries to order, ordinary powdered spices are apt to get damp and tasteless even in a permanent camp, so they're not much used in outdoor cooking, although paprika, chili powder, curry and filé can work wonders. (Also, take along a long, thin little bottle of capers to spike fish and meats.) Curry powder comes in quite as many different flavors as chutney; and again we insist that you buy the imported, for we can't imitate it, and neither can the English. One type that we like is named for Madras, where it originated, and the compounders, Merwanjee Poonjiajee, of Bombay, guarantee it in the following words:

We declare that this Madras Curry Powder is perfect piquant peppery, and that its ingredients, entering into the composition of the contents of this tin are as follows: Coriander Seeds, Turmeric, Chilly Seeds, Salt, Cumin Seeds, Fennel Seeds, Pepper, Cloves, Anise-Stars, Foenugreek Seeds, Cinnamon, Mustard, Aperient Fruits, Cassia Buds, Chilly Powder, Garlic, Ground Nuts and Dry Ginger. As for paprika, the imported Hungarian kind is bestwe take along a kind called Hungarian Kingred Noble Sweet and not a word of it is exaggeration. Spanish paprika, although a little cheaper, is not nearly so good.