Australian Women's Weekly
Saturday 16 December 1933
Soon, so very soon, Christmas — with its kindliness and good cheer, its magic Santa, its fun, its jolly secrets, and, last but very far from least, its good things to eat!
RECIPES with a real Christmas flavor have been sent in by many readers. From these a selection has been made of the following, for which the sum of 2/6 each was paid.
OVEN-STEAMED HAM
Soak a ham in cold water over night. Next day scrape and dry off thoroughly. Weigh the ham and place in a brown paper hat bag, or make one large enough from brown paper. Tie the end firmly. Place in a large meat dish, with 1 pint of water, 1 teaspoon sugar. Cook for half an hour in a hot oven, and then reduce heat to cook slowly for 4 hours, or half an hour for every pound of ham. When cooked, peel the ham immediately, dust with brown raspings, and put in a few cloves. The flavor ls much improved if kept whole for twelve hours.
—Miss N. Marshall, 57 Gregory Terrace, Brisbane, Queensland.
HOW TO COOK A SUCKING PIG
Prepare stuffing first. Cut 12 thin slices of well-buttered bread from square loaf. Sprinkle each slice with finely-cut sage leaves, season with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. Place slices on top of each other, cut across into four, then put inside pig. Put a layer of sausage meat on top of slices. Fasten with strong needle, and thread, brush over with salad oil; truss, and wrap in double fold of kitchen paper greased, tie up, and bake for 2½ or 3 hours. Keep well basted, and half an hour before cooked remove paper, brush with oil or cream, and put back In oven to crisp to deep golden color. Cut off head, split back, lay two halves on dish with head at top. Serve with brown and apple sauce and hot currants. Must be eaten hot.
—Mrs. E.A. Hunt, 9 Wardell Rd., Petersham, N.S.W.
YULE-TIDE-LOG.
A delightful sweet for a Christmas party, and a source of delight to both young and old, is a sweet made in the form of a "Rustic Log."
Cream four eggs and six ozs. of castor sugar for twenty minutes, sift in 4 ozs. of plain flour and 1 teaspoonful of baking powder, pinch of salt, 1 teaspoonful of vanilla. Stir in very lightly. Line a large flat tin with buttered paper, dust with castor sugar, pour in the mixture, about one-third of an inch deep. Bake in a moderate oven, eight to ten minutes. Spread warm apricot jam over, and roll up very quickly. When quite cold ice with the following icing:
Mocha Icing: Cream five tablespoons of butter and 10 tablespoonfuls of sifted icing sugar, then add one tablespoonful of coffee essence; if too stiff add a little water. Now cover roll with icing, using a forcing pipe with rose attached, in straight rows to imitate the bark of a tree. Cut the ends slanting, and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Garnish with fresh green twigs, decorated with tufts of wadding to resemble snow.
—Mrs. H. Clifford, 46 Bland Street, Ashfield, N.S.W.
CHICKEN HAWAIIAN
1 pineapple
4 tablespoons salad oil
3 slices onion
flour
a chicken weighing about 4lbs.
salt
pepper
and rice (boiled)
Cut pineapple into slices, cook, and reserve juice. Then fry slices in hot oil until a light brown; remove and cook onion in same fat for 5 minutes, cut chicken into convenient pieces, and wipe thoroughly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roll in flour. Place in pan with onion, and cook until a delicate brown. Lay slices of pineapple on top of the chicken, then add the pineapple juice, to which enough water has been added to make 2 cups. Cover tightly and cook very slowly for 1 hour. Serve chicken and pineapple on a platter around a mound of steamed or boiled rice. Garnish with parsley.
—Miss Grace Graham, "Glenridding," Warialda, N.S.W.
Mrs. Ruth Furst, cookery expert of The Australian Gas Light Company, suggests the following recipes:—
CHRISTMAS PUDDING
Half lb. butter
½ lb. sugar
4 eggs
3 tablespoons brandy or sherry
½lb. currants
½lb. seeded raisins
½lb. sultanas
2ozs. peel
12ozs. plain flour
½ teaspoon carb. soda
Cream butter and sugar. Add well-beaten eggs gradually, then the sherry, and, lastly, sifted flour and carb. soda, and prepared fruit. Place in a well-floured pudding cloth. Gather the cloth up evenly and tie firmly, allowing room to swell. Put a little flour in the hole where tied. Place in a large saucepan of fast boiling water. Boll quickly for 15 minutes, then lessen the heat and allow to boil slowly for six hours.
Remove from the water and hang in a cool place. On the day of using, place in boiling water and boil for three hours. Remove from the cloth, and serve on a hot dish with custard, cream or hard sauce.
CHRISTMAS CAKE
Half lb. butter
½ lb. sugar
4 eggs
3 tablespoons sherry
½lb. seeded raisins
½lb. currants
½lb. sultanas
2oz. peel
2ozs. blanched almonds
10ozs. plain flour
½ teaspoon carb. soda
1 dessertspoon caramel or Parisian essence
1 teaspoon spice
Attend to oven. Remove browning shelf. Place rack shelf about the centre and heat the oven from 10 to 15 minutes.
Cream butter and sugar. Add well-beaten eggs gradually, then sherry. Then, add the well-sifted flour, carbonate soda and spice with the well-prepared fruit. Add caramel. Place in prepared tin, which has been lined with two thicknesses of brown paper, and two of white. Size of tin is eight inches.
Place in hot oven, turn the gas down very low and allow to cook slowly from 2½ to 3 hours. Remove from the oven and allow to remain in the tin till cold or ready for icing. To test the cake, place a skewer through the thickest part, and if it come out quite free from cake mixture the cake is cooked.
Source: Recipes (1933, December 16). The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), p. 46.
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