Australia Christmas 1933 - Christmas Time is Party Time

Christmas Card Design submitted to John Sands Christmas cards competition, 1881 (Australia)

CHRISTMAS Time is PARTY Time!

Women's Weekly

Saturday 23 December 1933

Margaret Shepherd... cookery expert & instructor to leading hospitals, gives you a wealth of suggestions...

With tempting recipes for planned or impromptu teas or suppers!

"IT seems to me our joys are multiplied at Christmas time! 

After exchanging gifts, planning and preparing Christmas dinner, 

there will be all sorts of parties, picnics and celebrations 

during the holidays which give the housewife scope for her 

imagination in planning entertainment and party

fare in new and attractive ways."

FOR home parties, whether planned or impromptu, the buffet tea or supper is by far the best . . . the ease of preparation and absence of formality please the guests and leave the hostess free to enjoy her own party.

Plan your menu and prepare your dishes beforehand. Leave cold dishes on the ice until the last  minute, and hot dishes in readiness to be re-heated when the time arrives. This is an excellent opportunity to use up left-overs from the previous day. Cold chicken can appear in salads, or moulds, with ham. Sour cream makes a delightful cream cheese.

Set the table, or buffet, with everything the guests may require, and avoid extra trips to the kitchen. Silver forks, knives and spoons should be on the table; also serving spoons, plates and dishes.

Iced beverages and a bowl of cracked ice should be placed on a side table, while jellies, nuts, and candies contribute to the decorative scheme of your table.

To avoid overcrowding in the dining-room, arrange card and other small tables in the living room and on the verandahs — with linen covers on each table. Bring the salads and iced sweets in at the very last moment. It is a good plan for the hostess to call upon her two best friends to help serve the dishes.

Should weather permit, the meal can be arranged out-of-doors, either on the lawn, or in the bush. Bright-colored linen cloths are more suitable for the lawn. Plan foods that will carry well.

Try and avoid carrying plates. They weigh down the basket and never will "stay put" on the grass. Scoop out the centres of thick slices of bread and fill with savory, moist mixture, thus providing plates and food in one. For salads, empty the pulp from tomatoes or cucumbers (the skins are used as bowls), and fill them with a mixture of salads and meat.

Pastry turnovers are easy to carry. Below are a few suggestions for picnics and parties.

CREAM CHEESE.

(From sour cream.)

Put the cream into a basin, and stir until it curdles. Strain through a cheese cloth, allowing it to drain for a time. Return to basin, add salt, pepper, and celery salt to taste; also a little paprika, if liked.

SAVOURY LOAF

three cups flour
1 egg
1 heaped tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons grated cheese
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons finely chopped ham
1 tablespoon finely chopped olives and gherkins

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a basin; rub butter in with fingertips; add ham, cheese, olives and gherkins. When mixed, add the well-beaten egg and milk—adding more milk if necessary. Mix into a moist, but firm dough, and put into a well-greased scone tin and bake in a hot oven for the first 15 minutes; lower the gas, and cook 55 minutes in a slow oven. When cooked, turn on to a sieve to cool before cutting. Spread with butter and serve.

CHICKEN AND POTATO SALAD

one and a half cups cold chicken
½ cup celery (diced)
2 cups cold boiled potatoes
watercress
olives
salad dressing

Mix the above ingredients together well; add salt and pepper to taste. Arrange in a dish, garnish with

watercress. and chill thoroughly.

FRUIT COCKTAIL

(Enough for six persons)

One and a half cups diced bananas
1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons diced pineapple
2½ cups diced peaches
1½ tablespoons icing sugar
preserved ginger

Mix all the fruits together, add the icing sugar, and pour over the orange juice. Serve in glasses with a little finely chopped ginger over each. Chill.

SPARKLING PUNCH

one pint bottle grape juice
1 pint soda water
1 pint bottle dry ginger ale
mint leaves
ice (ice cubes from a refrigerator, tinted green).

Chill the above ingredients and mix before serving. Garnish with sprigs of mint.

CUCUMBER AND PINEAPPLE SALAD

Two cups grated pineapple (cooked)
1 cup diced cucumber
1 lemon
3 tablespoons vinegar
½ cup cold water
¾ cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
sprigs mint

Put half cup water into a saucepan with lemon rind and mint, and bring slowly to boiling-point; add salt and sugar. Soak gelatine in cold water and lemon juice five minutes. Strain boiling liquid over gelatine and stir until it dissolves. Stand aside to cool. When cold (not set) add diced cucumber, pineapple. Pour into wetted individual moulds. When set, turn on to lettuce leaves and serve with a cream salad dressing.

MINCE TARTS

A rich short crust or puff pastry, quantity of mincemeat, icing sugar. Cut out and line individual tins with the pastry. Fill with mincemeat. Cover or leave open as desired, and bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes; reduce the heat and cook for another 15 minutes. If covered with pastry, dust tops with powdered icing-sugar before serving

CHICKEN IN JELLY

one fowl
1 medium-size onion
7 or 8 peppercorns
ham or bacon bone
gelatine
2 hard-boiled eggs
parsley
salt
lemon rind, and juice

Clean and dress fowl. Cut into joints and put into a saucepan with the onion, peppercorns, and sufficient boiling water to cover. Cook for three-quarters of an hour, add the salt, and continue to simmer until the meat falls from the bones. Remove fowl, and strain and skim fat from the liquid. Add lemonjuice, and 1 teaspoon gelatine to every cup of stock. Rinse the mould in cold water, and decorate with parsley and slices of hard-boiled egg. Pack in meat free from skin and bone, and pour on the stock. Place a weight on top and stand in a cool place until set. Turn out, and garnish with celery hearts and radish roses.

Sources:

1. Christmas Time is Party Time! (1933, December 23). The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), p. 33.
2. Christmas Card Design submitted to John Sands Christmas cards competition, 1881; Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales