Consuming Interest
By LESLIE ADRIAN TN the past few months I have watched the 'transformation of Bute Street, SW7, which lies less than a hundred yards west of South Kensing- ton Underground Station. New shop buildings have been completed and old ones have been refurbished. Even the sober brown Watney's house, 'The Zetland Arms,' has blossomed with window boxes. The street is well worth kno-wing as a shopping centre for that side of London.
Last weekend I decided to explore its pos- sibilities more thoroughly; calling first at Num- ber 24, where Mr. L. G. Whitehead, formerly of Finmar, has recently opened a furnishing shop. Here the emphasis is to be on good, modestly priced, new furniture , and, where possible, solid woods are to be used rather than veneers. A well- proportioned solid mahogany tallboy and a matching chest of drawers for £30 and £20 respec- tively were two examples; at several West End stores these are the sort of prices you pay for mass-produced veneered pieces.
If, like Scandinavian housewives, you believe that it is unhygienic not to wash carpets, you will be interested in the new Finnish washable carpet- ings here. These are of cotton, nylon and art silk in a speckled black and white weave, the white predominating. They are sold in 27-inch widths and can be made up to order. A 9 ft. by 7 ft. 6 in. carpet costs fl 6 10s. I saw for the first time, too, some amazingly economical Dutch accordion blinds made from strong, cream-coloured paper. These look very like Venetian blinds but are a fraction of the cost of the aluminium kind. An 18-inch width is 13s. 6d. The widest, at 104 inches, is 63s. 6d. All blinds are 7 feet long.
'The Flower Garden,' at Number 31, is a firm forced to move from its old shop near St. Paul's because of rebuilding. There the trade was regular : typists bought posies in the lunch hour . and their bosses bought roses at six. In Bute Street the customers are more fastidious, but the trade more varied. I watched a well-known actress choosing 'succulents' from the cacti tray with suitable, sibilant drama. I bought a potted vine for my flat balcony—a fashion London's new Hungarian residents have brought with them. The best variety, I would suggest, for a not-too-sunny balcony is the Hungarian muscat. This not only produces decorative foliage but a small, sweet dessert grape as well. It will survive the winter outside, and apart from regular watering and occasional bone-meal needs little care. It costs approximately 35s.
The Delicatessen at Number 31 is another shop where the growing number of European custo- mers has brought new lines into the stock. Some unfamiliar sausages and charcuterie are growing in popularity, like the square Land Jaeger sausages. These brown, wrinkled 'twigs' are blended with beef and pork and should be eaten raw, preferably with bread and lager beer : they cost 2s. 3d. a quarter. Smoked Polish Hunter sausages, sometimes sold fresh and sometimes dry and wrinkled, are also ready to eat.
Mrs. Morris. the owner, boils all the hams on the premises; and they are always carved by a knife, because 'she believes 'Ham cut on a machine has no taste. All the flavour is left in the machine.' A piece of advice she' gave me was to avoid smoked salmon or smoked buckling which looks shiny with grease; some tradesmen smear oil over the fish when they arc dry and past their best.
* Anne-Marie Crevecceur's second summer recipe deals with mayonnaise and sauces : 'Bottled mayonnaise however good cannot have all the nourishment and delicacy of the true home-made sauce. It is a pity that owing to mis- leading rumours many people believe that its preparation is a long and complicated business. In a soup plate, or a shallow dish, I place a yolk of egg, a teaspoonful of French mustard, the tip of a teaspoonful of salt and a pinch of pepper. Using a fork I blend in the olive oil, drop by drop, turning always in one direction. Soon a thick cream is obtained and I continue adding oil until required quantity of sauce is made. Lastly I add the vinegar, half a teaspoonful at a time.
'Nothing could be easier to make; but I always make sure the oil is at room temperature, i.e., neither too hot nor too cold, otherwise it may curdle the sauce. Should this happen I start the sauce again with a fresh yolk of egg and when it has reached thick cream consistency I slowly incorporate the "failure." As mayonnaise is a highly nutritious addition to any diet when child- ren are being catered for, I keep the seasoning to a palatable minimum.'
'To make a sauce NIcOISE I simply add'a little tomato purée (the tinned variety is perfect for the purpose) and a sharp dash of cayenne to a thick, creamy mayonnaise. This sauce is particularly good with cold chicken, white fish, etc. I am very fond of sauce VERTE with cold salmon—and not simply because of the lovely colour scheme! I blanch in rapidly boiling salt water for one minute equal quantities of watercress, chervil, spinach, chives, tarragon leaves. Drain well and dry on rough towel; then pound well and strain through fine sieve. Add to mayonnaise.
'To make the "AYOLI" of Provence add garlic juice—obtained by pounding some cloves of garlic in a mortar.
'The sauce TARTARE I mentioned last week—as an alternative for mayonnaise, served with the cold Roulade de Veau—can be made by two dif- ferent methods : The first, by adding some very finely chopped shallots and tarragon to a sharp mayonnaise sauce (a basic proportion is about one dessertspoonful of the herbs per quarter-pint); and second, by placing in shallow dish two table- spoonfuls French mustard, pinch of pepper, tip of teaspoonful of salt, very finely chopped shallots and tarragon (one teaspoonful of each), half teaspoonful vinegar; and blending the lot before adding olive oil, drop by drop, as in a mayonnaise until the required quantity is made.'
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