BAKING VS. FRYING.—Foods fried under the most ideal conditions and in the most skilful manner absorb much fat. Many foods well fried, especially doughnuts, are about 1/3 fat.

Fish Balls and croquettes, as mentioned previously, can be baked instead of fried. Baked croquettes seem somewhat more dry, however, than the fried food. If this is objectionable a sauce may be poured over them before serving.

Tomato, cheese, and brown sauces are tasty with most croquettes.

Doubtless many housekeepers who dislike the odor of hot fat and the cleaning of utensils used in frying foods, will consider the process of baking croquettes very much more satisfactory than that of frying.

RICE CUTLETS WITH CHEESE SAUCE

3/4 cupful rice 3 cupfuls boiling water 1 teaspoonful salt

Wash the rice, add the water. (If unpolished rice is used, let it soak for several hours.) Then add the salt and heat the mixture until it boils. Proceed as directed on page 85, Rice (cooked over boiling water). (Unpolished rice requires about 2 hours of cooking.) Make a White Sauce of the following ingredients:

4 tablespoonfuls flour 1 teaspoonful salt Dash pepper 3 tablespoonfuls fat 1 cupful milk

To 2/3 of the White Sauce add:

Cooked rice 1 or 2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped 1 tablespoonful parsley, chopped

(Reserve the remainder of the White Sauce for the preparation of Cheese
Sauce.) Shape the mixture into cutlets.

Dip in dried bread crumbs (or corn-meal) and egg as directed for Fried
Oysters.

Place the cutlets on greased dripping pan. Place bits of fat on top of the cutlets, then bake in a hot oven until they are browned. Serve hot with the following sauce:

Remainder of the White Sauce 3/4 cupful milk 1/4 to 1/2 cupful cheese, cut in small pieces 1 pimento chopped

Dilute the White Sauce with the milk. Add the cheese and pimento. Heat and stir until the cheese is melted. If necessary, add seasoning. Serve hot over the cutlets.

FAT SAVING AND SOAP-MAKING.—The housekeeper who endeavors to waste no food may find that she has saved some fat which is not suitable for food. Such fat can be utilized in soap-making. By using "modern lye" soap-making is not the laborious task as was the preparation of soft soap in colonial days.

The fat for soap-making need not necessarily be decolorized. It should, however, be tried out (if it is meat fat) and clarified before using in the preparation of soap. (These processes are given above.)

Soap made at home differs somewhat from that made at a factory. When fat and lye are combined chemically, soap and glycerin are formed. A commercial soap-maker extracts the glycerin from soap, the housekeeper does not.

Homemade soap, however, usually proves very satisfactory. When the time consumed in making it is not needed for other duties or obligations, it is a saving to make soap at home.

SOAP

1 can Babbit's lye 1 quart cold water 6 pounds clarified fat 2 tablespoonfuls ammonia

Turn the lye into a granite kettle, slowly add the cold water, stirring with a stick or a wooden spoon. Work most carefully to avoid getting the lye or the lye solution on the hands. When the water is added to the lye, the mixture becomes very hot. Let it stand until it is cool.

Put the fat into a large kettle or dish pan. Heat it until it melts. Then remove it from the fire. Let it cool sufficiently to bear the hands in it. Slowly add the lye solution, stirring constantly. Add the ammonia and continue stirring until the mixture becomes about the consistency of thick cream. Then turn the soap into a wooden box lined with paper or into a granite dripping pan. When the soap becomes firm, cut into pieces of suitable size.

The materials above will make about 8 1/2 pounds of soap.

NOTE.—If desired one small cake of soap may be prepared by each pupil in the classroom. The following recipe may be used:

1 teaspoonful lye 4 teaspoonfuls cold water 2 tablespoonfuls fat 1/8 teaspoonful ammonia

Proceed as directed for the large quantity. Pour the mixture into one cup of a granite muffin pan or into a small pasteboard box.

QUESTIONS

How does unpolished rice differ from polished rice? Explain why the former takes a longer time to cook than the latter (see Polished and Unpolished Rice).

Explain why baked croquettes require a sauce to make them most tasty for serving, while fried croquettes do not.

State at least 3 advantages of baking croquettes rather than frying them. Under what conditions do you think it would be desirable to make soap at home?