“A good housekeeper without perfected kitchen conveniences is as much of an anomaly as a carpenter without a plane, a dressmaker without a sewing machine.”—Anonym.

What would we think of the farmer who to-day was cutting his hay with a scythe and reaping his grain with a cradle because he could not “afford” a reaper and mower?

While we should be able to adapt ourselves to circumstances, to improvise double boilers, steamers and ovens when necessary, it is at the same time true economy to have an abundance of cooking utensils if possible. A half dozen saucepans will last six times as long as one used for everything and save much valuable time.

“To many people, anything out of the usual custom is deemed extravagant.” This I suppose accounts for the fact that many housewives who have beautifully furnished parlors and wear fine clothing cannot afford conveniences for the kitchen.

The room in which is prepared the “food to sustain life and nourish brain, bone and muscle,” should be the most attractive place in the house, and it will be when arranged and furnished for convenience. I can think of nothing more interesting than a kitchen with the frequently used utensils decorating the walls where they can be reached with few steps; and such little things as spoons, egg beaters, can openers, spatulas, cork screws, potato mashers, measuring cups, funnels, soup dippers, wire strainers, pinchers and skimmers, not forgetting a small cushion with pins, hanging just over the table; the table having drawers for knives, vegetable cutters and other unhangable articles.

The best quality of aluminum ware is the cheapest and best for fruits and for general cooking purposes, except for vegetables. Never put lye or anything alkaline into aluminum vessels.

Copper and re-tinned vessels are unequaled in some respects (if they may not be used for acid foods); being flat bottomed, thick and heavy, milk, legumes, cereals and foods of that nature are not so apt to stick or scorch in them, and they are almost everlasting. They can be re-tinned when the lining wears off.

Iron kettles and frying pans are excellent for many things. Some of the uses of a nice smooth iron frying pan are to bake a round cake or a thick pie or a pudding in, to scallop corn or potatoes, or to scald milk.

Use granite, agate, and porcelain lined utensils with care.

Never dry them on the stove as that causes them to crack; and do not knock the edges of the kettles and saucepans with a spoon, nor strike any kind of a vessel with an agate spoon, as it causes the little particles of glazing to flake off. These flakes from agate utensils often work serious injury to the delicate membranes of the digestive tract.

One large double boiler holding from 8 to 16 qts. is very desirable as it furnishes two kettles for fruit canning and other purposes and can be used as a double boiler when required. Several smaller ones of different sizes economize time and food material.

To improvise a double boiler, set a close covered pan over a kettle of boiling water; or set a covered dish into a pail with water in it, cover and put into the oven; or put a pan or other covered vessel into a kettle of water on top of the stove with something under it to keep it from the bottom of the kettle; or set one milk crock into another, with water in the lower one; or a bowl into the top of the teakettle. The first double boiler I ever owned was a gluepot.

Use wire strainers or small and large colanders, well covered, over dishes of boiling water, for steamers; and when a deeper receptacle is required, turn a basin or pan that just fits, over the top.

Two sizes of flat colanders with pin head holes are to be found at the 5 and 10 cent stores, which are just as useful and durable as more expensive ones. They answer the purpose of both steamer and colander.

Be sure to have deep kettles or boilers into which the colanders fit perfectly. I have been in kitchens where, though there was a sufficient variety of utensils, they were of little use, for no two things fitted; the steamers and colanders were just a little too large or a little too small for all the kettles, requiring double the expenditure of time and strength in using.

Iron rings from small wooden kegs or little rings melted from the tops of tin cans are great treasures to use on the top of the stove, in kettles, or in the oven, to set vessels on to keep the contents from sticking and burning.

“Gunboats”—empty tin cans—of all sizes, have a great variety of uses.

A book of asbestos sheets costing ten cents is invaluable. Each sheet can be used again and again for laying over bread, cake and other foods in the oven.

After using an aluminum frying or omelet pan for a time, one would always feel it to be a necessity.

The uses of timbale molds and custard cups are almost innumerable, and when you once get them you have them.

A pastry brush saves greasy fingers and much time, in oiling cold or warm pans. Never use it on a hot griddle.

For dispatch and thoroughness in oiling round bottomed gem pans, nothing equals a piece of cloth folded in several thicknesses 2½ to 3 in. square, saturated with oil.

A spatula (similar to a palette knife) of medium size will soon pay for itself in the material it saves from the sides of the pans, as well as in time. A large French knife chops vegetables on a board more rapidly than they can be done in a chopping bowl; it also slices onions, shaves cabbage, cuts croutons and does many things as no other knife can, while smaller ones of different sizes all have their uses.

For stirring dry flour and meal into hot liquid, for gravies, and for beating all batters, nothing can take the place of a strong wire batter whip.

The “Surprise” beater with fine cross wires makes the whites of eggs for meringues and cakes lighter than any other. The smaller the wire around the edge, the lighter the eggs will be. These very delicate ones are for sale in some of the five and ten cent stores at 3 for 5c. Next to the “Surprise” beater for beating whites of eggs comes the silver fork.

The “Dover” revolving beater gives a fine close grain when that is desired, as in egg creams, the “Holt” coming next and being more rapid in its work, while the “Lyon” gives a fine, fluffy result. A large sized beater is more useful.

Eggs can be beaten in a deep bowl, narrow at the bottom (the regular cooking bowl shape) in half the time that it takes to beat them in a broad bottomed bowl. The nearer the sides of the bowl are to the beater, the quicker the work will be done. The same is true of whipping cream, and as cream spatters at first, a pitcher or a tin can, not so deep but the handle of the beater can be operated, is best for the purpose. It is better to set the dish in the sink while whipping cream.

If possible have a good scale, as much more accurate results are obtained in cooking by weight than by measure. It will be useful in weighing articles from the grocery and market, for weighing letters and papers for mailing and many other things.

When you have used a good bread mixer for a time, you would not go back to the old, laborious way of kneading bread for double its cost. The mixer also makes better bread than can be made by hand.

One of the greatest labor savers is a food cutter. A large sized one, even for a small family, is most satisfactory. Many now have a nut butter attachment which is desirable, though a regular nut butter mill is preferable for nut preparations.

Try to have something for a quick fire. If you are out of the reach of gas, a well-cared-for two burner oil stove will do good service.

Eternal vigilance is the price of preventing double boilers from going dry. Add more water before there is the least danger.

Rinse off the egg beater or batter whip and hang it in its place as soon as you finish using it, before going on with what you are doing, unless, as in some cakes, it needs to drain, then have ready a pitcher, tin can or quart measure containing cold water to drop it into after draining.

The cogs of an egg beater should never be wet; when they are wet once, its usefulness is impaired.

The “Surprise” beater should never be touched with a cloth.

Always wipe a can opener after using, and hang it in its place.

Wire strainers should always be rinsed as soon as used; colanders also, unless they require soaking, in which case put them immediately into water.

Put sticky utensils to soaking as soon as emptied.

Rinse and put to draining everything that can be rinsed; then it will be ready for use instead of rusting in the sink.

Never put knives, spatulas, egg beaters or whips in the sink; always rinse them off at once.

Professional cooks never lay a knife down without wiping it off. Clean, dry cloths or towels should be at hand for such purposes.

A side towel fastened to the waist is almost a necessity.

Never scrape a knife or spoon on the edge of a dish.

It is just as necessary and as satisfactory to keep the inside of the oven blackened as the top of the stove, and it is very little more work.

Boil strong lye water in a scorched vessel (except aluminum), before trying to clean it.

I have noticed that if a little water is boiled for a few minutes in a close covered vessel in which some pasty food has been cooked, the particles are so loosened by the steam that the vessel washes easily.

I would suggest that instead of hanging the dish cloth on the inside of the sink door, you put it on a line near the stove or out of doors, where it will dry quickly.

Wet wooden spoons, chopping bowls and all wooden utensils in cold water before using, to prevent their absorbing the flavors and juices of foods.

Put new bread and cake tins into a hot oven and bake them until they look like old ones, if you wish your bread and cake to be well done on the bottom and sides.

Do not work in a “mess,” keep your tables wiped up as you go.

Above all, pick up after yourself. It is often more work to pick up after people than to do the work.

THINGS TO DO BEFOREHAND

• Wash potatoes and keep in stone crock in cool place.
• Have beans, peas and lentils looked over.
• Have English currants washed and dried, in jars.
• Have seeded raisins stemmed.
• Have peanuts and almonds blanched.
• Have herbs and flavorings ground and bottled.
• Have citron cut, wrapped in waxed paper, in covered jar.
• Have flour browned in three shades.
• Have dry bread ground.
• Have tomatoes strained.
• Have lemon juice extracted, standing in a cool place.

ECONOMY

“Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost.” John 6:13.

True economy consists in using all of a good material, rather than in buying an inferior quality.

It is poor economy from a financial standpoint (saying nothing of health) to buy small or specked fruits or vegetables.

It takes longer to pare, quarter and core a specked apple than a sound one, because the decayed part has first to be cut out and one may have to cut again and again before it is all removed and when it is finished there may not remain a quarter of an apple.

I once saw two barrels of apples bought at a great “bargain.” Four or five people whose time was valuable spent an afternoon in preparing those apples to stew; when they had finished, there was just a bushel left and they were so flavorless that it was necessary to add lemon juice and a good deal of sugar to make them at all palatable.

C.F. Langworthy, Ph.D. in speaking of overripe and partially decayed fruit says: “In addition to a deterioration in flavor, there is always the possibility of digestive disturbance if such fruit is eaten raw.”—Farmers’ Bulletin 293. U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Inferior, immature fruit, dried, requires a larger proportion of sugar than well ripened fruit, and then it is neither palatable nor wholesome.

Small prunes with their large proportion of stone and skin are expensive besides being inferior in flavor.

It takes as long to pare, quarter and core a small apple as a large one, and a bushel of large apples will yield more pulp than a bushel of small ones, notwithstanding the spaces, there being a so much larger proportion of skins and cores in the small ones.

Small pineapples are especially expensive. “Cheap” flour costs more than the best because it takes a larger quantity to make the same amount of bread.

Corn starch that costs two or three cents less per package than the best will sometimes require double the quantity for thickening, besides imparting a strong, disagreeable flavor.

Cotton seed oil that is not well refined, so that it is clear and nearly white is not fit for food, and requires more for shortening.

Economy in all things, food, clothing, houses, climate is that which keeps us in the best condition physically and spiritually.

MISCELLANEOUS

All foods that are suitable should be used uncooked. They are more nourishing and consequently more satisfying.

Foods containing starch should not be eaten raw.

Next to wholesomeness, make taste and palatability first. There is nothing more disappointing than to taste of a daintily arranged and decorated dish and find it flat and insipid.

Seek to develop the natural flavors of foods, of which there are thousands, rather than to add foreign flavorings.

To stir fruits, legumes and many foods while cooking is just the way to make them stick and scorch. Shake the vessels instead of stirring.

To brush kettles and saucepans on the inside with oil, helps to keep milk and other foods from sticking.

Use double boilers as far as possible for reheating gravies, cereals and legumes, and for heating milk.

When, in spite of all precautions, something burns on, plunge the vessel without ceremony into a pail or pan of cold water for a moment, empty the contents immediately into another kettle, add boiling water and return to the fire to finish cooking. Badly scorched foods often lose all the scorched flavor by this treatment. Remove the burnt portion from bread or cake with a grater, when first taken from the oven.

Dip the knife into hot water to cut butter, warm bread or cake.

Two forks are better than a knife for separating steamed puddings, fresh cake and many things.

Use pastry flour for gravies, sauces and all thickenings.

To blend flour and liquid for thickening, add only a little liquid at a time, stirring with a fork or batter whip until a perfectly smooth paste is formed, then add liquid to make of the consistency of rather thin cream.

Flour, for thickening, gives a more creamy consistency than corn starch. Use corn starch for fruit juices, as it leaves them clearer.

Never mix flour or corn starch with eggs to stir into boiling liquid, as they both require longer cooking than eggs will bear without separating. Stir the blended flour or corn starch into the liquid first, let it boil well, then pour the hot mixture gradually, stirring, into the beaten eggs, return to the fire and cook a moment if necessary, but do not boil.

In adding yolks of eggs to hot mixtures, put two or three spoonfuls of the mixture on to the yolks, stirring, then add them, all at once, to the whole.

Eggs must be added all at once to hot liquids so they will all be cooked alike and a part will not curdle before the rest is done.

To prevent a raw taste, blended flour should be added to boiling liquid so slowly as not to stop its boiling.

“Rich milk” means one-fourth to one-third cream.

Cream judiciously used is no more expensive from a financial stand point than butter, and from a health standpoint it is cheaper.

Being in the form of an emulsion, cream does not hinder digestion as does the free fat of butter. It should be sterilized before using in uncooked dishes. In the recipes in this book, heavy cream is meant unless thin is specified.

It is cheaper to buy heavy cream than light, when there are two qualities, and you can make it as thin as you wish.

When cream is scarce do not use it where oil and skimmed milk will do just as well, but save it for uses where nothing else will take its place.

Cream with water often gives a better flavor to foods than milk, and is just as cheap.

For farmers, the use of cream saves the labor of making butter.

When taking cream, use fewer nuts and less butter and other oils.

Nut creams and butters may always be substituted for dairy cream and butter, with judgment as to flavors.

Peanut butter should be used sparingly and judiciously. No one enjoys, as one man expressed it, “that everlasting peanut flavor in everything.”

Oil and melted butter may be combined in equal quantities when the butter flavor is desirable, as in pilau and drawn butter.

Oil makes more tender pastry, raised cakes and universal crust.

“Stale” bread crumbs are those of a two or three days old loaf.

Stale bread is understood for crumbs when no specification is given.

A quick and easy way to prepare stale bread crumbs is to cut very thin slices from the loaf, lay them together and cut as thin as possible across one way and then the other with a large sharp knife into tiny dice.

“Dry” crumbs are those from a loaf dry enough to grate or grind.

Save all pieces of bread not usable for croutons or other things, dry without browning, and roll or grind, for dry crumbs; sift, leaving two sizes of crumbs. When bread crumbs are used for puddings or molds the quantity will vary with the kind of bread. Fewer will be required with home-made bread than with baker’s bread.

Bread, cracker or zwieback crumbs, corn meal, flour or browned flour No.1, or a mixture of crumbs and brown or white flour may be used for rolling croquettes or cutlets, or for sprinkling the top of scallops or gratins.

Nut meal is suitable for the outside of rice croquettes and the top of many dishes.

Grated or chopped onion is apt to become bitter if prepared long before using.

To extract the juice from lemons without a drill, cut them in halves without rolling, the same as for a drill, then holding each half over a strainer in a bowl, work the point of a spoon from the cut surface in and around gradually to the rind. This method removes the juice cleaner than does the drill.

Another way is to roll the lemon and puncture it at one end with a silver fork, then squeeze the juice out. This leaves the seeds inside.

Dry lemons yield more juice than fresh ones.

Remove the pulp from lemons for pies and other uses by cutting them lengthwise in the middle of the sections and scraping each side of the membrane, or by cutting the lemon in halves crosswise and taking the pulp out with a spoon.

To keep lemons and oranges from molding, spread them on a shelf in a dry place so that they will not touch each other. They may be covered with glass tumblers if in a cool as well as dry place.

To core apples, insert a steel fork at the blossom end and turn it round and round, then repeat from the stem end.

The half shell of an egg will remove bits of shell from broken eggs much better than a spoon. My mother taught me to use too little rather than too much salt in foods, saying it was easier to add it than to take it out.

Salt varies so much in saltness that it is impossible to give definite rules for its use.

Have a shelf over the stove for zwieback, crackers and toasted cereals to keep them crisp.

Keep a dish of oil on or near your work table.

Have a small tin of pastry flour on the table to use for thickening sauces; also a small bowl or tin of sugar, and one of corn starch if using it frequently, and a box of salt, of course.

If a thickened mixture is allowed to any more than boil up well, after lemon juice is added, it will become thin.

Finely-sliced, tender, raw celery is much to be preferred to cooked, in timbales, croquettes, batters and sauces.

Never chop celery; slice it fine instead.

The word “meat” as used in this book refers to true meats, not flesh meats, but is confined to such foods as are rich in proteids, not being taken in its broadest sense.

Use soft butter for oiling molds to be decorated, as that holds the decorations better than oil.

To unmold, dip the mold in hot water a moment.

Both oil and crumb molds for delicate fillings.

Dip molds in cold water, invert and turn quickly right side up without draining, for gelatine and other fillings to be served cold.

Many foods gain in richness of flavor by being reheated; and for that reason, left overs often make more appetizing dishes than fresh cooked foods.

Reheat foods, legumes, vegetables, cereals, or fruits, to preserve them, before they begin to show signs of spoiling.

Only a small quantity of sugar, proportionately, should be added to yolks of eggs, or they will gather in small, hard particles and become useless. Ice water crisps and freshens such vegetables as lettuce, parsley, cabbage and cucumbers as that just a little warmer will not.

In multiplying a recipe to make a larger quantity of soup or other liquid food, use a smaller proportion of liquid; or in dishes containing thickening take a larger proportion of flour, as the evaporation is not so great in proportion to the quantity.

The alcohol of yeast or of flavoring extracts goes off in the steam in cooking.

When eggs are used in cakes, breads, puddings or other dishes, fewer nuts, nut foods, legumes or other proteid foods will be required.

Bake soufflÉs and dishes made light with eggs, slowly, as when baked rapidly they puff up quickly and fall just as quickly; while if baked slowly, they retain their lightness.

Timbales, puddings and all molds to be served hot should stand 5 or 10 m. in a warm place after removing from the fire, before unmolding.

Place a cold wet towel over pudding molds to loosen, if inclined to stick.

Do not chop nut meats fine for roasts, cakes or puddings. Sometimes leave them whole, or just break them a little.

To try vegetables for tenderness, use a sharp pointed knife rather than a fork.

Batter and plum puddings and brown bread may be steamed in the oven by setting the mold containing them into a vessel of water with a tight fitting cover.

To steam in glass, set dishes or jars first into cold water and bring to boiling, then set into steamer.

Honey attracts moisture, consequently it should be kept in a warm dry place.

In discarding unwholesome foods be sure to put something wholesome in their place; in other words, employ a system of substitution rather than one of subtraction. For instance, for this book we have taken pains to search out a variety of harmless flavorings to be used in place of the irritating condiments, such as mustard, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; and instead of the acetic acid of vinegar, we use lemon juice—citric acid.

“Vinegar—acetic acid, is about ten times as strong as alcohol and makes more trouble in the stomach than any of the other acids except oxalic.”—Dr. Rand.

“Do not eat largely of salt.”

“Very hot food ought not to be taken into the stomach. Soups, puddings and other articles of the kind are often eaten too hot, and as a consequence the stomach is debilitated.”

Many people can digest cream better when accompanied by an acid fruit.

While using oil enough to keep the machinery of the body lubricated, take care not to use too much. People with dilated stomachs can take very little, and that little best in salad dressings or as shortening with flour.

Malt gives flesh but not strength; too much is harmful.

Flesh is more often a sign of disease than of health. Good solid firm muscle is to be cultivated.

Taste is a matter of education. Let us educate ourselves to like the things that are good for us.

“Perseverance in a self-denying course of eating and drinking will soon make plain, wholesome food palatable, and it will be eaten with greater satisfaction than the epicure enjoys over his rich dainties.”

MEASUREMENTS

Flour is always sifted once before measuring and is laid into the measure lightly with a spoon to just level, without being shaken down; when measured otherwise, results will not be correct.

The measurements of tablespoons and teaspoons in this book are for slightly rounded spoons, as granulated sugar would be when the spoon is shaken sidewise. This seems the natural way of measuring. When level spoons are specified, the spoon is leveled off with a spatula or the straight edge of a knife.

The half-pint cup is the standard measuring cup.

A cupful is all the cup will hold without running over.

FLAVORINGS

If we heed the injunction of the wise man to eat for strength and not for drunkenness, we will exclude the burning, irritating condiments from our dietary, since they by causing a feverish state of the system and creating “a thirst which water cannot quench,” are among the greatest causes of inebriety.

When our sense of taste is not benumbed or destroyed by harmful accompaniments we are in a condition to keenly enjoy the thousands of fine, delicate flavors that our loving Father has placed in wholesome foods. Among the stronger flavors for those who do not at once enjoy the delicate ones, we have sage, savory, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, bay leaf, garlic, onion, chives and leeks.

Then come celery salt and seed, leaves and stalks; lemon thyme, shallots, spearmint, parsley, basil and tarragon.

The flavors of carrots, turnips, cabbage and spinach have their place.

The small leaf buds of sassafras may be dried and ground for soups and stews.

Celery leaves dried with gentle heat make excellent flavorings. They may be powdered by rubbing through a wire strainer the same as leaf sage.

Crush stalks of celery and let them stand in the soup or sauce to be flavored for 15 m., then remove them.

For a fresh positive onion flavor, let slices of onion stand in the food for 5 or 10 m.

The flavor of garlic is usually obtained by rubbing the dish in which the food is to be served or the spoon with which it is stirred with the cut surface of one of the cloves or sections. Slice it and crush it with salt when using it in cooked foods. One clove will flavor a large quantity.

Use bay leaf in the proportion of one large leaf to a quart of liquid.

As far as possible raise your own herbs. If in no other way, plant them in pots and boxes in the house. Somewhere I have seen the suggestion of planting parsley in holes in the sides of a barrel which has been sawed in two, and such plants as sage, thyme, mint, basil and tarragon in the top.

Gather herbs before flowering, dry in the shade, tie in paper sacks and hang in a dry place. Powder only a small quantity at a time and keep in close covered small jars. Fresh herbs, especially mint and tarragon, when obtainable, are far superior to dry ones. The fact that raising any oil to a temperature high enough to brown it, decomposes it and produces a poisonous acid—a powerful irritant—is one of the best known to science.

Flour is rendered more digestible by browning and when combined with cream, oil or butter, gives the browned oil flavor without the poison.

To prepare browned flour, sift bread flour into a broad flat pan, let it stand in a warm oven, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly dry, then gradually increase the heat of the oven, stirring often, until the desired degree of brownness is reached.

A delicate cream color, so light that you would hardly know there was any color except by comparing it with flour that had not been in the oven, gives a delightfully meaty flavor to some gravies and sauces. A light or medium brown is convenient to have at times, but the one most useful is the dark chestnut brown. The darker it is the longer it will last, as less of it will be required for flavoring.

To obtain this color a very high degree of heat will be required at the last, with almost constant stirring. As this dark flour lasts so long (I seldom make it more than once in a year for a large family), it pays to give it the necessary attention at every stage. Do not try to hurry it. If you begin browning it before it is thoroughly dry, it will burn. When done, sift and keep in close covered can or jar.

The lightest shade (which for convenience we call No.1, and the others No.2 and 3) should be prepared oftener as it becomes stale by standing. No.3 will keep indefinitely. It is used for flavoring only as it will not thicken. Where consistency is desired, combine it with unbrowned flour. No.1 will thicken nearly as much as though it had not been in the oven, and No.2 a little.

When no number is given in recipes calling for browned flour, No.3 is understood.

Browned flour, onion and a small quantity of tomato (not enough to give a tomato taste) combined, form the basis of meaty flavors in foods.

To these, add sometimes a bay leaf, a very little sage and a trifle of thyme. Again, add bay leaf, grated or chopped carrot and a very few celery tops, dried or fresh.

Garlic combines well with either of these combinations, and powdered or soaked dried mushrooms are a delightful addition.

Butter (oil or part oil) and a little onion with parsley seem something like chicken.

Juniper berries are thought to give the flavor of game. Not more than a teaspoonful of crushed berries should be used to the quart of stew.

Combine flavors so that no one is prominent but the whole combination pleasing.

Use herbs and all strong flavorings sparingly. One colored cook of experience expressed it when she said, “I put in just a trifle of sage, not enough to make it vulgar.”

Withal, have a variety; do not use the same flavors day after day.

Brown Onion Flavor

Cook together sliced onions, browned flour and oil with salt and water until onions are tender; strain, keep in cool place.

FOR SWEETS

Steep peach leaves in water for almond flavor.

Finely-ground coriander seed is a delightful and not unwholesome flavoring. It is cheaper to buy the seed by the pound. A half pound will go a long way. Do not grind too much at a time.

Ground anise seed in minute quantities is unequaled for some things, but is disagreeable when used too liberally.

For sweet dishes to be flavored with lemon or orange, score the rind of the fruit lightly with a sharp-tined fork. Drop the scored fruit into the measured sugar and rub it well with the sugar.

Another way of obtaining the flavor, also of grape fruit, is to pour boiling water over the thinly-pared yellow rind and when cold, strain. For salads, let that thin rind stand in the lemon or other fruit juices for a time and then remove.

When obliged to use lemon or orange extracts, use only a few drops instead of the teaspoonful of the average recipe.

Rose is another of the delightful flavors to be used sparingly.

To flavor with cocoanut, when the fibre is not desired, steep (do not boil) the cocoanut in milk for 15–20 m., then strain it out.

SALAD FLAVORINGS

To flavor lemon juice for cooked or uncooked dressings, take to each three tablespns. of lemon juice and one of water, a slice of onion, a bay leaf, and ¼ teaspn. of celery seed or 1 tablespn. of chopped celery leaves. Boil a moment, then cool and strain. Tarragon and chives may be used for the flavorings. Onion, bay leaf, thyme, a trifle of garlic if liked, and a few thin yellow-slices of orange peel make another combination.

The salad dish is sometimes rubbed with the cut surface of a clove of garlic or a slice of onion, or onion may be chopped or grated. Crushed celery seed is liked by some in salad dressings. Spearmint is very refreshing. Delicate tender sassafras leaves may be used in fruit and nut meat salads.

Shredded fresh mint combines well with orange or grape fruit or with currant juice; tarragon with red raspberries and currants, and basil with peaches.

In closing the subject of flavorings, I quote the words of a lady visitor after sampling some of the dishes prepared by a class in cookery:

“Any one can give a taste to foods by adding condiments and flavorings, but to develop the flavors of the foods themselves is an art.”

GARNISHING

The saying that “some people eat with their eyes” is true to a great extent of all of us. I believe that the veriest savage would better enjoy his dinner, however rude, if somewhere there were tucked into it a bit of green. The busy farmer’s wife as she goes to the wood pile for an armful of wood can quickly pick off a spray of May weed, dropping it into a tin of cold water as she passes the water pail, and her platter of beans for dinner is transformed, in the eyes of those children, into a thing of beauty, and what effect may it not have in the formation of their characters?

Of variety in garnishing there need be no lack with the garden, wayside and woods abounding in beautiful leaves, vines and flowers.

There are foliage plant, geranium, and autumn leaves, ferns in variety, with lettuce, endive, spinach, parsley, chervil and carrot tops. The variegated variety of beet leaves, as also the bright blossoms of nasturtiums make a brilliant garnish.

Put parsley, ferns, and all of the green leaves and vines into very cold water as soon as gathered and leave for some time, then keep in paper sacks in a cold place away from the wind. Repeat the cold water bath at intervals.

Barberries canned, or preserved in brine, candied cranberries or cherries, green grapes in brine, designs cut from orange, lemon grape fruit and tangerine rinds, tomatoes in slices or in lengthwise pieces, and slices of lemon or orange with the skin on are all suitable garnishes at times.

Lemon cups, having a slice cut off from the ends so that they will stand, may be used for mayonnaise or small servings of salad.

Orange and grape fruit halves with tops notched or scalloped or sometimes cut in deep points rolled down, and orange baskets make a change of service. All of these fruit cups should be kept in ice water or chopped ice until serving time, then thoroughly dried with a soft towel.

Blood oranges and gelatine oranges are novelties for garnishing.

Sprays of maidenhair fern are pretty under grape fruit and orange cups.

All cups or glasses containing salads or creams should be served on doilies on small plates.

To prepare fringed celery, cut the stalks into two- or three-in. lengths, then slice very fine from each end to within ¾–1 in. of the center and leave in ice water for a time. Do not lay in ice water before preparing. The short tender stalks may have the leaves left on and be shredded at the opposite end. Celery leaves make a desirable garnish.

Cut carrots, beets and yellow turnips into slices or sticks, or into round pieces with an open-top thimble or a round pastry tube, and into fancy shapes with vegetable cutters, selecting cutters which have not sharp points or slender stems.

Radish Lilies

Get either the turnip or olive shaped radishes, wash them well, trim off just the slender tips and all but one or two of the smallest leaves. With a thin, sharp knife cut them into halves from the tip end almost to the stem, and the same way into quarters and eighths. Then carefully loosen the rind of each section as far down as it is cut and throw the radishes into ice water, leaving them there for several hours or overnight, when they will have bloomed into beautiful lilies. Pure white or yellow lilies may be made from yellow or white radishes. Serve directly from the ice water, and the radishes will be crisp and sweet and easily digested.

Just one radish sometimes, in a spray or two of parsley or chervil is better than a more elaborate garnish; a red radish sliced or cut into quarters or sixths is pretty in a little green. Roll up imperfect leaves of lettuce and slice in thin slices, then pick up lightly and use for borders or nests or beds.

Dry parsley thoroughly in a towel before chopping. For rolling, spread the particles out, a little distance apart, so as to just fleck whatever is rolled in it.

Use nuts chopped or in halves or broken pieces for borders or nests of fruit or vegetable salads; never put them into the dressing.

Potato Balls

Potatoes may be cut into balls with a vegetable scoop, boiled until just tender, not broken, drained, sprinkled with chopped parsley and used for garnishing a true meat dish.

Egg Daisies

Cut the hard boiled yolks of eggs into round pieces and the whites into petal shapes for daisies for decorating the tops of small spinach or other timbales or molds.

The whites and yolks are better poached separately for garnishing. Cut whites with vegetable cutters sometimes.

Oxeye Daisies

Use the end of a small black olive for the center of daisies, and carrots for the leaves.

Toast points or croutons of different shapes are suitable garnishes for timbales, eggs, broiled mushrooms and true meat or vegetable stews, or we may use pieces of bread of different shapes that have been dipped in egg yolks and milk and baked. Breaded triangles, squares or circles, of corn meal porridge may be used to garnish the edge of a platter for a stew.

Serve some creamed dishes or stews in shells of pastry.

Turk’s head and border molds may be decorated with truffles or other decorations, and used for meat dishes for variety.

Button mushrooms may be used for garnishing individual timbales.

Cut left overs of pie crust or cracker dough into fancy shapes, for scalloped dishes, salads and some desserts, and into squares, diamonds or strips for peas and other vegetables.

For legumes or other meat dishes, sometimes use carrots in dice or slices, sprinkled with chopped parsley or interspersed with sprigs of parsley.

Lemon Points.—Cut slices of lemon into four or six parts.

Pastry Bag

The pastry bag gives variety in garnishing and decorating. The bag itself may be of rubber, paper or cloth. Cloth for all purposes is the most practical. To make, take “Indian Head” or other heavy cloth, cut it into any sized square desired; fold and sew together in cornucopia shape (the seam is better felled), trim the top evenly and hem; then cut off a very little from the point and hem that, leaving the opening just large enough to insert the tubes one-third to one-half their length.

Paper bags may be used in an emergency, and rubber for some purposes, but not for anything containing oil.

Mashed peas and potatoes should not be too dry for decorating.

Mayonnaise dressing and whipped cream should be stiff, as also meringues.

COLORINGS

Pokeberry—Carmine

Cover berries with water, boil till the skins break, strain, add 1 cup of sugar to each pint of juice; boil, bottle, seal.

For Red, cook strained tomato to a thick pulp; or slice a bright red raw beet into cold water and let it stand on the stove where it will heat slowly to a little below the boiling point and strain.

For Green, bruise parsley, spinach, chervil, onion tops, chives, tarragon or lettuce, with or without lemon, and press out the juice for coloring.

For Yellow, steep saffron in boiling water for ½–1 hour and strain when cold. When these colorings are not suitable, the so-called “fruit colors” for sale at the groceries may be used. Use only enough for delicate shades.

ARRANGEMENT AND GARNISHING OF SALADS

The arrangement and garnishing of salads depends largely upon individual taste and skill in the use of things at hand, and is a matter of importance.

The garnish should be a suitable one and should harmonize with the ingredients of the salad. For example, a dainty flower or vine with a delicate fruit salad, and slices or fancy shapes of vegetables with true meat salads.

Red apple, or tomato cups may be used for light colored salads, and yellow tomato, or green and white apple cups for bright ones.

Juicy fruit salads should be served in dainty glasses or cups; and a correspondingly dainty doily on the plate underneath the glass with a delicate flower or leaf by its side, leaves nothing to be desired.

“We do not attain perfection by striving to do something out of the common.

“Perfection is acquired by doing the common things uncommonly well.”—Mowry.