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Title: Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book. What to Do and What Not to Do in Cooking.
Author: Lincoln, Mary Johnson
Publisher: Boston: Roberts Brothers.

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> THE BOSTON COOK BOOK.

> COOKERY

COOKERY is the art of preparing food for the nourishment of the human body. When given its proper importance in the consideration of health and comfort, it must be based upon scientific principles of hygiene and what the French call the minor moralities of the household. All civilized nations cook their food, to improve its taste and digestibility. The degree of civilization is often measured by the cuisine.

Cooking (from the Latin coquo, to boil, bake, heat, dry, scorch, or ripen) is usually done by the direct application of heat. Fruits and some vegetables which are eaten in a natural state have really been cooked or ripened by the heat of the sun. Milk and eggs, which are types of perfect food, would be useless as food unless they came from the warm living animal. Fish, flesh, and fruits which have been dried in the sun or smoked, and are often eaten without any further preparation, have undergone a certain process of natural cooking.

Heat seems to create new flavors, and to change the odor, taste, and digestibility of nearly all articles of food. It swells and bursts the starch cells in flour, rice, and potatoes; hardens the albumen in eggs, fish, and meat; softens the fibrous substances in tough meats, hard vegetables and fruits. It develops new flavors in tea, coffee, roasted meat, crusts of bread, baked beans, etc.

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Cold is also an important matter to be regarded in the preparation of food. Sweet dishes and certain flavors, like honey, ices, and custards; the water, wine, or milk we drink; our butter, fruits, and salads,--are all more palatable when cold.

Water, or some other liquid, in connection with heat is necessary in many forms of cookery. Grains, peas, beans, dried fruits which have parted with nearly all their moisture in the ripening or drying process necessary for their preservation, need a large portion of water in cooking, to soften and swell the cellulose, gluten, and starch before they can be masticated and digested. In some vegetables and fruits water draws out certain undesirable flavors; it softens and dissolves the gelatinous portions of meat, and makes palatable and nourishing many substances which would be rendered unwholesome by a dry heat.

Air, or the free action of oxygen, upon our food while cooking develops certain flavors not otherwise to be obtained. Meat roasted or broiled has a much finer flavor than when boiled, baked, or fried. Toasted bread, thin corn cake baked before the fire, roasted apples, and many articles cooked in the open air, show the benefit of this free combined action of heat and air.

Drying in the sun was one of the earliest modes of cookery. Then came roasting before an open fire, or broiling over the coals, and baking in the hot ashes. This last was the primitive oven. As the art of making cooking-utensils developed, stewing, boiling, and frying were adopted. Then, to economize heat, portable ovens were invented; these were originally a covered dish set over or near the fire, having sometimes a double cover filled with coals. Afterwards, stoves which kept the fire and heat in a limited space were introduced; and improvements have been made in them so extensively that we now have them with conveniences for doing every form of cooking with wood, coal, oil, or gas.

Some one gives this distinction between man and other animals: "Man is an animal that builds a fire and uses it


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to cook his food." It is quite important then, as a stepping-stone to cooking, to learn the properties and management of a fire.

> Fire.

Fire is heat and light produced by the combustion of inflammable substances. Combustion is a chemical operation carried on in the air, or the chemical union of the oxygen of the air with some combustible body, like hydrogen gas or the solid carbon, and is attended with the evolution of heat and light. The heat and the light come from the sun. With every particle of vegetable matter that is formed by the combined action of the sun and the carbonic acid gas in the air, a portion of the sun's heat and light is absorbed and held fast in it. And whenever this vegetable matter is decomposed,--as in burning wood, coal, or oil, which are only definite forms of vegetable matter,--this heat and light are given out. The amount of each depends upon the mode of burning.

Air is composed mainly of two elementary gases, oxygen and nitrogen (one part oxygen and four parts nitrogen), with a small amount of watery vapor and carbonic acid gas.

Pure oxygen is a gas which has a wonderful attraction for, and power of combination with, every other element. If it were everywhere present in a perfectly pure state, it would consume or burn up everything; but it is diluted or mixed (not combined) with nitrogen, another gas which is incombustible, and which lessens the combustibility of everything with which it comes in contact. Owing to this dilution, the oxygen will not unite with the carbon and hydrogen with which it is everywhere surrounded, and produce rapid combustion, except at a high temperature. The temperature at which this union takes place is called the burning-point, and this varies in different substances. Thus combustion is within the power and control of man; and some extra means are usually employed to increase the temperature to the burning-point,--friction, or percussion, or the use of some more highly inflammable


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substances, like sulphur and phosphorus. This produces heat sufficient to complete the chemical union, or, in common phrase, "kindles the fire."

The heat generated for all household purposes is produced by the chemical action of the oxygen of the air upon the hydrogen and carbon which are found in the various kinds of wood and coal. The oxygen first combines with the carbon and decomposes it, producing carbonic acid gas, which escapes into the air, from which it is absorbed by plants, or by human lungs when there is no proper ventilation. The oxygen also combines with the hydrogen gas in the fuel, and this produces the flame; the larger the amount of hydrogen in the fuel, the greater the amount of flame. Some of the products of combustion are not entirely consumed, and pass off as smoke; some are incombustible, and remain as ashes. The intensity of a fire and the amount of heat which it produces are always in proportion to the amount of oxygen with which it is supplied. There should be just air enough for perfect combustion. An excess of air projected upon a fire conveys away the heat, cools the fuel, and checks the combustion. The supply of air should be controlled by confining it in a limited space.

Fires are usually kindled at the bottom of a flue or chimney. The heated air, being lighter, rises; the colder, denser air rushes in to take its place, becomes heated, and ascends. Thus a continuous current is established, and a constant supply of fresh air secured. The chimney serves to carry off the smoke and poisonous products of combustion; the heavier, incombustible products settle in the form of ashes. The force of this current of air drawing through the chimney (a matter of great importance) is called the draught. It varies with the temperature and amount of air in the room, and the length and width of the chimney.

> Fuel.

The materials generally used as fuel are wood, charcoal, coal, kerosene oil, and gas.

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Soft woods, such as pine or birch, kindle quickly, produce intense heat, and are best for a quick, blazing fire.

Hard woods, like oak, ash, and hickory, burn more slowly, but produce harder coals, which retain the heat longer, and are better where long-continued heat is required.

Charcoal, which is coal made by charring or burning wood with only a limited supply of air, burns easily and produces greater heat in proportion to its weight than any other fuel. It should never be burned in a close room.

Anthracite coal is a kind of mineral charcoal derived from ancient vegetation buried in the earth, and so thoroughly pressed that nothing is left but pure carbon, a little sulphur, and the incombustible ash. It kindles slowly, yields an intense, steady heat, and burns for a longer time without replenishing than the hardest wood.

Coke, often used in cities, is the residue of coal from which illuminating gas has been manufactured. The heat is intense, but transient.

Stoves for burning kerosene oil and gas have recently been introduced, and are now so nearly perfect that the care of a fire for cooking purposes is trifling. Gas can only be used in certain localities.

The cheapest fuel is the best kerosene oil. There need be no waste, no superfluous heat, no vitiated air, if the fire be extinguished immediately after the work is done, and if the stove be kept perfectly clean, so as to secure a free burning and perfect combustion. With two good stoves having all the latest and best improvements, a large amount of work can be easily and satisfactorily accomplished.

> The Making and Care of a Coal Fire.

If you intend to buy a new stove or range, get one simple in construction, that you may quickly learn all its parts and their uses; plain in finish, that you may easily keep it clean; and perfectly fitted part to part, with doors and dampers shutting absolutely close, so that you may control the fire and heat. This latter point is of essential


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importance in regulating the oven and in preventing a waste of fuel.

Become thoroughly acquainted with whatever stove you may have. If necessary, take it apart; learn how to clean it in the inside, to regulate the dampers for all the variations of wind, temperature, and fuel; and then learn how to make and keep a fire.

All stoves have a fire-box, with more or less space underneath for ashes; a slide damper under the fire, letting in the air; an outlet for the smoke; and a damper which regulates the supply of hot air, sending it around and underneath the oven, or letting it escape into the chimney. Remove the covers and brush the soot from the top of the oven into the fire-box; then clean out the grate; and if the stove have conveniences for so doing, sift the ashes in the stove and save all the old coal and cinders. Put in shavings or loose rolls of paper, then fine pine kindlings, arranged crosswise, and a layer of hard wood, leaving plenty of air space between the pieces. Be sure the wood comes out to each end of the fire-box. Put on the covers; and if the stove need cleaning, moisten some pulverized stove polish with water, and rub the stove with a paint brush dipped in the polish. When all blackened, rub with a dry polishing-brush until nearly dry. Open the direct draught and oven damper, and light the paper, as a slight heat facilitates the process of polishing. When the wood is thoroughly kindled, fill the fire-box with coal even with the top of the oven. Brush up the hearth and floor, empty the teakettle, and fill it with fresh water. Watch the fire, and push the coal down as the wood burns away, and add enough more coal to keep it even with the top of the fire bricks. When the blue flame becomes white, close the oven damper; and when the coal is burning freely, but not red, shut the direct draught. It seems impossible for some persons to understand that a coal fire is at its height as soon as well kindled, and needs only air enough to keep it burning. When it becomes bright red all through, it has parted with most of its heat, and begins to die out. Tons


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of coal are wasted in many kitchens, and ranges are needlessly burned out, by filling the fire-box till the coal touches the covers, and leaving the draughts open till the coal is red.

Nearly all stoves and portable ranges have the oven at one side of and a little below the fire. In brick-set ranges the ovens are sometimes over the fire. A stove has a door on each side of the oven, with the fire-box in front. A portable range has only one oven-door, and the fire-box at the end. In ranges where the oven is over the fire, the articles to be baked are placed on a grate near the middle, as the bottom of the oven is usually very hot. In stoves or portable ranges anything which has to rise in the oven, like bread, pastry, cake, etc., is placed on the bottom of the oven, and, if the heat be too great, a small rack or grate may be placed under it. Large pieces of meat are placed on a rack in a pan; while small cuts of meat, birds, etc., which are to be baked quickly, and any dishes which are to be merely browned, like scalloped dishes, must be placed on the grate near the top. Cultivate the habit of opening and shutting the oven-door quickly but gently. Learn the hottest and coolest places in the oven. Look at things as they are baking, and turn and watch till you are sure they can be left alone. If anything bake unevenly or too fast, put a screen between it and the heat,--a pan on the grate above or underneath, or a frame of stiff paper made larger than the pan, that it may not touch the dough. When the regulating dampers are closed and the oven is still too hot, lift a cover on the top partly off, although in a stove in which the parts are perfectly adjusted this will never be necessary. When the oven is not hot enough, open the direct draught, and rake out the ashes from the grate. Keep the grate cleaned out and the fire burning freely, when a very hot oven is needed. At other times keep the draughts shut and do not waste the coal.

To keep a brisk fire for several hours or all day, it is better to add a sprinkling of coal often, rather than to let it burn nearly out, and then, by adding a larger quantity,


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check the fire and retard the work. In using the top of the stove remember the hottest place is over the fire and toward the middle, not on the front of the stove. When you have once watched the flame in its passage over the top, down the back, and under the oven, then across, out and up on the opposite side and out into the chimney, you will understand where the greatest heat must be.

> Boiling.

The term "boiling" is often used erroneously in cookery. The expressions "the teakettle boils," "the rice is boiling," "boiled beef," etc., are all good illustrations of the rhetorical figure metonymy, but they are practically incorrect. In all cases it is only the water or liquid which boils. No solid can boil until first changed to a liquid. Solids become liquids at the melting-point. Liquids take the form of steam or vapor at the boiling-point. Boiling is the conversion of a liquid into steam by the application of heat sufficient to cause ebullition, or agitation of its surface. Boiling, therefore, as applied to the cooking of solids, is heating or cooking in a boiling liquid. It is one of the most generally used, and abused, forms of cooking. Boiling water, which is really cooked water, is the liquid usually employed. Water, as it is heated from below, expands into vapor. The air of the water and the steam shoot up in the form of bubbles; as they come in contact with the cold water near the surface, the bubbles collapse, the steam is condensed and descends with the cold water, making a double set of currents, which causes quite a commotion among the particles. As the whole body of water becomes hotter, these bubbles of steam rise higher and higher before collapsing, and occasion the sound which we call the "singing of the kettle." When the water is sufficiently heated, they rise and break at the surface, causing more or less agitation, according to the rapidity with which they are formed. Water is scalding hot at 150°, or when the hand cannot be borne in it. Water


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simmers when the bubbles all collapse beneath the surface, and the steam is condensed to water again, or at 185°. Water boils when the bubbles rise to the surface, and the steam is thrown off, as at 212°. When this boiling-point is reached, the heat escapes with the steam; and all the fire in the world cannot make the water any hotter, so long as the steam escapes. If the fire be very fierce, so that these bubbles are formed and expelled rapidly, and the water boils over, the water is no hotter; it only evaporates or boils away faster, and can only be made hotter by confining the steam, which in ordinary kettles is impossible, owing to the enormous expansive force of the steam. With a few exceptions it is a waste of fuel, time, and material to keep the water boiling at such a galloping rate that the cover has to be lifted to prevent boiling over.

A kettle should never be quite full, as the water expands in heating, and, in boiling over, makes needless work and injures the stove. Water will boil more quickly in a kettle with a rough surface than in one with a smooth surface, as the water adheres to a smooth surface with greater force, and this force or attraction must be overcome before boiling takes place. Small, clean gravel is sometimes kept in a smooth kettle to facilitate the boiling.

Water boils at a higher temperature when there is sugar, or salt, or anything in it to increase its density. It takes longer for it to boil; but it is hotter, when that point is reached. No one who has been burned by boiling syrup ever doubted this fact. Fresh water boils at 212°; salt water, at 224°. If we put salt with the water in the lower part of a double boiler, a greater degree of heat is obtained by which to cook the articles in the top.

Water boils at a lower temperature, that is, more quickly, when the pressure of the air upon the water is diminished. Before a rain the pressure of the air is lessened, because the air when filled with vapor is lighter. Observing housekeepers have often noticed how quickly things burn at such a time, and foretell a rain by the rapidity with which water evaporates.

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The pressure of the air is less the higher we ascend above the level of the sea, since we leave much of the air below us. Cooking in boiling water requires a much longer time in mountainous regions; for the water boils so quickly that it holds less heat than in lower altitudes, where it is subject to greater pressure. Water, in boiling, loses the air or gases which give it a fresh taste and sparkling appearance. It becomes flat and tasteless. If there be any impurity in water, boiling or cooking will destroy it. Then, by cooling, and exposing to pure air again, it becomes aerated and palatable. But water for cooking, unless there are impurities to be removed, should be used when freshly boiled. This is especially important in making tea and coffee.

Soft water should be used in boiling where the object is to soften the texture, and extract the soluble parts, as in soups, broths, tea, and coffee. Hard water, or soft water salted, is better where we wish to preserve the articles whole, and retain the soluble and flavoring principles, as in most green vegetables. Beans or dried peas, which contain casein or vegetable albumen in large proportion, should be cooked in soft water, as the lime in hard water hardens the casein, and prevents the vegetables from becoming soft.

In cooking meat, fish, and vegetables in water, we should remember these two facts:--

Cold water draws out the albuminous juices, softens the fibres and gelatinous portions of meat, and holds them in solution. It draws out starch, but does not unite with it.

Boiling water hardens and toughens albumen and fibrine, bursts the starch grains, and is absorbed by the swelling starch.

Meat is cooked in water for three distinct purposes:--

First. To keep the nutriment within the meat, as in what is usually called boiled meat. To do this, we leave the meat whole, that only a little surface may be exposed. Plunge it into boiling salted water, and keep it there for five or ten minutes; this hardens the albumen over the entire surface, and makes a coating through which the juices


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cannot escape. Then move the kettle where the water will simmer slowly. See that the cover fits tightly, to keep in the steam. The water should be salted to raise the boiling-point, and increase the density of the water, and thus prevent the escape of the juices. A small amount of the albumen in the outer surface will be dissolved and rise as scum. This should be removed, or it will settle on the meat and render it uninviting in appearance. If the meat be put in the kettle with the bones uppermost, then the scum will not settle on the meat. In turning the meat do not pierce into it to let the juices escape. It will take a longer time to cook in this way, but the fibrine will be softened, and the meat made more tender and of better flavor, than when kept boiling furiously.

Second. Meats are cooked in water to have the nutriment wholly in the liquid, as in soups and meat teas. Cut the meat in small pieces; soak in cold water, the longer the better; heat gradually, and keep hot, but not boiling, until all the goodness is extracted.

Third. Meats are cooked in water to have the nutriment partly in the liquid and partly in the meat, as in stews, fricassees, etc. Put the meat in cold water, let the water boil quickly, then skim, and keep at the simmering-point. The cold water will draw out enough of the juices to enrich the liquid; then, as it reaches the boiling-point, the meat hardens, and retains the remainder.

Fish is usually cooked in boiling water for the purpose of keeping the juices in the fish. As the flesh of fish breaks easily, the water should never be allowed to boil rapidly. Salmon, mackerel, or any very oily fish, should be put into cold water, and brought almost to the boiling-point quickly, as they have a very strong, rich flavor. A little of this flavor can be lost without injury to the fish.

Vegetables, which are mostly starch and water, should be put into boiling water and boiled rapidly, that the small portions of albumen which they contain may be hardened on the surface; then, if the starch grains are burst quickly, they will absorb the albuminous juices within.

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Milk boils at 196°. Being thicker than water, less of the steam escapes, and the whole liquid becomes hot sooner than water. The bubbles rise rapidly, and, owing to their tenacity, do not burst at the surface, but climb over one another till they run over the edge of the pan.

Milk, grains, custards, and any substances which, from their glutinous nature, would be liable to adhere to the kettle, are much more easily and safely cooked in a double boiler, or in a pail within a kettle of water. This is one form of steaming, or cooking over boiling water. In steaming, the water should not stop boiling until the articles are cooked. This is a convenient form of cooking many articles which it is troublesome to cook with a dry heat, and yet do not need the solvent powers of water. Watery vegetables are rendered drier by steaming; and tough pieces of meat which cannot be roasted, are first made tender by steaming, and then browned in the oven. Sometimes meat is steamed in its own juices alone; this is called smothering, or pot-roasting.

Stewing is another form of boiling or cooking in a small quantity of water, at a moderate heat, and for a long time. The word means a slow, moist, gentle heat. It is an economical mode of cooking, except where a fire has to be kept for this purpose alone. The long-continued action of a gentle heat softens the fibres; and the coarsest and cheapest kinds of meat, cooked in this way, with vegetables, may be made tender and nutritious. By judicious use of seasoning material, remnants can be made into savory and nourishing dishes. Whether we call it simply a stew, or ragout, haricot, or salmi, the principle is the same,--that of slow, steady simmering, rather than fierce boiling.

Fricasseeing (meaning "to fry") is a form of stewing. The term is usually applied to chicken, veal, or some small game, which is cut into pieces, and fried either before or after stewing, and served with a rich white or brown sauce, and without vegetables. Any meat that is quite juicy and not very tough may be first browned on the outside to keep in the juices, and improve the flavor. Coarse,


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tough pieces should not be browned, but dipped in vinegar to soften the fibre; and pieces containing much gristle should be put into cold water.

Braising is a form of stewing done usually in a braising-pan or kettle which has coals in the cover. Any granite or iron pan with a close cover to keep in the steam will answer the purpose. When placed in the oven, where it is surrounded by a slow, uniform heat, it needs very little attention. It is one of the most economical and satisfactory ways of cooking large pieces of tough, lean meat, pigeons, liver, fowls, heart, etc. Stock, vegetables, and bacon may be used, if a rich liquor be required; but water, herbs, and simple seasoning make it very palatable.

Baking is hardening or cooking in a dry heat, as in a close oven. Nearly all flour mixtures--bread, pastry, and some forms of pudding--are more wholesome baked than when cooked in any other way. Many forms of baking are really stewing; but the closely confined heat of the oven gives an entirely different flavor from that obtained by stewing over the fire. This is seen in the difference between stewed and baked apple-sauce, beans, etc.

Meat and fish, if baked in the right way, lose less in weight than when boiled or roasted. To bake them properly, the juices must be kept within the meat. An intense heat at first is necessary to harden the albumen; then reduce the heat, that the outside may not become too hard, and baste frequently to prevent drying. No water should be put in the pan at first, as it will then be impossible to have a greater heat than that of boiling water (212°), while for baking meat 280°, or more, is required. Put one or two tablespoonfuls of beef drippings, or some of the fat from the meat, in the pan, to use in basting, as the fat can be made much hotter than water. If the joint be very large, or the meat need thorough cooking, like poultry, veal, or pork, water can be added to check the heat as soon as the outside is cooked sufficiently to keep in the juices. This will keep the meat moist. Small cuts, and meats to be eaten rare, are better baked without water.

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Many persons accustomed to meat roasted before the open fire object to the flavor of baked meat. If the oven be very hot at first, and opened every five minutes just long enough for the basting, which is an essential part of the cooking process, the smoky odor escapes. If there be no damper to check the heat underneath the oven, put the grate or another pan under the dripping-pan, as no heat is required under the meat. This will prevent the fat in the pan from burning and smoking the meat. Place the meat with the skin side down at first; then, if the juices begin to flow, the skin keeps them in; and, when turned, it brings the side which is to be up in serving next the hottest part of the oven, for the final browning. All baked meat or fish should be salted and floured all over. Salt draws out the juices; but the flour unites with them, making a paste which soon hardens, and keeps them within. Baste often, and dredge with salt and flour after basting. If there be no shelf attached to the stove near the oven, keep a box or frame of wood just the height of the oven, near by, and pushed up close to it; it will be found very convenient to pull the pan out upon it when basting or turning the meat.

> Frying.

Frying is cooking in hot fat,--not boiling fat, as it is so often called, for fat can be made much hotter than the temperature required for cooking, which is 385°; the temperature for boiling fat is from 565° to 600°. Frying, when properly done, is immersion in smoking-hot fat. The fat should be deep enough to entirely cover the articles to be cooked; and as it may be used many times, it is not so extravagant as some suppose to use such a quantity. The prime secret of nice frying is to have the fat hot enough to harden instantly the albumen on the outer surface, and thus prevent the fat from soaking into the inside of whatever is to be fried. As a much higher temperature is required than that for boiling or baking, the articles are


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very quickly cooked; and they have a flavor quite unlike that given by any other form of cooking.

All articles to be fried should be thoroughly dried and slightly warmed. If very moist, or very cold, or too many articles be fried at the same time, the fat becomes chilled, and the grease soaks into them. Then, as the moisture heats and boils, it causes such a commotion that the fat and water boil over, and there is great danger from the fat taking fire and spreading to your clothing, to say nothing of the trouble of cleaning the stove and floor. For this reason be careful not to let a drop of water, or of condensed steam from another kettle, fall into the hot fat.

Meat, fish, oysters, croquettes, etc., should be dried, and rolled in fine bread-crumbs, to absorb any moisture; then rolled in beaten egg, and in fine crumbs again. The hot fat hardens the albumen of the egg instantly; and that, with the crumbs, makes a fat-proof crust.

Fish balls, fritters, and fried muffin mixtures contain egg and albumen sufficient to keep them from soaking fat, if the fat be only hot enough. A Scotch bowl, or deep iron or granite kettle, and a wire basket small enough to fit down into the kettle, are best to use in frying.

The Test for Hot Fat.--When the fat begins to smoke put in a bit of bread; if it brown quickly, or while you can count sixty as the clock ticks, it is hot enough for fried potatoes, doughnuts, etc. When hot enough to brown the bread while you count forty, it will do for fish balls, croquettes, etc.

When ready to fry, plunge the basket into the hot fat to grease it, and then place in it the croquettes, or whatever you may be frying, so that they will not touch each other. Hold the handle of the basket with a long fork, and plunge it quickly into the fat, but do not drop the handle, because if the fat begin to boil up, you can then raise the basket quickly, and wait till the ebullition has subsided before plunging it in again; and thus avoid the danger of burning from the overflowing fat. The fat cools rapidly, when many articles are fried at once, and


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should be reheated to the test point before frying any more.

Time.--Any cooked mixture, such as fish balls and croquettes, or very small fish, oysters, scallops, etc., will be fried brown in one minute. Thicker fish, chops, and fritters require longer cooking; and, after plunging them into the hot fat, the kettle should be set back from the fire to prevent them from becoming too brown before they are sufficiently cooked. While frying, be careful not to spill any fat on the stove. Keep a tin plate in your left hand, and hold it under the basket, or ladle, as you take things from the fat.

Draining.--Thorough draining is another secret of nice frying, and you cannot find a much hotter place than right over the hot fat; so hold your basket of fried food over the hot fat, and shake slightly, till all dripping has stopped. Then place the fried articles on soft or unglazed paper, to absorb the fat, and keep them hot till ready to serve. Never pile fried articles one on another.

> Fat for Frying.

Lard, a mixture of half suet and half lard, drippings, or oil, may be used for frying. Suet and drippings are cheapest, and are preferred by many. Suet used alone cools very quickly and leaves a tallowy taste. Drippings should be carefully clarified (see page 18) and freed from water, or the articles cooked will soak fat. Lard, with a small proportion of suet or drippings, is more generally satisfactory. There is often a very disagreeable odor to new lard, and more or less water in it, as is shown by the froth and ebullition as soon as it becomes hot. Before it is used for any purpose it should be clarified with slices of raw potato and heated until it becomes still. Olive oil is the purest fat for frying, but it is too expensive for general use. Cottonseed oil has been recently introduced for cooking purposes, and is an excellent fat for frying, though many dislike its peculiar odor. It may be heated much hotter than lard,


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without burning, and, when properly used, imparts no flavor to the food. When the fat becomes too brown for potatoes or doughnuts, use it for croquettes, etc., and then use it for nothing except fish balls and fish. When it becomes very brown, put it with the soap-grease.

If you wish to fry several kinds at the same time, begin with potatoes, following with doughnuts or flour mixtures, and crumbed articles last; otherwise the crumbs will fall off; and adhere to whatever is put in subsequently. After every frying, strain the fat through a fine wire strainer or fine strainer cloth into a tin pail, not pouring it, but dipping it from the kettle with a small long-handled dipper. Let it cool slightly before straining as, if very hot, it will melt the strainer. Sprinkle coffee on the stove, while frying, to disguise the odor.

> Sautéing.

The ordinary way of frying in a shallow pan with only a little fat, first on one side and then on the other, which the French call sautéing, answers very well for some purposes,--omelets, fried cakes, and many things browned in butter; but nearly everything that requires any more fat than just enough to keep it from sticking, is much better immersed in hot fat. Fish balls, chops, and oysters are more quickly cooked, and absorb less fat, when fried by immersion than when sautéd. Some people are extremely unwilling to make the change, and persist in going on in the old way of cooking in a little, half-hot fat which spatters over stove and floor, soaks into the fish or meat, and is often served as the only gravy. Upon such, dyspepsia is a fell avenger.

These directions for frying are given thus minutely not from any desire to recommend this method of cooking; but, if people will fry their food, they should do it in the only correct way. With the exception of salt-fish balls and small, dry, white fish, there is nothing fried, even in


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the right way, that would not be equally good, and much more conducive to health, were it cooked otherwise. Saratoga potatoes, or chips as they are called, are really chips, for persons with weak digestion. Oysters, chops, fritters, and the materials in croquettes, muffins, and doughnuts may be cooked in many better ways.

Frying answers very well for open-air cooking, on the seashore or in camp, where appetite and digestion are strengthened. But in most modern houses, where the odors from the kitchen penetrate the remotest nook and corner, there are many serious objections, apart from the indigestibility of the food thus prepared. The acrid odors given off during the heating of fat are very irritating to the mucous membrane of the nose and throat, and they are equally so to a sensitive stomach. Some persons who can usually digest fried food cannot do so when the stomach has been irritated by the odor in frying. If all those who are so fond of croquettes, fritters, etc., were obliged to inhale the smoking fat, these dishes would seldom appear on the table.

> To clarify Fat.

Any uncooked fat, such as suet, the fat from chickens, and all superfluous beef fat, should be saved and clarified, or made pure and clear. Cut the fat into small pieces, cover with cold water, and cook over a slow fire until the fat has melted, and the water nearly all evaporated. Then strain and press all the fat from the scraps. When cool, remove the cake of hard fat, or, if soft, draw it to one side and let the water underneath run off. You may put with the new fat any fat from soup stock, corned beef, drippings from roast beef, veal, fresh pork, or chicken; in fact, anything except the fat from mutton, turkey, and smoked meat. If there be any sediment adhering to the fat, add a little very cold water, and, after stirring well, pour the water off, or skim the fat from the water. Place the fat in a pan over the fire, and, when melted, add one small raw potato, cut into thin slices. Let it stand on the top


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of the stove or in the oven till the fat has stopped bubbling, is still, and the scraps are brown and crisp and rise to the top. Strain through a fine strainer, and keep in a cool place. Fat thus cleared will keep sweet for weeks, if melted occasionally, which should always be done when any new fat is added.

Boiling the fat causes the water in it to evaporate, and the organic matters or impurities to be decomposed, and deposited as sediment; the potato, owing to its porosity and power of absorption (being mostly starch and carbon), absorbs any odors or gases, unites with the sediment, and thus cleanses the fat, very much as charcoal purifies water. Clarified fat (or dripping, as it is usually termed) answers for many purposes in cooking,--frying, sautéing, basting roast meat, greasing pans; and as shortening for bread, plain pastry, and gingerbread.

> Egg and Bread Crumbing.

Hints on saving bread crusts and stale pieces, for egg and bread crumbing, are given on page 75. The crumbs should be sifted through a fine sieve. For fish or meat mix a little salt, pepper, and chopped parsley with them. Beat the eggs slightly with a fork in a shallow dish. Add one tablespoonful of water or two tablespoonfuls of milk for each egg. Add a little sugar if they are to be used for sweet dishes, and salt and pepper for all others. Sprinkle the crumbs on a board, and roll the chop, fish, or croquettes first in the crumbs; shake off all that do not adhere. Cover all the articles with the crumbs and let them stand till dry, then dip into the beaten egg, and be careful to have every part covered. Drain from the egg, and roll again in the crumbs. Croquettes or any soft mixture should be held on a broad knife while being placed in the egg. Then dip the egg over them, and slip the knife again lengthwise under the croquette, drain, and put it carefully into the crumbs. Scallops and very small oysters can be more easily crumbed by placing them with the crumbs in a


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sheet of paper, and tossing or turning till all are crumbed. Remember the order: crumbs first, then egg, then crumbs again.

> Roasting.

Roasting (meaning "to heat violently") is cooking before an open fire; it implies the action of a much greater degree of heat than that employed in any of the previously specified methods of cooking. The heat of an open fire is about 1,000°.

In the days of open fireplaces this was the general way of cooking large pieces of meat; but now it is adopted only in large establishments, or by those who can afford the additional expense of a tin kitchen, and a range constructed especially for roasting. Baking, or roasting in a very hot oven, being a cheaper and more convenient way, is more generally used. Ovens in stoves and ranges are now well ventilated; and meat when properly cooked in a very hot oven, and basted often, is nearly equal in flavor to that roasted before an open fire. The fire for roasting should be clear and bright, and of sufficient body to last, with only a slight sprinkling of coal, through the time for roasting.

The meat is placed on a spit, and hung in the jack in a tin kitchen, and made to revolve slowly before the fire by winding a spring in the jack, or by turning the spit at regular intervals. The meat should be rubbed with salt and flour, and placed on the spit, very near the fire at first, to harden the albumen; then removed a little distance to prevent the meat from burning, before the inside is cooked. Place two or three spoonfuls of dripping in the pan to use in basting the meat; baste often, and dredge two or three times with flour. When the joint is very large, place a buttered paper over it.

As the juices of meat are composed largely of water, the water will be evaporated as soon as it reaches the boiling-point, or 212°. When meat is placed in a moderate oven, the heat is not sufficient to harden the albumen


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on the outer surface; the watery juices evaporate, the steam escapes, and the meat becomes dry and tasteless. But when meat is exposed to the intense heat of an open fire, or a very hot oven, the albumen hardens; and if basted frequently with hot fat, the meat is completely enveloped in a varnish of hot melted fat, which assists in communicating the heat to the inside, and checks the evaporation of the juices; this prevents the escape of the steam, so that the inside of properly roasted meat is really cooked in the steam of its own juices. The evaporation of juices is proportionate to the amount of surface exposed. A small joint has a larger surface in proportion to its weight than a large joint weighing double or treble the amount; therefore the smaller the joint to be roasted, the higher the temperature to which its surface should be exposed, that the evaporation may be more quickly arrested.

For very thin pieces of meat, which have a still larger surface in proportion to the weight, such as steaks and chops, a greater heat is required. This is accomplished by broiling, which should be done near the burning-point, the highest degree of heat employed in any form of cooking.

> Broiling.

Broiling (meaning "to burn") is cooking directly over the hot coals. The degree of heat is so intense that the articles to be cooked would be very quickly burned, were they allowed to remain for any length of time over the fire. The secret of nice broiling is frequent turning. The fire should be bright red, and nearly to the top of the fire-box, so that the broiler may almost touch the fire. There should be no flame, as the flame from coal is due to the combustion of tarry vapors, and will cause a deposit of coal tar on the meat, giving it a smoky, nauseating flavor. When the fat from the chop or steak drips on the coals and blazes, it deposits a film of mutton or beef fat all over the meat, which has a very different flavor from that of the coal flame. When the steak has much fat, remove


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part of it. A little fat will improve the flavor, baste the meat, and keep it from becoming too dry. The oven damper should always be opened while broiling, that the smoke of the dripping fat may be carried into the chimney.

There is nothing better for broiling than a double wire broiler. It is well to have several sizes. Grease it well with a bit of the fat from the meat, or with salt pork rind. Place the thickest part of whatever is to be broiled next the middle of the broiler. Do not salt the meat, as salt draws out the juice. Have the platter heating, and everything else ready, that you may not leave the broiling for an instant. Hold the broiler firmly, with a coarse towel wrapped around your hand to protect it from the heat. Place it as near the fire as possible, to sear the outside instantly; count ten, then sear the other side. The heat hardens the outside, and starts the flow of the juices. They cannot escape through the hardened outer surface; but if the meat were cooked wholly on one side before turning, they would soon come to the top, and then, in turning the meat, the juices would drip into the fire. But if the meat be turned before the juices reach the top, the other surface is hardened, and they cannot escape, but flow to the centre, and are there retained. As the juices are converted into steam by the heat, they swell and give the meat a puffy appearance. If the broiling be carried on too long, these juices gradually ooze between the fibres to the surface, and are evaporated; and the meat becomes dry, leathery, and indigestible.

Meat should be broiled only long enough to loosen all the fibres, and start the flow of the juices. The meat will spring up instantly when pressed with the knife; and when it ceases to do this, the juices have begun to evaporate, and the meat shrinks. A little experience will enable one to decide just when to remove the meat. Do not cut into it, as this lets out the juices. It should be pink and juicy, not raw and purple, nor brown and dry. Turn over as often as you can count ten, and cook four minutes, if


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one inch thick; six, if one inch and a half thick. The smaller and thinner the article, the hotter should be the fire; the larger the article, the more temperate the fire, or the greater the distance from the fire.

Fish should be floured to keep the skin from sticking. A large baking-pan to keep in the heat should be held over anything which is very thick and requires to be cooked a long time.

Chickens, which need to be thoroughly broiled but not burned or dried, require about twenty minutes. A safe way is to wrap them in buttered glazed paper; cook the inner side first, and after the first searing keep them at a little distance from the fire.

Chops, bacon, birds, and dry fish are also improved by broiling in the buttered paper. Take a large sheet of white letter paper, or two small sheets. Rub them well with softened butter. This keeps out the air. Season the chop or fish with salt and pepper, place it near the centre of the paper, and fold the edges of the paper over several times and pinch them together close to the meat. The paper will char a long time before blazing, if care be taken not to break through the paper and thus let in the air and let out all the fat. The meat will be basted with its own fat and juices. A longer time will be required for the broiling; but when the paper is well browned, the chop will be done. It will be found juicy and delicious,--free from any smoky flavor.

Pan-broiling is broiling in a hissing hot spider or frying-pan. Heat the pan to a blue heat. Rub it with a bit of the beef fat, just enough to keep the meat from sticking, but do not leave any fat in the pan. Sear the meat quickly on one side, then turn without cutting into the meat, and brown the other side before any juice escapes into the pan. Cook about four minutes, turning twice, and serve very hot with salt and butter. If the pan be hot enough and no fat used, this is not frying, it is broiling on hot iron; and the flavor is almost equal to broiling over the coals.

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> Time Tables for Cooking.

Baking Bread, Cake, and Puddings.
Loaf bread . . . . . . . . .	40 to 60	m.
Rolls, biscuit . . . . . . .	10 to 20	"
Graham gems . . . . . . . . .	30	"
Gingerbread . . . . . . . . .	20 to 30	"
Sponge cake . . . . . . . . .	45 to 60	"
Plain " . . . . . . . . . .	30 to 40	"
Fruit " . . . . . . . . . .	2 to 3	hrs.
Cookies . . . . . . . . . . .	10 to 15	m.
Bread pudding . . . . . . . .	1	hr.
Rice and Tapioca . . . . . .	1	"
Indian pudding . . . . . . .	2 to 3	"
Plum " . . . . . . .	2 to 3	"
Custards . . . . . . . . . .	15 to 20	m.
Steamed brown-bread . . . . .	3	hrs.
Steamed puddings . . . . . .	1 to 3	"
Pie-crust . . . . . . . . . .	about 30	m.
Potatoes . . . . . . . . . .	30 to 45	"
Baked beans . . . . . . . . .	6 to 8	hrs.
Braised meat . . . . . . . .	3 to 4	"
Scalloped dishes . . . . . .	15 to 20	m.

Baking Meats.
Beef, sirloin, rare, per lb. . . . . .	8 to 10	m.
Beef, sirloin, well done, per lb. . . .	12 to 15	"
Beef, rolled rib or rump, per lb. . . .	12 to 15	"
Beef, long or short fillet . . . . . .	20 to 30	"
Mutton, rare, per lb. . . . . . . . . .	10	"
Mutton, well done, per lb. . . . . . .	15	"
Lamb, well done, per lb. . . . . . . .	15	"
Veal " " " . . . . . . .	20	"
Pork " " " . . . . . . .	30	"
Turkey, 10 lbs. wt. . . . . . . . . . .	3	hrs.
Chickens, 3 to 4 lbs. wt. . . . . . . .	1 to 1 1/2	"
Goose, 8 lbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . .	2	"
Tame duck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	40 to 60	m.
Game " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	30 to 40	"
Grouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	30	"
Pigeons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	30	"
Small birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	15 to 20	"
Venison, per lb. . . . . . . . . . . .	15	"
Fish, 6 to 8 lbs.; long, thin fish . .	1	hr.
Fish, 4 to 6 lbs.; thick halibut . . .	1	"
Fish, small . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	20 to 30	m.

Boiling.
Eggs, coffee, clams, oysters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	3 to 5	m.
Rice, green corn, peas, tomatoes, asparagus, hard-boiled eggs . . .	15 to 20	"
Potatoes, macaroni, squash, celery, spinach, sweetbreads . . . . .	20 to 30	"
Young beets, carrots, turnips, onions, parsnips, cauliflower . . .	30 to 45	"
Young cabbage, string beans, shell beans, oyster plant . . . . . .	45 to 60	"
Winter vegetables, oatmeal, hominy and wheat, chickens and lamb . .	1 to 2	hrs.
Fowls, turkey, veal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	2 to 3	"
Corned beef, smoked tongue, beef à la mode . . . . . . . . .	3 to 4	"
Ham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	4 to 5	"
Halibut and salmon in cubical form, per lb. . . . . . . . . . . . .	15	m.
Blue-fish, bass, etc., per lb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	10	"
Cod, haddock, and small fish, per lb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	6	"

Frying.
Smelts, small fish, croquettes, fish balls . . .	1	m.
Muffins, fritters, doughnuts . . . . . . . . . .	3 to 5	"
Slices of fish, breaded chops . . . . . . . . .	4 to 6	"

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Broiling.
Steak, one inch thick . . . . . . . . . .	4	m.
Steak, one and a half inch thick . . . . .	6	"
Small, thin fish . . . . . . . . . . . . .	5 to 8	"
Thick fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	12 to 15	"
Chops, broiled in paper . . . . . . . . .	8 to 10	"
Chickens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	20	"

> Larding.

Many kinds of meat which are very lean and dry are improved by the addition of some kind of fat. The tenderloin or fillet of beef, the thick part of the leg of veal, grouse, and liver, are often prepared in this way.

Larding is drawing small strips of fat salt pork or bacon through the surface of the meat; daubing is forcing strips of pork through the entire thickness of the meat. Take a piece of fat salt pork two inches wide and four inches long. Shave off the rind the long way of the pork; then cut two or three slices about a quarter of an inch thick, the same way as the rind; cut only to the membrane which lies about an inch below the rind, as this is the firmest part of the pork; then cut each slice across the width, into strips one quarter of an inch thick. This will make the lardoons one quarter of an inch wide and thick and two inches long. Insert one end of the lardoon into the end of the larding-needle, then with the point of the needle take up a stitch half an inch deep and one inch wide in the surface of the meat. Draw the needle through, and help the pork to go through by pushing until partly through, then hold the end of the pork and draw the needle out, leaving the pork in the meat, with the ends projecting at equal lengths. Take up more stitches one inch apart in parallel or alternate rows, until the whole surface is covered.

Daubing is applied to a broad, thick piece of beef or veal. Cut the pork in strips one third of an inch wide and thick, and as long as the meat is thick. Punch a hole clear through the meat with a steel, and then insert the


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lardoon with a large larding-needle or with the fingers. The salt and fat from the lardoons penetrate the inside of the meat, and by many are considered an improvement. Those who object to the pork will find that beef may be seasoned as well by covering the surface with nice beef suet, salted; or the pork may be laid on the meat and removed after cooking. The process is not difficult, requiring no more skill than any other kind of sewing.

> Boning.

Any one who can use a sharp knife, and scrape meat or fish from a bone, without cutting her own flesh, can bone anything, from the smallest bird, chop, or fish, to a leg or forequarter of lamb, or a turkey. A small knife with a sharp, short, pointed blade, is all that is required. It is well to begin on a small scale by removing the bone from a chop or steak. The aim is to remove the flesh from the bone without cutting into the flesh, or destroying its shape more than is necessary.

To Bone a Chop or Steak.--Begin at the bone end, scrape the meat away, leaving the bone clean and the flesh unbroken. If there be a piece of tenderloin under the bone, remove it, and put it up close to the meat, which was above the bone in the original form.

Directions for boning fish are given on page 161.

To Bone a Leg of Mutton.--Cut it off at the first joint, insert the knife near the joint, and loosen the flesh from the bone, leaving all the gristle and tendons on the bone. Then begin at the tail end, and scrape the fat away from the backbone, then follow the bone (you can easily tell by the feeling, if you cannot see it) until you come to the joint; leave all the gristle and cords on the bone, and continue scraping off the flesh till the whole bone is out. One could easily cut through from the outside to the bone and remove it in that way; but the flesh would have to be sewed together, and much of the juice would escape. After removing the bone, stuff the cavity left by the bone,


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and sew the skin together at the smaller end. Then bring the edges together at the upper end, crowding all the flesh inside, and sew the skin together tightly. This gives a rectangular form of solid meat and stuffing. When salted and floured and exposed to a hot oven, the juices are kept inside; the meat is more conveniently served, and, when cold, does not become dry and hard.

Any other pieces of meat are boned in a similar manner.

To Bone a Bird, Fowl, or Turkey.--In this case the flesh is to be kept in the skin in order to preserve the shape. The skin should be firm and unbroken, and the bird should not be drawn. Remove the head and pin-feathers, singe and wipe carefully. Remove the tendons from the legs, and loosen the skin round the end of the drumstick. Make an incision through the skin from the neck to the middle of the back, or near the junction of the side bone. Scrape the flesh with the skin away from the backbone until you feel the end of the shoulder-blade; loosen the flesh from this, and then follow the bone to the wing joint, and down to the middle joint in the wing. The skin lies very near the bone underneath the joint, and care must be taken to avoid cutting through the skin at these places. Leave the first bone in the wing to aid in keeping the shape; it may be removed before serving. In small birds there is so little meat on the wings, that it is just as well to cut them off at the middle joint. Remove the bone from the other wing in the same way, then follow the collar bone from the wing down to the breastbone, loosening the crop from the flesh. In removing the flesh from the breastbone, be careful not to cut through the skin on the ridge. The flesh may be pushed away with the fingers, and the fillets or pieces that are detached from the other flesh can be laid aside, and put in place afterwards. When the breastbone is bare, separate the flesh from the ribs, and be careful not to break through the membrane into the inside. Remove the flesh round the second joint, then the drumsticks, turning the flesh wrong side out as in pulling a glove from the finger.


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Repeat this process on the other side. Then scrape down to the end of the backbone, and cut through the bone, leaving a part of it in the tail. Separate the membrane under the body without breaking. Thus you have the flesh in the skin, and the skeleton left entire with the contents undisturbed in the inside. Lay the stuffing in, filling out the legs and wings, then sew the skin along the back, and skewer or tie into the original shape.

An easier way of boning a fowl where it is to be rolled like a galantine, is to cut off the wings at the second joint, break the drumstick half-way from the joint, cut the skin down the entire length of the back, remove the flesh from the wing and second joint, turning the skin and flesh off like a glove; then do the same on the other wing and leg, leaving the breast till the last. The wings and legs are turned inside, the stuffing is laid in the flesh, and the whole rolled over and over, and sewed on the edge of the skin and at the ends of the roll.

> Measuring.

It has been said that "good cooks never measure anything." They do. They measure by judgement and experience; and until you have a large share of both these essential qualities, use your spoon and cup or scales.

Measures, in preference to weights, are used in nearly all these receipts, as they are more convenient for the majority of housekeepers. When measured and estimated by the Table of Weights and Measures on page 30, the cup and spoon may be used as accurately as the scales.

Flour, meal, sugar, salt, spices, and soda should always be sifted before measuring. Any other materials that have been packed, like mustard and baking powder, if not sifted, should be stirred, and broken up lightly. One tablespoonful of solid mustard taken carelessly from the box has been found equal to three tablespoonfuls measured after sifting.

The saltspoons, teaspoons, and tablespoons used in these receipts are the silver spoons now in general use. Iron


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mixing-spoons vary much in size, but there is a size which holds exactly the same as a silver tablespoon. Be careful to use this size in measuring. The cup is the common kitchen cup holding half a pint. Those with handles are more convenient.

To measure a teaspoonful of dry material, dip into the sifted material, and take up a heaping spoonful, shake it slightly until it is just rounded over, or convex in the same proportion as the spoon is concave. An even or scant teaspoonful means the spoon filled lightly, and levelled off with a knife. One half teaspoonful is most accurately measured by dividing through the middle lengthwise. When divided across the width the tip is smaller than the lower half. A heaping teaspoonful is all the spoon will hold of any lightly sifted material. A teaspoonful of liquid is the spoon full to the brim.

Tablespoonfuls are measured in the same way.

A cupful of dry material should be filled and heaped lightly (not shaken down), then levelled off even with the top. A small scoop should be kept in the flour or sugar to use in filling the cup. A heaping cupful is all the cup will hold. A cupful of liquid is not what you can carry without spilling, but what the cup will hold without running over; full to the brim. Place your cup in a saucer, while filling it, or in the bowl in which the liquid is to be poured. Half a cupful is not half the distance from the bottom to the rim. Most cups are smaller at the bottom, for which allowance must be made. Take two cups of the same size and shape, fill one with water, then pour the water without spilling into the other cup until it stands at the same level in both cups. This gives you the half-cupful exactly, which in the cups used here is two thirds of the height, or within an inch of the top. The quarter and three-quarter measures may be found in the same way. A scant cupful is within a quarter of an inch of the top.

"Butter the size of an egg," is a very common expression. This equals about one quarter of a cupful, or two ounces, or one heaping tablespoonful, either of which is more easily


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written than the first expression. Place an egg in one tablespoon, then pack butter in another till it fills the spoon in the same proportion as the egg, and you will easily carry it in mind.

Have your materials measured or at hand, and all utensils ready before beginning the mixing, or putting the ingredients together. Keep a bucket or pan full of flour, freshly sifted each day, and ready for use. Measure flour first, and put it in a bowl or pan together with salt, soda, cream of tartar, and spice; measure butter and put it in the mixing-bowl; then measure the sugar, and, in scraping out the sugar, take the butter which has adhered to the cup. Break your eggs on the edge of the cup; if the white be clear, the egg is good. Put the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another; measure the milk or liquid, and, after using the beaten yolk, clean out the bowl with the milk. Or, measure all the dry ingredients, break and separate the eggs, measure the milk, add it to the beaten yolks, and measure the melted butter last. In either way you can make one cup do for all without washing. "Two eggs beaten separately" means that the yolks and whites are to be beaten separately, not each whole egg beaten separately.

A tablespoonful of melted butter is measured after melting. A tablespoonful of butter melted is measured before melting.

To economize space, in many of the receipts the abbreviations are written; one cup for one cupful, tablesp. for tablespoonful, teasp. for teaspoonful, and saltsp. for saltspoonful. All these measures mean a full measure, unless scant or heaping measures are specified.

> Table of Weights and Measures.

4 saltspoonfuls of liquid	= 1 teaspoonful.
4 teaspoonfuls of liquid	= 1 tablespoonful.
3 teaspoonfuls of dry material	= 1 tablespoonful.
4 tablespoonfuls of liquid	= 1 wineglass, or 1/2 gill, or 1/4 cup.
2 gills	= 1 cup, or 1/2 pint.
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16 tablespoonfuls of liquid	= 1 cup.
12 tablespoonfuls of dry material	= 1 cup.
8 heaping tablespoonfuls of dry material	= 1 cup.
4 cups of liquid	= 1 quart.
4 cups of flour	= 1 pound, or 1 quart.
2 cups of solid butter	= 1 pound.
1/2 cup of butter	= 1/4 pound.
2 cups of granulated sugar	= 1 pound.
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar	= 1 pound.
3 cups of meal	= 1 pound.
1 pint of milk or water	= 1 pound.
1 pint of chopped meat packed solidly	= 1 pound.
9 large eggs, 10 medium eggs	= 1 pound.
1 round tablespoonful of butter	= 1 ounce.
1 heaping tablespoon of butter	= 2 ounces or 1/2 cup.
Butter the size of an egg	= 2 ounces or 1/2 cup.
1 heaping tablespoonful of sugar	= 1 ounce.
2 round tablespoonfuls of flour	= 1 ounce.
2 round tablespoonfuls of coffee	= 1 ounce.
2 round tablespoonfuls of powd. sugar	= 1 ounce.
1 tablespoonful of liquid	= 1/2 ounce.
1 bottle S. M. wine	= 3 cups, or 48 tablespoonfuls.
1 bottle of brandy	= 1 1/2 cups, or 24 tablespoonfuls.
1 small bottle Burnett's extract	= 1/4 cup scant, or 3 tablespoonfuls.
1 small bottle Burnett's extract	= 12 teaspoonfuls.
1 flask of olive oil	= 1 1/4 cups, or 20 tablespoonfuls.

> Table of Proportions.

1 scant measure of liquid to 3 full measures of flour, for bread.

1 scant measure of liquid to 2 full measures of flour, for muffins.

1 scant measure of liquid to 1 full measure of flour, for batters.

1/2 cup of yeast, or 1/4 of compressed yeastcake, to one pint of liquid.

1 even teasp. of soda and 2 full teasp. of cream tartar to 1 quart of flour.

3 heaping, or 4 even teaspoonfuls, of baking powder to 1 quart of flour.

1 teaspoonful of soda to 1 pint of sour milk.

1 teaspoonful of soda to 1 cup of molasses.

1 saltspoonful of salt to 1 quart of milk for custards.

1 teaspoonful of extract to 1 quart of custard.

1 saltspoonful of salt to 1 loaf of sponge cake.

1 teaspoonful of extract to 1 loaf of plain cake.

1 saltspoonful of spice to 1 loaf of plain cake.

1 teaspoonful of salt to 1 quart of soup stock or 2 quarts of flour.

1 saltspoonful of white pepper to 1 quart of soup stock.

1 teaspoonful of mixed herbs to 1 quart of soup stock.

1 tablespoonful of each chopped vegetable to 1 quart of soup stock.

A speck of cayenne pepper is what you can take up on the point of a penknife or on a quarter-inch square surface.

A pinch of salt or spice is about a saltspoonful.

A pinch of hops is 1/2 of a cup.

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The proportions of seasoning given in these receipts are not sufficient for those who like highly seasoned food. It is easier to add more, than to remove any if too highly seasoned.

Mixed Spice for Rich Cakes and Plum Puddings.

1/2 teaspoonful of cloves and allspice.

1 teaspoonful each of mace and grated nutmeg.

3 teaspoonfuls of cinnamon.

Spice Salt for Soups and Stuffings.

4 ounces of salt.

2 ounces of celery salt.

1 ounce each of white pepper and ground thyme.

1 ounce each of marjoram and summer savory.

1/2 ounce of sage.

1 saltspoonful of cayenne pepper.

1/2 teaspoonful each of cloves, allspice, and mace.

Mix, sift, and keep closely covered.

Mixed Whole Herbs, for Soups and Braised Meats.

1 bunch each of whole thyme and marjoram.

1 bunch each of summer savory and sage.

1/4 pound of bay leaves.

Crush and break the leaves, blossoms, and stalks, and mix thoroughly.

> Mixing.

Next to care in measuring comes the manner of mixing. The most accurate measurement of the best materials is often rendered useless by a neglect to put them together properly, and the blame is usually charged to the oven or the receipt. There are three distinct ways of mixing: Stirring, Beating, and Cutting or Folding.

Stirring.--Let the bowl of the spoon rest slightly on the bottom of the mixing-bowl; then move round and round in widening circles, without lifting the spoon out of


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the mixture, except to scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Stir slowly at first, to avoid spattering; add the liquid gradually, and be sure the bowl of the spoon (not the edge nor the tip merely) touches the bottom and sides of the bowl. This is mashing as well as stirring, and the mixture soon becomes a paste. When perfectly smooth and free from lumps, add more liquid till you have the desired consistency. We stir flour and water together for a thickening, or butter and flour and milk for a sauce. We stir when we rub butter to a cream, or when we make a batter or semi-dough. When we make a stiff dough we stir at first, and then turn the whole mass over, bringing the knife or spoon round the bowl and cutting up through the dough.

Beating.--Tip the bowl slightly, and hold the spoon so that the edge scrapes the bowl, and bring it up through the mixture and over with a long quick flop to the opposite side; under, and up through again, lifting the spoon out of the mass and cutting clear through, scraping from the bottom at every stroke. Keep the bowl of the spoon and the sides of the mixing-bowl well scraped out, that all the material may be equally beaten.

We stir simply to blend two or more materials; we beat to entangle all the air possible in the mixture. We beat eggs or batter or soft dough. The albumen of the eggs and the gluten of the flour, owing to their viscidity or glutinous properties, catch the air and hold it in the form of cells, something as we make soap bubbles by blowing air into soapy water. The faster we beat, and the more we bring the material up from the bowl into the air, the more bubbles we have; but one stirring motion will destroy them. Yolks of eggs should be beaten nearly as much as the whites, or till they are light or lemon-colored, and thicken perceptibly. The whites should be beaten till they are stiff and dry, or fly off in flakes, or can be turned upside down without spilling. When the two are to be put together, always plan to turn the whites into the yolks, as there is less waste than when the yolks are turned into


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the whites. Let the whites stand a minute, then run a palette knife round the edge close to the bowl; they will slip out easily, and leave the bowl almost clean. For beating eggs, for nearly all purposes the Dover egg-beater is the best. There should be two sizes, the larger one for the whites of eggs. Hold the beater lightly in the left hand, and move it round through the egg while turning the handle. For frosting, and snow pudding, and all beating of soft dough, use a perforated wooden spoon. Bowls with slightly flaring sides, and not too deep to be clasped from bottom to rim in the left hand, are most convenient. If tipped slightly toward the right, the beating is done more effectually.

Cutting, or Folding, or Lifting.--Omelets, sponge cake, whipped cream, etc., should have the beaten white cut or folded in carefully to avoid breaking the air bubbles. Turn the mixture over with the spoon, cut through, lift up, and fold the materials together, lifting the part from below, up and over, and mixing very gently until just blended. Do not stir round and round, nor beat quickly.

All mixtures which are raised with eggs alone, should have the yolks and whites of the eggs thoroughly and separately beaten; any very thin batter, like pop-overs, pancakes, or gems made without eggs, should be beaten vigorously just before baking. Graham or whole-wheat flour is better than white flour for gems that are made without eggs, because it contains more gluten.

Shall we stir only one way? No; stir any way you please, so long as you blend or mix the materials. But after beating in air bubbles, don't break them by stirring, unless you wish to keep up the game of cross purposes indefinitely. Always let the last motion, before turning into the pans, be one of quick, vigorous beating; except in those receipts where folding instead of beating is indicated.

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> Table of Average Cost of Material used in Cooking.

1 cup of flour or meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	$0.01
1 " sugar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.06
1 " butter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.20
1 egg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.03
1 cup of molasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.05
1 " milk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.02
1 tablespoonful of wine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.02
1 " " brandy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.04
1 teaspoonful of vanilla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.02
1 " " spice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.02
1 " " soda and 2 teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar . .	.02
1 tablespoonful of butter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.03
Butter size of an egg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.05
1 tablespoonful of olive oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.02
2 tablespoonfuls of coffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.05
2 teaspoonfuls of tea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.01
1 quart of milkman's cream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.25
1 " Deerfoot cream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.60
1 box of gelatine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.16
1 lemon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.02
1 orange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.03
1 pound of raisins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.18
1 " currants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.10
1 " citron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.18
1 " crackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.10
1 " tapioca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.07
1 " rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.03
1 " macaroni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.18
1 pound of spaghetti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	$0.16
1 " cornstarch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.10
1 can of tomatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.15
1 " salmon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.18
1 " lobster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.15
1 " deviled ham and tongue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.30
1 tumbler of jelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.35
1 jar of marmalade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.25
1 pound of tea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.75
1 " coffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.38
1 " chocolate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.40
1 " nutmeg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.32
1 " mace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.60
1 " cloves, cassia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.15
1 " ginger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.10
1 " mustard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.12
1 " herbs, ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.10
Package of whole herbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	8
1 pound of cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.18
1 " Parmesan cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.50
1 peck of potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.25
1 " apples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.50
1 quart of onions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.10
1 carrot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.02
1 turnip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.05
1 bunch of celery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.20
1 handful of parsley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.05
1 bunch of watercresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.05
1 head of lettuce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.10

These prices are for the best materials, and are estimated for the season, from October to June, when butter and eggs are higher than during the summer.

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> BREAD AND BREAD MAKING.

Importance of Bread.--Bread is one of the earliest, the most generally used, and the most important forms of food adopted by mankind. Nothing in the whole range of domestic life more affects the health and happiness of the family than the quality of its daily bread. With good bread, the plainest meal is a feast in itself; without it, the most elaborately prepared and elegantly served menu is unsatisfactory.

Bread-making is at once the easiest and the most difficult branch of culinary science,--easy, if only sufficient interest be taken to master a few elementary principles and to follow them always, using the judgement of the best authorities, until experience furnishes a sufficient guide; difficult, if there be any neglect to use proper care and materials. It should be regarded as one of the highest accomplishments; and if one tenth part of the interest, time, and thought which are devoted to cake and pastry and fancy cooking were spent upon this most important article of food, the presence of good bread upon our tables would be invariably secured.

Origin and Meaning of "Bread."--Bread is made from a variety of substances,--roots, fruits, and the bark of trees; but more generally from certain grains. The word bread is derived from the verb to bray, or pound, expressive of the old method of preparing the grain. Bread is therefore made of something brayed, as brayed wheat or brayed corn. But these brayed or ground materials are not properly bread until they are mixed or moistened with water. Then the brayed grain becomes dough, from a word meaning to wet, or moisten. In primitive times this wetted meal or dough was baked at once in hot ashes, and made


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a firm, compact bread, exceedingly hard of digestion. Accidentally some one discovered that by letting the dough stand till it had fermented, and then mixing it with new dough, it rasied, or lifted, the whole mass, and made it lighter and more porous. Thus we have our word loaf, from lifian, to raise, or lift up. The old dough--or leaven, as it is called--lifts up the dough. The raised mass is held in place by the heat in baking, and becomes the loaf of raised bread.

Bread made from Wheat.--Bread is made principally from wheat flour. Rye and corm meal are sometimes used, but better results are obtained when there is a mixture of wheat with one or more of these grains. Rye used alone makes a close, moist, sticky bread; while corn meal alone makes too dry and crumbly a loaf.

Wheat is an annual grass of unknown origin, cultivated more extensively in the Northern hemisphere. There are over one hundred and fifty varieties of wheat. They are classified as red or white, in reference to the color of the grains; as winter or summer,--winter wheat being sown in the autumn, and summer wheat in the spring; as soft or hard,--soft wheat being tender and floury or starchy; and hard wheat being tough, firm, and containing more gluten.

Chemical Composition of Wheat.--Wheat is the only grain which contains gluten in the proper proportion and of the desired quality essential to the making of light, spongy bread. It contains all the elements necessary for the growth of the body; but, to meet all the requirements of nutrition, the whole of the grain, with the exception of the outer husk, should be used. Wheat has several layers of bran coats, the outer one of which is almost wholly pure silica and is perfectly indigestible. Underneath this


[Illustration: A detailed illustration of a grain of wheat.]




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husk lie the inner bran coats, containing gluten, a dark substance which is the nitrogenous or flesh-forming element, the phosphates and other mineral matters which help to make up the bony parts of the body, and the oil which gives the characteristic odor to wheat grains. The centre, or heart, of the grain consists of cells filled with starch, a fine, white, mealy powder, which has little value as food except as a heat producer. There is also a small amount of gluten diffused among the starch cells. For convenience, these different parts of the wheat will be designated as bran, or the outer husk; gluten, or the inner bran coats; and starch, or the heart of the wheat. The proportion and quality of the gluten and starch in different kinds of wheat vary according to the climate and soil in which they are grown. They are also affected by the method of grinding the grain. Wheat grown in Southern or warm climates, and in the intense, though short, summer of our own Northwest, contains more nitrogen than that grown in cold, damp climates. It loses more water by evaporation, and consequently the seed is smaller and harder. In some varieties of wheat the outer husk is thin and smooth, and peels off readily under the stones. In others, it is thick and rough, and adheres closely to the kernel. In some, it is light-colored or brittle; in others, dark-colored or tough. The husky portion of wheat is about fourteen or sixteen per cent of the whole weight.

[Illustration: A detailed illustration of a hulled grain of wheat.]

[Illustration: An illustration of the layers in a grain of wheat, magnified.]

The gluten of wheat is a gray, tough, elastic substance, consisting chiefly of vegetable fibrine. It can be examined


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easily by making a dough of flour and water, and working it on a sieve under a stream of water. The water will carry the starch, sugar, gum, and mineral matters into the pan below, leaving a lump of gluten on the sieve. It closely resembles a piece of animal skin, and, when dried, has a glue-like appearance; hence its name, gluten. The proportion of gluten varies from eleven to fifteen per cent. This tough, elastic quality of the gluten determines the quality of the flour. The more gluten and the tougher or stronger it is, the better the flour. The gluten of good flour will swell to four or five times its original bulk; while that of poor flour does not swell, but becomes watery and sticky, and sometimes gives off a disagreeable odor, owing to the deterioration of the fatty or oily element.

> Preparing the Flour.

St. Louis Process.--There are several methods of converting wheat into flour. One is by grinding between two horizontal stones, the upper one revolving, and the lower one stationary. The surface of the stones presents an infinite number of minute cutting edges. The upper stone is convex, the lower one concave; but instead of fitting perfectly, they approach closer together from the centre outward, so that, as the grain is poured into an opening in the upper stone, it is at first rather coarsely crushed, and then cut finer and finer, as it is carried to the circumference by the centrifugal force. As the grain leaves the stones, the outer husk has been least affected; the tough, coherent gluten is divided minutely, while the brittle starch, which forms two thirds of the grain, is completely crushed. The miller then divides these products, by sifting or bolting, into fine flour, coarse flour, and bran.

The bran should be discarded as utterly useless for human food; but it is often mixed with an inferior quality of fine flour, and sold as Graham flour. It was at one time considered valuable as a food for those suffering from constipation, chiefly on account of its coarseness; but


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science has shown us recently that minute points of glass (and bran is nothing else) are not Nature's best agents in removing effete matters from the system. All of the so-called Graham flour made by this process should be sifted before using.

The coarse flour will vary in quality, according as it has more or less of the outer bran mixed with it. In the soft wheats the husk peels off readily under the stones, and is easily separated by bolting; and as these soft varieties contain the smallest proportion of gluten, they yield a coarse flour, containing only an average amount of gluten, and the whitest fine-flour. But in the hard, flinty wheats, this outer husk clings so closely that much of it is ground up finely with the flour, giving it a dark color. This flour, as it contains a large proportion of gluten, would be more nutritious were it not that much of the gluten adheres to the hulls, and is lost by sifting them out, and much of the fine, flinty bran is retained in the flour, which makes it irritating and indigestible.

The quality of the fine flour depends upon the quality of the wheat, in the first place; also upon the number of siftings, being richer in gluten the less it is sifted; and upon the way in which it is stored. The process of grinding with the stones heats the flour; and as it is often thrust upon the market without being properly cooled and dried, it spoils very rapidly. Flour made by this process of grinding is called the St. Louis, or old-process flour. When made of the very best quality of grain and carefully prepared, it makes a sweet, nutritious bread, and is excellent in cake and pastry. It is often designated pastry flour.

Haxall Process.--Another method of making flour is by the new, or Haxall process, so called from the name of the inventor. By this process the outer husk is first removed, or decorticated; then the cleaned grain is cut by a system of knives, which reduces it to a fine powder without the injurious effects of heating. This flour has a slightly granular consistency, owing to the presence of minute particles of hard, flinty gluten. It is usually made


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from the best quality of wheat, and keeps well. It is considered by many as the best flour for bread, as it makes a whiter, nicer-looking loaf. Haxall flour swells more than that made by the old process, as it contains more of the gluten: the same measure making a greater quantity of bread than the St. Louis flour. It is, therefore, cheaper in the end, though costing more per barrel. By repeated siftings, this flour loses its gluten, as does that made by the St. Louis process, and consequently is then inferior as a food. But we can supply by other flours and other food what this flour lacks in nutritious qualities; and until the popular taste is educated to demand the amount of nutriment contained in bread rather than the whiteness of it, as a test of its quality, it is well to make our fine, white bread from this, which is the best flour, and have it as nearly perfect as possible.

There have been many variations of the Haxall process, and all are included under the term new-process flour.

Minnesota.--The Minnesota, or patent-process, flour is now considered one of the best grades. The Washburn, Pillsbury, and many other mills located in Minneapolis are the largest flour-mills in the world, and produce an excellent quality of flour, in which a large proportion of the gluten is retained. This Minnesota flour is made from carefully selected wheat grown in the Red River region, the best wheat-growing section in America. The first step in the process is the breaking off of the germinal point of each grain by what are called ending stones. Then it is sent through corrugated iron rollers, having shallow grooves cut spirally upon them, with rounded ridges between, and the opposing rollers grooved in an opposite direction. The grains are crushed (not ground); the starchy parts, or middlings, being quite finely powdered and easily separated from the bran or tailings. After this separation the middlings are passed through ten bolting-cloths, and then through other and finer corrugated machines, and made into the various grades of fine, superfine, and fancy flours.

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Health-Food Flour.--A still better method of converting wheat into flour, and one which is indorsed by leading scientists and physicians, has been recently introduced by the Health Food Company of New York. Only the choicest kinds of wheat are used. The outer husk is first removed by moistening the grain, and subjecting it to a gentle rubbing by what is termed the "attrition process." This softens the woody fibre of the outer bran, which is easily removed by sifting, but does not affect the hard gluten coats. The grains are dried, then pulverized into various grades by a compressed cold-air blast, which dashes the grains into atoms with tremendous force. This is called whole-wheat flour, the name indicating that the whole of the gluten, or nutritive part of the flour, is retained. It is not sifted like other flours, but pulverized into all the varieties of crushed wheat, coarse granulated and fine granulated wheat; each variety, even the finest flour, containing all that is valuable as food. Bread made with this flour has been found, after repeated trial, to be sweet and agreeable to the taste, light and spongy in texture, with none of the objectionable features of Graham bread, and answering fully all the demands of perfect nutrition.

Cheap inferior Graham flour, made of poor flour mixed with bran, is worse than no food at all. Any flour containing much of the indigestible bran causes irritation of the digestive organs; all the food is hurried through the alimentary canal before digestion is complete or all the nutriment can be absorbed, and thus is neither economical nor healthful. Fine flour containing the most gluten is the most nutritious, because it is all digested, and the loss of albuminous material can be supplied from other sources.

The Arlington, the Franklin, and some other brands of whole-wheat flour, are highly indorsed by those familiar with them.

> The Tests of Good Flour.

The first requisite in making good bread is to use good flour. Good flour should not be pure white in color, but


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of a creamy, yellowish-white shade. If it feel damp, clammy, or sticky, and gradually form into lumps or cakes, it is not the best. Good flour holds together in a mass, when squeezed by the hand, and retains the impression of the fingers, and even the marks of the skin, much longer than poor flour; when made into a dough, it is elastic, easy to be kneaded, will stay in a round puffy shape, and will take up a large amount of water; while poor flour will be sticky, flatten, or spread itself over the board, and will never seem to be stiff enough to be handled, no matter how much flour is used. Haxall flour has a fine granular consistency, and runs easily through the sieve or the fingers like fine meal; while good St. Louis flour feels soft and oily. It is extravagant to buy poor or even doubtful flour. But, should it have every appearance of being good flour, and yet not make good bread, do not condemn the flour without a fair trial; and be sure the fault is nowhere else.

Every experienced cook has her own tests for flour, and some of them are amusing, if not reliable. The best way is to buy a small quantity at first, and make it into dough; then, if satisfactory, purchase whatever amount is required, and buy this same brand as long as it proves of uniform quality. The flour may come from the same growth of wheat, and be ground in the same manner and at the same mill, and yet the miller or the wholesale dealers will brand it differently. And the same brand will vary in quality from year to year. Some of the varieties sold in Boston, and known to be good by personal trial, are Archibald's Extra, Washburn's, Spaulding, Corrugated, Taylor's Best, Brown's Best, Marguerite, etc.; the same flour may be known in other cities under different names. There are others equally good, and every year some new brand is announced. It is estimated that one barrel of flour will last one person one year; which gives a rule of proportion by which to buy. Most good housekeepers agree that flour is not improved by long keeping, though


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flour dealers think differently. Flour should be kept in a cool, dry place, as the least dampness causes it to absorb moisture; the gluten loses its tenacity, becomes sticky, and the bread made from it is coarser and less light.

For small families it is better to buy whole-wheat flour by the bag or half-barrel; Haxall, for bread, by the barrel; and the best St. Louis flour for cake and pastry, by the bag, as a much smaller proportion is needed (or should be) for these indigestibles, than for the "staff of life."

> Bread, Fermented and Unfermented.

Now, having discussed the subject of the flour, the next step in order is the different ways of making it into bread. These may all be included under two divisions,--those made by fermentation, and those without fermentation.

Fermentation, what is it?--Fermentation is that change in organic substances by which their sugar, starch, gluten, etc., are decomposed or recombined into new compounds. This change may be spontaneous under favorable conditions of air, moisture, and warmth; or it may be hastened by the presence of a ferment. A ferment is some albuminous substance in a state of decomposition, and, when introduced into any other albuminous substance, in however minute a quantity, causes a change which pervades the whole mass. These fermenting substances are in great variety, and the germs of some of them are always present in the air. There are different kinds of fermentation.

The lactic fermentation is the change in milk when it sours. The casein, or albuminous part of the milk, by exposure to the air and warmth, begins to decompose, becomes a ferment, and changes the sugar of the milk into an acid called lactic acid. This reacts upon the remainder of the milk, as any acid would, and causes it to coagulate or harden, and gives it a sour taste.

The alcoholic fermentation is that which is produced in substances rich in sugar or starch, as the fruits and grains from which wines and beer are made. Some of these ferment


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germs are present in the juice of grapes; and under the influence of air, moisture, and warmth, they seize upon the sugar already present in the natural fruit juices, and any that may be added, and convert it into carbonic acid gas and alcohol. In the grains, a portion of the gluten ferments and changes the starch into sugar, and then the sugar into carbonic acid and alcohol. In converting the starch into sugar there is no change evident to the eye; but as soon as the sugar is decomposed into alcohol and carbonic acid gas, large bubbles of gas appear, which swell the whole mass.

Acetic fermentation is caused by allowing alcoholic fermentation to go on beyond a certain limit, or in a temperature above 90°. A familiar illustration of this is the change of wine or cider into vinegar.

Now, bread-dough contains gluten, sugar, and starch; and if the dough be kept warm for a certain time, lactic fermentation will be developed spontaneously, and the bread made from such dough will be sour and heavy. Alcoholic fermentation can also be spontaneously produced in dough, by making first a batter (as the semi-fluid state is more favorable to rapid chemical change), and subjecting it to a temperature of 110° for five or six hours; then, adding more flour, allowing it to rise again, and then baking it. Bread made in this way is called salt or milk-rising's bread. But it does not keep well, and is not generally liked.

It is not always convenient to wait for dough to be raised in this manner, so we hasten the process by the addition of some active ferment. Leaven, or a piece of old dough, left to sour, and then mixed with the new dough was formerly used; this produced lactic as well as alcoholic fermentation, and though the bread was light and spongy in texture, it had an unpleasant sour taste. But since the chemistry of yeast fermentation has been understood, yeast has come to be considered the best ferment for producing alcoholic fermentation in bread rapidly, and with no objectionable result.

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Yeast, what is it?--Yeast is a plant or germ of the fungus tribe. Under the microscope it is found to consist of numberless minute rounded or oval bodies which are true vegetable cells. Yeast is therefore one of the simplest and smallest of vegetable organisms. Each little cell consists of an enveloping skin or membrane, containing a liquid or sap. They grow or expand from the minutest microscopic points, and seem to bud off from each other and multiply into many millions to the cubic inch. These cells are easily propagated in any medium where they find congenial food, particularly in the juice of grapes. If grape-juice be filtered and left to stand in a warm place two or three hours, it becomes first cloudy, then thick, and gives off bubbles of gas, showing there has been some change in its composition. In a short time a grayish-yellow froth, or layer of yeast cells, collects on the surface. "Whether the germs or spores of the yeast plant exist already in the juices of the living grape, or whether they are always floating in the air, and cling to the exterior of the fruit, and only become mixed with the juice in the wine-press, is not known;" neither is it known just how they decompose the sugar of the grape. But it is enough for our purpose to know that they grow in the juice and expand there, and that an active ferment may be dissolved out of these yeast cells, sufficient to cause alcoholic fermentation.

[Illustration: A magnified illustration of yeast.]

The natural development of yeast through the agency of plants is too slow and inconvenient a process to rely upon; therefore we manufacture it from various substances rich in starch and sugar. Brewer's yeast is made from malt, or sprouting grain, usually barley; home-made yeast, from flour and potatoes.

Yeast Bread the Result of Chemical Changes.--Bread properly made with yeast undergoes certain chemical changes which render it lighter, more porous, more pleasant


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to the taste, and more healthful, because more easily digested, and more convenient for general use. It is generally recommended by scientific and medical men as the best form of bread.

Wheat contains a larger percentage of starch than of anything else. We learn, in the chapter on Digestion, that starch as such is not absorbed into the human system. It must first be transformed into sugar. All starch that is not changed into sugar by the process of cooking or before our food is eaten, is so changed by the ptyalin, or ferment of the saliva, and the ferment of the pancreatic fluid. Any process which produces this change for us makes our food more digestible. "Powdered alum will dissolve in water sooner than a crystal of alum." Any fluid will penetrate more easily through a sponge than through putty, and the salivary and gastric fluids are no exception to this rule. Wheat starch in its natural state is close and compact; and bread made simply with flour and water, and baked at once, will be close, dry, and difficult to masticate and digest. Good bread should be sufficiently soft to be easily crushed in the mouth, and of such a light, spongy texture that all the starch cells may be ruptured, and the greatest possible amount of surface be presented to the action of the digestive fluids. To obtain these qualities in bread, we try to expand the dough as much as possible without destroying its natural sweetness. Owing to the peculiar elasticity and tenacity of the wheat gluten, this is very easily accomplished by alcoholic fermentation. The flour is moistened with some warm liquid, yeast and salt are added, and it is then exposed for some hours to a temperature of about 70°. The yeast changes some of the starch of the flour into sugar, and the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid gas. This gas, being lighter than the dough, rises, and, in its efforts to escape, expands the elastic, glutinous dough into a mass two or three times its original bulk. The toughness or elasticity of the gluten prevents the gas from escaping; and when this expansion has reached the desired limit,--that is, before the alcoholic fermentation has changed


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to the acetic and soured the dough, or the tough, glutinous walls of the air cells are broken,--we check the formation of gas, and kill the ferment by baking the dough in a hot oven. The alcohol escapes into the oven; some of the starch is changed into gum, and forms the crust; and the rapid decomposition, produced by the intense heat, causes the crust to assume a brown color.

Unfermented Bread.--This is made without yeast; but the principle is the same as in fermented bread, namely, the liberation of gas within the dough. The gas escapes quickly, and all such bread must be baked as soon as possible after mixing. There are no chemical changes in the starch or sugar; the elastic, glutinous dough is simply expanded by the gas. The starch cells are ruptured by the intense heat in baking; but if the gas bubbles burst before the heat has fixed the gluten wall, the bread will be heavy. This gas is produced in the bread dough in various ways: 1st. By the gas in very cold water, and the air obtained by vigorous beating; 2d. By the introduction of water under pressure, highly charged with gas. The first method is only suitable for mixtures which are to be baked quickly in a very hot oven, and eaten immediately, like gems, puffs, etc. The latter method produces what is known as aerated bread, making a light, sweet, spongy loaf; but it is not practicable for home use. 3d. The usual method is by some gas-generating compound, as the union of an acid and an alkali; usually soda, with either sour milk, cream of tartar, or muriatic acid. This is a convenient form adopted by many people who think it hard work to make yeast bread. When the chemicals used are pure, and in such a proportion that they neutralize each other, and leave only Rochelle salt as a residue, this bread, if used only occasionally, is harmless. But Rochelle salt is a medicine, not a nutritive food; and "those who are well do not need the disturbing influence of a medicine in their daily bread," and those who are ill do not often need this particular form of medicine. Through ignorance or carelessness this bread is often made so that there is an excess


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of alkali or a residue of alum; and then, if used habitually, it is injurious, and to some extent poisonous. It is convenient to know how to make it well in an emergency, and it helps make variety. It is best, when freshly baked, in the form of small biscuit rather than in loaves, and is not as indigestible, when eaten hot, as hot yeast bread. But for a bread for general use, for bread that will keep well, for bread that will leave a sweet, clean taste in the mouth, for bread that will yield the most in bulk from a given amount of flour, for bread for promoting health, there is nothing equal to perfect, home-made yeast bread. It is not so difficult a task to make perfect bread as most young housekeepers imagine, or old housekeepers assert. It is not impossible for a young girl to succeed as well in her first attempt in this art as the mature housekeeper who counts her loaves by the thousand, provided she learns the best way of making it, and uses a reasonable amount of common-sense.

> The Best Kinds of Yeast.

Who made the first yeast? and how does a young house-keeper start her own, when away from stores or friends, where she can neither buy nor borrow? are questions often asked. Simply make a thin batter with flour and water, and let it stand in a warm place till it ferments, and is full of bubbles. A pint of this ferment is equal to one cup of old yeast in starting the new.

There are three kinds of yeast in general use,--the dry, the compressed, and the liquid,--each of which has its peculiar merits.

Dry yeast cakes, such as the "National" or "Twin Brothers," are inexpensive, always ready to use, and generally liked by those who care more for economy of time and trouble than for the quality of their bread.

Compressed yeast cakes, like the "Vienna" or "Fleischmann's," are excellent, when perfectly fresh; the best form of yeast where bread is made in large quantities. But for a small family, where only a quarter of a cake is used perhaps


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perhaps twice a week, or for those living at a distance from the stores, they are inconvenient, expensive, and wasteful. They have almost entirely taken the place of baker's yeast.

As to which is best of the many varieties of home-made yeast, who shall decide when housekeepers disagree? Every good cook thinks her way the best. They are all good that make good bread; the only special advantage of one over another being the greater ease in making or the length of time it will keep good. People who are inclined to shirk think it a deal of trouble to make yeast of any kind; but there are none so independent as those who make their own yeast.

The simplest form of liquid yeast is made with flour, salt, and boiling hop water. To this many add potatoes and a little sugar, and some add ginger. Chemists say that the potato is the best form of starch for the growth of yeast. Potato yeast rises more rapidly, and keeps longer without souring, than flour yeast; bread made from it is sweet, light, and does not dry quickly. As to the comparative merits of grated raw potato or boiled potato, those who have used them both ways with equally good results think the grated potato has the advantage of being made in much less time.

The really essential points are that the water shall be boiling, so that all the cells of the flour or potato may be ruptured. The salt and sugar assist in the fermentation, and the hops and ginger serve to prevent the yeast from souring by checking the fermentation before all the sugar is converted into alcohol; they also give it an agreeably pungent taste, if not used in too large quantities. Old potatoes are better than new for yeast, because they contain more sugar. Porcelain or granite kettles for boiling the hops and potatoes, and earthen bowls and wooden spoons for mixing, are best, as iron and tin cause the yeast to turn dark-colored.

The yeast for starting must be fresh and lively, and never added till the boiling mixture has become lukewarm,


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or the plant will be killed. It must be kept warm, and stirred several times while rising, and the next day put away in well-scalded glass jars. Keep it in a cool place; freezing or intense heat will kill the yeast plant. Reserve a portion for the next rising in a small jar by itself, as opening the jar often causes the yeast to lose its strength. Always shake or stir well before using. Yeast is good when it is foamy or full of beads, has a brisk, pungent odor, and a good deal of snap or vim; it is poor when it has an acid odor, and looks watery or has a thin film over the top.

> Making the Dough.

Flour is moistened, or made into dough, with water or with milk. This softens the gluten and starch, dissolves the sugar, and cements all the particles together. Those who prefer water claim that water bread is cheaper, has more of the natural sweet taste of the wheat, and will keep longer; while those in favor of using milk are equally sure that milk bread is more nutritious, more tender, more agreeable to the taste and the eye, more easily made, and with proper care will keep sweet and moist longer.

Proportion.--The proportion of liquid and flour varies both with the flour and the liquid. Bread made of St. Louis flour, or mixed with water, takes more flour to make the same amount, than when made of Haxall flour, or mixed with milk. The general rule is one scant measure of liquid, including the yeast, to three full measures of flour. Water bread will need about one cupful more; and milk bread, or whole-wheat bread, from one half to one cupful less of flour. Dough which is to be kneaded, or rolled and cut into special shapes, should be stiffer than that which is not kneaded, or is to be made into loaves; but in all cases it should be mixed just as soft as can be handled easily without sticking, and just as little extra flour as possible should be used. If the dough be too stiff, make several deep incisions, and work in a little more liquid. The proportion of yeast is half a cupful of fresh home-made


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yeast to a pint of liquid: a little less in warm weather; or when mixed at night, when the dough has a longer time to rise; or when made with a "sponge," or with whole-wheat flour, as the extra amount of gluten in this flour causes it to ferment more rapidly. A larger amount of yeast can be used when it is necessary to make bread in a limited time; but great care must be taken not to use enough to leave an unpleasant yeasty taste in the bread. With compressed yeast, dissolve one fourth of a cake in half a cupful of lukewarm water, and use as home-made yeast. It will dissolve in one tablespoonful of water; but it is important to have the half-cupful, that the proportion of liquid may be the same.

Manner of Mixing.--Many people prefer to measure the flour, and add enough of the liquid to make it the desired consistency. The better way is to measure the liquid, and add flour, using more or less according to the quality of the flour, as the measure of the liquid determines the size of the loaf. All the flour may be added at first, and the dough raised in a mass; or a drop batter may be made with about half the flour, and when this has well risen, the remainder of the flour may be added, and the whole allowed to rise again. The latter method is preferable when it is inconvenient to knead at the first mixing as is often the case in the evening, or when there is any doubt about the quality of the yeast, as, if the yeast will not raise three cups of flour, it certainly will not raise six. This method is advisable, also, when it is necessary to hasten the process of bread-making. Dough made by "setting a sponge," as this way is called, requires less yeast, the fermentation being more rapid in a batter than in a stiff dough; and this fermented batter acts like a double portion of yeast on the fresh flour, raising it very quickly. It is the best way of making bread with milk in the summer, as it may be mixed early in the morning and baked by noon; and as it may be easily watched, it need not become sour. The question of mixing at night or in the morning is one which every housekeeper can best answer for herself.


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Many old receipts read, "Make a hole in the flour, add the yeast, and then pour in the liquid." If the yeast be added to the milk or water, and well mixed with it, and the flour then stirred thoroughly into this liquid mixture, the yeast will be more evenly distributed through the dough, and less kneading will be required than when made by the old method.

The other ingredients added to the dough are salt and sugar, in the proportion of one even teaspoonful of salt and one even tablespoonful of sugar to three pints of flour, using a little less salt if butter is added, and a little more with compressed yeast, as that is not as salt as home-made yeast, and doubling the amount of sugar when using whole-wheat flour.

Sugar in Bread.--Many object to the use of sugar in bread. Flour in its natural state contains sugar; this sugar is changed in fermentation. Just enough sugar to restore the natural sweetness, but not enough to give a really sweet taste, is necessary in fermented bread.

Potatoes.--Potatoes are sometimes added to bread dough. Where the flour is of an inferior quality, the bread is very much improved by their use; but with good flour they are unnecessary, and the use of them increases the labor of making bread.

Shortening.--Whether bread shall be "shortened or not shortened," is another question on which there is great diversity of opinion. Those who disapprove of fat of any kind in bread claim that we eat fat enough in other forms of food, and also that the same crisp tenderness of texture may be produced by skilful kneading. Bread made with new or unskimmed milk, and kneaded well, requires no other shortening; but water bread, when shortened, is made more tender, and therefore is more easily penetrated by the digestive fluids. The latest decision of the best physicians is that fat is absolutely necessary as an element of food, and it is often given as a remedy for some diseases. The proportion which one person would receive from one tablespoonful of butter, or drippings, or


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lard, in two loaves of bread would not harm the most delicate stomach. Butter tastes best; drippings are cheapest. Lard has for its chief merit that of making whiter bread than either of the others. The shortening may be rubbed into the flour, or, better still, melted in the warm liquid. Too much shortening clogs the glutinous cell-walls, and therefore checks the rising. Rolls, rusks, and buns, which are usually shortened more than loaf bread, should have the butter added at the last kneading.

The bread should be mixed in a deep stone-china or granite bowl; wooden bowls are difficult to keep sweet and clean. Brown earthenware is awkward in shape and clumsy to handle, while tinware, being a better conductor than china, lets the heat within the mass escape, and the tin rubs off from the constant friction. Use a wooden spoon, or a wooden-handled iron spoon, or a broad-bladed knife.

Kneading the Dough.--Kneading is the process of pressing or working the dough in such a manner that the flour and water may be thoroughly mixed, and the yeast be so evenly distributed that the fermentation may be equal through the whole mass. It may be done by cutting or chopping, either with the hand or machinery; but there is nothing that gives the fine, even grain to bread so well as hand-kneading; and no surer test of the proper consistency of dough than that given by the sense of touch. There are some kinds of milk bread and rolls which are very good without it; but water bread should always be kneaded. It is often done in the mixing-bowl, by drawing the dough over from the side and pressing it down in the centre, turning the bowl with the other hand; but it is more effectually accomplished on a bread-board. In Spain the bakers knead the bread with such force that the palms of the hands and the second joints of the fingers are covered with corns; but strength and force are not so essential to good kneading as a peculiar and dexterous handling of the dough. The most approved process is the following:--

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Sprinkle the board with flour, and leave a little in the corner to lay your hands upon. Scrape the dough from the bowl, and toss it over with the knife that it may be well floured. Flour the hands; then, with the finger-tips, draw the dough farthest from you up and over toward the centre, letting the ball of the hand meet the dough, and then press down firmly, giving the dough somewhat of a rolling motion, that it may not stick to the board. Repeat this motion until the dough is in a long narrow shape, then turn it at right angles, and draw up, fold, and press down again; and continue this process until the dough is smooth, elastic, fine, and even-grained. Dust the board and the palms of the hands with flour often, but only slightly. Should the dough stick, lift it quickly, and always scrape off what has adhered to the board before dusting again, that the board may be kept smooth. But do not let it stick; keep it in constant motion. Do not knead hard enough to break into the dough, nor let the finger-tips pierce the smooth crust that soon forms under proper kneading. Use the fingers merely in drawing the dough over, and keep them up and out of it when pressing with the ball of the hand. Use both hands in the same manner, or draw up and press with the right, and turn the ball of dough with the left, that all parts may receive an equal pressure. When enough of this smooth, soft texture has been formed all through the dough, it can be worked for some time without even a dusting of flour. After a little experience, if care be taken in the beginning, and only a little flour added at each dusting, when the dough is sufficiently kneaded, the hands, the apron, and the board will be clean, and the dough of an even, elastic consistency, springing up instantly as you toss or pound or punch into it. The habit of mixing with the hands, and rubbing off little wads of dough from the fingers into the whole mass, should be avoided, especially toward the last of the process. There is no mechanical operation in cooking more fascinating than the deft, quick touches a natural kneader gives to a mass of dough. Young ladies


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with pretty hands can display them there quite as well as with embroidery, etc.; but the rings and bracelets should be left in the jewel-case. The stitches in tight dress sleeves are not "warranted not to break" during this process. Perfect freedom for the muscles of the arms and chest is absolutely essential to the making and kneading of bread.

Temperature and Time for the Raising of Bread.--In winter the water or milk used in mixing should be luke-warm; and if the flour be kept in a very cold place, warm it before using. In summer the water need not be warmed, neither should it be ice-water; the milk should be scalded (not boiled), and cooled. After the bread is kneaded sufficiently it must be made into a smooth round ball, with no dry flour left on the surface, and put back in the mixing-bowl to rise. If you have learned the knack of scraping a bowl thoroughly, it need not be washed; otherwise it is well to wash and grease the bowl, that the dough may come out more easily after it has risen. Notice how it fills the bowl, and let it rise until it has a little more than doubled in size. Cover it, not with a cloth alone, as that serves merely to keep out the dust, but with several thicknesses of cloth, and a tightly fitting tin cover. It is important that the air be excluded, as it causes a hard crust to form, which will be difficult to mix thoroughly in the dough at the next kneading, and will also leave dark spots or streaks in the bread.

The dough should rise in a temperature of about 75°. Avoid a draught of cold air, or sudden alterations of extreme heat and cold. If it be placed on a mantel or near a stove, it must be turned frequently. When necessary to hasten the rising, place the bowl in a pan of warm (not hot) water, and keep the water at the same temperature until it begins to rise. After fermentation has been well established the temperature can be lowered without harm, provided it does not fall below 45°. In winter, bread should be mixed early in the evening; and if the kitchen become very cold before morning, keep the dough in a


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warmer room; it will be risen by six or seven in the morning. In summer, mix it later at night, leave it in a cool place, and the next morning attend to it early; if possible, by five o'clock. In very hot weather mix early in the morning, and bake by noon. It should never be allowed to rise to the point of "caving in," or settling, or running over the bowl. Even if it does not become sour, it loses the natural sweet flavor of the wheat, and is tasteless and insipid. It should rise in a light, puffy, well-rounded mass; and if it half filled the bowl at first, it will be ready, when risen nearly to the top of the bowl, "to cut down," as most cooks express it. This is done by cutting it away from the sides of the bowl, and working it over into the centre with the knife. This releases some of the gas, checks the fermentation, and reduces the bulk somewhat. It will rise again very quickly, and the cutting-down process can be repeated several times, and the bread will be the better for it, provided the rising does not go too far at any time. It takes but a moment, and should always be done when the dough is risen sufficiently, if you are not ready to shape it at once into loaves. If you do not wish to bake the bread for several hours, it can be kneaded again and put in the ice-chest or cellar. When the dough rises too long, and has soured, it will have a strong, tingling acid odor as you cut into it, and it will pull away from the bowl in long threads, having a watery appearance, quite unlike the proper spongy consistency and pungent alcoholic odor when it is just right. The practice of using soda to sweeten it, when in this state, cannot be too severely condemned. Chemists say that light sour bread is not unhealthful, although unpalatable to most Americans. Bread in that condition is eaten largely by the Germans. Sour bread sweetened by soda is unhealthful, as it is very rarely that the alkali is wholly neutralized by the acetic acid. Those who boast of never having sour bread because they always keep a bottle of soda dissolved and ready for instant use, should, instead, blush at the fact of such careless housewifery. With proper care, bread, even


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when made with milk, need never sour. But should the accident ever occur, it is better to eat the bread, or dry it for crumbs, or throw it away even, than to use the soda. This practice is so abominable that here it will receive neither aid nor encouragement.

Shaping into Loaves or Biscuit.--At least an hour before the time for baking, scrape the dough from the bowl, and turn it out upon the board, which should be dusted with flour; knead it slightly, and divide into the proper proportion for loaves.

The measures given in the following receipts fill two brickloaf pans, which are eight inches long by four inches broad and five inches deep, with nearly straight sides. This shape gives small uniform slices. Small round pans were formerly considered best for baking both bread and cake; and there is some truth in the reason given, namely, that the cells which are formed by the gas are circular in form, and are much more uniform in a round than in an oblong loaf, in which the corner cells are easily flattened or compressed, forming heavy streaks around the edges. But many people dislike the shape of the slices in a round loaf, and oblong pans have been more generally adopted. They should be greased with lard or drippings. It is better to divide the dough into four equal parts and put two in each pan, for several reasons: a small round loaf is more easily shaped, and can be broken, if wanted, while fresh, better than a long loaf; two small loaves rise and fill the pan more evenly than one long loaf; and unless great care be taken in shaping to have the one loaf of uniform thickness, it will rise more in the middle and give uneven slices. Many make a deep cut through the middle to prevent this; but that spoils the smooth round effect which adds so much to the looks of the crust.

Use the merest dusting of flour in shaping, and knead just enough to work out the large bubbles of gas by folding the mass over into the middle, then letting it spring open. Pat, coax, and work it with the hand and fingers


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until there are no wrinkles, and the loaves are smooth. Greasing the hands slightly with butter helps. All the flour added at this kneading rises but once, and too much will make the loaf burst out unevenly at the sides. Some careless kneaders merely fold it over, and if it look smooth on the top they think that enough; but their loaf will sometimes have a seam or crack through it, which will cause the slices to fall apart easily.

The loaves should come nearly half-way up the pan; and the same rule follows as for the first rising, namely, let it come to the top, or till the bulk is doubled. Cover with cloth and tin cover, or a large tin pan. The time for rising varies with the lightness of the dough and the temperature of the room. It is impossible to give a definite rule; but should it rise too far and stick to the cloth, or look "tumbled in," cut it down, knead, and let it rise again. Never bake it in the above state, as it will be coarse-grained, if not hollow. It is better to bake it a little too soon than to let it rise too long.

Rolls and small biscuit should rise in the pans longer and be baked in a hotter oven than the loaf, because the loaf rises in the oven until the heat has penetrated to the centre; while in the rolls the air cells are very quickly fixed by the intense heat needed to perfect the crust, and fermentation is almost immediately checked. This is contrary to the usual practice; but it is the correct way. Many people prepare biscuit for breakfast by letting them rise ten or fifteen minutes in a very hot place while the oven is heating. They are often only half baked, and then eaten smoking hot; and those who have never had anything else think them just right. The evil effects of this practice have been the occasion for much of the outcry against hot, or even fresh, biscuit. Such are entirely different from the dry, light, delicious biscuit which have had a natural, not a forced, rising, are of the proper texture, have been baked quickly, and allowed to stand at least half an hour before being eaten. The moral of the above is, never try to have raised biscuit for breakfast without


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rising at least three hours before breakfast-time, unless you wish your family to become slaves to indigestion.

The Temperature for Baking.--The object of baking bread is to kill the ferment, rupture the starch grains, fix the air cells, and form a nicely flavored crust. Bread could be baked by steam, as the air cells become fixed at 212°, and the temperature of the inside of the loaf, owing to the moisture, never rises above that point; but, to give the delicious flavor of the browned crust, a much higher temperature is needed. The oven should be hot enough to brown a teaspoonful of flour in one minute for rolls, and in five minutes for loaves. This is a good rule for those who do not use a thermometer, or cannot judge of the heat by their hands. The heat should be greater at the bottom than at the top of the oven, and of sufficient strength to last through the time of baking (which is about an hour) without replenishing the fire. Divide the time into thirds; the first fifteen or twenty minutes the heat should increase, remain steady during the next, and decrease toward the last. The dough should rise, and, after fifteen minutes, begin to brown slightly. If the oven be too hot, and the loaf brown too fast, a hard crust will be formed before the heat reaches the centre, and, pressing down on the air cells, make a heavy streak; or, if removed from the oven too soon, it will be raw and doughy inside. If the heat be not sufficient to form the crust in fifteen minutes, the dough will go on rising until it becomes sour and pasty, and the air cells will run together, making a hole in the middle. The baking of bread is something that will not take care of itself. The old notion that you must not look at anything in the oven is erroneous; and until you have learned by experience just how to regulate the fire and oven, and the many tests by which every good cook determines when bread is done, look at it often, and bake according to the clock from fifty to sixty minutes. Better bake ten minutes too long, putting a paper over the top to prevent a burned crust, than not long enough. Bake it brown, not black, nor pale whity-brown,


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but brown all over. Rolls are often brushed with milk just before and after baking, to give them a richer brown color. Rubbing over with soft butter while still hot makes a crisp, delicious crust. When well baked, if tapped with the fingers, a hollow, empty sound will be emitted; the crust feels firm, and, if broken apart, the inside rebounds instantly on any slight pressure.

The Care of Bread after Baking.--Remove the loaves immediately from the pans, and place them where the air can circulate freely round them and thus carry off the gas which has been formed, but is no longer needed. A bread or cake cooler, made of fine wire, set in a narrow frame thirty inches long by twelve or fifteen broad, is a very useful article, as it will hold several loaves. An old wire window-screen, too small for modern windows, with cleats on the ends, to keep it two or three inches from the table, answers the purpose admirably. Many use a wire sieve; but that is small, and leaves the marks of the larger cross wires on the loaf. Never leave the bread in the pan, or on a pine table, to sweat and absorb the odor of the wood.

If you like crusts that are crisp, do not cover the loaves; but to give the soft, tender, wafer-like consistency which many prefer, wrap them, while still hot, in several thicknesses of bread cloth. When cold, put them into a stone jar or tin box; remove the cloth, as that absorbs the moisture, and gives the bread an unpleasant taste and odor. Keep the jar well covered and carefully cleansed from crumbs and stale pieces. Scald and dry it thoroughly every two or three days. A yard and a half square of coarse table linen makes the best bread cloth. Keep a good supply; keep them sweet and clean, and use them for no other purpose.

Fine white bread should be partaken of in moderation. Although the "staff of life," it is not necessary to eat bread with every kind of diet. It is most useful when taken with articles containing a large proportion of nourishment in a small bulk, as it then gives the stomach the proper degree of expansion.

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Raw Potato Yeast.

1/4 cup flour.

1/4 cup sugar.

1 tablespoonful salt.

3 raw potatoes.

1 to 2 quarts boiling water.

1 cup yeast.

First, see that you have at least three quarts of water boiling rapidly. Pare the potatoes, and keep them covered with cold water. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl, and grate the potatoes as quickly as possible, not stopping to grate every scrap; mix them at once with the flour, using a wooden or silver spoon, that the mixture may not be dark-colored. Pour the boiling water directly from the teakettle over the grater, and rinse off the potato into the bowl, using perhaps a pint of water at first. Mix the water thoroughly with the potato and flour; then add, slowly, enough more boiling water to make it the consistency of thin starch. The amount of water will depend upon the quality of the flour and potatoes. If it does not thicken, pour the mixture into a double boiler or granite pan, and let it come to the boiling-point, stirring well to keep it from sticking. Strain through a squash strainer and let it cool. When lukewarm (clear through the mixture, not merely on the top), add the yeast. Cover slightly, and keep in a warm (not hot) place, until light and covered with white foam. After it begins to rise, beat it well several times, as this makes it stronger. At night, or when well risen, put it into wide-mouthed earthen or glass jars. The next morning cover tightly, and keep it in a cool place. Reserve one cupful or more in a small glass jar, and do not open it until ready for the next yeast-making. Always shake yeast well before using; take your cup to the jar instead of taking the jar to the hot kitchen; when empty, scald the jar and the cover thoroughly. This is the quickest and easiest way of making yeast, fifteen minutes being ample time for the first part of the process. It is whiter and looks more inviting than that made with hops. It keeps well two weeks, and makes delicious bread.

This receipt can be varied by using boiling hop-water.


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Steep one fourth cup of loose hops five minutes in three pints of water, in a granite or porcelain kettle, and strain it into the potato and flour. Or the flour may be omitted, using more potato or less water. Many think it an improvement to mix one even teaspoonful of sifted ginger with the flour, sugar, and salt. The hops and ginger will make the yeast dark-colored, but it will not be perceptible in the bread.

Boiled Potato Yeast. (Mrs. Towne's Matilda.)

Three large, old potatoes, pared, soaked, and boiled until broken in small pieces; half a cup of loose hops boiled in one quart of water. Drain and mash the potatoes; add the hop water and enough more hot water to make two quarts. Strain, rubbing all the potato through, and put it on to boil. When boiling, add three fourths of a cup of flour, which has been wet to a smooth paste in cold water, and three quarters of a cup of sugar. Boil five minutes, stirring well; let it cool; add three fourths of a cup of yeast; and, when well risen, add one fourth of a cup of salt. Keep in a covered stone jar in a cool cellar. Bread made with this yeast will not sour even in the hottest weather.

Hop Yeast.

Steep half a cup of loose hops in one quart of boiling water, in a granite kettle, five minutes. Mix one cup of flour, one fourth of a cup of sugar, and one tablespoonful of salt. Strain the hop liquor, and pour it boiling into the flour mixture. Boil one minute, or till thick. When cooled, add one cup of yeast.

Water Bread.

2 quarts sifted (new-process) flour.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1 tablespoonful butter, or drippings, or lard.

1/2 cup liquid yeast, or,

1/4 cake compressed yeast, dissolved in 1/2 cup water.

1 pint lukewarm water.

Sift the flour, and fill the measure lightly, not heaping, nor shaken down. Turn it into a large bowl holding about


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four quarts. Reserve one cup of flour to add at the last if needed, and to use on the board. Mix the salt and sugar with the flour; rub in the shortening until fine, like meal. Mix the yeast with the water. If compressed yeast be used, dissolve one fourth of a cake in half a cup of water. This is in addition to the pint of water to be used in mixing. Pour the liquid mixture into the centre of the flour, mixing it well with a broad knife or a strong spoon. Scrape the dry flour from the sides and bottom of the bowl, bringing the knife up through the dough, and turning the mass over and over until no dry flour is left. If it be too soft to be handled easily, add a little of the reserved cup of flour. If too stiff, add more water. Knead it half an hour, or till smooth and fine-grained. Cover, and let it rise until it doubles its bulk. Cut it down; let it rise again; divide into four parts, then shape into loaves, putting two in each pan, or reserve some for biscuit. Cover and let it rise again to the top of the pan. Bake in a hot oven nearly an hour.

Milk Bread, No. 1.

1 pint milk, scalded and cooled.

1 tablespoonful butter, melted in the hot milk.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 cup yeast.

6 or 7 cups flour.

Measure the milk after scalding, and put it in the mixing-bowl; add the butter, sugar, and salt. When cool, add the yeast, and then stir in the flour, adding it gradually after five cups are in, that it may not be too stiff; use just enough to knead it. Knead till smooth and elastic. Cover; let it rise till light; cut it down; divide into four parts; shape into loaves or biscuit. Let it rise again in the pans. Bake forty or fifty minutes.

Milk Bread, No. 2 (not kneaded).

The same proportions as in the preceding rule, except that about one cup less of flour is used, and the dough is not kneaded. Mix it with a knife, cutting it through and


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turning and working it over until all the dry flour is well mixed with the other materials. Mix it just soft enough to be shaped into a loaf after it has risen. Scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl; smooth the top with a knife; cover and let it rise. Shape it into loaves, and when well risen bake about forty minutes.

Water Bread (with a Sponge).

1 tablespoonful butter.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1 pint water.

1/2 cup yeast, scant.

About 2 quarts flour.

Put the butter, sugar, and salt in the mixing-bowl; add one fourth cup of boiling water to dissolve them; then add enough more lukewarm water to make a pint in all, half a cup of yeast, and three and a half or four cups of flour, enough to make a batter that will drop, not pour, from the spoon. Give it a vigorous beating; cover and let it rise over night. This soft mixture is called a sponge. In the morning add flour to make it stiff enough to knead. Knead it half an hour. Cover; let it rise in the bowl until noon, or till light and spongy; then shape it into loaves or rolls; let it rise again in the pans; bake as usual. This sponge can be divided in the morning, adding to one part of it white flour enough to knead it, and to the other part whole-wheat or rye flour and another tablespoonful of sugar. Make it just stiff enough to shape easily into a loaf after it is risen. Use white flour to shape it on the board, as the rye and whole-wheat flour are sticky. Or make the dough a little softer, fill gem pans two thirds full, let them rise to the top, bake in a hot oven, and you have "raised rye or whole-wheat gems."

Milk Bread, No. 3 (with Sponge).

Pour one pint of scalded milk on one tablespoonful each of butter and sugar, and one teaspoonful of salt; when lukewarm, add half a cup of yeast if mixed in the morning or one fourth of a cup if mixed at night. Stir in three cups of


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flour, and beat well. Let it rise over night, or, if mixed in the morning, about three hours. Then add from two to three cups of flour, or enough to knead it, and knead half an hour. Let it rise in the bowl, and again after being shaped into loaves or rolls, and bake as usual.

Whole-wheat or rye bread or gems can be made from this sponge the same as in the preceding rule.

Whole-Wheat or Graham Bread.

1 pint milk, scalded and cooled.

2 tablespoonfuls sugar.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 cup yeast.

5 or 6 cups fine granulated wheat flour, or

2 cups white flour, and

3 or 3 1/2 cups sifted Graham flour.

In the morning mix, in the order given, into a dough, a little softer than for white bread; let it rise till light, stir it down, pour it into well-greased pans, or, if stiff enough, shape it into loaves; let it rise again, and bake a little longer and in a less hot oven than white bread. Graham or whole-wheat flour rises more rapidly than white flour, as it contains more gluten. It is liable to become sour if mixed over night, and then the cooks resort to the soda. For the true remedy use less yeast, and use sugar instead of molasses, or mix in the morning. Always sift the flour, notwithstanding all cook-books say to the contrary. Use a coarse sieve or squash strainer. Sift once, and, if you observe the character of the refuse, you will be glad to do so always. Bake part of this as biscuit or rolls. When made with ordinary Graham flour, the bread is much lighter if at least one third white flour be used.

Squash Bread.

1 cup squash, stewed and sifted.

2 tablespoonfuls sugar.

1 1/2 cups scalded milk.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoonful butter.

1/2 cup yeast.

Flour enough to knead it.

Mix the sugar and salt with the squash, add the butter melted in the hot milk, and when cool add the yeast and


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flour. Knead fifteen minutes. Let it rise till light. Knead and shape into loaves or biscuit. When well risen, bake.

Rye Bread.

Make by rule given for Milk Bread. No. 3, adding rye flour or rye meal to the white-flour sponge.

Raised Brown Bread. (Mrs. H. B. May)

1 pint yellow corn meal.

1/2 cup yeast.

1/2 cup molasses.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 saltspoonful soda.

1 pint rye meal.

Put the corn meal in the mixing-bowl, and scald it with boiling water, just enough to wet it; let it stand ten minutes, then add cold water enough to make a soft batter. When lukewarm, add the yeast, molasses, soda, salt, and rye meal. Beat it well, and let it rise over night, or until it cracks open. Stir it down; put it in a buttered and floured tin to rise again; sprinkle flour over the top. Bake in a moderate oven two hours. Brown bread made by this rule was first tested by the writer thirty years ago, when it was a wonder and delight to watch it as it was put on a wooden shovel and placed in the great brick oven. It has been made in the same house regularly every week since then, and proves just as good now as it was in the olden time.

Thirded Bread.

1 cup white flour (St. Louis).

1 cup rye flour, or sifted rye meal.

1 cup yellow corn meal.

1 teaspoonful salt.

3 tablespoonfuls sugar.

1/2 cup yeast.

Mix with milk (scalded and cooled) till thick enough to be shaped. Let it rise until it cracks open. Put into a brickloaf pan, and when well risen bake it one hour.

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Sour Milk Brown Bread, No. 1 (Mrs. Wm. B. Johnson.)

1 pint corn meal.

1 pint Graham flour.

1 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1 pint sour milk.

1 cup molasses.

Mix the meal with flour. Mash the soda and salt before measuring; sift and mix thoroughly with the flour; add the sour milk and molasses, and beat well. If not moist enough to pour, add a little warm water. Pour it into a well-greased mould or pail, filling it only two thirds full. Cover it with a tight cover, also greased. Steam three hours in a steamer, or set the pail in a kettle of boiling water. Keep the water boiling; and as it boils away, replenish with boiling water to keep it at the same level. Remove the cover, and place the mould in the oven fifteen minutes to dry the crust.

Sour Milk Brown Bread, No. 2.

1 cup white corn meal.

1 cup rye flour.

1 cup Graham flour.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1 full teaspoonful soda.

1/2 cup molasses.

1 pint sour milk.

Mix in the order given, sifting the soda, and adding more milk or water if not thin enough to pour. Steam three hours. One cup of raisins stoned and halved may be added to this, or any of the receipts for brown bread.

Raised Biscuit and Rolls.

The name "biscuit" is from the French, and means "twice baked." It was originally applied to a kind of hard, thin bread, made in that manner to deprive it of all moisture and insure its remaining in good condition for a long time. It was something like our crackers and ship bread. But in America it means any kind of bread made into small, round cakes and intended to be eaten hot or fresh. Raised biscuit may be made from any of the doughs made


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by the receipts for bread; the proportions are enough for one pan of bread, and one pan of biscuit containing twelve or sixteen according to the size. They should always be made small, and shaped with the fingers, not cut with a cutter. Divide the portion of dough reserved for biscuit into halves, then into quarters, and each quarter into thirds or quarters. To shape a biscuit, take one of these quarters in the left hand and rest it lightly on the board. With the right thumb and forefinger draw a point of the dough up and over to the centre, and hold it down with the left thumb. Give the dough a slight turn toward the left, and repeat the drawing up and folding over until you have been all round the ball. You may roll them in the hands until all these foldings have disappeared and they are smooth and round, and call them simply biscuit;
or you may make the folds as distinct as possible, and place them at once in the pan. The folds will spread apart in rising, and when baked they can be peeled off in layers. They are then honored with the name of Imperial Rolls. Put the biscuit in a shallow round pan, fitting them closely, that they may rise up, round and puffy, instead of spreading. When very light, bake in a very hot oven fifteen or twenty minutes. Keep them wrapped in a bread cloth for at least half an hour before serving. The receipts for Milk Bread are especially nice for biscuit.

Rolls.

Rolls are made by rolling the raised dough into small forms, with the hands or with a rolling-pin, and afterward cutting and folding into the desired shape; the shape and manner of manipulation giving the distinctive names. The dough for rolls should be very light, and when wanted unusually nice, more shortening should be worked into it after the second kneading. The rule for Water Bread made with a sponge is good for plain rolls;
Milk Bread made with a sponge is the same as Parker House Rolls, which have been generally adopted by housekeepers as the standard.


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The following are some of the best varieties and shapes:--

For Finger Rolls, make a dough by the rule for Milk Bread, No. 2, and when risen and ready to shape, divide the half reserved for rolls into twelve pieces. Make each piece into a smooth ball as if for biscuit, then roll it between the palms, or with the palm of one hand on the board, into a long roll about the size of the second finger. Roll with buttered hands or with as little flour as possible. Place them close together in a long, shallow pan. Let them rise to the top of the pan, and bake in a very hot oven for ten or fifteen minutes.

To make a Cleft Roll, make the dough into smooth balls, then with a floured knife-handle press through the centre but not quite through on the ends. Or make them round, and place them some distance apart on the pan, and when ready to bake, make a deep cut through the middle.
Make another cut at right angles with the first and you have a Cross Roll.

Parker House Rolls are made after the receipt for Milk Bread with sponge, and when well risen and ready to shape, roll the dough on the board as you would pastry, and, if wanted richer, spread a generous tablespoonful of softened butter all over it. Fold the dough, and roll out again until nearly half an inch thick. Lift the rolled dough from the board and let it shrink back all it will, and be sure it is of uniform thickness before cutting, or the rolls will lose their shape. Cut with a round or oval cutter; press the thumb across the middle and fold over like a turnover, letting the edges come together. As they rise they will open a little, and, if folded only half-way over, they are liable to open too far. Spread a bit of soft butter the size of a pea on the edge before folding it, if you like the crusty inside which that gives.
Or roll the dough thinner, and put two rounds together with a thin spreading of butter between; these are called Twin Rolls.

To make Pocket-book or Letter Rolls, roll the dough in a rectangular shape one fourth of an inch thick, and cut it in


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strips four inches wide and as long as the dough will allow. Spread with soft butter; fold one end of the strip over about an inch and a half, and then over again. Cut off even with the folding, and then fold another, and so on. Or cut the dough into strips two inches wide by seven long, and spread each strip with butter, and fold one third over and then again like a letter. Or roll the dough out one fourth of an inch thick, then roll up and cut pieces one inch wide from the end of the roll, turn them over on the side, and place close together in a pan to rise.

To make a Braid, cut the rolled dough in strips one inch wide by six inches long, and pinch three strips together at the end, then form into a braid. Or roll little balls of dough into long pieces the same as for sticks, and the braid them.

To make Crescents, or Vienna Rolls, roll the dough until only an eighth of an inch thick; cut into pieces five inches square and then into triangles. Hold the apex of the triangle in the right hand, roll the edge next the left hand over and over towards the right, stretch the point and bring it over and under the roll; bend the ends of the roll around like a horseshoe, being careful to keep in the folding.
Any dough that is quite stiff may be shaped with the hands into small, oval rolls with quite tapering ends, and baked far enough apart to allow each roll to have a crust all over. These are called French Rolls. Any of these rolls may be rubbed with a cloth dipped in melted butter; or, better still, twist a piece of butter in a clean cloth and rub it over them just as they are taken from the oven.

Sticks.

1 cup milk, scalded.

1/4 cup butter.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/4 cake compressed yeast, or

3 tablespoonfuls liquid yeast.

White of 1 egg.

About 4 cups flour.

Melt the butter, sugar, and salt in the hot milk; when lukewarm, add the yeast (if compressed, dissolve in three


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tablespoonfuls of warm milk or water), then the beaten white and flour. Knead until smooth and fine-grained. Let it rise over night or till light. Shape into small balls; then roll into sticks a foot long. Let them rise slowly and bake in a moderate oven, that they may be dried through before browning.
When shaped into large plain rolls, they are called White Mountain Rolls.

Rolls designed for breakfast or dinner are better not to be sweetened enough to taste sweet; but for tea or lunch more sugar may be added. This brings us to another variety of rolls which are made richer by the addition of butter, sugar, eggs, and fruit, including Swedish Rolls, Rusks, and Bunns.

Swedish Rolls.

1 pint milk, scalded.

1/2 cup butter.

1/4 cup sugar.

1 scant teaspoonful salt.

Whites of 2 eggs.

1/2 cup yeast.

7 or 8 cups flour.

Melt the butter, and dissolve the sugar and salt in the hot milk; when lukewarm, add the yeast and beaten whites. Mix in flour to make a sponge or drop batter. In the morning add the remainder of the flour, and knead twenty minutes. Let it rise till noon or till light; then knead again slightly, and roll out into a large, rectangular piece, half an inch thick. Have the edges as straight as possible. Spread all over with a thin layer of soft butter, and a sprinkling of sugar, cinnamon, grated lemon rind, and currants. Roll up like a jelly roll, cut off slices an inch wide, lay them with the cut side down on well-greased pans, and when well risen bake in a hot oven fifteen or twenty minutes. When done, glaze them with sugar dissolved in milk, and dry them a few minutes in the oven, or rub them with soft butter. If mixed in the morning, make a sponge with the scalded milk cooled, the eggs, salt, sugar, and part of the flour. Place the bowl in a pan of warm water for three or four hours; then add the butter and the remainder of the flour. Knead, and after it is well risen roll out as above.

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Rusk, No. 1.

1 cup milk, scalded and cooled.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1/2 tablespoonful salt.

1/4 cup yeast.

2 cups flour.

Mix in a sponge at night or very early in the morning. When well risen, add flour enough to make a stiff dough. Knead and let it rise again, then add one fourth of a cup of butter, rubbed to a cream, half a cup of sugar, and one egg, beaten with butter and sugar. Let it rise in the bowl till light. Shape into small round biscuit; put them close together in a shallow cake pan, that they may rise very high. When ready to bake, rub the tops with sugar dissolved in milk, sprinkle with dry sugar, and bake in a moderate oven.

Rusk, No. 2.

Make a dough at night by the rule for Milk Bread, No. 1. In the morning make half the dough into a loaf for bread. Put with the remainder half a cup of butter, creamed, with one cup of sugar and one egg, well beaten; mix and beat well; add half a cup of flour, or enough to shape it easily. Let it rise in the bowl, shape into small rounds or into long narrow rolls, and when very light, glaze them and bake as in the preceding rule.

Rusk, No. 3. (Miss Yandes.)

1 pint milk, scalded.

1/2 cup butter and lard, mixed.

3/4 cup sugar.

1 cup potato yeast.

3 eggs.

Flour as required.

Mix early in the morning, in the order given, adding flour enough to make a thin batter. Let it rise till full of bubbles, then add flour enough to knead it. When well risen, shape into rounds, or roll out and cut them. Let them rise in the pans till very light; then bake in a hot oven about half an hour.

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Dried Rusks are made after either of these receipts, and when risen are rolled thin, cut into rounds, and put two together into the pan. When baked, they are pulled apart and left in a very moderate oven to dry. Or they are cut in slices when cold, and dried until crisp and brown. They are delicious soaked in milk and eaten with butter, or used the same as bread in puddings, or soaked in a custard and sautéd.

Bunns.

Make a sponge over night with

1 cup milk, scalded.

1 tablespoonful sugar and 1 egg beaten together.

1 saltspoonful salt.

1/4 cup yeast.

2 cups flour.

Beat it well and in the morning add flour to made a stiff dough. Knead fifteen minutes. Let it rise until light, then add one fourth of a cup of butter, softened, half a cup of currants, and one saltspoonful of cinnamon or nutmeg. Let it rise in the bowl till light. Shape into small round cakes, put them close together, and when well risen bake in a moderate oven. Glaze them with sugar and milk, or with white of egg beaten stiff with sugar.
Make a deep cut like a cross just before they are put into the oven, and you have Hot Cross Bunns. Many prefer a bit of citron put into the middle of each bunn. These are better when freshly baked. It is therefore well to make only a small quantity.
They may be made from risen milk-bread dough in the same manner as Rusk, No. 2, by using the spices and the fruit and a smaller quantity of sugar.
This receipt for bunns makes excellent raised doughnuts by omitting the currants and rolling half an inch thick and cutting with a doughnut cutter.

Raised Bread Cake, or Loaf Cake.

This is similar to rusks and bunns, only richer; and as it improves by keeping, it is well to make a large quantity.


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At night mix one pint of milk, scalded and cooled, one teaspoonful of salt, half a cup of yeast, five or six cups of flour, enough to make a soft dough. In the morning prepare one cup of butter, creamed; add two cups of brown sugar, one tablespoonful of mixed spices,--cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice,--and four eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately. Add this mixture to the beaten dough, and beat well. Add two cups of stoned and chopped raisins, or one cup of raisins, one cup of currants and half a cup of sliced citron. Flour the fruit. Let it rise in the bowl till light. Stir it down, and pour into two deep cake tins, making them two thirds full. Let it stand in a warm place fifteen or twenty minutes, then bake one hour or longer in a moderate oven.

> Uses for Stale Bread.

All bread crumbs left on the plates or bread board or in the bread jar, any broken pieces not suitable for toast, and any crusts or trimmings of toast should be carefully collected in a pan by themselves, and dried (not browned) in the hot closet or in a moderate oven, then pounded in a mortar or rolled on an old bread board, sifted through a coarse sieve, and put away in a dry place. These will be useful in covering anything which is to be dipped in egg and crumbs and then fried. Bread crumbs brown better than cracker crumbs, and are much cheaper, being made from material which is usually thrown away. These are dried bread crumbs,and are not to be used for bread pudding or scalloped dishes, as they will absorb a great deal of moisture. They will keep indefinitely in a dry place. Stale bread crumbs, which are not dried in the oven, but are made from odds and ends of stale bread, crumbled finely or grated on a coarse grater, are better for meat or fish stuffing, bread puddings, bread sauce, bread griddle-cakes, scalloped fish, etc. They should be used at once, as they soon become musty. Any whole slices of stale bread may be steamed or used for toast.

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Stale Bread Steamed.

Have a large covered steamer fitting tightly over a kettle of boiling water. One with holes all over the bottom is best, as the steam condenses and runs down the sides and through the holes; while in those with holes only in the middle it forms little pools of water round the edge, which make the bread soggy. Do not put in the bread until everything else is ready, as it takes only a few minutes for it to become heated through. Arrange it all in the middle of the steamer, tilted against a small cup or dish so that the steam may pass between the slices. Do not let any of it touch the sides of the steamer, or it will become water-soaked. When ready to remove it, lift the cover quickly, turning it over instantly, that no water may drip on the bread. Spread each slice with butter as you take it out, and arrange them on a hot platter. Cover with a napkin and serve immediately.
Stale biscuit may be made much nicer than new in this way. These directions may seem needlessly minute; but it is just these little things that make the difference between light, delicate, hot steamed bread, and the heavy, water-soaked stuff that is often served.

Egg Toast, or Bread Sautéd.

1 egg.

1 saltspoonful salt.

1 cup milk.

4 to 6 slices stale bread.

Beat the egg lightly with a fork in a shallow pudding-dish; add salt and milk. Soak the bread in this until soft. Turn the slices by putting those underneath on the top, and dip the custard over them, being careful not to break them. Have a griddle hot and well buttered. Brown them on one side; then put a piece of butter on the top of each slice, and turn and brown on the other side. To be eaten hot with butter, also with sugar and cinnamon if liked. This is one of the nicest ways of freshening stale bread, and is especially convenient when the fire is not in


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order for toasting. It is called French, Spanish, German, and Nun's Toast; but Egg Toast seems to best indicate the character of the dish.
When fried in deep fat, it may be used as a pudding by serving with a sweet sauce, and is then called Italian Fritters.

Brown Bread Brewis.

Break one pint of dry brown bread and half a cup of stale white bread into inch pieces. Put a tablespoonful of butter in a large frying pan, and when it is melted, but not brown, add the bread and cover with one pint or more of milk. Let it simmer, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking, until the bread is soft and the milk absorbed. Salt to taste.

Brown Bread Brewis, No. 2.

Mix the same proportion of bread with one fourth of a cup of butter in a double boiler; add milk to cover, and cook over hot water without stirring until the bread has absorbed all the milk. If the bread be very dry, more milk will be needed.

Toast.

Bread is toasted, or dried and browned, before the fire to extract the moisture and make it more palatable and digestible. If the slices be cut thick and carelessly exposed to a blazing fire, the outside is blackened and made into charcoal before the heat can reach the inside; the moisture is only heated, not evaporated, making the inside doughy or clammy, and when spread with butter, which cannot penetrate the charcoal, but floats on the surface in the form of oil, it forms one of the most indigestible compounds. The correct way is to have the bread stale, and cut into thin, uniform slices about one quarter of an inch thick. The fire should be clear, red (not blazing) coals. The crusts may be removed or not according to your taste, or the purpose for which the toast is intended. If you require only one or two slices, a toasting-fork will


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answer; but if a larger quantity be needed, there is nothing better than a double broiler with wires about a third of an inch apart. Place the slices evenly on one side of the broiler, being careful not to put in more than can be equally exposed to the fire; close the broiler and hold it firmly, that the slices may not slip; move it gently over the fire for one or two minutes; then turn it over, that all the moisture may be drawn out; hold it nearer to the coals, and color it a delicate golden-brown. Serve at once in a toast rack or piled lightly, that it may not lose its crispness. Butter before serving, or send it dry to the table. Bread properly dried and toasted is changed from the nature of dough, which always has a tendency to sour on the stomach, into pure wheat farina. It is not so scorched as to turn the butter into oil, but absorbs the butter; and butter and farina, being easily separated, are quickly acted upon by the gastric fluid. Many persons prefer toast that is soft inside, but it should never be served to sick people in that manner. It is better to have it dry, and then moistened with milk or water, than to have it doughy. If the bread be freshly baked and you must make toast, dry the slices in a warm oven before toasting. Always toast over the coals, or in the over. If toasted over a hot stove, the crumbs fall through and burn, giving it a scorched and smoky flavor.

Milk Toast.

1 pint milk, scalded.

1 tablespoonful cornstarch.

1 large tablespoonful butter.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

6 slices dry toast.

Scald the milk; put the butter in a granite saucepan; when melted, add the dry cornstarch; when well mixed, add one third of the milk. Let it boil, and stir constantly till it is a smooth paste; add the remainder of the milk gradually, stirring well; then add the salt. Put the toast in a hot deep dish; pour the thickened milk between each slice and over the whole. Keep the dish over hot water until ready to serve. If liked very soft, the slices may be


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first dipped in hot salted water, or in the hot milk before it is thickened.

Cream Toast.

Cream toast may be made in the same way, using a scant tablespoonful of butter, and cream instead of milk, or by thickening the boiling cream with one tablespoonful of cornstarch wet in a little cold milk or water; then salt to taste, and boil eight or ten minutes.

Water Toast.

Have a shallow pan with one quart of boiling water and a teaspoonful of salt. Dip each slice of dry toast quickly in the water, then pile on a hot platter. Spread evenly with butter and serve very hot. Do not let them soak an instant in the water.

Toast for Garnishing. For poached eggs, cut the bread into rounds with a large cake-cutter before toasting. For small birds or asparagus, remove the crusts and cut into oblong pieces. For minces and fricassees, cut into small squares or diamonds. For a border, cut, after toasting, into inch and a half squares, and then into halves diagonally, making triangles; or cut into long pointed triangles.

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> SODA BISCUIT, MUFFINS, GEMS, ETC.

THE soda now used in cooking is the bicarbonate of soda,--an alkali made from the ashes of marine plants, or, more recently, from sea salt. Crude soda is known as sal-soda, or soda-saleratus; when refined and cleared of its impurities, it is carbonate and bicarbonate of soda, the latter having twice as much carbonic acid gas as the carbonate. Potash is another fixed alkali made from wood ashes. Pearlash is purified potash. Saleratus is prepared from pearlash by exposing it to carbonic acid gas.

Pure, strong alkalies are powerful corrosive poisons, eating the coats of the stomach perhaps quicker than any other poisonous agent. This caustic or burning property is somewhat weakened by the carbonic acid united with them, and is therefore less in bicarbonate of soda than in the potash compounds. The latter are now seldom used. Alkalies when properly combined with acids lose this poisonous property; the carbonic acid gas is liberated, and the compound formed by this union is called a neutral salt, being neither acid nor alkaline. When not properly combined, if the acid be stronger than the alkali, the salt is acid; and if the alkali be in excess, the salt is alkaline and still poisonous.

Soda has a great affinity for water; and when wet, a combination takes place which allows some of the carbonic acid gas to escape. This may easily be seen by the effervescence which occurs when soda is dissolved in hot water. This, the old way of using soda, was theoretically wrong, as much of the gas was lost; yet practically good results were obtained, because the saleratus formerly used was much stronger than the bicarbonate of soda of to-day, and could well be weakened.

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Soda alone, when mixed with wet dough, will give off gas enough to raise the dough; but it leaves a strong alkaline taste and a greenish yellow color, and, being poisonous, must be neutralized by an acid, or else its use is not admissible. The best acid for this purpose is one which does not liberate the gas instantly on contact with the soda, before the heat can fix the air cells, and also the one which leaves no unwholesome residue.

Mariatic Acid, which is sometimes used, would be the best, as it leaves only common salt as a residue; but the gas is liberated instantly, and only a skilled hand can mix the bread and place it in the oven without losing much of the gas.

Cream of Tartar, which is tartaric acid combined with potash, and is obtained from the crystals or argols which collect in wine casks, is preferred by chemists. Being only slightly soluble in cold water, it unites with soda only when heated, and the gas is not all liberated until the mixture is in the oven. The residue from the union is Rochelle salt, which is not injurious taken occasionally in small quantities. The objections to cream of tartar are these: being very expensive (the price varying with the grape crop), it is often adulterated with alum and other harmful substances; and the proportions of soda and cream of tartar are often guessed at instead of being accurately measured. The only safe way to use these chemicals is to purchase cream of tartar of a reliable chemist, and to measure carefully one level teaspoonful of soda to two full teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar for one quart of flour. It takes a trifle more than twice the quantity of cream of tartar to make the reaction complete. The soda must be finely pulverized before measuring; rub it on the board with a knife, measure, and then sift through the finest wire strainer into the flour. Sifting with the flour through an ordinary flour sieve is not enough. Cream of tartar does not become lumpy like soda; but it is better to sift it, and salt also, into the flour, and then sift all together two or three times. There is no greater abomination in cooked


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food than a spot of soda, even if it be but the size of a pin-head, and no one should excuse such negligence.

Baking-Powders.--When your druggist or cook is not to be relied upon, use a baking-powder which has been tested and proved pure. Pure baking-powders are soda and cream of tartar mixed by weight in the proper proportion, and combined with rice flour, cornstarch, or some harmless ingredient to insure their keeping. To allow for this starch the measure should be a little more than the combined amount of soda and cream of tartar; three rounding teaspoonfuls of baking-powder being equal to one level teaspoonful of soda and two full teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar. One even teaspoonful of baking-powder for each cup of flour is a convenient formula.

Soda is also neutralized by sour milk or lactic acid. This is economical, particularly for those who have pure milk and more than they can use while it is sweet. But milk is often adulterated, and, in winter, grows bitter before it sours; and the degree of acidity varies so much that the result is often failure. Sour milk is best when it sours quickly, and is thick and smooth, not separated. One even teaspoonful of soda to one pint of nicely thickened or loppered milk is the proportion. When the milk tastes or smells sour, but is not thick, use it as sweet milk in gingerbread or brown bread, where you have molasses to complete the acidity. Add a very little more soda if the receipt call for sweet milk, or a little less if for sour milk.

Nearly all kinds of soda biscuit, muffins, gems, etc., should have the dry ingredients mixed in one bowl, and the liquids, such as milk, eggs, melted butter, etc., in another; and when ready to bake, stir the two quickly and thoroughly together, and bake immediately in a very hot oven.

Molasses gives another acid which is combined with soda, to raise and lighten dough. Directions for its use are given under rules for brown bread and molasses gingerbread.

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Soda and Cream of Tartar Biscuit.

1 quart sifted flour.

1 even teaspoonful salt.

1 even teaspoonful soda, measured after pulverizing.

2 full teaspoonfuls cream of tartar.

1 large tablespoonful butter.

Milk to make a very soft dough: new process flour will take a pint or more; St. Louis flour, less.

Mix in the order given, sifting the soda, salt, and cream of tartar into the flour. Then sift all together twice. Rub in the butter with the tips of the fingers, until there are no large lumps. Mix in the milk gradually, using a broad knife and wetting only a small part of the flour with each addition of the milk. When just stiff enough to be handled (not kneaded), cut it through with the knife until barely mixed; it should look spongy in the cuts and seem full of air. Turn it out on a well-floured board; toss with the knife till well floured; touch it with the hands as little as possible; pat it with the rolling-pin, which must be lifted quickly that it may not stick; and when the dough is about half an inch thick, cut it into rounds and bake at once.

To make Twin Biscuit, roll the dough out less than half an inch thick, cut into rounds, spread with softened butter, and put two together, and bake ten or fifteen minutes.

Baking-Powder Biscuit.

These are made in the same way as the preceding, using three rounding teaspoonfuls of baking-powder in place of soda and cream of tartar.

Sour Milk Biscuit.

These should be made the same as cream of tartar biscuit, using one pint of thick sour milk instead of sweet milk, and omitting the cream of tartar. Observe the same directions as to lightness and dexterity in mixing, and vary the amount of milk according to the flour.

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Whole-Wheat or Rye Biscuit (with Soda).

1 cup whole wheat or rye flour.

1 cup white flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1 teaspoonful melted butter.

Milk enough to make a drop batter (about one cup). If sour milk be used, omit the cream of tartar.

Mix in the order given, and bake in hot gem pans twenty or thirty minutes.

Cream Biscuit.

When using sweet cream, make the same as cream of tartar biscuit; and when using sour cream, the same as sour-milk biscuit, omitting the butter in either case. Any of these mixtures may be baked in gem or muffin pans by using more milk, and making the dough soft enough to drop from the spoon.

Short Cakes, No. 1.

1 pint sifted flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt, scant.

1/2 teaspoonful soda, measured after pulverizing.

1 full teaspoonful cream of tartar (omit if sour milk be used).

1/4 cup butter.

1 cup sweet or sour milk, or cold water.

Mix the salt, soda, and cream of tartar with the flour, and sift two or three times. Rub in the butter until fine like meal, or if liked very short and crisp, melt the butter and add it hot with the milk. Add the liquid gradually, mixing and cutting with a knife, and use just enough to make it of a light spongy consistency. Scrape out the dough upon a well-floured board; toss it with the knife until floured; pat into a flat cake, and roll gently, till half an inch thick; cut with a small round cutter, and bake on the griddle or in the oven. If you use a griddle, grease it well with salt pork or butter, and cook the cakes slowly; watch and turn them, that all may be browned alike.


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When they are well puffed up, put a bit of butter on the top of each, and turn over,--or move them to one side and grease again with the pork, and turn over upon the freshly greased place. When browned on the other side and done, of which you can judge by the firmness of texture or by pulling one partly open, serve immediately. Tear them open, as cutting with a knife makes them heavy and indigestible. If to be baked in the oven, put them quite close together in a shallow pan, and bake ten or fifteen minutes.

Short Cakes, No. 2.

Make by rule No. 1, and divide into two parts; pat and roll each part into a large, round cake the size of a pie plate, and bake either in a spider or in the oven. These short cakes may be eaten hot with butter if for a simple breakfast or tea cake, or buttered and spread with sweetened fruit for dessert.

Strawberry Short Cake, No. 1.

Make a crust by rule for Dutch Apple Cake, on page 86; bake it on round tins; split, butter, and spread with sweetened berries and cream.

Strawberry Short Cake, No. 2.

Make by rule No. 1 for Short Cake, and bake on a griddle in small rounds. Tear open, and spread each half with softened butter. Put half of the cakes on a hot plate. Mash a pint of strawberries, sweeten to taste, put a large spoonful on each cake; then put another layer of cakes, and whole berries, well sugared. Serve with cream.

Peach Short Cake.

Make by either of the receipts for Strawberry Short Cake, and spread with sliced and sweetened peaches.
Apricots may be used in the same way; and cream may be added if preferred.

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Orange Short Cake.

The same as Strawberry, using oranges. Peel and divide the oranges, remove the seeds and thick inner skin, and cut each section into three or four pieces. Sweeten to taste.

Whole-Wheat or Rye Short Cakes.

1 cup white flour.

1 cup whole-wheat or rye flour.

1/2 teaspoonful soda, crushed before measuring, and sifted into the flour.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar (omit if sour milk be used).

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoon sugar.

1 cup of sweet or sour milk, the amount varying with the flour.

1 tablespoonful melted butter.

Mix in the order given, making the dough stiff enough to be rolled. Cut into rounds and bake on a griddle; tear open and serve with cream and salt. Or roll very thin, cut and bake in the oven, split and pour cream thickened as for toast over them.

Dutch Apple Cake (Mrs. A. A. Lincoln.)

1 pint flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda, sifted into the flour.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

1/4 cup butter.

1 egg.

1 scant cup milk.

4 sour apples.

2 tablespoonfuls sugar.

Mix the dry ingredients in the order given; rub in the butter; beat the egg and mix it with the milk; then stir this into the dry mixture. The dough should be soft enough to spread half an inch thick on a shallow baking-pan. Core, pare, and cut four or five apples into eighths; lay them in parallel rows on top of the dough, the sharp edge down, and press enough to make the edge penetrate slightly. Sprinkle the sugar on the apple. Bake in a hot oven twenty or thirty minutes. To be eaten hot with butter as a tea cake, or with lemon sauce as a pudding.

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Apple or Huckleberry Cakes.

1 pint sifted flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

2 even teasp. baking-powder.

1/4 cup butter.

1/2 cup sugar.

1 egg, yolk and white beaten separately.

1 cup milk.

1 heaping cup huckleberries or thinly sliced apples.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking-powder, and sift two or three times. Have the berries picked over, washed, dried, and sprinkled with flour. Rub the butter to a cream, add the sugar, and beat again. Add the yolk well beaten, and then the milk. Stir this into the flour and beat thoroughly; add the white beaten stiff, and, lastly, the berries, being careful not to break them. Bake in a shallow pan or in muffin pans about half an hour.

These may be made with sour milk , omitting the baking-powder, and using half a teaspoonful of soda;
or leave out half a cup of flour, and substitute for it half a cup of fine white corn meal.

Huckleberry Cake, No. 2. (Mrs. A. A. Lincoln.)

1 quart flour.

1 scant teaspoonful salt.

4 even teasp. baking-powder.

1/2 cup sugar.

1/3 cup butter.

Milk or water enough to moisten.

1 pint berries, washed, dried, and floured.

Mix salt, baking-powder, and sugar with the flour. Rub in the butter, and moisten with milk or water to make a dough stiff enough to keep in shape when dropped from a spoon. Add the berries, which should be well floured to keep them from settling. Drop by the large spoonfuls on a well-buttered shallow pan. Bake twenty minutes.

Raised Flour Muffins or Sally Lunns (with Yeast).

1 cup milk, scalded and cooled.

1/2 teaspoonful salt, scant.

1 teaspoonful sugar.

1/4 cup yeast.

1 egg, yolk and white beaten separately.

Flour enough to make a drop batter.

If intended for tea, add two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and mix late in the forenoon. They will rise in five or six


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hours, then add one large tablespoonful of butter melted. When well mixed, fill muffin pans two thirds full. Let them rise fifteen or twenty minutes, and bake in a hot oven. Or they may be baked in muffin rings on a griddle, in which case it is better to add the melted butter at the first mixing. When ready to bake, have the griddle and rings well greased, contrive to take up a spoonful of the dough without stirring enough to let out the air, and fill each ring; cook until brown and well risen, then turn ring and muffin together, and brown the other side. Pull them apart, never cut them.
This same mixture, when risen and baked in a buttered pudding-dish in which it is to be served, is the old-fashioned Sally Lunn. Cut with the point of a warm knife. If intended for breakfast, make a batter with the milk, yeast, flour, and sugar, mix late in the evening and keep in a cool place. In the morning add the egg, melted butter, and salt, and bake as usual.

Muffins or Sally Lunns, No. 2 (made quickly).

1 pint flour.

2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder.

1/2 teaspoonful salt, scant.

2 eggs, beaten separately.

1/2 cup milk.

1/2 cup butter, melted.

Mix flour, baking-powder, and salt. Beat the yolks, and add the milk and melted butter. Put the two mixtures together quickly; add the whites last. Fill muffin pans two thirds full, and bake fifteen minutes in a very hot oven. This makes eight muffins. If for tea, add two tablespoonfuls of sugar to the flour. Use a scant cup of milk and one fourth of a cup of butter if you prefer.

Oatmeal Biscuit. (Miss. Barnes.)

3 cups boiling water.

1 cup oatmeal.

1 scant teaspoonful salt.

Pour the water on the oatmeal; add the salt, and cook three hours in a double boiler. While still warm, add one large tablespoonful of butter, and half a cup of sugar.


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When cool, add half a cup of yeast, and flour to make a stiff dough. Let it rise over night. In the morning bake in gem pans twenty minutes or till brown.

Tea Cakes.

2 1/2 cups St. Louis flour.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

1/2 cup sugar.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 egg.

1 cup milk.

1 tablespoon butter, melted.

Mix in the order given, and bake in gem pans or cups. Add one cup of berries, and it makes a delicious berry cake.

Cream Muffins.

1 pint flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

Yolks of 2 eggs, beaten lightly.

3/4 cup cream or enough to make a drop batter.

Whites of 2 eggs, beaten stiff.

Bake in a brickloaf pan, in a hot oven. To be eaten hot as a tea cake.

Granulated Wheat Muffins.

1 1/2 cups granulated wheat (Health Food or Arlington).

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

2 even teasp. baking-powder.

1 tablespoonfuls sugar.

1 egg.

1 scant cup milk.

1/2 cup water.

Mix in the order given, and bake in hissing hot gem pans twenty minutes.

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Rye Muffins. (Miss. Parloa).

1 cup rye flour, or sifted rye meal.

1/4 cup sugar.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

2 tablespoonfuls baking powder.

1 cup white flour.

1 egg.

1 cup milk.

Mix rye, sugar, salt, flour, and baking powder thoroughly. Beat the egg; add the milk, and stir quickly into the dry mixture. Bake in hot gem or muffin pans twenty-five minutes.

Corn Muffins. (From an unknown Friend.)

1 cup common corn meal.

2 tablespoonfuls sugar.

1 scant teaspoonful salt.

1 even tablespoonful butter.

5 cups boiling water.

Mix at night the meal, sugar, and salt in the top of the double boiler; add the butter and boiling water, stir until smooth, and cook an hour. Turn into a mixing-bowl, and pour over it one fourth of a cup of water to prevent a crust from forming. In the morning beat it up soft and smooth. Mix one cup and a half of fine yellow corn flour, one cup and a half of white flour, two even teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and stir them into the cooked meal. Add one egg, well beaten. Drop the mixture into round iron gem pans, and bake in a hot oven.

To make corn and rye muffins, add, in the morning,

1 cup yellow corn flour.

1 cup rye flour.

1 cup common flour.

Or make corn and whole-wheat muffins by adding

1 1/2 cups yellow corn flour.

1 cup whole-wheat flour, Franklin or Arlington.

1/2 cup common flour.

These are delicious. This rule makes fifteen muffins. If fewer be desired, half of the cooked corn-meal mixture may be used, and the remainder reserved for another baking. But in this case do not forget to halve the


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dry mixture added in the morning, and to use one small egg.

Apple Johnny Cake (without Eggs). (Mrs. Webb.)

1 pint white meal.

2 tablespoonfuls sugar.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

Milk enough to mix quite soft.

3 apples, pared and sliced.

Mix in the order given. Bake in a shallow cake pan thirty minutes.

Corn Cake (thin).

1 cup yellow corn meal.

1/4 cup sugar.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 cup flour.

2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder.

1 egg.

1 cup milk.

1 tablespoonful melted butter.

Mix in the order given, and bake in two Washington pie tins, spreading the mixture thick enough to half fill the pan.

Sponge Corn Cake (Sour Milk).

1 cup flour.

1/2 cup corn meal.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1/3 cup sugar.

Yolks of 2 eggs.

White of 1 egg.

1 tablespoonful butter, melted.

1 cup sour milk.

Bake in a shallow round pan or in a brickloaf pan. Use the other white of egg for clearing the coffee.

Sponge Corn Cake (Sweet Milk).

1 cup meal.

1/2 cup flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

1 tablespoonful melted butter.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

Yolks of 2 eggs.

White of 1 egg.

1 1/4 cup milk.

Bake in brickloaf bread pan about half an hour.

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Spider Corn Cake (Sour Milk). (Miss Parloa.)

3/4 cup corn meal.

Flour to fill the cup.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda, scant.

1 egg.

1 cup sweet milk.

1/2 cup sour milk.

1 tablespoonful butter.

Mix the meal, flour, sugar, salt, and soda. Beat the egg; add half of the sweet milk, and all the sour milk. Stir this into the dry mixture. Melt the butter in a hot spider, or shallow round pan, and pour the mixture into it. Pour the other half cup of sweet milk over the top, but do not stir it in. Bake twenty minutes in a hot oven.

Corn and Rice Muffins.

1 pint white corn meal.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoonful flour.

1 cup cold boiled rice.

1 teaspoonful soda, scant.

1 pint sour milk.

1 egg.

1 tablespoonful melted butter, or drippings.

Bake in muffin pans about twenty minutes.

Hominy and Corn Meal Cakes. (Mrs. S. S. Ropes.)

Mix two tablespoonfuls of fine, uncooked hominy, half a teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of butter, half a cup of boiling water. Place this over the teakettle, or on the back of the stove until the hominy absorbs all the water. Pour one cup of boiling milk on one scant cup of corn meal; add two tablespoonfuls of sugar and the hominy. When cooled, add two eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately, and one heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder. Bake in hot, buttered gem pans twenty minutes.

Maryland Corn Cakes (without Soda). (Mrs. Upham.)

Mix one cup of fine white sifted meal, one even tablespoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of sugar, one saltspoonful


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of salt. Add one scant cup of boiling milk. When cooled, add one egg, yolk and white beaten separately. Bake in stone cups about thirty minutes.

Dodgers, Dabs, or Corn Meal Puffs (without Soda).
(Miss Alice Walcott.)

Two cups of fine white corn meal, scalded with boiling water so that the meal is all wet but not soft; add one teaspoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, two or three tablespoonfuls of milk; when cold, add two eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately. The batter should drop easily from the spoon, not be thin enough to pour, nor stiff enough to be scraped out. Have your pans greased and hissing hot, and the oven as hot as possible. Bake until brown and puffy.

Indian Bannock (without Soda). (A. W.)

1 cup corn meal.

1 teaspoonful sugar.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1 pint boiling milk.

When cool, add two eggs, beaten separately. Bake in a shallow earthen dish in a very hot oven, and serve in the dish, like a pudding.

Hoe Cake (without Soda).

1 cup white corn meal.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 teaspoonful sugar (if you like).

Boiling milk or water enough to scald it.

Make it thick enough not to spread when put on the griddle. Grease the griddle with salt pork, drop the mixture on with a large spoon. Pat the cakes out till about half an inch thick; cook them slowly, and when browned put a bit of butter on the top of each cake and turn over. They cannot cook too long, provided they do not burn. Sometimes the dough is put on in one large cake, and as soon as browned underneath is turned over upon a freshly greased place; the thin, crisp crust is peeled off with a knife, laid on a hot plate, and spread with butter, and


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when another brown crust has formed, the cake is turned again, the crust is removed and buttered, and so on until the cake is all browned. These crisp, buttered crusts are served piled together and cut in sections.

Rice Crusts. (Miss Ward.)

Cook one cup of cold boiled rice in the double boiler in milk enough to make a thin mixture, and until the rice is very soft. Add one tablespoonful of sugar, a little salt, one egg, and flour enough to make it hold together. Spread on the pan, having the mixture one third of an inch thick. Bake in a hot oven. Split and eat with syrup.

Rice and Hominy Drop Cakes.

One cup of boiled hominy or rice, and one egg. If the hominy be cold, heat in a farina kettle with one tablespoonful of water, and stir till it is softened. Beat yolk and white separately; add one saltspoonful of salt. Drop in tablespoonfuls on a well-buttered pan, and bake brown in a hot oven.

Breakfast Puffs, or Pop-overs.

1 cup flour.

1 saltspoonful salt.

1 cup milk.

1 egg, yolk and white beaten separately.

Mix the salt with the flour; add part of the milk slowly, until a smooth paste is formed; add the remainder of the milk with the beaten yolk, and lastly the white beaten to a stiff froth. Cook in hot buttered gem pans or earthen cups in a quick oven half an hour, or until the puffs are brown and well popped over.

Rye Gems, or Shells (without Soda).

3/4 cup rye meal.

1/4 cup flour.

1 saltspoonful salt.

2 eggs.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1 cup milk.

Mix the meal, flour, and salt. Beat the yolks; add the sugar and milk. Stir this into the dry mixture; add the


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whites, beaten stiff. Bake in iron gem pans, or stone cups, thirty to forty minutes.
One cup of mixed rye meal, white corn meal, and whole-wheat flour, in about equal proportions, may be used in the same way. This receipt makes six gems.

Whole-Wheat or Graham Gems, or Puffs. (A. W.)

2 cups of whole-wheat flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

2 eggs, beaten separately.

1 cup milk.

1 cup water.

Mix flour, salt, and sugar. Add the milk to the beaten yolks, then the water, and stir this into the dry mixture. Add the whites, beaten stiff, and bake in hissing hot gem pans thirty minutes.

Whole-Wheat Crisps (specially good for Children).

1 cup rich cream, sweet or sour.

1/4 cup sugar.

1 saltspoonful salt.

2 cups fine granulated wheat flour, or enough to make a stiff dough.

Knead fifteen minutes, or till stiff enough to roll out thin as a wafer. Cut with a biscuit cutter, and bake on ungreased tins in a very hot oven. The sugar will sweeten the sour cream sufficiently.

Fine Granulated Wheat Gems (no Yeast, Soda, nor Eggs).

1 cup water.

1 cup milk.

1 saltspoonful salt.

2 1/2 cups fine granulated wheat.

Stir the flour slowly into the liquid, until you have a drop batter. Then beat as rapidly and as long as your arm will allow. Have the iron gem pans hissing hot, and well buttered. Fill quickly, giving the batter a brisk beating several times during the filling, and bake at once in a very hot oven.

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Maryland, or Beaten Biscuit. (Mrs. Towne.)

1 quart flour.

1/4 cup lard.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 cup cold water.

Rub the lard and salt into the flour, and mix with cold water to a very stiff dough. Knead ten minutes, or until well mixed; then beat hard with a biscuit beater or heavy rolling-pin, turning the mass over and over until it begins to blister and looks light and puffy, or "till, pulling off a piece quickly, it will give a sharp, snapping sound." When in this condition, pull off a small piece suddenly, form it into a round biscuit, then pinch off a bit from the top. Turn over and press with the thumb, leaving a hollow in the centre. Put the biscuit some distance apart in the pan. Prick with a fork. Bake twenty minutes in a quick oven. They should be light, of a fine, even grain, and crack at the edges like our crackers. In Maryland no young lady's education was formerly considered finished until she had learned the art of making beaten biscuit.

Graham Wafers.

1 pint white flour.

1 pint Graham flour.

1/3 cup butter.

1/3 cup sugar.

1 saltspoonful salt.

Cold water enough to make a stiff dough.

Roll out very thin, cut in squares, and bake quickly.

Wafer Biscuit (for Invalids).

1 pint flour.

1 tablespoonful butter.

1 saltspoonful salt.

White of 1 egg.

Warm new milk enough to make a stiff dough.

Mix salt with the flour; rub in the butter; add the beaten white of egg, and milk enough to make a stiff dough. Beat half an hour with a rolling-pin, without ceasing. Break off a little piece of dough at a time, and roll it out as thin as paper. Cut into large rounds. Prick with a small wooden skewer, and bake quickly without burning.

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Gluten Wafers.

Half a cup of sweet cream and one saltspoonful of salt. Stir in gluten enough to make a stiff dough. Knead and roll out very thin. Cut into rounds, and bake a delicate brown on an ungreased tin. Gluten is a preparation of wheat flour without the starch.

> Waffles, Griddle-Cakes, Pancakes, etc.

The names pancakes, fritters, flap-jacks, slap-jacks, batter-cakes, griddle-cakes, slappers, etc., are applied indiscriminately in different localities.

Pancakes were formerly a kind of muffin mixture, made a little stiffer than a drop batter, but not stiff enough to roll out, and were dropped from a spoon into hot fat, and fried like doughnuts. But, recently, the name has been applied to a very thin batter made usually without soda, cooked one cake at a time on a small well-buttered frying-pan, and turned like a griddle-cake; then buttered, and rolled over and over, or spread with sugar and jelly, and then rolled. In "ye olden time" good cooks were supposed to have the knack of tossing the pan so skilfully that the cake would turn over itself; but this is now one of the lost arts.

For convenience and clearness, the following names will be used in this work:--

Griddle-Cakes: any kind of small, thin batter-cakes cooked on a griddle.

Pancakes: larger, thin batter-cakes, made without soda, and cooked in a small frying-pan.

French or Rolled Pancakes: the same as the preceding, buttered, sweetened, and rolled.

Fried Drop Cakes or Fried Muffins: any muffin mixture, dropped from a spoon into deep hot fat.

Fritters: a thinner mixture made without soda, either plain or with meat, fish, or fruit, and cooked by dropping into deep hot fat.

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> Waffles and Griddle-Cakes.

A waffle iron is made of two corrugated iron griddles fitted and fastened together at one side with a hinge, and revolving in an iron frame, which is to be placed over the fire. It may be either circular or oblong. Each griddle is divided into compartments, which are usually grooved into diamonds, hearts, rounds, etc.

The iron should be placed over the fire, heated on each side, and greased thoroughly, as it is very hard to clean if the cakes stick. Put a piece of salt pork on a fork, or put a small piece of butter in a clean cloth, and rub all over both griddles. The heat will melt the butter and let just enough of it go through the cloth. This is better than to put it on with a knife. Close the griddles and turn them; this causes the fat to run evenly over them. Open, and pour the waffle mixture into the centre of the half over the fire, or put a spoonful in each compartment, filling them about two thirds full. Cover, and cook one minute on one side, then turn and cook a little longer on the other. Any kind of griddle-cake mixture, with the addition of the melted butter to make them crisp, may be cooked on a waffle-iron, if one cares to take the extra trouble.

Waffles.

1 pint flour.

1 teaspoonful baking-powder.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

3 eggs.

1 1/4 cups milk.

1 tablespoonful butter, melted.

Mix in the order given; add the beaten yolks of the eggs with the milk, then the melted butter, and the whites last. Serve with butter, or syrup, or caramel sauce.

Lemon Syrup (served with Waffles).

1 cup sugar.

1/4 cup water.

1 teaspoonful butter.

1 tablespoonful lemon juice.

Boil the sugar with the water until it thickens slightly.


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Add the butter and lemon juice. Serve as soon as the butter is melted.

Raised Waffles.

Mix at night one pint of milk, one third of a cup of yeast, and one pint of flour. In the morning add half a teaspoonful of salt, two eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately, and one tablespoonful of melted butter.

Use only one egg, make the batter a trifle thinner, and fry on the griddle, and you have Flannel Cakes.

Either of these receipts may be varied by using half or one third fine white corn meal or Graham flour with the white flour. If intended for tea, mix in the forenoon.

> To Cook Griddle-Cakes.

A soapstone griddle, which needs no greasing, is the best; but of whatever material, let it be large enough to hold seven cakes. Let it heat while you are making the cakes. If an iron griddle be used, put a piece of salt pork two inches square on a fork; and when the griddle is hot enough for the fat to sizzle, rub it all over with the pork. Just grease it; do not leave little pools of fat on the edge to burn, and smoke the cakes. Take up a tablespoonful of the mixture, and pour it from the end of the spoon. The mixture should hiss or sizzle as it touches the griddle. Put one in the centre and six around the outside. By the time you have the seventh cake on, the first one will be full of bubbles and ready to turn; and when the seventh is turned, the first will have stopped puffing and be done. Wipe the griddle with a dry cloth, and grease again after each baking. Turn your griddle often, bringing each edge of it in turn over the hottest part of the stove, that the cakes may cook evenly. Always mix waffles or griddle-cakes in a bowl with a lip, and beat up the mixture well between each baking.

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Griddle-Cakes.

1 pint flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 teaspoonful soda.

1 scant pint sour milk or cream.

2 eggs, well beaten.

Crush, measure, and sift the soda and salt into the flour. Mix thoroughly. Add the milk, and beat well; then add the beaten yolks, and lastly, the whites, beaten stiff. Bake on a hot, well-greased griddle; turn when full of bubbles, and bake on the other side till they stop puffing.
Use one half or one third fine corn meal or Graham flour, to make a variety.

To make Huckleberry Griddle-Cakes, add one pint of berries, picked over and rolled in flour.

Some persons prefer to mix the sour milk with the flour, and let the mixture stand over night. In the morning add the salt, soda, and eggs.

Sour milk is the best for griddle-cakes, and when thickened just right, the cakes are very good without the eggs.

Rice or Hominy Griddle-Cakes (no Soda).

1 cup sweet milk.

1 cup warm boiled rice, or fine hominy.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

2 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately.

1 tablespoonful melted butter.

Flour enough to make a thin batter.

Bake either as griddle-cakes or waffles.

Bread Griddle-Cakes.

1 pint stale (not dried) breadcrumbs.

1 pint milk, scalded.

1 tablesponful butter.

Pour the hot milk over the crumbs, add the butter, and soak over night or till the crumbs are softened. Then rub through a squash strainer; add

2 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately.

1 cup flour.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder.

Cold milk to thin it if needed.

Bake slowly: spread with butter and sugar, and serve hot.

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Raised Graham Griddle-Cakes.

Mix one pint of milk, scalded and cooled, one cup of whole-wheat flour, one cup of white flour, one fourth of a cup of liquid yeast. Let it rise over night. In the morning add half a teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of molasses, one saltspoonful of soda. If too thick, add a little warm water. These are more wholesome than buckwheat cakes.

Buckwheat Cakes.

Pour one pint of boiling water on half a cup of fine corn meal; add half a teaspoonful of salt. Mix well, and when lukewarm add half a cup of white flour, one cup of buckwheat flour, one fourth of a cup of yeast. Beat vigorously. Let it rise over night. In the morning stir down, and beat again. When risen and ready to bake, add one saltspoonful of soda, sifted through a fine strainer. Beat again, and fry in large cakes.

Buckwheat cakes, even if not sour, usually require the addition of soda just before baking, to make them light and tender. But when in their best estate, they are far from perfect food. They should be eaten only in very cold weather, and but seldom even then. They are better and brown better when made with boiling milk instead of water.

Corn Meal Slappers, or Griddle-Cakes (no Soda).

1 pint corn-meal.

1 teaspoonful butter.

1 saltspoonful salt.

1 teaspoonful sugar.

Pour into this mixture boiling milk or water enough to wet the meal. When cool, add two eggs, well beaten, and cold milk enough to make a very thin batter.

Pease Griddle-Cakes.

Take green pease which have been boiled, but are too hard to eat as a vegetable. Drain very dry, then mash,


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and rub the pulp through the squash strainer. Or boil one cup of split pease till very tender, letting the water boil away. Drain, mash, and rub through a squash strainer, and use the same as the squash in squash griddle-cakes.

Squash Griddle-Cakes.

1 cup boiling milk.

1 cup sifted squash.

1 tablespoonful butter.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 egg.

2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder.

1 cup flour.

Pour the boiling milk into the squash; add the butter, sugar, and salt. When cool, add the egg, well beaten, then the baking-powder, mixed and sifted with the flour. If too thin, use more flour; and if too thick, add a little milk. The dry mealy squash is the best.

French Pancakes (no Soda). (Miss Parloa.)

3 eggs.

1 cup milk.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 teaspoonful sugar.

1/2 cup flour.

1/2 tablespoonful salad oil.

Beat the yolks and whites separately. Add the milk, salt, and sugar to the yolks. Pour one third of this mixture on the flour, and stir to a smooth paste. Add the remainder of the milk, and beat well; then add the oil. Heat and butter a small frying-pan, and pour into it enough of the mixture to cover the pan; when brown, turn and brown the other side. Spread with butter and sugar or jelly; roll up, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

> Fried Drop Cakes.

The fat for fried cakes should be clean, new fat, half lard and half clarified beef drippings. By new fat is meant fat that has not been used for meat or fish, or become browned by previous frying. The same fat may be used several times by clarifying with several thin slices of raw potato, and straining through a fine strainer after each frying. When it becomes too brown for any


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flour mixtures, it will answer for croquettes or fish balls. It should be very hot, and still, not bubbling; but not as hot as for mixtures which have been previously cooked. The surest way is to fry a bit of the mixture. It should rise at once to the surface, with much spluttering of the fat, swell, and begin to brown on the under side. Drop cakes will usually turn over themselves, but doughnuts and fritters should be turned. They should be cooked an even golden brown, and the fat be kept at the right temperature by moving the kettle farther from or nearer to the fire. Try them with a fork, and if it come out clean, they are done.

Drain each cake over the hot fat, and when they cease to drip, put them in a squash strainer placed in a pan on the back of the stove, or drain on soft brown paper. Change the first cooked to another pan when the next are ready to be taken out. If the fat be not hot enough, or if there be too much soda, doughnuts will absorb the fat. The alkali in them unites with the grease, as it does in making soap. The eggs will prevent the cakes from soaking in the fat, and it is healthful and more economical to use them.

Fried Flour Muffins. (Miss I. A. Maynard.)

1 egg.

1/2 cup sugar.

3/4 cup milk.

1 teaspoonful baking-powder.

1 saltspoonful salt.

Flour enough to make a stiff batter.

Mix salt and baking-powder with two cups of flour. Beat the egg very light; add the sugar, and beat again. Add the milk, then the flour, with enough more, if needed, to make a stiff batter. Drop from a spoon into hot fat.

Fried Corn Meal Cakes. (Miss Ward.)

One pint of milk, poured boiling hot upon one cup of corn meal; add one heaping tablespoonful of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Let it stand all night, or till well swollen; then add two eggs and half a cup of flour. Fry in hot lard.

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Fried Rye Muffins.

3/4 cup rye meal.

3/4 cup flour.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1 saltspoonful salt.

1 egg.

1/2 cup milk.

Mix in the order given, and drop from a small tablespoon into hot fat. Cook until the muffins will not stick when tried with a fork.

Fried Rye Muffins (Sour Milk).

1 pint sour milk.

1/2 cup of molasses.

1 saltspoonful salt.

1 saltspoonful cinnamon.

1 teaspoonful soda.

2 eggs.

Rye flour to make a stiff drop batter. Fry as in the preceding rule.

Sour Milk Doughnuts. (Mrs. Henderson.)

Two eggs, beaten light, one cup of sugar, three even tablespoonfuls of melted butter, one cup of sour milk (or if sweet milk be used, add one teaspoonful of cream of tartar), four cups of flour, with half a teaspoonful of soda, and one saltspoonful each of cinnamon and salt. Enough more flour to make just soft enough to roll out. Mix the dough rather soft at first. Have the board well floured, and the fat heating. Roll only a large spoonful at first. Cut into rings with an open cutter. Mix the trimmings with another spoonful. Work it slightly till well floured, and roll again. Roll and cut all out before frying, as that will demand your whole attention. Remember that the fat should be hot enough for the dough to rise to the top instantly.

Doughnuts, No. 2.

1 quart flour.

1/2 cup sugar.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

1 saltspoonful cinnamon or nutmeg.

1 egg.

Milk enough to moisten to a stiff dough.

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Doughnuts, No. 3.

1 egg.

1 cup sugar.

1 tablespoonful melted butter.

1 cup milk.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1/2 teaspoonful soda.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.

1 saltspoonful cinnamon.

Flour enough to roll out.

Raised Doughnuts.

1 pint risen milk bread dough.

1 cup sugar.

2 eggs.

1 tablespoonful melted butter.

Spice to taste.

Flour enough to roll out.

Crullers. (A. W.)

1 tablespoonful melted butter.

2 heaping tablespoonfuls sugar.

1 egg, yolk and white beaten separately.

1/2 saltspoonful cinnamon or mace.

1/2 saltspoonful salt.

Flour enough to roll out.

Roll the dough one fourth of an inch thick. Cut in rectangular pieces, two and a half by three and a half inches; then make five incisions lengthwise, cutting to within one third of an inch at each end. Take up every other strip, fold each strip together slightly in the middle, and drop them into hot fat.

[Illustration: An illustration of rolled out cruller dough with slits cut in the top.]

[Illustration: An illustration of cruller dough after it has been rolled out, cut, and folded.]

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Wonders, or Cheats.

Beat one egg; add one saltspoonful of salt and enough flour to make a very stiff batter. Roll out as thin as a wafer, cut with large round cutter, and fry one minute in hot fat. Serve with honey or syrup, or with cream and jelly, or any delicate pudding sauce.

Henriettes.

1 egg, yolk and white beaten separately.

1/4 cup cream.

1 saltspoonful salt.

1 saltspoonful baking-powder.

1/2 saltspoonful cinnamon.

1 teaspoonful wine or brandy.

Flour enough to roll out.

Roll as thin as a wafer, and cut with a pastry jagger into small squares or diamonds. Fry in boiling lard. Drain, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Or add less flour, make a thick, stiff batter instead of a dough, and press the batter through a pastry tube into boiling lard, making rings or any shape preferred.

Cinci, or Rags.

1 cup flour.

1 saltspoonful salt.

3/4 cup boiling water.

1 egg.

Pour the boiling water gradually upon the flour and salt, and stir to a smooth paste; cool, add the egg, and beat well. Press through a pastry tube into hot lard. Drain, and sprinkle with sugar.

Fritter Batter (for Oysters, Clams, or Fruit).

Yolks of two eggs, beaten well; add half a cup of milk or water, and one tablespoonful of olive oil, one saltspoonful of salt, and one cup of flour, or enough to make it almost a drop batter. When ready to use, add the whites of the eggs, beaten very stiff. If intended for fruit, add a teaspoonful of sugar to the batter. If for clams, tripe, or meat,


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add one tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar. This batter will keep several days.

Oyster Fritters. --Boil the oysters till the liquor flows freely. Drain, strain the liquor, and use it to make a batter, as in the preceding rule. Dip each oyster in the batter and fry until brown in hot fat.

Clam Fritters. --Drain the clams, and chop the hard part. Use the liquor to make a fritter batter. Add the clams and fry by small spoonfuls in hot fat. Clams in the shell should be steamed and dressed. Drain, and dip each whole clam into the batter. If large and tough, chop the hard part, and use the same as raw clams.

Apple Fritters. --Core and pare three or four apples, but do not break them. Cut them in slices one third of an inch thick, leaving the opening in the centre. Sprinkle with sugar, lemon, and spice. Dip each slice in the fritter batter and fry in hot fat. Drain, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Vegetables for fritters, such as celery, salsify, or parsnip, should be boiled till tender, then drained and cut into small pieces; then stir them into the fritter batter.

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> OATMEAL, INDIAN CORN, AND OTHER GRAINS USED AS FOOD.

Oatmeal is highly nutritious, being richer in nitrogen than any other grain; but as it does not contain a tough, adhesive gluten, like wheat, it is not easily made into fermented bread. Its nitrogenous matter resembles casein more than gluten, and is called avenin (from avena, the oat). It is used as a mush or porridge, eaten with sugar and milk. It is rich in food for muscle and brain, useful for children and laboring people, but irritating to many people whose digestive powers are weak.

Groats, or Grits, are oats from which the outer husk and inner flinty cuticle are removed.

Indian Corn is used in many forms. Some varieties which contain a large proportion of sugar, are eaten green from the cob as a vegetable. The whole grains, hulled, are eaten as samp; broken grains of various sizes, as hominy; the ground grains, as either coarse or fine meal. Meal grows musty very quickly when ground by the old process, owing to the moisture of the corn and the heat of the stones. In the new-process, or granulated, meal the corn is first dried for two years, then ground into coarse grains like sugar. Indian corn is also used in the form of a very fine powder, called cornstarch. Corn meal, when cooked, is best made into small loaves or cakes and eaten hot. It is rich in nitrogen, and contains more fat than the other grains. This causes it to attract the oxygen from the air, and spoil rapidly. It should be purchased in small quantities. It is better adapted to strong laboring people, as it is very heating for persons with weak digestion.

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Rye meal and flour are used, more especially in New England, in the form of bread and mush. Rye is sweeter than wheat, and makes a moist bread which can be kept for some time without becoming hard and unpalatable. Rye should be purchased in small quantities, kept in a cool, dry place, sifted and examined thoroughly before using.

Barley is used in soups and sometimes in gruels. It cannot be made into good bread, as it has too little gluten. It is nutritious, being rich in phosphates. It contains starch and mucilage, and, in the form of gruel, makes a soothing drink in fevers. The husk is removed, the grains are ground and polished, and then it is termed pearl barley.

Buckwheat has less flesh-forming, and more heat-giving elements than wheat. It is therefore suitable only when used in cold weather and by those who labor hard or exercise freely. It is used principally in the form of griddle-cakes.

Rice contains very little of the flesh-forming element. It has more starch and less fat than any other grain. It is cheap, and is largely used by people in very hot climates. It should always be used with milk, eggs, or some fatty substance.

Oatmeal Mush.

One cup of B. B. oatmeal, and one teaspoonful of salt, to a scant quart of boiling water. Put the meal and salt in the top of the double boiler; add the boiling water. Place the upper boiler on the stove, and boil rapidly eight or ten minutes, stirring occasionally with a fork. Then place it over the hot water, and cook from forty to sixty minutes if liked dry, from two to three hours if liked very soft. Remove the cover just before serving, and stir with a fork to let the steam escape, to dry it off. Served with baked apples and sugar and cream.

Oatmeal comes in three grades. B. B. is the whole oat with the outer husk removed. It is less pasty than the


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finer grades. The Scotch consider the coarse oatmeal the best, the finer kinds being only suitable for children and invalids.

Oatmeal, rice, or any mush that contains much starch, is more easily digested if it is masticated, and mixed with the saliva. When eaten as a soft porridge and still further thinned with milk, if it be swallowed whole, the saliva has no chance to do its part, and the whole process of the digestion of the starch is left for the intestines. The meal should be thoroughly cooked, stiff, and dry, rather than thin.

Hominy, cracked wheat, and granulated wheat are cooked in the same way, using only three cups of boiling water instead of one quart.

The cracked wheat may be poured into a mould wet with cold water, and when jellied eaten cold with sugar and cream.

Whole wheat requires five cups of boiling water to one cup of wheat, and should cook six hours.

Hasty Pudding, or Indian Meal Mush.

Put one quart of water on to boil. Mix one pint of corn meal, one teaspoonful of salt, and one tablespoonful of flour with one pint of cold milk. Stir this gradually into the boiling water and boil half an hour, stirring often. Eat it hot, with milk, and only in cold winter weather.

Fried Hasty Pudding.

Cook as above and pour it into a brickloaf pan; when cool, cut into three-quarter inch slices. Dip them in flour, and brown each side in hot fat in a frying-pan. Or dip in crumbs, egg, and again in crumbs, and fry in deep fat.

Any of these mushes may be fried the same way. When eaten with bacon, they make a nice relish for breakfast.

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> BEVERAGES.

Tea.

THERE are three varieties of the tea-plant; both black and green tea can be prepared from them all. Green tea is made from young leaves steamed, roasted, and dried quickly on copper plates. Black tea is made from leaves which have been exposed to the air ten or twelve hours before roasting. The action of the air upon the leaves during this long exposure causes the dark color. Green tea gives up less of its juices in drying, and this accounts for its energetic action on the nervous system.

The tea-leaf contains the largest amount of nutritive matter of any plant used as human food, though only a small portion of it is extracted by our common method of making tea. There is a large proportion of casein in the leaves. Many of the savage tribes of Tartary boil the leaves with soda, and eat them with salt and butter. But in our method of using tea as a beverage merely, we use such a comparatively small quantity that the amount of nutriment is very little; its chief value being the sense of warmth and comfort that it gives. It excites the brain to increased activity, and produces wakefulness; hence it is useful to students and night-workers. It retards the action of the natural functions, causes less waste, and, to a certain extent, saves food. For this reason, when not used in excess, it is suited to poor people, whose supplies of substantial food are scanty; and to old persons, whose powers of digestion and whose bodily substance have begun to fail. It should not be used early in the morning, as the body needs immediate nourishment in a larger quantity; and it should at all times be taken moderately, both as to quantity and strength.

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The water should be freshly boiled. Scald and heat the teapot, which should be of earthen or china, never of tin. Allow one teaspoonful of tea for one cup of boiling water. Reduce the proportion of tea when several cups are required. Put the tea in a strainer, pour through it half a cup of boiling water to cleanse the grounds. Then put the tea in the teapot; pour on the boiling water; cover closely and place it where it will keep hot, but not boil, for five minutes. If cold or lukewarm water be used in making tea, the thein, or nitrogenous substance, will not be obtained.

In boiling tea or allowing the leaves to remain long in the tea, by repeated steeping, the fragrant aroma is wasted and the tannin is extracted, which may cause gastric disorders to those who drink it. Never make tea in a tin teapot, as the tannic acid acts upon the metal and produces a poisonous compound.

A slice of lemon is a good substitute for milk in tea. The lemon prevents the headache and sleeplessness which the tea causes in some persons.

A French chemist recommends grinding tea like coffee. It will yield nearly double the amount of its exhilarating quality. Also to put a lump of sugar into the teapot with the tea.

Iced Tea, or Russian Tea.

Make the tea by the first receipt, strain it from the grounds, and keep it cool. When ready to serve, put two cubes of block sugar in a glass, half fill with broken ice, add a slice of lemon, and fill the glass with cold tea.

Coffee.

Coffee grows on small trees. Mocha, the best variety, is grown in Arabia. Other choice kinds come from Java, the West Indies, and South America. The fruit of the coffee tree is something like the cherry, and contains two seeds or beans. Bruising the fruit separates the berries,


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which are then washed and dried. The raw berries are tough, difficult to grind, and have but little flavor. Coffee should be roasted and kept in air-t