Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book

flour mixtures, it will answer for croquettes or fish balls. It should be very hot, and still, not bubbhng ; 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 Muffans. {Miss I. A, Maynard.) 1 egg. 1 sahspoonful salt. % cup sugar. Flour enough to make a stiff ^ cup milk. batter. 1 teaspoonf ul baking-powder. 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 Com 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. The Boston Cook Book, Fried Rye Muffins. % cup rye meal. ^ cup flour. ^2 teaspoonful soda. 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar. 1 tablespoonful sugar. 1 saltspoonful salt. 1 egg. 3^ 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 Eye Muffins (Sour Milk). 1 pint sour milk. 3^ 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 table' spoonfuls of melted butter, one cup of sour milk (or if sweet milk be used, add one teaspoonful of cream of tartar), four cups o^ flour, with half a teaspoonful 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. Eoll 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. Eoll and cut all out before frying, as that will demand your whole attention. Eemember that the fat should be hot enough for the dough to rise to the top instantly. Doughnuts, No. 2. 1 quart flour. 3^ cup sugar. 3^ teaspoonful salt. 3^ teaspoonful soda. 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar. 1 saltspoonful cinnamon or nutmeg. 1 egg.