The home cook book

Mixing Ingredients One at a Time— The Beneficent Pan of Hot Water— Appearance of Meats— To Make Tough Meat Tender— When Salt Should be Added in Cooking Meat— Advantage of a Variety of Seasonings — How to Dry Herbs — Powders of Savory Herbs — About Pepper — As to Sauces — Ratio of Raw to Cooked Chicken — Milk for Custard- Keeping Milk and Butter— Butter Paddles— To Help in Whipping Cream — Cold Eggs for Beating— To Choose Macaroni— Radishes with Rice — When Pies Overflow— To Prevent Soggy Crust— Do Not Use Melted Butter in Cake — To Prevent Hasty Browning — Frying Doughnuts— To Brown Buckwheat Cakes without Molasses — Uses of a Pinch of Salt — Bread and Cracker Crumbs — To Save after Scorching— To Destroy Smell of Cooking Cabbage, etc.— Porcelain for Acids —To Clean Decanters and Cruets— About Planking Boards— To Keep Pears for Winter Use— To Pack Eggs— To Make Bread Cloths— Paper on Pantry Shelves— The Use of Wine MIXING INGREDIENTS ONE AT A TIME IF you have ever seen a druggist compound a prescription yon noticed that he did not put in two or three things to mix at one time with what he had in his mortar, but blended each ingredient with what he was making before he added another. The same rule has fine results in cooking. If you have three or four or five ingredients, do not mix them all at once, but stir two together, then add the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, stirring each time. THE BENEFICENT PAN OF HOT WATER A pan of hot water set in the upper oven evens the baking. If the oven becomes overheated, the pan filled with cold water reduces the temperature in the best possible way. In cooking canned vegetables, such as corn, if the saucepan holding the corn is set in a pan of hot water, the moderated heat develops the taste of the corn and also saves constant watching that the corn does not burn. Cereals are best cooked in this way, although we call the equipment a double-boiler when we use the pan of hot water and saucepan for such grains. Finally, a pan of hot water is ever ready for making sauces and gravies, and saves the burning both of food and saucepans. APPEARANCE OF MEATS Good beef is of a bright red color and moderately fat. Good mutton is deep red and close-grained. Good pork is close-grained, and the rind is smooth and thin. TO MAKE TOUGH MEAT TENDER A tablespoon of vinegar added to the water in which meats or fowls are boiling helps to make the flesh tender. WHEN SALT SHOULD BE ADDED IN COOKING MEAT To put salt on meat when it is raw makes it hard. Do not salt your meat till it is almost cooked, at the point where it is beginning to get tender. ADVANTAGE OF A VARIETY OF SEASONINGS