Lessons in cooking through preparation of meals

Fifteen minutes before serving remove the prunes and cover them with a thick syrup made of 2 c sugar, preferably brown, and i c vinegar, boiled down to ^ c. Several cloves and a stick of cinnamon should be boiled in the syrup and then strained out as it is poured over the prunes. Serve meat on platter with syrup over it and prunes laid in a border. When the meat is tender, if there is still any liquor remaining, remove the cover, allow it to evaporate and brown the meat. Parisian Potatoes With a French cutter or round vegetable spoon cut out of uncooked potatoes i pint of balls. Cook in boiling salted water about 10 m or until nearly tender ; drain and toss into a frying pan in which there are 4 T melted butter and 3^ t salt. Set the pan in the oven, or on top the stove, shaking it frequently until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked and well browned. Add a little fresh butter, a dash of salt if needed and i T chopped parsley. Toss the balls about to distribute the ingredients evenly and serve at once. Kidney Beans Pour the contents of a can of kidney beans into a saucepan, add ^ t salt, 2 t sugar and i T butter. Heat thoroughly and serve. Steamed Apricot Pudding Cream ^ c butter ; add }i c sugar and when well mixed with the butter add alternately ^ c milk and 23^2 c flour mixed and sifted with ^ t salt and 3 t baking powder. Add I c apricot pulp and cut and fold in the stiffly beaten whites of 3 eggs. Pour into a buttered baking dish and steam ij^ h in one or ^ h in individual molds. Other fruits, such as dates, figs, prunes, peaches, berries, pineapple, etc., can be used if desired. Serve the pudding with orange sauce. Orange Sauce Beat the yolks of three eggs, add i c sugar and mix until light and creamy. Add the juice and grated rind of 31/2 orange. Mix well and then add gradually ^ c hot water. Cook over hot water, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Just before removing from the fire add I t of butter. Preparing This Meal Allow 4 h for the cooking of the meat and 2 h or less for the pudding, according to the manner of steaming. Onehalf hour before serving time prepare the potato balls. The potato left from the cutting of the balls should be cooked at the same time and reserved for future use. While the potatoes are boiling make the pudding sauce and the syrup for the prunes. Then brown the potatoes and cook the kidney beans. The pudding should be left in the steamer until ready to serve. Tuesday Lesson 46 OATMEAL AND RAISINS CREAM AND SUGAR FRENCH TOAST CARAMEL SYRUP Oatmeal Follow directions given in Lesson i, adding ^ c raisins, scalded and chopped, or else sprinkling chopped raisins over the top of the cereal as it is served. Caramel Syrup Boil I c sugar with ^2 c water until it becomes golden brown in color. Great care must be taken after the syrup begins to turn color that it does not burn. When the right color is reached add slowly and carefully ^ c boiling wate-r. This must be done carefully because the very high temperature of the syrup will raise that of the water so rapidly that violent boiling ensues. If the syrup is too thick add more water, if too thin add a little more sugar and boil a few minutes. Just after removing from the fire add ^ t vanilla. For French Toast see Lesson 7.