knives, spatulas, egg beaters or whips in the sink; always rinse them off at once.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THINGS TO DO BEFOREHAND

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

ECONOMY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Small pineapples are especially expensive.

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

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

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

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

MISCELLANEOUS

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

Foods containing starch should not be eaten raw.

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

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

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

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

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

When, in spite of all precautions, something burns on, plunge the vessel without ceremony into a pail or pan of cold water for a moment, empty the contents immediately into another kettle, add boiling water and return to the fire to finish cooking. Badly scorched foods often lose all the scorched flavor by this treatment.

Remove the burnt portion from bread or cake with a grater, when first taken from the oven.

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

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

Use pastry flour for gravies, sauces and all thickenings.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Being in the form of an emulsion, cream does not hinder digestion as does the free fat of butter. It should be sterilized before using in uncooked dishes.

In the recipes in this book, heavy cream is meant unless thin is specified.

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

When cream is scarce do not use it where oil and skimmed milk will do just