cook delicious meals

Allow 1 large potato for each person. Wash and bake in a hot oven, then open and scoop into a heated bowl. Mash and for each potato, add ½ a teaspoonful of Gruyere (Swiss) cheese, grated, salt and pepper to taste, and the stiffly whipped whites of three eggs for ½ a dozen potatoes. Beat well, turn into a pastry bag and press out in heaps on a buttered pan. Brush with beaten egg yolk and brown in a quick oven.—From "Table Talk," Phila.

Water boiling slowly has the same temperature as when boiling rapidly, and will do just the same amount of work; there is, therefore, no object in wasting fuel to keep water boiling violently.
Stewing is the most economical method of cooking the cheaper and tougher cuts of meats, fowl, etc. This method consists in cooking the food a long time in sufficient water to cover it—at a temperature slightly below the boiling point.
Braising. In this method of cooking, drippings or fat salt pork are melted or tried out in the kettle and a bed of mixed vegetables, fine herbs and seasoning placed therein. The article being cooked is placed on this bed of vegetables, moisture is added and the meat cooked until tender at a low temperature. The last half hour of cooking the cover is removed, so that the meat may brown richly.
In broiling and grilling, the object is first to sear the surface over as quickly as possible, to retain the rich juices, then turn constantly until the food is richly browned. Pan-broiling is cooking the article in a greased, hissing-hot, cast-iron skillet, turning often and drawing off the fat as it dries out.
Sautéing is practically the same as pan-broiling, except that the fat is allowed to remain in the skillet. The article is cooked in a small amount of fat, browning the food on one side and then turning and browning on the other side.
Frying. While this term is sometimes used in the sense of sautéing it usually consists of cooking by means of immersion in deep, hot fat. When frying meats or fish it is best to keep them in a warm room a short time before cooking, then wipe dry as possible. As soon as the food has finished frying, it should be carefully removed from the fat and drained on brown paper.
Use for this dry bread crumbs, grated and sifted, crackers rolled and sifted, or soft stale bread broken in pieces and gently rubbed through croquette basket; the eggs should be broken into a shallow plate and slightly beaten with a fork to mix the white thoroughly. Dilute the eggs in the proportion of two tablespoons cold milk or water to every egg. The crumbs should be dusted on the board; the food to be fried should be lightly crumbed all over, then dipped into egg so as to cover the article entirely, then rolled again in bread crumbs. Sometimes, as in cooking fish, flour is used for the first coating in place of the crumbs, the article being then dipped into the egg mixture, then with crumbs and then fried.
Consists of introducing small strips of fat, salt pork or bacon through uncooked meat. To lard, introduce one end of the lardoon (the small strip of fat) into a larding needle and with the pointed end take up a stitch one-half inch deep and one-half inch wide. Draw the needle through carefully so that the ends of the lardoon may project evenly over the surface of the meat. Oftentimes, however, thin slices of fat, salt pork or bacon are placed over the meat as a substitute for larding, although it does not give quite the same delicious flavor or look so attractive.
Consists of adding a pickle, composed of vinegar and oil, to the ingredients of some combination used in salad making.
For washing dishes and cleaning pots and pans use a solution made by dissolving a teaspoonful or so of Gold Dust Washing Powder in a dish-pan full of water. If the cooking utensils have become charred or stained in cooking, sprinkle some Polly Prim Cleaner on a damp cloth and rub utensil thoroughly. After scouring, rinse the article well in hot water, and wipe dry. Use Polly Prim Cleaner also, for cleaning cutlery and for keeping the refrigerator clean and sweet.

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Stir up all packed materials, like mustard in its box, and sift flour before measuring. Fill cup without shaking down, and dip spoon in material, taking up a heaped measure, then with a knife scrape off toward the tip till you have level measure. Pack butter or Cottolene in cup so there will be no air spaces. A scant cup means one-eighth less and a heaped cup about one-eighth more than a level cup.
Divide a level spoon lengthwise for a half measure, and a half spoon crosswise for quarters or eighths. A pinch means about one-eighth, so does a saltspoon; less means a dash or a few grains.
A rounded tablespoon means filled above the rim as much as the spoon hollow below, and equals two of level measure. It also equals one ounce in weight, and two rounded tablespoons if put together would heap a tablespoon about as high as would an egg, giving us the old-time measure of "butter size of an egg," or two ounces, or one-fourth the cup.
Except in delicate cake, or where it is creamed with sugar, and in pastry—where it should be chilled to make a flaky crust, Cottolene or butter may be most quickly and economically measured after it is melted. Keep a small supply in a granite cup, and when needed, stand the cup in hot water, and when melted, pour the amount desired into the spoon or cup. For all kinds of breakfast cakes, it is especially helpful to measure it in this way.
Soda, baking powder, spices, etc., are generally measured with a teaspoon, level measure, for this gives the proportional amount needed for the cup measure of other materials.

STANDARD TABLE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

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Take a 6 or 8 pound piece of round of beef. Heat a large skillet very hot, grease with a bit of fat from the meat and quickly sear and brown the meat on all sides. With a sharp knife cut gashes around the sides and sprinkle in each gash salt, pepper and a pinch of cloves. Place in a deep baking dish with 3 blades of mace, 1 cupful of capers or pickled nasturtium seeds, a bunch of parsley, 3 sliced lemons, and sufficient claret to almost cover the meat. Cover closely and bake in a moderate oven for 4 hours. Serve hot or cold. If hot slightly thicken the gravy, season to taste and serve.