DRIPPING AND ITS USES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 156, 26 March 1908, Page 3

DRIPPING AND ITS USES.

. A practical housekeeper, who is clever enough to combine kitchen economy with wellcooked and plentiful meals,' says a writer in tho "Argus," is constantly; deploring the' waste of the homely and despised dripping, which in-tho;■ majority, of homes is poured' into tho kerosene tin which stands in the scullery for refuso fat. Dripping, when properly prepared, is distinctly 'useful, and very, economical, and for these reasons alone it should never bo wasted. The odd shilling or two which is iisiially tlie price of a tin of fat is never a fair return for the good dripping, which can .very often be used witli hotresults than those of cooking butter, or •frying; lard. But it is of no'.use keeping the liquid fat as'it conies from the meat pan without treating it properly. First of all it must be poured from tho meat pail into a basin with a littlo water, and then set aside to cool. When it has hardened there will be a cake of pure dripping, which must-bo removed and cut up into pieces- and re-melted. This may be poured into, jars, and covered with paper, when it will keep excellently. All impurities must bo scraped off the dripping that has rested in tho water, and. if a brown jelly should collect at the second treatment this should be saved, for it is the purest es-. senco of meat, and invaluablo for enriching gravies or soups. Dripping pastry is usually despised, yet French cooks make a'beautiful puff paste of delicately-clarified fat, prepared according to tho above directions.- It lis pounded or beaten to a : firm, smooth pasto, and used in exactly, the same way as butter. For frying, dripping should be : always clear, l usec \.' boiling heat. This conies after tho bubbling has the fat is quite still. , Tho icook who attempts to fry in dripping not quite boiling, succeeds only in presenting greasy and unploasantlyrflavourcd items. Fish-frying is tlie easiest thing to accomplish, and yet it is often a failure, simply bccauso there is not ©uough- hotj clear drip-' ping at hand.