GENERAL HINTS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 81, 29 December 1928, Page 14

GENERAL HINTS

Do not use baking powder in pastry that has to be kept for any length of time, but increase the quantity of fat, which will prevent it from becoming too dry. The messy job of stoning raisins can be extremely simplified if you pour boiling water over the raisins and leave for a minute or two. Pour the water away and you will then find that the raisin pips are more easily removed. When chopping onions’ first soak them in cold water for ten minutes. This is to save your tears. When the chopping is done, rub your hands with common salt and all traces of the odour will vanish.

Before baking potatoes let them lie in hot water for fifteen minutes and they will take a much shorter time to cook. They will also be more mealy and palatable. Prick the skins with a fork or skewer, and this prevent them bursting. Rub the skins over with lard or dripping and the inside can be scooped out easily, leaving the shell of skin as thin as paper. Should you run out of night lights you will find that a candle treated in the following manner makes an excellent substitute: Light the candle and wait until it is burning quite level, then sprinkle salt thickly round the wick. This will cause the light to go down to a mere glimmer and the candle will burn steadily throughout the night. When making sauces remember that a sauce, if too thick, is easily made thinner, but it is more difficult to thicken if it is too thin. When it is to coat something it should be thick enough to cover the back of the spoon with which it is stirred. When it is to be poured round a dish it should be thin enough to flow smoothly. If there is any lumpiness, strain the sauce before sending it to the table. . Egg stains will yield readily to plain cold water, which should be used in preference to warm for the purpose. By far the best way is just to soak the corner of material which bears the mark. Spoons that have been used for eggs should be rinsed in cold water. This will not only remove the stain but will also tend to prevent dark patches which usually disfigure snoons used for eggs. Spoons that are already marked should be rubbed well with salt, which hardly ever fails to remove the darkest stains. A method adopted by chemists to remove iodine stains takes a few seconds only. Make a fresh solution of sodium hyposulphite (hypo), procurable very cheaply at any chemists or photographic stores, and immerse the affected article in it, afterwards rinsing in cold water. The mors delicate fabrics will not be injured. lodine will also stain gold badlv. but such stains are easily removed with any of the well-known makes of "late polishing powder. The corks of bottles containing gum. liquid glue, and other sticky substances should be rubbed with grease to prevent them from becoming fixed. Lemon-juice and sugar served with beetroot make a pleasant change from the ordinary vinegar dressing. Small holes in tin or enamel ware which is not subjected to heat can be effectivclv stopped im with resin. Heat a poker in the fire, bold n lumn of resin over the hole, boro into it with the hot poker, nnd the melted resin will soon fill up the hole.

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