THE HOUSEKEEPER

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 126, 29 May 1915, Page 11

THE HOUSEKEEPER

SEASONABLE RECIPES. Fish and Oyster Pie. — Remains of cold fish, two dozen oysters, seasoning, -white sauce, bread crumbs, half teaspoon nutmeg, one dessert spoon parsley. Arrange fish, oysters, and bread crumbs in alternate layers, and season to taste. Have bread crumbs on .top. Make- a white sauco with butter, flour, and oyster liquor and a little milk. Season and pour over before adding tho last layer of bread crumbs. Bake fifteen to twenty minutes. Tho bread crumbs for the top brown more easily if placed in the oven with a little butter. Mix well before strewing over the pie. Fish and Tomatoes. — Cold fish, tomatoes, broad crumbs, butter, gravy 'and stock, seasoning. Put fish, tomatoes 6lioed. and bread crumbs in layers in a pie-dish, with bits of butter and seasoning between. Pour over the gravy. Have a layer of bread crumbs and bits of butter on top. Bake from twenty to thirty minntes. Vegetable Marrow Conserve (like preserved ginger). — To six pounds of vegetable marrow take six pounds of 6ugar, two ouncesj of ground ginger (or a quarter pound whole ginger), and tho rind and juice of four lemons. Peel the marrow and cut into neat rjieces, not too small. Cut the lemrtn rind very fine. Add the strained juice. Put all in a preserving pan, and simmer slowly till clear. Do not stir. Pear Ginger. — Six pounds hard pears, three-quarter pound preserved ginger, four and a-half pounds sugar. Peel and cut up pears and ginger, not too small. Put sugar over and let it stand twelve hours. Then^ put all_ on with a little water, and simmer till the pears look clear. The rough ginger may be used as well as, or instead of, the other ginger. About, a quarter _ pound or a little .more of root ginger might be used. Also three lemons may bo sliced and used with the pears and ginger. Cook very slowly for about three hours. Apple and Lemon Jam. — To one pound apples add tho grated rind and juice of one lemon and three-quarter pound of sugar. Boil one hour. Pineapple and Tomato Ja,m. — Two largo pines to five pounds of tomatoes. Peel and cut up the pines._ Skin the tomatoes by plunging them into boiling water and_ then in cold, and rub off the skins. Boil the fruit together gently till the pineapple -is soft. Then add threequarter pound of sugar to every pound of tho mixture, and boil' again for half an hour or longer. Cape Gooseberry Jam. — To four pounds of gooseberries allow three poiinds of brewer's crystals and half a pint of water. Fruit should be carefully washed, and, after adding sugar, carefully stir, as it burns easily. HOME HINTS. In household management, when timo is economised, it usually follows (writes the Gentlewoman) that a great 6aving in money as well as in temper if? tho result. An up-to-dato friend of mine has boon showing me some of tho ways in which she manages this three-fold economy. First of all, there is tho kett.le so constructed that it whistles loudly tho moment the contents begin to boil. Tho economy in this is that, when it announces having reached the boiling point, anyone in the basement can .hear it whistle. This saves tho gas, saves boiling over, and consequent mess and rush, and also saves timq. No one can ignoro this whistle, for it is fairly loud. Another contrivance is a plate-cleaner, which enables the process to be performed without soiling the hands. It is a dry powder, and tho polish it gives is much more durable than that obtained by ordinary methods. Another little article in constant use in my friend's house' is a stand by means of which three flat irons can be heated at the same time, and with the same amount of . gas needed for heating one iron in tho ordinary way. Again, she has an automatic gas-ring so constructed that all the time the pot or kettle is standing on the ring the gas remains at the height adjusted, but immediately sinks to a mere glimmer when tho kettle or pot 16 taken off. Mistresses- who have had experienco of servants who leave the gas-rings oft the cooker at their full height when no gas whatever is required, will appreciato to the full the advantage of this little contrivance. Furthermore, in constant use in my friend's house is a "room-to-room" cinder-sifter, so portable that it can bo carried about all over the house, and so practical thai tho ashes of several fireplaces can be sifted in a. few minutes. This is accomplished by a sifter that fits into a rather deep pail. Tho handle is turned a few times, and this causos the coal dust to fall into the pail, leaving the cinders ready for use at the top. ■ _ Knives.— These are best cleaned each tiuie after they are washed, either in a machine or on a board, using knife powder. If they are badly stained, rub them with a cut potato or else dip a cork in methylated spirit, and rub hard with it. If tho handles are discoloured, use lomon-juico and whiting. Brass and Copper. — Tho following recipe is excellent: — Take equal parts of Bolt soap and rottenstone (a pennyworth of each) well mixed together, and moistened with turpentine, about one dessertspoonful. Apply with flannel, rub with a duster, and polish with velvet cloth or leather. To Mend Holes in an Iron Pan. — Insert a flat button -with a shank through the hole from inside; then drive a small nail through the projecting^ shank on the outside as tightly as possible. To Clean a Smoked Ceiling. — When the ceiling above the gas jet has become blackened, apply a thick layer of starch and water with a clean piece of flannel. Let it dry and rub off ligiiily. To Keep a Rain-water Tub in Use. — To keep rain-water butts in good order they should be painted on the exterior annually. Bore a hole in the bottom of the butt in the centre sufficiently large to admit a broom handle, which may be cut to a length, so that it can be reached from the outside. When dirt has accumulated at tho bottom use a brush or mop to swill it round, then release tho handle to allow the wator to run away. By doing this occasionally the wator will be kepl_ clean and always fit for use. Cleaning Meat and other Baking Tins. —A simple and easy way of cleaning enamel saucepans, etc., is to save some of the water from the copper on washing days, and put a portion into a bowl or small zinc bath, adding plenty of soda and any oddments of soap Into this put as many articles as the vessel will hold under the water, and stand in the copper over tho other water to keep the heat for half an hour. Take out the j tine on© ,by one and tub with scouring Liesp. Tbs dirt JtULaui&ly. AJJiPfteAIU .