HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9209, 11 April 1908, Page 3

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

For cutting new bread try a knife that has been dipped in boiling water. Wipe, and cut the bread at once, and it will not be heavy. To seeura th« perfect "baker's brownness" in rolls, pastry, bread, biscuits, etc., moisten the surface of the dough with, milk before putting in the oven. Salt fish in ready for cooking more quickly if it is soaked in bout milk instead of water. Sauces should be served as soon as possible after they are made. The flavour ia spoilt if they are kept. "When making ircnholders place a layer of leather on one side, just inside the cover. Sew up aa usual, and you will be surprised to see how it will resist heat. The leather may bo cut from the top of an old shoo. Many a piece of haircloth £urnitur« can. i be made most attractive if covered with pietty chintz or cretonne. With these covers one can have hangings to match. Nothing»^ adds so much to a room aa its draperies. Lemon Pudding. — Take half a pound each of breadcrumbs, suet and sugar, the grated rinds cf two lemons, and three well-beaten eggs. Mix all together, and steam for one hour and a half. Serve with lemon -sauce. It is very injurious to children's teeth to allow them to eat bread and butter, biscuits or any farinaceous food' in bed at nights, and to go to sleep with particles of such food clinging to the teeth. It ferments during the night, becomes acid, and slowly injures the enamel. Clean the children's teeth the last thing every night. A Nice Way to Cook Sausagw. — Put a pound of sausages into a saucepan with one pint of water, and boil for three-quarters of an hour; then place on a hot dish in £he> oven to keep warm while the gravy i» being thickened with two tablespoonfuls of flour and a little browning. Season with pepper and salt and pour over. Orangeade is an excellent drink for chit-i dren's parties. Make a pint of syrup bs boiling three-quarters of * pound of sugar in a pint of water, skimming well till dear; squeeze into this the juioe «f three oranges, stir well, and add three pints of water; mix and stand in a cool place. To serve, place

in glass jugs with a few dainty slices of j orange on the top. To revive "withered flowers which have been packed or carried for some • distance is not always easy. The following- plan has been found very satisfactory: — Plunge the stalks into very hot water, and allow them to stand till the water is cold. Then cut off the ends of the skulks, and arrange the flowers in cold water. Thus treated, flowers will last wonderfully in vases. Cheese Pi©. — If you wish a good, testy Bupper dish, try this: Cut up half a loaf of bread in small dice. Butter a pie-dish, and fill it with alternate layers of bread and mild cheese, which is cut thin and sprinkled with pepper and salt. Beat two egga slightly, and add to three-quarters of a pint of milk. Pour the custard ovar the whole, and bake steadily till the cheese is soft Serve hot. Tomato Catsup. — Peel one gallon of rip© tomatoes and five pod3 of red pepper. Cook until tender,' strain through a coarse cloth, then stir thoroughly into it two ounces of salt, two ounces of black pepper, half an ounce of -white mustard seed, half' an ounce of allspice; add one pint of vinegar. Boil slowly for three or four hours; while siiil warm bottle and cork tightly. This will keep for years, so should be made when tomatoes are cheap. Tomato Soup. — Put two large onions, peeled and sliced, two turnips, cut into dice, two or three sticks of celery, cut into short lengths, four ounces of lean ham, and two ounoaß of fresh butter, all together into a Btewpan, and let them simmer over a very slow fire for about thirty minutes. Then pouT over them two quarts of weak stock. Add about eight ripe tomatoes cut in half, and let it all simmer gently for about two hcurs. Theni nib through a sieve. Keplaco the soup in the pan, bring it to the boil, and Beason to taste. Angels on Horseback.— Take as many oysters as you require, and as many small, thin rashers of bacon as you have oysters, and an equal amount of small rounds of fried bread to form the "horses." Beard the oysters and trim up the slices of bacon to a size just large enough to wrap round the oyster. Sprinkle with a little cayenne pepper, chopped shallot and parsley. Lay an oyster in the middle of each slice, add a few drops of lemon juice, roll up tightly, and fasten th« bacon down with a large pin to present it unrolling. Fry in a hot pan just long enough to make the bacon crisp. Take out the pin, place the roll on the middle of a round of fried bread, and E«rve on a very hot dish. German Eggs.— When there are any remains of cold 1 vegetables, such as asparagus, spinach, cauliflower, or cabbage, this dish affords a good opportunity for using them up. Chop the vegetable finely, heat it in a saucepan with a bit of butter and appropriate seasonings, then turn it into a yellow picdish of presentable appearanca, and cover the surface with a 'ayer of fine fresh eggs, whioh have been broken very carefully eo as not to burst the yolk. The best plan iB to break each egg separately in a cup, then slip it gently on to the vegetable, because if one broken yolk got among the others it would entirely spoil the dainty appearance of the whole dish. Sprinkle the eggs lightly •with a mixture composed of fine brown raspings, minced parsley, and salt and pepper; then bake for a few minutes in a brisk oven till the eggs are sufficiently eet, and serve as hot as poesible. Vegetable Marrow Puree. — This is an excellent way of using up ratheT " woolly " marrows, which have been left too long ungathered. Peel and slice the marrow, but do cot remove the seeds. Slice also an onion , and two 01 three sticks of celery, and add | some bits of the stalks of parsley. Toss these in an ounce of butter, in a saucepan, over a slow fire, for ten or twelv© minutes, being careful they do not brown. Add three pints of white stock or of milk, or milk and water, whichever is at hand; put on the saucepan lid and boil the vegetables until quite soft. Probably this may take from forty-five to sixty minutes. Take out the parsley stalks and rub, through a fine hair sieve. Rinse out the pan and return the puree to it. Draw from the side of the fire and cool a little. Then strain in the yolk of an egg, beaten up well and mixed with^ two tablespoonfuls of cream. Heat up again, but do not boil or the cream and egg will curdifc _^^