HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11669, 8 April 1916, Page 5

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Potato peelings should bo dried in the oven and' used for lighting fires. Less wood will bo required. When rugs curl up at tho corners cut a piece of buckram in the sliap of an L, and sew to the under side. To keep uncooked fish fresh, wring a cloth out in cold salted water and wrap the fieli in it. Don't allow the fish to touch one another. A small box of unslackcd lime kept in (he pantry will absorb till impurities, and keep tho tv.r dry and sweet. The limo must be changed every two or throo weeks. To preserve apples for winter use, choose sound apples, wipe them dry, and pack in a barrol or wooden box. Put a layar of bran between the applet, so I hut. ihev do net touch, one another. Put, the barrel in a cool place, but not where they will freeze, Camp Pic. —Take ono pound of any cold meat, and cut it into neat little squares. Slice three onions, arid fry them in mi ounce of dripping. Add one heaped-up ten spoonful of pepper to taste. Plnco thu meat in a piedish, and pour over it the gravy and onions. Put half a pint of breadcrumbs on tho top end bako in a slow open for one hour. Baked Sultana Pudding.—lnto half a pound of flour work half a teaspoonful of bakingr powder and a quarter of a pound of chopped suet. Add a quarter of a pound of sultanas and r a table-spoonful cf chapped peel. Beat' up an egg with half a pint of milk, and add to the dry ingredients. Pour into a greased piedish, and bako for < no hour and a quarter. Home-mada Briv.vn.—Clean one shenp's head, find put it in a saucepan with two quarts of water. , Boil it slowly till the meat comes off tho bones, then remove the bones, add a lar.sre onion, diced, a little chopped parsley, and a seasoning of pepper and salt. Boil nil together for one hour, then pour info « mould and leave til] next day. This makes about two pounds of brawn. Ginger-nut Biscuits.—Four ounce 3 of butter, half a pound of flour, three ounces of sugar, half jm ounce of ground ginger, one egg, a little milk. Rub the butter infc> th>> flour, add the sugar i>nd ginger, beat up tho egTT with a little milk, and add to the dry ingredients. Enough milk must be nddecl to mako a smooth paste. Roll out and cut into small round biscuits with a cutter ov the top of a wineglass, put on o, baking flvci lined with buttered paper, and bako for eight or ten minutes. _Madr.au Curry.—Tako two ta'lcspocnfuls of dissolved butter/ one or two tablespoonfu's of ciutv powder, and two tablespoonfuls of lomon juice; three or four' small cnion«, three shallots, ond a clove of garlic, chopped all together. Put into a etowpan with tho above for ten roinutos. Then add the metvt, fresh or cooked, cut up into very small pieces, and stew for half an hour well mixed with the above. Add' to the whole a pint of new milk, simmer for three or {our hours till the meat has absorbed all tho liquid and is quits dry. Serve with rice. Quince Honey.—Five large quinces or seven small quinoes, pared and grated, ono and a half pints of water, four pounds of granulated sugar. Put sugar and water in a porcelain lined pan, and lot sugar dissolve thoroughly. Put in grated quinces and cook f<« fifteen or twenty minutes. The only harm if it cooks too Jong is that it turns a little red. Bo sure to stir carefully while it is cooking.

Pickling Pork.—The. following 13 a very good pickle for pork, and enn also bo used for any kind of meat:—Ono pound of salt, six ounces of brown sugar, one ounce of ea.ltpetre, one gallon of water. Put all these ingredients into a, larcre saucepan, ■ brins>- to the boil, and boil for fivo minutes, skimming j it all the while; then strain it into a largo basm, and when it is cold tho pork can be put in it and kept in it for nine days. Tho pork must bo kept well under the brine; a board with a weight on it can be laid on the • meat if it is not sufficiently immersed. Anerley Applie Pie.—Make a good rich crust; peel, core and slice the- desired quantity of fruit, which must be perfectly sound 1 . Lino a buttered pie-dish with some of the' pastry, and put in the prepared apples. Nov,- (this is the best part) mako a inbeturo of half a cup of sugar, or mors if wished, three tablespoonfuls of water, one teaspoonful of flour, and.butter the 6ize of, a walnut: Stir this over tho gas or fire until it thickens. Then pour it ovor the sliced apples; cover the dish with the remaining pastry, and bake in a moderate oven.

Flaky Puff Pastry.—One pound of fine flour, one pound of fresh' butter, a ninch of Fait, about one quarter pint of water. flour with water and salt until it forms an even soft paste, sprinkle it with flour and .allow it to remain for ten minutes. Roll out the paste, fold it and roll it out once more. Work tho butter until it is of the same consistency as paste, lay it on. tho paste andfold up tho edsjes; sprinkle it with flour and' let it lie for a quarter of an hour in a cool spot. Roll out.the pa?te lengthwise. Peach and Pineapple Marmalade-.—Seven

pounds of peaches, one large ripe pine, Ihrec lemons, thrse-quarters of a pound of crystal sugar to every pouud of fruit. Pare and slice the pine, peel 'avicl stone the peaches, erne. 1 ; half the stones, and remove the kernels. Put the peaches and pine into a preserving pan with just a little water to protect the bottom layer. Heat slowly to simmering boil, and afterwards cook gently for about half an hour. Add tho sugar gradually, sp as not to reduce the temperature 'oelow simmering point, tho strained juice of th© lemons and kernels, and boil gently for twenty minutes, skimming when necessary. Drying Herbs.—Mint and. other sweet h«rbs should be gathered' on a dry day. The simplest plan is to cleanse tho leaves thorr

_____ o-urhly, and then to lay the sprigs on •_ . largo dish, which in its turn should. pli'tctl in a icpid oven. Turn the «prigs from t i:>ic to time. "When quite dry, strip off tao" leaves, pound them, rub them through: "a sieve, and .•"ora in absolutely ; dry bottles: audi ccrk down securely. When'using thew herb*, unless in • forcemeat, etc., tie them up info small muslin bags. Another way o£ pre-: serving sweet horbs after they have ■ Deeii cleansed consists oi tying the springs' ii» paper bags after they are dry, and hanging - them up on nails. Parsley can "be' drifeil 'ia': the same w&y. Parsley • and celery- " seed;. 1 should find _o place in the store-cupboard; as if either oi these herbs fail a few of tba seeds can b& used 1 with good flavouring effect /