, 1872-08-15
4otl.e and farm.
About Baking.

Ut too e1OWs uuIluS any put "a INC pio-
cess,
There are countless recipes for the
preparation Of food, but very little in
struction as to the manner of baking it.
Each one must learn by experience. and
there are more provoking failures il that
direction than in any other; and some
although they learn the facts, never
learn the why's and wherefores Of sue
cess.
fused to think that to bake anything
well, the oven must be as hot as it could
be without burning the article to be bak-
cd, all the time that it was baking
This is not the case with anything ex-
cept crackers and cookies.
For biscuits, the oven should be
equally hot when they are put in. but
should begin to cool G. little before they
are taken out this makes them very
light, but one has to watch to keep them
from being scorched; eight minutes are
enough to bake them; if baked with such
fire as that required for bread they
are heavy.
For germs made of graham flour and
water, or corn bread, the oven should
he very hot, but tie fire should have
been built some time before they were
put in, and begin to go down by the
time they are light; for if the oven re-
mains as hot as was necessary to make
them rise, they will burn before they
get thoroughly cooked.
Bread requires much slower fire but
it should be even and steady from the
first to last.
Cake requires a still slower fire than
bread, but it must not be too slow or the
cake will not be thoroughly cooked
through, and will fall when taken from
the oven. If the fire is too hot at first,
it will crust over before it is light, aud
burst through the crust and rise rough
and homely. If the cake is large, some
nails or bits of iron should be placed
under it, and paper spread overit, else
Any kind of bread or pastry mixed with
water requires hotter fire than if mIx-
ed with milk.
Fruit pies require hotter fire than
bread, but steady from first till last; if
too hot at first the crust will cook be-
fore the fruit does; if too slow, towards
the last the crust will dry up before the
fruit is done; If too hot towards the last
the fruit will ST. W out before crust is
done. Pumpkin pies require a fire as
hot as can be without burning the crust.
Custard pies require slow fire, else
they will boil and whey out before they
are done. But puddings require a hot
fire, particularly Indian pudding, for
they are all the better for being wheyed
out.
In baking meat pies always leave a
hole in the top crust, else poisonous gas
will collect in it.
For baking meat the fire should never
be hot enough to burn the grease; pork
and chickens require hotter fire than
beef.
We talk about hot, quick and slow
ovens, but it takes a long experience to
enable one to tell by the feeling. or in
other practical manner, just how hot an
oven is, until we see its effect on the ar
ticle cooked, and then it is too late; and
it is impossible to communicate to any
one else the precise temperature which
is represented by ourideas of hot quick,
etc.
1t is matter of gue ss-work after all.
In fact our whole system of cooking is
more or less patched up system of
guess work. We have rules and recipes
for rich cakes and puddings, but bread
of all varieties, pies. butter. etc., are
made by guess And even in those re-
cipes we have, the ingredients are meas
ured in all manner of vessels, and no
two persons understand alike the terms
which designate the quantities.
One of my friends has a stove with
glass oven doors. Why could not ther-
molneter also be attached to them ?
[ hope to see the time when cooking
shall become an exact science when we
shall not only measure the heat OF onr
ovens with thermometers, and know
the precise temperature of which they
should be, for each variety baked there
in, but shall also know the temperature
at which our yeast and bread-sponge
and cream should be kept; when va
shall prepare all articles of food by cor
rect recipes, and measure all ingredients
in exact and standard measures. which
should be alike all over the country, so
that our mistakes can only occur when
we fail to follow the rules.-Prairie Far
aer.
FRUIT CULTURE. Instead of trim
ming up" trees according to the old
fashion, to make them long trimmed.
trim them down, SO as to make them
even, snug, and symetrical
2. Instead of manuring heavily, in
small circles at the foot of the tree,