The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-05-30
HOUSEHOLD MATTERS.
SteaminC Food.

There are some housekeepers who are
fully alive to the value of steamer as
labor-saving machine in their kitchens,
and as an indispensable aid to good
cooking, but there are many others who
do not realize its usefulness, and have
never had one in their houses. What
ever can be boiled can be steamed, and
when the process is completed and the
food diShed, instead Of having a pot or
saucepan to wash out, always distaste-
full task, or a pudding cloth to rinse or
cleanse, there is only the clean, damp
strainer to be wiped dry, and the earthen
dish to be washed in which the food was
cooked; an enormous saving of trouble,
as any one will testify who has tried both
methods.
Steamers may be purchased of all
styles and prices, from elaborate ones In
tiers, forming separate compartments in
which different viands can be steamed
at the same time, down to tiny ones to
fit on the top of the tea kettle. A useful
size is plain, round one about twelve
inches high to fit over an ordinary iron
pot. The cover must be very tight to
retain the steam. Things that are
steamed cannot burn, and once safely
over pot of boiling water, the hurried
housekeeper may dismiss them from her
mind. There is only one point to be
remembered; the water must never
cease boiling for single instant, and
therefore the fire must not be permitted
to get low. A longer time should be al
lowed for steaming than for boiling.
A pair of tough fowls can be rendered
as tender as chickens by being judiclously
steamed. It will take from two hours
and half to three hours to accomplish it
if they are veterans. They can be tested
by plunging fork in the heart and thighs.
They should be filed with a stufing OF
bread crumbs, butter, pepper, salt and
nutmeg, or lemon juice, if desired,
dressed as if for roasting, with the wings
and legs bound tightly to the body, and
then laid in an earthen dish IN the
steamer. The drippings are very valuable
for chicken soup, which should be made
the next day from the bones and scraps
remaining. With the addition of to-
matoes, artichokes, or whatever vege-
tables can be procured, and slight
thickening of cornstarch, it makes vel
come addition to the family dinner. If
the supply of vegetables is insufficient, a
pint of milk is a great improvement, and
a we'll beaten egg stirred IN gives it body.
No house. mother is past.mistress in the
art of economy until she has mastered the
possibilities of soup as nourishing and
inexpensive food. 1t is means of
making use of many fragments that must
otherwise be wasted, and of obliging
them to yield up every particle OF nourish-
ment that they contain.
Fish is much more easily steamed than
boiled; it is not as liable to be broken
OYSTERS are delicious cooked in this way.
They are drained, laid on plate, and
steamed for about ten minutes, accord
ing to the size. until they look plump
and white. The liquor can be heated,
an equal quantity of cream added to half
a pint, thickened with teaspoonful of
cornstarch and poured around them, or
they can be served dry on squares of
buttered toast.
Stale bread or biscuit can by steaming
be rendered as nice as when fresh. Cut
the bread in slices, and stand them in
the steamer leaning against bowl in the
middle, so the steam will reach every
part of the slices. Let them remain for
five or six minutes, remove the cover,
turning it up quickly so the condensed
steam on it will not drop on the bread,
butter each slice as it is removed, pile
lightly on hot dish. Split the biscuit,
observe the same precautions in steam
ing, and serve in the same way.
Plum cake can be easily cooked by
steaming each loaf for three hours and
finishing by baking it in moderate oven
for one hour. 1t cannot be told from
cake baked in the ordinary way, and
there is much less anxiety as to how it
will turn out.-Ciristian Union.