Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1918-03-27

tasteless. However the cake was too
rich, because the drippings, unlike
most other fats, contained no water.
SO found it more satisfactory to de-
crease the amount one-sixth In all
recipes where shortening was de-
manded.
For making pie crust ] used the
same amount as of lard, rubbing into
the flour half the necessary quantity,
then moistening the dough, rolling 1t
out and adding the balance, creamed,
in layers as for faky pastry. In max
ing boiled salad dressing l found that
there was no butter, so in went the
required amount of beef drippings and
the result was as good as ever.
/ found that rendered fat was an
indispensable asset to my housekeep-
ing, so bought three pounds of beef
fat each week, at eight cents a pound,
for shortening. But this was only
one phase of the fat question; If clear
beef fat was good for certain pur-
poses, why did not the drippings from
the roasting pan, skimmings from the
soup pot, lamb fat, bacon, sausage
and ham fat, have a place in my
household economy? began by saw
ing the bacon fat, but found that it
was not very good for frying pur-
poses, because burned, so | commenc-
ed to bake bacon in the oven, laying it
on a rack in a pan so that the drip
pings would not interfere with the
cookery. The fat was as clear as
amber, and used it for frying eggs,
potatoes, corn fritters, eggplant and
other vegetables as we'll as for sea-
soning tomato sauce, macaroni with
tomatoes, basting fish and seasoning
bread dressings. And later | used
sausage and ham fat in a similar
way.
Then one day when we had baked
potatoes for breakfast the butter sup
ply was so low that | served melted
bacon fat in a pretty bowl instead,
and the family liked it better.
/ discovered that the reason my
family were so fond of liver and
bacon was because of the bacon flaw
or. So, while we could not always
afford bacon, by aid of the dripping
was able to prepare a delicious meal
from liver which 1 bought for eight
cents pound.
had never used dried lentils, peas
and beans very much, because they
always seemed to demand so much
salt pork for seasoning. However l
was so successful in the use of other
kinds of drippings that | began to
hoard every scrap of. fat.
My first experiment with dried
vegetables and drippings was with
Boston baked beans. In these / sub
stituted half cupful of sausage fat
for the usual half-pound of salt pork !;
Lima beans boiled with ham fat and
reheated in milk sauce, while dried
ptas and lentils were made into soups,
seasoned with either of these three
savory fats.
Sausage drippings made an excel
lent shortening for gingerbread and
ginger cookies, while beef drippings
from a roast, if not scorched, could be
rendered and used for dark cake.
Any of these fats are excellent for
frying purposes, although | made it a
rule not to mix the savory and bland
fats lest thesflavor of the smoked meat
penetrate my doughnuts or GRO
quotes. Beef fat, the skimmings
from corned beef, and lamb fat prov
ed excellent fro deep fat frying.
However it was necessary to soak the
lamb fat for twenty-four hours in cold
water before rendering, to remove the
strong taste.
| found that my butter bill decreas-
ed two-thirds, lard was wiped entirely
off my book, and my total cooking
fat expenditure each week averaged
twenty-four cents for the three
pounds of beef fat.