Evening star., 1924-08-08
VERY good way of testing an

~ oven is to sprinkle little
~ flour on sheet of white
paper Leave this with the
for ten minutes and then examine it.
In a comparatively cool oven the flour
will then have just started to turn
male brown. Pastry and cakes require
such a temperature. If the heat is
brisk, the flour will be a golden
brown color. while in greater heat
the shade will be much darker An
excessively hot oven is useless for
cooking anything and the flour will
have become black
Special thermometers can be OBJ
tained for recording the heat of an
oven When baking meat, warm
the oven thoroughly before placing
the pan inside.
To Make Meat Tender.
When cooking meat. the object, of
course is to render the tibers tender
and to preserve the natural juices.
Meat contains a large amount of al
bumen. which becomes hard at the
boiling point, SO that when roasting
or baking, the oven or fire must be
very hot at the beginning in order
of the meat, and so form thin coat
ing all round the joint, which keeps
in the juices and flavor.
AS soon as this coating is formed,
which will be in about ) minutes. the
heat must be reduced. and the meat
then allowed to cook more slowly, so
that the fibers will soften and become
tender. If cooked rapidly, the albu-
men hardens all through the meat
and the result is tough joint.
O.
clear, bright fire is necessary, as the
heat of the fire surrounds the chop
or steak with hard coating. By
turning it often and not overlooking.
the meat ought to become juicy and
tender inside. Great attention should
be paid to basting meat properly
when roasting or baking it, or the
surface of the meat will become dry
and hard and will crack. Another
point to remember is that meat should
never be overlooked or it will become
dry and indigestible.
Canning Uneooked Fruit.
Fruit canned uncooked tastes like
that which is freshly gathered. If
canned tightly in perfectly sterilized
jars. it will surely keep. All kinds
of berries. cherries. pineapples. citrus
fruits and currants. if crushed or
cut in one fourth inch cubes. may be
canned raw. Simply add to the
crushed or chopped fruit its own
bulk in sugar. Stir thoroughly and
set in cool place away from flies
81 hours. and then fill the jars and
seal. Half-pint jars are good for
this fruit. being large enough to
serve five people
The fruit will be of the same
color as fresh fruit and rich. 1t
makes shortcakes in winter that
are exactly like the summer short
cakes. 1t is also delicious to mix in
gelatin desserts and ice cream. The
seeds. so dfsagreeable in some berries
and currants when cooked, are much
less SO in the raw fruit.
This sort of a preserve and jelly
goes so much farther than the
palmer cooked fruit that the expense
is no greater in the end, and it is
restful to do the work in cool
house with no stove to attend to and
no dirty kettles to wash
Blueberries. huckleberries and
cranberries can be kept by packing
them in jars and then filling the
Jars with molaSseS and storing them
in cool, dark place. When ready
10 use the berries, pour the molasses
off through sieve and use it for any
kind of cooking you wish. Rinse the
berries. using the water in baked
beans, mincemeat. gingerbread, pud-
ding or cookies, adding sugar.
Cncooked Ripe Tomato Pickle-Chop
together two quarts of ripe tomatoes
one cupful of celery or cabbage chop
ped, four red or six green peppers and
six small onions. Add one tablespoon
full of celery seed. five tablespoonfuLs of
salt half cupful of white mustard
seed, two and one-half cupfus Of
vinegar and three-fourths teaspoonful
Of Glove cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix
all the ingredients together and put
into covered jar or can. Let the
pickle stand week before using it.
To Prevent Fruit Stains.
When preparing raw fruit for cook
ing or jam making, ones fingers get
stained. These stains are not easy to
remove with soap and water but they
may easily be prevented if. before pick
ing the fruit, a little butter is rubbed
around the fingertips. There is no