Evening star., 1925-02-27


TO small details and in the
finishing of simple dishes.
These are the qualities that nj
good cook anywhere.
As an illustration, in order TO keep
meat, or fruit. such 5 apples ana
pears. white while cooking, French
cook rubs them all over with the in
side of a lemon. To keep greens
good color. she boils them for five
minutes then stands them in the sink
aud turns the cold water Oh them for
= few minutes. This done, she drains
tho greens and coons rom in boiling
water well salted until they are ten
der. A French way of serving them is
10 rinse them once more in cold water,
drain them well, chop fine, then put
them into a dry saucepan with some
butter, heat them we'll, stirring all
the time, then serve in a dish deco
rated with triangular pieces of fried
bread.
A French cook never has her dinner
cooking without watching II con
stantly. She hovers over her pots and
kettles as a mother over her ba by's
cradle. She is always doing something
10 il. and she never hurries stew,
a gravy, a. soup or a sauce. Her prep
arations are lengthy, aud her play
with a wooden spoon is compltcat ed.
She stirs some sauces all one way.
others must be stirred all ways. The
uIclIiug smoothness of her sauces Is
due to the butter she uses in making
them, and to the skill with which she
mixes her rouX. The rouX is the basis
of all hot sauces, and is something
much more subtle than just -four, but
ter and bouillon. Ragouts and stewS
Of all kinds, soups, and graVies de-
pend for their success upon this one
thing more than any other. She melts
h., hrrry I, !, Ntr,er faa
ever it may be, and sprinkles in the
-four and browning ii required. She
Stirs all the time with a wooden
spoon and never stops stirring for one
minute. Before serving, she passes 1t
through fine sieve so that the least
lump of flour or any grain from the
frying will be eliminated
We can learn much from French
cooks in the matter of making food
tasty, and at little expense most of
the time. They DO not throw away
anything. They make use of all left
overs, no matter how small the por-
tions are. On the other hand, if they
have the materials TO work with, they
can prepare the most elaborate dishes
you could wish for in most attrac-
tive style, but it is in their ability
to make the most of what they have
that they excel.
GOOu roast.
1t is surprising how badly toast
IS made in the average household. 1t
usually comes to the table cut in
thick slices with a rough. course sur
face, and is often burned in the mid
die, although undercooked at the
edges. The secret of successful toast
making lies in rather slow, but not
too slow, cooking. The bread should
be cut fairly thin and held a little
way from the fire. New bread does
not make good toast. A loaf one or
two days old is best to use for the
purpose. A uniform browning and
appetizing crispness will be insured
by very gently moving the toasting
fork from side to side.
One clever chef has declared that
toast is not worth eating unless 1t
has been kept moving all the time.
The edges and the crust must be
Drowned also. Toasted crust Is an aid
to digestion if masticated thoroughly.
Immediately after they are finished,
the slices should be placed upright,
preferably In a rack.
Toast Drowned in the oven is apt
TO be hard and burned because not
closely watched. Electric toasters are
good If closely watched. When max
ing toast on a gas cooker, constant
turning of the slices will insure q
uniform browning.
Using Up Sour Milk.
1t used to be the case that if we
had no fresh milk on hand, but only
that which had soured, we would use
water to mix our homemade bread
and throw the sour milk away, be-
heving that it would surely have
spoiled the baking. Nowadays when
we do not need the sour milk for
anything else, we use it to mix the
dough and get better bread and more
of it than when we mixed with water,
and quite rs good as if we mixed
with sweet milk.
Another mistake has been corrected
recently. Always we have been told
that never must we use sour milk or
cream to mix cake in which baking
powder is to be used. Now we use
baking powder and sour milk in our
cup and layer cakes and get a mix
ture quite as good as if the milk
were sweet.
When we have enough sour cream
to make it worth while, say cupful,
we let it get very sour and then we
turn it into a square of cheesecloth.
The corners of the cheesecloth are
tied up and the little bundle is hung
on a nail with a bowl placed UNDER
meath for It to drip into. In a. day