Sterelizing jars

The success of canning depends upon absolute sterilization and not upon
the amount of sugar or cooking. Any proportion of sugar may be used, or
fruit may be canned without the addition of any sugar.

It is most important that the jars, covers, and rubber rings be in
perfect condition. Examine each jar and cover to see that there is no
defect in it. Use only fresh rubber rings, for if the rubber is not soft
and elastic the sealing will not be perfect. Each year numbers of jars
of fruit are lost because of the false economy in using an old ring that
has lost its softness and elasticity.

Have two pans partially filled with cold water. Put some jars in one,
laying them on their sides, and some covers in the other. Place the pans
on the stove where the water will heat to the boiling point. The water
should boil at least ten or fifteen minutes. Have on the stove a shallow
milk pan in which there is about two inches of boiling water. Sterilize
the cups, spoons, and funnel, if you use one, by immersing in boiling
water for a few minutes. When ready to put the prepared fruit in the
jars slip a broad skimmer under a jar and lift it and drain free of
water.

There are several methods of canning; the housekeeper can use that
method which is most convenient.

The three easiest and best methods are: Cooking the fruit in jars in an
oven; cooking the fruit in jars in boiling water; and stewing the fruit
before it is put in the jars.

How to bake cake

Make sure the oven is in condition, it can better wait for the cake than the other way around.

Light your gas oven five or ten minutes before needed and reduce heat accordingly when cake is put in oven.

For the coal range, have the oven the right temperature and do not add coal or shake the coals while cake is baking.

If a piece of soft yellow paper burns golden brown in five minutes the oven is moderately hot; if it takes four minutes the oven is hot, if seven minutes is required the oven is fit for slow baking.

Sponge cakes require a slow oven; layer cakes a hot oven, and loaf cakes with butter a moderate oven.

Never look after your cake until it has been in the oven ten minutes.

If cake is put in too cool an oven it will rise too much and be of very coarse texture. If too hot, it browns and crusts over the top before it has sufficiently risen. If, after the cake is put in, it seems to bake too fast, put a brown paper loosely over the top of the pan, and do not open the oven door for five minutes at least; the cake should then be quickly examined and the door carefully shut, or the rush of cold air will cause it to fall. Setting a small dish of hot water in the oven
will also prevent the cake from scorching.

When you think your cake is baked, open the oven door carefully so as not to jar, take a straw and run it through the thickest part of the cake, and if the straw comes out perfectly clean and dry your cake is done. When done, take it out and set it where no draft of air will strike it, and in ten minutes turn it out on a flat plate or board.

Do not put it in the cake box until perfectly cold. Scald out the tin cake box each time before putting a fresh cake in it. Make sure it is air-tight. Keep in a cool place, but not in a damp cellar or a refrigerator.

Fish and cooking

Fish that is not fresh is a very dangerous food and great care should betaken in selecting only fish fit to eat. If the fish is hard in body andthe eyes are clear and bright, the gills a bright red and slimy, theflesh so firm that when pressed the marks of the fingers do not remain,the scales not dry or easy to loosen, then the fish is fresh.
In the refrigerator fish will taint butter and other foods if placed inthe same compartment, so that in most cases it is better to lay it on aplate on a pan of ice, or wrap it in parchment or waxed paper and put itin the ice box.
Pickerel weighing more than five pounds should not be bought. If bellyis thick it is likely that there is another fish inside. This smallerfish or any found in any other fish may not be used as food.
Salt fish should be soaked in fresh water, skin side up, to draw out thesalt.
Each fish is at its best in its season, for instance:--
Bluefish, Butterfish, Sea, Striped Bass, Porgies, Sea-trout or Weakfishare best from April to September.
Fluke and Flounders are good all year round, but the fluke is betterthan the flounder in summer. Carp may be had all year, but care must betaken that it has not been in polluted water.
Cod, Haddock, Halibut, Mackerel, Redsnapper, Salmon, Whitefish are goodall year.
In the different states of the United States there are laws governingthe fishing for trout, so the season for that fish differs in thevarious states.
Black Bass, Perch, Pickerel and Pike are in season from June 1st toDecember 1st.
Shad, April to June.
Smelts, November 10th to April.

HOW TO MAKE CREAM SOUPS

HOW TO MAKE CREAM SOUPS

Cream soups are all made by blending two tablespoons of butter with twotablespoons of flour and then adding slowly one cup of cold milk or halfcream and milk. One cup for a thin soup or puree, to one quart ofliquid. More according to the thickness of soup desired. Any cookedvegetable or fish may be added to the cream sauce. Less milk is usedwhen the water in which the vegetables are cooked is added.
Purees are made from vegetables or fish, forced through a strainer andretained in soup, milk and seasonings. Generally thicker than creamsoup.
Use a double boiler in making cream sauces and the cream saucefoundation for soups.
To warm over a thick soup it is best to put it in a double boiler. Itmust not be covered. If one does not have a double boiler set soupboiler in a pan of hot water over fire.
Cream soups and purees are so nutritious that with bread and butter,they furnish a satisfactory meal.

CREAM OF ALMOND SOUP

Blanch, and grind or pound one-half pound almonds, let simmer slowly inone pint of milk for five minutes. Melt one tablespoon of butter, blendwith one of flour. Do not allow to bubble. Add one cup of milk andthicken slightly. Then add the almond mixture and simmer again untilcreamy. Remove from fire and add one cup of cream. Season with salt andpepper to taste. Cream may be whipped or left plain.

About making bread

How to make bread
Try the yeast always by setting to raise in a cup of lukewarm water or milk, if you use compressed yeast add salt and sugar.
If it rises in the course of ten or fifteen minutes, the yeast is fit to use. In making bread always use sifted flour. Set a sponge with lukewarm milk or water, keeping it covered in a warm place until very light, then mold this sponge by adding flour, until very light into one large ball, then knead well and steadily for twenty minutes. Set to rise again in a warm place free from drafts, and when it has risen to double its former bulk, take a knife, cut through the dough in several places, then place this dough on a baking board which has been sprinkled with flour. Work with the palm of the hand, always kneading towards the centre of the ball (the dough must rebound like a rubber ball). When this leaves the board and the hands perfectly clean the dough may be formed into loaves or rolls.
Place in pan, greased slightly with a good oil, let rise until the imprint of the finger does not remain, and bake.
The oven for baking bread should be hot enough to brown a teaspoon of flour in five minutes.
If baked in a coal range, the fire must be just the proper heat so as not to have to add fuel or shake the stove.
If baked in a gas range, light oven to full heat five minutes before putting the bread in the oven, and bake in a moderately hot oven forty-five minutes, unless the loaves are very large when one hour willbe the proper time.
When taken from the oven, the bread may be wrapped in a clean towel wrung out of warm water (this prevents the crust from becoming hard. place bread in slanting position or allow it to cool on a wire rack.

CANNING IN THE PRESERVING KETTLE

CANNING IN THE PRESERVING KETTLE recipe

Canning in the preserving kettle is less satisfactory; but is sometimes considered easier, especially for small fruits. Cook the fruit according to the directions and see that all jars, covers and utensils are carefully sterilized. When ready to put the fruit in the jars, put a broad skimmer under one, lift it and drain off the water. Set it in a shallow pan of boiling water or wrap it well in a heavy towel wrung out of boiling water; fill to overflowing with the fruit and slip a silver-plated knife around the inside of the jar to make sure that fruit and juice are solidly packed. Wipe the rim of the jar; dip the rubber ring in boiling water, place it on the jar; cover and remove the jar, placing it upside down on a board, well out of drafts until cool. Then tighten the covers, if screw covers are used; wipe the jars with a wet cloth and stand on shelves in a cool, dark closet.




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How to test jelly made at home

Much waste of sugar and spoilage of jellies can be avoided by using a simple alcohol test recommended by the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture. To determine how much sugar should be used with each kind of juice put a spoon of juice in a glass and add to it one spoon of ninety-five per cent grain alcohol, mixed by shaking the glass gently.

Pour slowly from the glass, noting how the pectin--the substance in fruits which makes them jell--is precipitated. If the pectin is precipitated as one lump, a cup of sugar may be used for each cup of juice; if in several lumps the proportion of sugar must be reduced to approximately 3/4 the amount of the juice. If the pectin is not in lumps, the sugar should be one-half or less of the amount of juice.

The housewife will do well before making the test to taste the juice, as fruits having less acid than good tart apples probably will not make good jelly, unless mixed with other fruits which are acid.

Rules for kashering

In the religious and dietary laws of the Jewish people, the term "kasher" is applied to the preparation of meat and poultry, and means "to render fit" or "proper" for eating.

1. To render meat "fit" for food, the animal must be killed and cut up according to the Jewish method of slaughter, and must be purchased from a Jewish butcher.

2. The meat should be put into a pan, especially reserved for this purpose, entirely covered with cold water, and left to soak for half an hour. Before removing the meat from the water every particle of blood must be washed off. It should then be put upon the salting board (a smooth wooden board), placed in a slanting position, or upon a board with numerous perforations, in order to allow the blood to freely flow down. The meat should then be profusely sprinkled on all sides with salt, and allowed to remain in salt for one hour. It is then removed, held over a sink or pan, and well rinsed with cold water three times, so that all the salt is washed off. Meat left for three days or more unsoaked and unsalted, may be used only for broiling over coals; it may not be cooked in any other way.
The ends of the hoofs and the claws of poultry must be cut off before the feet are _kashered_.
Bones with no meat or fat adhering to them must be soaked separately, and during the salting should not be placed near the meat.

3. The liver must be prepared apart from the meat. It must be cut open in both directions, washed in cold water, and broiled over the fire, and salted while it is broiling. It should be seared on all sides. Water must then be poured over it, to wash the blood away. It may then be used in any manner, as the heat has drawn out the blood. Small steaks and chops may be _kashered_ in the same way.

4. The heart must be cut open, lengthwise, and the tip removed before being soaked, so that the blood may flow out. The lungs likewise must be cut open before being soaked. Milt must have veins removed.

5. The head and feet may be _kashered_ with the hair or skin adhering to them. The head should, however, be cut open, the brain taken out, and _kashered_ separately.

6. To _kasher_ suet or fat for clarifying, remove skin, and proceed as with meat.

7. Joints from hind-quarters must not be used, until they have been "porged," which means that all veins of blood, forbidden fat, and prohibited sinew have been removed. In New York City no hind-quarter meat is used by orthodox Jews.

8. All poultry must be drawn, and the inside removed before putting in water.

Cut the head off and cut the skin along the neck; find the vein which lies between the tendons, and trace it as far back as possible; at the back of the neck it divides into two branches, and these must be removed.
Cut off the tips of the wings and the claws of the feet. Proceed as with meat, first cutting open the heart and the liver. Eggs found inside of poultry, with or without shells, must be soaked and when salted be placed in such a position that the blood from the meat does not flow upon them. Such eggs may not be eaten with milk foods.

In conducting a kosher kitchen care must be taken not to mix meat and milk, or meat and butter at the same meal.
The utensils used in the cooking and serving of meat dishes may not be used for milk dishes. They should never be mixed.

Only soaps and scouring powders which contain no animal fat are permitted to be used in washing utensils. Kosher soap, made according to directions for making hard soap, may be used in washing meat dishes and utensils.
To follow the spirit as well as the letter of the dietary laws, scrupulous cleanliness should always be observed in the storing, handling and serving of food.

It is very necessary to keep the hands clean, the flours and cereals clean, the ice-box clean, and the pots and pans clean.