Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1890 — DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

TOPICS OF INTEREST TO THE FARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. Some Valuable Information for the Plowman, Stockman. Poulterer, Nurseryman, and Everybody Connected with the Farm. THE HOUSEHOLD. About Pork.

CONSIDER ATION of breakfast never troubles me; we have porridge, a rasher of bacon, a soft-boiled egg, toast and marmalade the year ' round.” “1 should think you would get

dreadfully tired of it.” “No, it seems the natural and accepted breakfast. When we first came to the States I did occasionally vary it with steak, or chops, and hot bread, but John would look around the table and say, ‘Have you got such a thing as a rasher of bacon in the house, Kate?’ and, ‘l’d like my egg, you know, when she brings in the toast-rack.’ So I ceased making innovations on that meal.” Though of my “opinion still” that a stereotyped meal must pall sooner or later that was a very clever breakfast. A small, well-cooked portion of salt or smoked meat is very appetizing; eggs, as we all know, offer the greatest amount of nourishment in the smallest bulk; toasted bread is very discouraging to dyspepsia, and orange marmalade, with its piquant mingling of sweet and bitter, is a most excellent stomachic. If its valuable properties were better known, it woujjl find a place on many more breakfast tables. One little word about my Canadian friends’ toast. It was served either thin, crisp, and dry in a silver toast rack, or the bread cut in slices an inch thick, the crust pared away, browned evenly, beaten with a flat, wooden butter-pad-dle (the broad handle of a knife will answer),until soft, but not broken, buttered on both sides to lubricate, not to soak it, and set in the oven between hot plates for two minutes before sending to the table. The improvement to be suggested on that breakfast would be the substitution of our American salt pork for the smoke cured English or Irish bacon, served at a table, the former being much mor< 'palatable because it does not possess the smoky flavor. It is curious what a difference the cutting wi'l make in the taste of a rasher of ham or pork that is to be broiled or frfbd; and the latter, if properly done, is quite as good as the former and more economical, since the fat is not wasted. The rind of either should be pared away with a sharp knife. If the pork is a rib-piece the bones should be removed, cutting them out as clean as possible, These may bo used to flavor sour, or stews of kidney, veal, chicken, or any dish in which a pork flavor is required, and spheres of fat upon the surface are superfluous. The ham or pork should be cut as thin as a sharp knife will cut it, put into a very hot frying-pan, which has been rubbed with a bit bf salt pork. The meat will quickly curl from the heat; it must then be turned every moment till delicately brown and crisp, when it should be served upon a hot dish. Cooked in this way its juices arc preserved, while it is free from clinging fat or grease. It requires but a very few minutes, yet not one servant in fifty will cook it properly. Fried pork with cream gravy, as served in a Jersey farm-house, may well rank among breakfast delicacies. The pork is to be fried thin and crisp and set in the oven, the superfluous fat poured from the pan and the remaining gravy diluted with a cupful of rich cream, stirred and allowed to come to a boil, then poured over the pork. Ham may be cooked In the same way, and the buckwheat cakes accompanying cither of these dishes are served in a great bowl of hot cream. A very good cream gravy may be made by diluting what is reserved of the pork gravy in the pan with a cupful of milk, or half milk and half water; let it boil, season, and add a teaspoonful of corn-starch blended in cold milk; mix smooth to the consistency of cream, pour over the pork, and serve. Scrapple is another delicious dish that deserves to be more widely known, for, while head-cheese is to be found in any pork market, scrapple is seldom seen outside of Philadelphia and South Jersey.—Good Housekeeping.

Hint* to Housekeeper*. For stains on the hands nothing is better than salt, with enough lemon juice to moisten it, rubbed on the spot and then rinsed off with clean water. Chloride of lime is an infallible preventive for rats, as they flee from its odor as from a pestilence. It should be thrown down their holes and spread about wherever they are likely to come, and should be used once a fortnight. For biliousness the juice of a lime or small lemon into half a glass of cold water, stir in a little baking soda; drink while it foams. To be taken when rising in the morning. This will also relieve the sick headache, if taken in the beginning. Salmon or other canned goods should not be allowed to remain in the can in hot weather after they have been opened. A prominent dealer says that he never knew bad results to occur from sound stuff when the contents of cans were at once transferred to earthen vessels. Newspapers are the best thing for cleaning lamp chimneys. Put the least bit of kerosene on a piece when filling the lamps; then rub the chimneys until they shine. It is more easily and quickly done than washing them in soap suds, they look as well, and are much less liable to crack.