Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 250, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1919 — The KITCHEN CABINET [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The KITCHEN CABINET

"Oh, suns and skies and clouds of June And days of June together. Ye cannot rival for one hour October’s bright blue weather." —Helen Hunt Jackson.

HINTS FOR THE HOMEMAKER. useful article for the kitchen is a small microscope. One may be In-

formed as to the condition of many things which do not show up to the natural eye. Dates, figs. as cereals, are safest examined with a stronger lens than that of the—eye. Such foods may be returned at once when found to be unfit.

A rubber plant should be washed with milk once or twice a month. This will keep the leaves glossy and handsome. Save the discarded tooth-brnshfes anti old underwear for defining arid polishing silver. A clean, dry brush is the best kind of a cleaner to brush the whiting from chased silver. Use the soft underwear for the hard rubbing, and finish the polishing with a chamois skin. , j If silver is rubbed after a soapy bath with a chamois skin, once a week, the hard cleaning win not need to be done so often. “ The French way of making tough meat tender is one worth remembering: Lay the steak in a marinade of three tablespoonfuls of olive oil andone and one-half of vinegar; let stand four hours on ice, turning frequently’ to be sure that both sides are treated Then brill I as usual. When cooking ..a. pudding either by steam or in boiling-water, take care to replenish the water by boiling water, qr the pudd’rm“wTTTTalT"orsoggy. A cut lemon dipped in salt or bathbrick makes a fine cleaner for copper or brass. It is also good to remove stains from the coffee "and tea pots. A nice laundry bag may be made of two bordered towels, using a drawstring a-t the top. For holding scraps and pieces, a circular bag, which may be laid out flat on the floor will be found convenient, as then any bundle can be quickly found. A good tonic which may be Brewed” at home is sassafras tea. This is an old remedy used by our grandmothers, and one which is perfectly reliable. Steep a small handful of sassafras root by covering with a quart of boiling water. Strain and drink half a cupful night and morning. It purifies the blood and acts as a tonic. Take the bright shell from Its home on tlie lea, Wherever—it goes 'twill sing of the sea; So take the fond heart from the home and the hearth, 'Twill sing of the loved to the ends of the earth.

AN EVERYDAY LUNCHEON. If the weather is cool, a bowl of nice steaming hot soup is always a good

beginning., for a luncheon; then a broiled whitefish, , with creamed po- ■ tatoes: an apple salad, prepared from tart apples; celery, a few nuts and a good salad

dressing; then a simple dessert, like musk melon, pearlies and cream with a cooky, or a small sponge cake with a dish of sliced bananas. A good dish which will make a main dish and is very filling is: Codfish Chowder.—Cut in dice a quarter of a pound of salt pork; fry until brown, then add three to six sliced onions; stir and cook until lightcolored ; add twice the amount of sliced potatoes, and water to cover; cook until the vegetables are soft, then add a half-pound' of shredded and parboiled codfish, a half-dozen milk crackers which have been softened by pouring boiling water over them, a quart of milk and salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls, very hot, with a cracker on top of each. Fresh fish may be used in this chowder. Add the fish, cooked until tender, or it may be added about twenty minutes before the dish is ready to serve. Too long cooking of the fish will make it tasteless. Corn and Rice Muffins. —Take two cupfuls of buttermilk, one cupful of cornmeal, one teaspoonful of soda, a pinch of salt, half a cupful of crehm and half a cupful of boiled rice. Mash the rice; add a pinch of salt, and the cream, an egg well beaten and the buttermi Ik mixed with the soda, then the meal. Bake in buttered muffin tins in a quick oven. Banana Puffs.—Take one cupful of sugar, a tablespoonful of butter, one cupful of flour, a teaspoonful of baking powder, three well beaten eggs and milt to make a drop batter —about a quarter of a cupful. Mix and stir in three sliced bananas and fill buttebed custard cups; steam one hour and serve with a lemon sauce. Lemon Sauce.,—Take half a cupful of sugar, the juice and rind of a lemon, a tahlespoonful of butter and a quarter of a cupful of water; cook until soft, adding an egg, well beaten, by pouring the cooked mixture over the. egg, stirring constantly. Serve hot.

I shall be happier than you and calmer, if my doubt is greater and nobler than your faith; if it has probed more deeply into my soul, traversed wider horizons, if there are more things it has solved.—Maeterlinck.

FOOD FOR COOLER WEATHER. . Fall has brought back the oyster from his salty vacation, and npw

comes the game ■ that makes these days the fiivorite in the epicure’s calendar.Slmplicity is the keynote in cookery these I days; there is not a game bird or

fish that will be improved in flavor by stuffing, or the addition of many seasonings. The charm of any dish is to keep its characteristic flavor, accentuating it, not covering it with seasonings.- The old-fashioned method of stuffing all kinds of fowl and game is no longer considered desirable by the 'best diners. Duck may be improved by the addition of an onion, a bunch of celery or, as some Southern cooks do, put an oyster in a small bird before broiling or baking. Wild game that lacks fat is sometimes wrapped in slices of bacon, fastening them with toothpicks if the bird is small, or placing a slice over the breast of a large bird. For the small birds a nicely tonsted' square- of bread is—wm -which-try-place the tiny morsel of deliciousness. The toast should always be well buttered and soft, with the crusts removed. Water cress is one of the nicest of garnishes, and a salad of sliced oranges on water cress served with French dressing iS-thQ-salad par excellence to serve with duck. Those acquainted with only, the cultivated mushrfiom do not realize the rare flavor of the field variety. They are found in abundance until the frost comes to kill them. It is better to buy them in the market, gathered by some one who is reliable, than to risk being poisoned. ’ ' The field mushroom is delightful when simply in a little butter, with salt and pepper for seasoningsome like a bit of cream; then serve them on toast. Mushrooms make a better supper dish than an earlier meal, as they require little as an accompaniment and are mlich better enjoyed than when confused with the many items of a more elaborate repast. "I love the smell of apples when they’re gettin’ strjjaky red, And I Iqve the smell that crinkles from ~ ~ an old-time posy bed: The earthy spice of new plowed fields is e’en almost sublime. But there ain’t no smell that ekals the smell of picklin’ time.”

1 PICKLING TIME. Don’t fail to put up a small jar of the good old watermelon pickles, for

there is nothing quite like them, if you care for that kind of pickles. Waterm e I o n Pickles.—Peel —tho rind and cut in_ona_ and ~ one-half-in ch slices; let stand over night in salt

water. Make a sirup of four pounds of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of ground cinnamon, one teaspoonful of ground cloves and two quarts of vinegar. Tie the spices in a bag. Pour the hot sirup overthe drained melon rind; let stand 24 hours. Reheat the sirup four mornings, then cover for winter use. Tomatoes Canned. —Take one gallon of water, one cupful of salt, and bring to the boiling point, then drop in whole tomatoes, previously peeled, and cook until well scalded through. Place in cans, using a skimmer to drain ofg the brine. The juice of the tomatoes will “ make liquid enough to cover them, and the brine may be bsed for any number of tomatoes. Nut Conserve. —Take two pints of grape juice, two pounds of sugar, four oranges sliced thin, the juice and grated find of a lemon, one and one-third pounds of chopped raisins, two-thirds of a pound of chopped* walnuts, onefourth of a pound of chopped filberts. Dissolve the sugar In the juice* add the other ingredients and simmer for one hour, or until a thick marmalade Is formol. ~ Pickled Onions. —Select small silversklnffeT onions; put them, in a brine, after peeling carefully. Let stand three days in a brine that will float an egg. Drain and place in a jar, first a layer of-onions three Inches deep, then a layer of horseradish, a sprinkling of cinnamon, cloves and cayenne or, better, chopped red pepper; repeat until the jar is full. Cover with vinegar, brought to 'the boil ing point; ad d one cupful of brown sugar to a quart of the vinegar, Pour hot over the onions, and seal.