TABLE TOPICS

Ik families could be induced lo substitute the apple — sound, ripe, and luscious — for the pies, cakes, candies, and other sweetmeats with which children are too often stuffed, there would be a diminution of doctors' bilN, sufticient in a single year to lay up a stock of this delicious fruit for a season's use. — Prof. Faraday.

Food for repentance — mince pie eaten late at night.

Young Student — "This cook book says that pie crust needs plenty of shorten ing. Do you know what that means, pa ? " Father — " It means lard. " " But why is lard called shortening, pa ? " " Because it shortens life. "

The health journals and the doctors all agree that the best and most wholesome part of the New England country doughnut is the hole. The larger the hole, they

say, the better the doughnut.

An old gentleman who was in the habit of eating a liberal slice of pie or cake just before retiring, came home late one evening after his wife had gone to bed. After an unsuccessful search in the pantry, he called to his wife, " Mary, where is the pie?" His good wife timidly acknowledged that there was no pie in the house. Said her husband, "Then where is the cake ? " The poor woman meekly confessed that the supply of cake was also exhausted ; at which the disappointed husband cried out in a sharp, censorious tone, " Why, what would you do if somebody should be sick in the night ? "

Woman ( to tramp) — "I can give you some cold buckwheat cakes and a piece of mince pie. "

Tramp — ( frightened ) " What ye say ? "

JVoinan — "Cold buckwheat cakes and mince pie. "

Tramp — (heroically) "Throw in a small bottle of peijsin, Madam, and I'll take the chances."

^^'RAVIES for vegetables, sauces for desserts, and similar

liWl\v^' foods thickened with flour or cornstarch, are among the

most common of the poorly prepared articles of the

^JG ^ cuisine, although their proper preparation is a matter of considerable importance, since neither a thin, watery sauce nor a stiff, paste-like mixture is at all palatable. The preparation of gravies and sauces is a very simple matter when governed by that accuracy of measurement and carefulness of detail which should be exercised in the preparation of all foods. In consistency, a properly made sauce should mask the back of the spoon ; that is to say, when dipped into the mixture and lifted out, the metal of the spoon should not be visible through it as it runs off. The proportion of material necessary to secure this requisite is one tablespoonful of flour, slightly rounded, for each half pint of water or stock. If the sauce be made of milk or fruit juice, a little less flour will be needed. If cornstarch be used, a scant instead of a full tablespoonful will be required. The flour, or cornstarch should be first braided [350]

GRAVIES AND SAUCES. 35 I

or rubbed perfectly smooth in a very small amount of the liquid reserved for the purpose (salt or su^ar, if any is to be used, be- ing added to the flour before braiding with the liquid), and then carefully added to the remaining liquid, which should be actively boiling. It should then be continuously stirred until it has thickened, when it should be allowed to cook slowly for five or ten minutes until the starch or flour is well done. If through any negligence to observe carefully these simple de- tails, there should be lumps in the sauce, they must be removed before serving by turning the whole through a fine colander or wire strainer.

The double boiler is the best utensil for the preparation of sauces and gravies, since it facilitates even cooking and renders them less liable to become scorched. The inner cup should be placed on the top of the range until the sauce has become thick- ened, as in the cooking of grains, and afterward placed in the outer boiler to continue the cooking as long as needed.

Cream gravies for vegetables may be delicately flavored with celery, by steeping a few bits of celery in the milk for a few minutes, and removing with a fork before adding the thickening. Sauces for puddings may be similarly flavored, by steeping co- coanut or bits of orange or lemon rind in the milk.