STEAMED MUSHROOMS

One-half pound or about twenty-four small mushrooms were peeled, washed carefully in cold water, placed in a small stew-pan containing two generous tablespoonfuls of butter, covered closely and allowed to simmer or steam for twenty minutes in butter and liquid, drawn from the mushrooms by steaming, then uncover and allow liquid in sauce-pan and mushrooms to cook about ten minutes longer, then sprinkle two teaspoonfuls of flour over the mushrooms, brown a minute, stir into this 1/2 cup of milk, or enough to make a sauce the consistency of cream, season well with salt and pepper to taste. Have ready prepared six crisply toasted and buttered slices of stale bread. Place four mushrooms and a couple of tablespoonfuls of the mushroom sauce on each slice of bread and serve hot. The combination of toast and mushrooms results in a particularly fine flavor.

STEWED TOMATOES

Scald ripe tomatoes by pouring boiling water over them and allowing them to stand a few minutes. Skin them and cut in small pieces. Place in a stew-pan with 1 tablespoonful of butter, season _well_ with pepper and salt, cook about 25 minutes, add 1/2 teaspoonful of sugar and thicken with 1 teaspoonful of flour mixed smooth with a little water. Let cook a few minutes, then serve. If tomatoes are very tart a small pinch of baking soda, added when cooked, will counteract acidity.

SWEET CORN

Sweet corn on the cob should be cooked as soon as possible after taking it from stalk, as after being removed it soon loses its sweetness. Do not remove the husk until it is to be boiled. Place corn in a kettle of rapidly boiling water, not salted; rather add a pinch of sugar if corn is not as sweet as liked. Cover the kettle to prevent steam escaping. Do not use a _large quantity of water_. Corn is sweeter if steamed. Boil from ten to fifteen minutes. If corn is not cooked in that time, it should be used uncooked for corn fritters, as corn if _not_ young and tender may be grated and from it excellent corn fritters may be made.

FRIED TOMATOES WITH CREAM SAUCE

Cut large, solid, ripe tomatoes in half-inch slices; one ordinary tomato makes 3 slices. Dredge thickly with flour. Fry several slices of bacon in an iron pan, take bacon from pan when fried and put in warming oven. Lay the well-floured slices of tomatoes in hot bacon fat and one tablespoon of butter and fry brown on both sides. Serve on hot platter with bacon. Or fry slices of well floured tomato in pan containing just enough butter and drippings to keep them from sticking to the bottom of pan, over a hot fire. Fry quickly, browning on each side. Season with salt and pepper. If the tomatoes are very sour, sprinkle a _very little_ sugar over them before frying. When brown, lift the tomatoes carefully from pan and place in a circle around the inside edge of a warm chop plate, add a lump of butter to the pan and a small half cup of sweet milk. Let come to a boil, thicken with a little flour mixed smoothly with a little cold milk, and cook until the consistency of thick cream. Season with salt and pour in centre of chop plate, surrounded with fried slices of tomatoes. Dust pepper over top and serve hot.

This is a delicious way of serving tomatoes. Or slices of the fried tomatoes may be served on slices of crisply toasted bread over which place a couple tablespoons of the cream dressing.

BAKED "STUFFED TOMATOES"

Wash a half dozen ripe red tomatoes. Cut the top from each and remove about the half of the inside of tomato. Sprinkle a very tiny pinch of sugar in each. This small quantity of sugar is not noticed, but counteracts the acidity of the tomato. To one and one-half cups of soft bread crumbs add one small finely minced onion and season highly with salt and pepper, also add one teaspoon of chopped parsley. Mix all together and fill the tomatoes with the mixture. Place a small bit of butter on each tomato. Place in a bake dish containing a half cup of water, a piece of butter, one teaspoonful of sugar, a sprig of parsley and pepper and salt to season. Stand in a hot oven and bake from 25 to 30 minutes. The centres which were removed from tomatoes may be utilized in various ways.

CANNED TOMATOES--FRIED

Place in a bowl a half pint of canned tomatoes, one-fourth teaspoon of sugar and season with salt and pepper. Add about four tablespoonfuls of flour sifted with one-half teaspoon of baking powder and one tablespoon of butter. Use only flour enough to hold the mixture together when fried. Drop spoonfuls some distance apart in a fry-pan containing several tablespoons of hot lard, butter, suet or drippings. Fry on both sides and serve hot. In winter, when the housewife is unable to obtain fresh tomatoes, she will find this dish a good substitute to serve occasionally.

"BUCKS COUNTY" BAKED BEANS

Put one quart of small soup beans to soak over night in cold water to cover. In the morning drain the beans, cover with boiling water, add one tablespoonful of molasses and cook until tender, but not too soft. Drain. Do not use this water. Put the beans in an earthen bake dish. In the centre of the bake dish place one pound of clean, scored smoked bacon, and pour over the beans the water in which the bacon had been simmering for an hour. Add water, if not enough, to almost cover the beans, salt and pepper to taste. Place in oven and bake about three hours, or until beans are tender and a rich brown on top. Add more hot water if beans bake dry, until the last half hour, then allow the water to cook away.

Serve stewed tomatoes, baked apples or apple sauce as an accompaniment to baked beans. This is not a recipe for "Boston Baked Beans." Just a "plain country recipe," but it will be found very satisfactory.

If part of a dish of beans remain after a meal, re-heat the day following in "tomato sauce." Aunt Sarah always baked a pan of corn bread or Johnny cake, to serve hot with baked beans.

When the housewife serves a dish of baked beans at a meal, serve also a quart of stewed tomatoes. The day following a "tomato sauce" may be quickly prepared by adding a well-cooked carrot and an onion to the "left-over" tomatoes. Press all through a coarse sieve, adding a little water if too thick; re-heat beans in this; serve hot. A delicious "cream of tomato soup" may be prepared by substituting milk or cream to which a small pinch of baking soda has been added, omitting the beans.

COOKED HOMINY

Wash one cup of hominy through several waters. (The grains should resemble kernels of corn.) Cover with cold water and stand in a cool place over night. In the morning, drain. Place the hominy in an agate pudding dish holding 2 quarts, cover with boiling water, add more water as the grains swell and water boils away, and 1 teaspoonful of salt. The hominy should be placed on the range to cook early in the morning on the day it is to be served and continue cooking slowly until late afternoon, when all the water should have been absorbed and each grain should be large, white and flaky. The dish should be about three-quarters full.

A half hour before serving the hominy, at a six o'clock dinner, add a generous tablespoonful of butter and about 3/4 of a cup of hot milk and stand on back of range until served. This is a remarkably cheap, wholesome and appetizing dish if served properly and is easily prepared.

GRATED "PARSNIP CAKES"

Scrape, then grate enough raw parsnips to fill two cups, put in a bowl and add the yolk of one egg, pinch of salt, 1 tablespoonful of milk, 1 tablespoonful of flour, lastly add the stiffly-beaten white of egg.

Form into small round cakes, dust with flour and fry brown on both sides in a pan containing a tablespoonful of butter and one of drippings. Or these may be crumbed and fried in deep fat. These are much finer flavored than if parsnips had been cooked before being fried.

TO MAKE "SAUER KRAUT"

Cut heads of cabbage in half, after trimming off outside leaves. Cut out centres or hearts, cut cabbage fine on a regular old-fashioned cabbage cutter, which has a square box on top of cutter to hold the pieces of cabbage when being pushed back and forth over the cutter. If not possible to procure this, use small slaw cutter for the purpose.

Partly fill a large pan with the cut cabbage, and mix enough salt, with the hands, through the cut cabbage to be palatable when tasted, no more. This was the rule taught Aunt Sarah by her Grandmother, and always followed by her. Then put the salted cabbage into a wooden cask or small tub to the depth of several inches. Pound the cabbage down well with a long-handled, heavy, wooden mallet, something like a very large wooden potato masher. Then mix another panful of finely cut cabbage, lightly salted, into the tub and pound down well, as before. Continue in this manner until the tub is partly filled with cabbage, pounding down well at the last until the liquid formed by the cabbage and salt rises above the cabbage. Cover the kraut with a layer of large, clean cabbage or grape leaves, then cover top with a clean piece of muslin cloth, place a round, clean board on top and put a well-scrubbed, heavy stone on the board to weight it down. Stand the tub in a warm place several days, to ferment. When fermentation begins, the liquor rises over the top of the board. Remove the scrum which rises to top, in about six days, and stand in a cool part of the cellar after washing stone and cloth with cold water, return to top of kraut and in two weeks the sauer kraut will be ready to use. Should the sauer kraut require extra liquid at any time, add one quart of water in which has been dissolved two teaspoonfuls of salt. Squeeze the sauer kraut quite dry when taking it from the brine to cook. Boil about two quarts of the sauer kraut several hours with a piece of fresh pork and a little water until the pork is thoroughly cooked through, when the sauer kraut should be cooked tender.

Some prefer "frankfurters" cooked with the kraut instead of pork, and others do not care for the German dish without the accompaniment of drop dumplings. Serve mashed potatoes and simple dessert with sauer kraut.

Aunt Sarah taught Mary to save the hearts of the cabbage usually thrown aside when making sauer kraut. The hearts were trimmed all one size, like small triangles. She cooked them in salted water until tender, drained them and served with a cream dressing, and they had much the flavor of a dish of cauliflower.

Frau Schmidt always placed several tart apples among her sauer kraut when making it, and thought it improved the flavor of the kraut; gave it a "winey" flavor, obtained in no other manner. A sour apple, cored and cooked with sauer kraut is considered by some cooks an improvement. The apple, of course, is not eatable. Aunt Sarah _never_ placed apples with her sauer kraut.

DUMPLINGS TO SERVE WITH SAUER KRAUT

For these dumplings, 1 egg was broken into a bowl and well beaten. Then a pinch of salt was added and 1/2 cup of sweet milk. Enough flour was added to make a soft dough, and one tablespoonful of baking powder was sifted with a very little flour into the batter, then a little more flour was added to make the dough the right consistency. Form the dough into small balls, handling as little as possible. Drop on top of the hot cooked "sauer kraut" in cook-pot on range and boil, closely covered, about 20 minutes.

Aunt Sarah taught Mary to cook green vegetables, peas, spinach, etc., in a stew-pan _uncovered_, if she wished them to retain their natural color. Also, that old potatoes may be freshened by being allowed to stand a short time in cold water before being cooked, but they should not stand too long a time in cold water, as it draws the starch from them and causes them to be tasteless, and to lose part of their nourishing qualities.

Also that one teaspoonful of salt will usually season one quart of vegetables, to be put in when the vegetables begin to cook. Cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce and watercress should stand in a pan containing water and a little vinegar for a half hour. This will cause insects to drop to the bottom of the pan.

Changing the water on cabbage and onions when partly cooked will improve their flavor.

PARSLEY DRIED TO PRESERVE ITS GREEN COLOR

Young housewives possessing a bed of parsley in their kitchen gardens, wishing to preserve it for use during the winter, may like to know how Aunt Sarah taught Mary to dry it in a manner to preserve its bright green color.

She washed the parsley in cold water and while still moist placed it on agate pans and dried it _quickly_ in a _very hot_ oven. Watch carefully as it scorches easily. Place the parsley when dried, in tin cans covered to exclude the dust.

TIME REQUIRED TO COOK VEGETABLES

Bake good-sized potatoes in oven about 45 minutes. Smaller potatoes require less time to bake.

Boil ordinary sized potatoes 25 to 30 minutes.

_Steam_ asparagus from 30 to 40 minutes.

Boil young beets about 60 minutes or longer.

Old beets, two hours, or until tender.

Green corn on cob about 10 or 15 minutes.

Cauliflower, 30 minutes.

Cabbage, 30 to 40 minutes.

Turnips and carrots, 40 minutes.

String beans, 60 minutes to 2 hours.

Lima beans, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Onions about 1 hour.

Squash about 30 minutes.

Parsnips, 30 to 40 minutes.

Sweet potatoes, good size, 40 minutes.

Spinach, 25 minutes.

Tomatoes, 25 minutes.

Salt should be added to the water when boiling potatoes, carrots, cabbage, parsnips, turnips and onions, even if liquid in which they were boiled is drained from them after being cooked, before being seasoned. Add a small pinch of baking soda to the water in which string beans are boiled, and they will cook tender in less time. Especially should this be done if the beans are not young and tender.

COMMON "CREAM SAUCE"

Young housekeepers will be surprised to learn of the various attractive, appetizing dishes which may be prepared by combining them with a "cream sauce." After cooking vegetables until tender in salted water, they should be drained and served with a cream sauce poured over. The art of making a smooth, creamy sauce of the proper consistency is easily acquired. A good rule for "common cream sauce" is 1 cup of milk, water, or meat broth, thickened with 1 tablespoonful to 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of flour, or a combination of flour and cornstarch. Mix flour, or cornstarch, with a small quantity of cold milk or water, to a smooth paste, before adding it to liquid; add, usually, one tablespoonful of butter. Place the mixture in a saucepan and cook until the consistency of cream, add 1/2 teaspoonful of salt just before removing from the fire, and dust pepper over when serving. When mixing gravy to serve with roast beef or veal, omit butter. For a thick sauce use either 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of flour and the same amount of butter. This thick sauce may be used to mix with meat for croquettes in the proportion of 1 cup of sauce to 2 cups of chopped cold roast lamb, beef, veal or chicken. Should a richer sauce be desired, add 1 or more yolks of eggs to the cream sauce. Some of the numerous dishes which might be served by the young housewife to vary the daily bill of fare by the addition of "cream sauce," are: Small, new potatoes, cauliflower, onions, cabbage asparagus tips, thinly sliced carrots, celery, mushrooms, fish, oysters, chicken, veal and sweetbreads. All of these, when coked, may be served on slices of toasted bread, or served in Pattie-cases, with cream sauce, or served simply with cream sauce.

PREPARATION OF SAVORY GRAVIES

The art of preparing savory gravies and sauces is more important in connection with the serving of the cheaper meats than in connection with the cooking of the more expensive cuts.

There are a few general principles underlying the making of all sauces or gravies, whether the liquid used is water, milk, stock, tomato juice or some combination of these. For ordinary gravy, 2 level tablespoonfuls of flour or 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of cornstarch, or arrow root, is sufficient to thicken a cup of liquid. This is true excepting in recipes where the flour is browned. In this case, about 1/2 tablespoonful more should be allowed, for browned flour does not thicken so well as unbrowned. The fat used may be butter or the drippings from the meat, the allowance being 2 tablespoonfuls to a cup of liquid. The easiest way to mix the ingredients is to heat the fat, add the flour and cook until the mixture ceases to bubble, and then to add the liquid. This is a quick method and by using it there is little danger of getting a lumpy gravy. Many persons, however, think it is not a wholesome method, and prefer the old-fashioned one of thickening the gravy by means of flour mixed with a little cold water. (Aunt Sarah was one who thought thus.) The latter method is not "practicable for brown gravies," to quote the _Farmers' Bulletin_.

The _Farmers' Bulletin_ further adds:

"Considering the large amount of discussion about the digestibility of fried food and of gravies made by heating flour in fat, a few words on the subject at this point may not be out of order. It is difficult to see how heating the fat before adding the flour can be unwholesome, unless the cook is unskillful enough to heat the fat so high that it begins to scorch. Overheated fat, as has already been pointed out, contains an acrid, irritating substance called 'Acrolein,' which may readily be considered to be unwholesome. It is without doubt the production of this body by overheating which has given fried food its bad name. There are several ways of varying the flavor of gravies and sauces. One should be especially mentioned here. The _flavor of browned flour_--The good flavor of browned flour is often overlooked. If flour is cooked in fat, until it is a dark brown color, a distinctive and very agreeable flavor is obtained.

"This flavor combines very well with that of currant jelly, and a little jelly added to a brown gravy is a great improvement. The flavor of this should not be combined with that of onions or other highly-flavored vegetables."

BUTTER, CHEESE AND SUET--A SUBSTITUTE FOR BUTTER

This formula for preparing a good, sweet, wholesome substitute for butter to be used for baking and frying was given Aunt Sarah by a thrifty German hausfrau, who prepared and used it in her large family many years. Aunt Sarah always kept a supply on hand. It was made as follows:

10 pounds of fine solid kidney suet. 10 pounds of clean pork fat. 10 pounds of butter.

The suet cut in small pieces was put in a large boiler of water, boiled until all was melted, and the fat extracted from the suet. It was then all poured through a fine sieve into a vessel containing hot water (the larger the quantity of hot water the finer the fat will be). Stand aside to become cold and solid. The boiling process prevents the peculiar taste which _fried_ lard and suet usually possess. Treat the pork fat in a similar manner. Allow the suet and pork fat to stand until the following morning, when remove the solid fat from the boiler of water, wipe off all moisture and add both pork fat and suet fat to the melted butter, which had been prepared in the following manner: The butter was melted in a porcelain lined boiler and allowed to cook until all salt and other foreign substance had settled and the butter had the appearance of clear oil. At this point the butter should be watched carefully, as when settled it might quickly boil over, when you would be liable to lose your butter, besides suffering serious consequences. Now the liquid butter, suet and pork fat are all put together into a large boiler and allowed to melt together on the back part of the range. This will probably be done in the morning. After the noon meal is finished move the boiler containing fat to front part of range; let come to a boil, skimming it occasionally as it boils up. It needs close watching now, the fat being liable to cook over the top of boiler, when the "fat" will surely be "in the fire." Carefully pour into stone crock, and it may be kept for months in a cool place. The fat which has been first poured off the top, if it has been carefully skimmed, will keep longest. The last taken from the boiler should be put in a stone crock to use first. This may be prepared in lesser quantities, or a smaller quantity of butter might be used to mix with the lard and suet. Although the preparation is to be preferred composed of equal quantities of butter, lard and suet, adding milk t

BUTTER--AS IT WAS MADE AT THE FARM, BY "AUNT SARAH"

Aunt Sarah strained fresh, sweet milk into small, brown earthenware crocks kept for this purpose, scrupulously clean. The crocks were kept in the spring-house or cellar in summer (in cold weather the milk should be kept in a warmer place to allow cream to form on the top of the milk). When the cream was thick and sour she skimmed the cream from off the top of milk every day, stirring the cream well together every time she added fresh cream to that on hand. Aunt Sarah churned twice a week; sour cream should not be kept a longer time than one week. The churn was scalded with boiling water, then rinsed with cold water; this prevented the butter adhering to the churn. The cream should be at a temperature of 60 degrees when put in the churn, but this would be almost too cold in Winter. In very hot weather the temperature of the cream should be 56 degrees. Aunt Sarah tested the cream with a small dairy tube thermometer. She churned steadily and usually had butter "come" in about 25 minutes, but should the cream he too cold or too warm it would be necessary to churn a longer time. If the cream is too warm, stand vessel containing cream on ice; if too cold, stand in a warm place near the range. When the sour cream had been churned a certain length of time and granules of butter had formed, she drained off the buttermilk and poured water over the granules of butter. Water should be two degrees colder than the buttermilk. After churning a few minutes the lump of butter was removed from the churn, placed in a bowl, washed thoroughly several times in very cold water, until no buttermilk remained. The butter was worked thoroughly, with a wooden paddle, until all buttermilk had been extracted. One small tablespoonful of salt was added to each pound of butter. She worked the butter well, to incorporate the salt, and molded it into shape. Aunt Sarah did not knead the butter, but smoothed it down, then lifted it up from the large, flat, wooden bowl in which it was molded. When the b

"SMIER-KASE" OR COTTAGE CHEESE

Stand a pan containing three quarts of milk in a warm place until it becomes sour and quite thick. Stand the pan containing the thick milk on the back part of the range, where it will heat gradually but not cook. When the "whey" separates from the curd in the centre and forms around the edges it is ready to use. Should the sour milk become _too hot_ on the range, or _scald_, the curds, or smier-kase, will not become soft and creamy. When the curd has separated from the "whey," pour the contents of the pan into a cheese-cloth bag and hang in the open air to drip for several hours, when it should be ready to use.

From three quarts of sour milk you should obtain one good pound of smier-kase. To prepare it for the table place one-half the quantity in a bowl and add one teaspoonful of softened butter, a pinch of salt and mix as smoothly as possible. Or the smier-kase may be molded into small rolls, and a small quantity of finely-chopped Pimento added. This will keep fresh several days if kept in a cool cellar or refrigerator.

USES OF "SWEET DRIPPINGS" AND SUET

For deep frying Mary was taught to use lard and kidney suet combined. The latter had been tried out by cutting suet in small pieces. The suet, in an iron pan, was placed in a moderately hot oven until fat was tried out. To prevent suet when rendered having a taste of tallow, place in the upper part of boiler, over one containing hot water, and stand on a hot range until all is tried out, or melted, instead of putting it in oven. Strain into a jar and stand aside in a cool place until wanted. Take one-third of this tried-out suet to two-thirds lard when frying croquettes, oysters, cruellers or fritters. Suet contains food value equal to that of lard and food fried in this fat, combined with lard, is more wholesome than if fried in lard alone--if any food fried in fat _ever is_ wholesome. And suet is more economical than lard if rendered at home. Mary was taught by her Aunt to save all the trimmings from steaks, fat left over from roasts, boiled ham, sausage, bacon fat, etc. When different fats have been tried out, to clarify them, add to every pound and a half of combined fat or drippings a half cup of boiling water and a pinch of baking soda. Boil until water evaporates and fat is clear. Strain into a bowl and keep in a cool place. Clean, sweet drippings are preferred by most cooks to lard for many purposes. All young housewives do not know that ham or bacon fat may be substituted for half the shortening called for in many recipes for molasses cakes (where spices are used) with good results. Also that the grease rendered from clean fat of chickens, which greatly resembles butter when tried out and cold, may be combined with an equal quantity of other shortening in making cakes in which spices are used. The difference in the taste of cake made from this fat, if rendered sweet and clean, will not be noticed. Equal parts of ham or bacon fat, pork chops or sausage fat, combined with butter, are excellent for frying cornmeal mush, eggs, sweet potatoes, egg bread and calv

Aunt Sarah frequently filled small glass jars with rendered mutton suet, scented with violet essence, to be used for chapped lips and hands.

EGGS--"EIERKUCHEN" OR OMELETTE

For this excellent omelette or "eierkuchen," as Aunt Sarah called it, she used the following:

3 fresh eggs. 1 cup sweet milk. 3 level tablespoonfuls of flour.

She placed on the range a small fry pan (size of a tea plate), containing one tablespoonful of butter. She then placed 3 tablespoonfuls of flour in a bowl, mixed smoothly with a portion of the cup of milk, then added the three yolks of eggs which had been lightly beaten and the balance of the milk and a pinch of salt. Lastly, she stirred in lightly the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Poured all into the warmed fry-pan and placed it in a moderately hot oven until lightly browned on top. The omelette when cooked should be light and puffy, and remain so while being served. Double the omelette together on a hot platter and sprinkle finely chopped parsley over the top. Serve immediately.

HARD BOILED EGGS

Eggs to be hard boiled should be carefully placed in boiling water and cooked 15 minutes from the time the water commences to boil again. If cooked a longer time, the white of egg will look dark and the outer part of yolk will not be a clear yellow, as it should, to look appetizing when served.

SOFT BOILED EGGS

The quicker way to prepare eggs is to drop them in a stew-pan containing boiling water, and let boil 3-1/2 to 4 minutes, when the white part of the egg should be "set" and the yolk soft, but a soft boiled egg is said to be more easily digested if dropped into a stew-pan of rapidly boiling water; remove the stew-pan of boiling water the minute the eggs have been put in from the front part of the range to a place where the water will keep hot, but not allow the eggs to boil. Let the eggs remain in the hot water from 8 to 10 minutes. On breaking the egg open, the yolk will be found soft, and the white of the egg a soft, jelly-like consistency. This latter is the way Aunt Sarah taught Mary.

AN EGG AND TOMATO OMELETTE

Beat the yolks of three eggs until light, then add three tablespoonfuls of water. Beat the whites of the eggs separately. Turn the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs into the bowl containing the yolks of eggs and water. Stir lightly together and add a pinch of salt. Turn all into a small fry-pan containing a generous tablespoonful of butter and cook on top of stove until the eggs are set, then place the pan containing omelette in a hot oven and finish cooking. When cooked, turn out on a hot platter and spread over the top the following, which was prepared while the omelette was cooking. In a small fry-pan place a tablespoonful of finely-chopped bacon. When fried brown add half a small tomato, finely chopped, 1/4 of an onion, chopped fine, and a little chopped green pepper. Cook all together for a short time and season with salt and pepper. After spreading the mixture on the omelette, fold over and serve on a hot platter. This recipe had been given Frau Schmidt years before by a friend and she used no other for making omelette. Always make small omelettes. They are more satisfactory. Use a small pan no larger than a small tea plate, and, if wished, make two small, rather than one large one. Always serve immediately.

MUSHROOM OMELETTE

Place the yolks of three eggs in a bowl and beat until light. Add a teaspoonful of cream and 1/2 teaspoonful of flour mixed together; 1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms, salt and pepper and a dust of baking powder. Lastly, the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs. Turn into a pan containing two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, stand on range a few minutes until eggs are set, then finish cooking in a hot oven. Serve at once.

A few cold, steamed mushrooms (left-overs), if finely chopped, and added to a plain omelette or roast, will improve the flavor.

A CLAM OMELETTE

Two eggs beaten separately, 1 scant cup of milk, 1 tablespoonful of flour, 6 clams run through a food-chopper. Place in a bowl the tablespoon of flour and mix smooth with a little of the milk. Then add the two yolks of eggs and beat well together. Add the milk, salt and pepper, the chopped clams, and lastly the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs, and add a trifle more flour, if necessary. Drop a couple of tablespoons at a time in a large fry-pan containing a couple of tablespoons of butter or drippings. They spread out about the size of a small saucer. Fry as many at a time as the pan will conveniently hold without running together. Turn when browned lightly on one side, and when the other side has cooked fold together and serve at once. Garnish with parsley. These are very easily made for luncheon, and are very nice served with fried chicken.

DEVILED EGGS

Boil half a dozen eggs until hard. Remove shells, cut in halves, mash the yolks to a smooth paste with about 1/2 teaspoon mixed mustard, 1 teaspoon softened butter, pepper and salt to taste. Some like a small quantity of cold boiled minced ham added. When ingredients are well mixed, press enough of this mixture into the cup-shaped whites of eggs to form a rounding top. Serve on a platter of parsley. To boil eggs uniformly, they should be placed in a wire basket and plunged into boiling water and boiled not longer than 15 to 20 minutes from time water commences to boil, then pour cold water over and shell them.

EGGS IN CREAM SAUCE

Four eggs, boiled hard, cut in halves lengthwise, then across, each egg cut in four pieces. A cream sauce was made using 1/2 cups sweet milk, 1-1/2 tablespoons flour, 1 generous tablespoon of butter, seasoned with salt. After letting milk come to a boil and adding flour mixed smoothly with a little cold milk or water, add butter and cook until a thick creamy consistency, then add the quartered eggs to sauce. Stand a few minutes until heated through. Pour the creamed eggs over four or five slices of nicely-toasted bread. Sprinkle a little finely-chopped parsley and a pinch of pepper over top and serve at once. This is a delicious and quickly prepared luncheon dish.

A very wholesome and digestible way to prepare an egg is to put yolk and white of a fresh egg together in a bowl, beat lightly, pour over the egg a pint of rich milk, which has been heated to the boiling point. Add a pinch of salt. Stir constantly while slowly adding the milk. The hot milk should slightly cook the egg. Eat slowly with crackers or toasted bread.

AUNT SARAH'S METHOD OF PRESERVING EGGS WITH LIQUID WATER GLASS

Aunt Sarah for many years preserved eggs in water glass, or soluble glass, also known as "Sodium Silicate," a thick liquid about the consistency of molasses. It is not expensive and may easily be procured at any drug store. She used the water glass in the proportion of 10 quarts of water to one pint of the water glass. The water glass, although in liquid form, is usually sold by the pound, and 1-1/2 pounds equals one pint. The water should always he boiled and allowed to cool before combining with the water glass.

She was particular to use none but perfectly clean, fresh eggs. She placed the eggs, narrow end down, in an earthenware crock which had been well scalded and cooled. When the water glass had been thoroughly mixed through the water she poured the mixture over the eggs in the crock.

A stronger solution might be used to preserve the eggs, but Aunt Sarah declared she used eggs for baking cake which were good at the expiration of a year, which had been preserved in a mixture of 10 quarts of water to a pint of water glass, and she considered this proportion perfectly reliable. So I do not see the need of using a large quantity of the water glass, although many recipes call for a mixture of one pint of water glass to only 8 quarts of water.

Fresh eggs may be added daily until the crock is filled, having the mixture at least one inch above the last layer of eggs. It is best not to wash the eggs before packing, as this removes the natural mucilaginous coating on the outside of the shell. Place clean, fresh eggs carefully into the crock containing the water glass and water, with a long-handled spoon to avoid cracking the shell. Stand the crock containing eggs in a cool place, cover with a cloth tied over top of crock, avoiding frequent change of temperature; they should keep one year. The water glass solution may become cloudy, and resemble a soft-soap mixture, but this is a natural condition and does not affect the eggs.

April is considered the best month for packing eggs. Infertile eggs are to be preferred to others. Carefully remove the eggs from the water glass mixture with a long-handled spoon when wanted to use, as the shells are sometimes not quite as hard as when placed in the crock. The eggs may be used for cooking, baking, in fact, for any purpose except soft-boiled but should you wish to boil them, a tiny puncture should be made in the shell of these eggs before boiling.

Ten quarts of water to one pint of water glass will cover about 12 or 13 dozen eggs.