Boiled Potatoes.

Select potatoes of uniform size. Wash and scrub them. Pare and cover with cold water. Put them in a saucepan of toiling salted water. (1 qt. of water and 1 tbsp. of salt for 6 large potatoes.) Cook 1/2 h., or until soft. Drain off every drop of water. Place the saucepan, uncovered, at the back of the stove to let the steam escape. Shake it gently. Serve very hot.

Rice Potato.

Mash the potatoes as soon as they are boiled and drained. Rub them with a wooden masher through a strainer into a hot dish.

Mashed Potato.

To 1 pt. of hot boiled potatoes, add 1 tbsp. of butter, 1/2 tsp. of salt, a spk. of pepper, and enough hot milk-to moisten. Mash in the saucepan in which they were boiled; beat with a fork till light and creamy, and turn out lightly on a hot dish.

Potato Cakes.

Make cold mashed potato into small round cakes about 1/2 inch thick. Put them on a baking tin, and brush them over with milk. Bake in a hot oven till golden brown.

Soft-Boiled Eggs.

Put the eggs into a saucepan, cover with boiling water, and let them stand from 6 to 10 m. where the water will keep hot (180°) but not boiling. The white should be soft and jelly-like, and the yolk soft but not liquid. If cooked in boiling water, cook from 3 to 5 m.

HARD-Boiled Eggs.

Cook them 20 m., in water just bubbling. The yolk of an egg cooked 10 m. in rapidly boiling water is tough and indigestible ; cooked 20 m. it is dry, mealy, and easily digested.

Beef Tea.

Cut lean, juicy raw beef into quarter-inch dice, Cover with cold water, and add 1/2 tsp. salt to every cup of water. Press the meat often, and after an hour squeeze out all the juice. Heat the juice, stir it constantly, and serve as soon as it looks thick and is hot.

Questions on Lesson III.

1. Can you think of any grains or seeds which become hard and dry when ripe ?

2. What vegetables contain water enough to cook them ?

3. What vegetables need to have the water they contain pressed out after cooking ?

4. What are the first bubbles which, we see when water begins to be heated?

5. How do the steam bubbles differ from the air bubbles ?

6. Do we really see the steam ?

7. What is boiling?

8. What is the temperature of boiling water ?

9. Does rapid boiling increase the temperature of boiling water ? 10. "What becomes of the excess of heat?

11. Why does boiled water taste flat?

12. How do you use starch as a thickening ?

13. Should starchy food be put into cold or into boiling water ?

14. What is the effect of boiling water upon egg albumen ?

15. What is the effect of boiling water upon blood albumen ?

16. "When are potatoes best as food ?

17. What do they lack, and what should be eaten with them?

18. When should they be pared ?

19. When is it better to soak them ?

20. Why should they be taken up as soon as done ?

21. Why do we leave them uncovered ?