Stewing is a process often confounded by very ignorant persons with "boiling for a long time," and sometimes, by even moderate cooks, with "simmering." The latter are not so very far from the mark, but the difference between meat simmered and meat stewed is, that in the former case, the meat had to be eaten by itself - that is, the greater portion of the water in which it was simmered was reserved for something else, and the meat was taken out immediately it was sufficiently cooked. A stew, properly so called, is when both meat and juice - that is, all the liquor - are eaten together; consequently, there is no occasion to harden the meat to keep in the flavour.

The old-fashioned French country method of stewing gives the idea to perfection. Place all the ingredients into a pipkin, or earthen vessel, with a tight-fitting lid, moistened with a very little water.

Place this in the hot ashes of a wood fire, and pile the ashes round it. It can then be left for hours, and, after even eight or more hours a pair of bellows will soon bring these ashes to a red glow.

An admirable method of stewing practised in England is to get a jar with a lid that fits tight, with an iron claw. Put the jar in the oven, and throw up all the ashes on the fire, so as to keep in a very slack fire a long time.

Stewing is the most economical method of cooking meat I know, besides being a very nice one. I know of no other method of cooking a tough fowl so as to make the meat eatable. A very low temperature for a very long time helps to make tough meat not merely eatable, but palatable.

I think there is a little prejudice with ignorant and vulgar people about "A Stew"; if so, you can call it a ragout. Pieces, or what some poor housekeepers know as "block ornaments," make a most delicious ragout, or stew.

As the name implies, stewing is generally done in a stew-pan. The lid should fit tight, and not betaken off, if possible, during the long process of stewing. A 41b. weight can with advantage be placed on the lid to keep it down. You must, of course, take precautions against its accidentally boiling. In stewing, you can cook meat and vegetables altogether. Whatever you do, don't let it boil, or even get near the boiling point.