How To Keep Bread

When bread is perfectly cold it should be laid into a large covered earthen pan; this should be kept free from crumbs, frequently scalded, and then wiped dry for use. Loaves which have been cut should have a small pan appropriated to them, and this also should have the loose crumbs wiped from it daily. The bread pans, instead of standing on the floor, should be placed upon a proper stand or frame made for the purpose, by means of two flat wedges of wood, so as to allow a current of air to pass under them.

Use Of Soot

Peas may be preserved from destruction by mice by sowing soot with them; and when the peas come up, if soot be sprinkled over them while they are damp, birds will not touch them. Soot is also invaluable for carnations and tulips in any ground where wire-worms abound. It is not only a destroyer of insects, but a rich manure.

How To Obtain Herbs Of The Finest Flavor

When herbs are to be kept for flavoring dishes, it is obviously of the first importance that they should be gathered at the right time and dried in the best manner.

Herbs should be gathered just before they begin to flower, on a dry day, before the sun has been long upon them. When intended for preservation they should be cleaned from dirt and dust, and dried gradually in a cool oven. The leaves should then be picked off, pounded in a mortar, passed through a hair sieve, and the powders be preserved separately in well-stopped bottles.

The Economy Of Dripping - Means Of Saving The Consumption Of Butter

Well clarified dripping, when fresh and sweet, will baste every thing as well as butter, and should supply the place of butter for common pies, etc., for which it is equal to lard, especially if the clarifying be repeated twice over. If kept in a cool place, it may be preserved a fortnight in summer, and longer in winter.

To clarify dripping, put it into a clean saucepan, over a stove or slow fire; as soon as a scum forms, skim it well, let it boil, let it stand till it is a little cooled, then pour it through a sieve into a pan.

After frying, let the spare dripping stand a few minutes to settle, and then pour it through a sieve into a clean basin or stone pan, and it will do a second and a third time as well as it did the first; but the fat in which fish has been fried, must not be used for any other purpose than frying other fish.

Yeast Cakes, Or Preserved Yeast

Put a large handful of hops into two quarts of boiling water. Boil three large potatoes until they are tender. Mash them and add to them two pounds of flour. Pour the boiling hop water over the flour through a sieve or colander, and beat it until it is quite smooth. While it is warm, add two tablespoonfuls of salt, and half a teacupful of sugar. Before it is quite cold, stir in a pint or more of good yeast. After the yeast has become quite light, stir in as much Indian meal as it will take, roll it out in cakes, and place them on a cloth in a dry place, taking care to turn them every day. At the end of a week or ten days they may be put into a bag, and should be kept in a dry place. When used, take one of these cakes, soak it in some milk-warm water, mash it up smooth, and use it as any other kind of yeast.