Household Hints.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 166, 21 June 1909, Page 3

Household Hints.

If rubbed with fresh lemon or orange peel,knives and forks will be thoroughly freed from the taste of fish.

To brown a baked custard, sift lightly over the top a little powdered sugar as soon as the surface is cooked enough to bear it up.

Keep the Piano Open.—l was talking to a piano expert the other day, writes a housewife, and he told me that many people make a very great mistake in thinking that it is necessary for ths good of their instrument to keep it religiously closed when it is not being played on. On the contrary, he said 4 it ought to be always left open, unless, of course, one was shutting up one's house and leaving the piano unplayed for some weeks. He said that this shutting up of the piano causes the keys to turn yellow, as all ivory will turn yellow, unless kept in a fairly strong light.

If a fire requires blowing to give it a good start, it will be found that blowing down into the flames makes it burn up more brightly and quickly than if blown from underneath.

Gold and silver jewellry, when dirty, should be placed in a wide mouthed bottle, half filled with soapsuds, to which a little powdered chalk has been added. Shake the jewellery well up and down, in the suds, then take it out, rinse in clean cold water,dry thoroughly and polish.

Brooms and brushes will last longer if given an occasional bath. Put four tablcspoonsful of ammonia into two quarts of lukc warm water. Stand the brushes in this for half an hour, bristles downwards. Rinse thoroughly in cold water, and hang in a cool place till dry.

Pork Pic.—The following is an old Lincolnshire recipe:— Take seven pounds of flour, four ounces of suet, a pound and three quarters of lard, and one pint of hot water. Turn out the flour on to a board, hollow out the centre with your knuckles, and place in this the suet and the lard, warmed,ami the hot water, mixing it all well together with a wooden spoon until coo! enough to handle. Then either roll it out and cut out tw<> round.- and a strip I sufficiently long to encircle the round, stick one round and the strip together with the yolk of an egg pack it with the meat, and put on the cover, pinching it and the strip well toegther, or hollow the paste, stand a bottle or jar in the centre, and press up the paste all round with your hands till of the requisite size and shape, cover it with a piece of the paste reserved for the purpose, and hake. For the tilling cut the meat from a nice loin <>f fresh pork or the leg, as you please, ailowing two parts of lean to one of fat. season wc-ii with salt and freshly ground ika< k ; toper; pack it well i;,i.o the nast'-y >'as". ramming the meat well home. ;■.:/'■ moist'-nir.g it as you •:<< so with a cold water, and then Lake in a mekhour:. If baked 100 quicky or r.ot packed tight enough the meat will dry up and leave the sides of the paste i'.ard'-ning and shrivelling on the outside. The same thing will happen if the paste cover is not pinched well together, as the gravy will eEcape. |

Roast Ham. —Get a nice ham and boil on Saturday. Then on Sunday take off the tnick skin and put in roasting par,. Cover the top with confectioner's Roast until too is brown, basting ccca--ionaliy. When belied on Saturday, Sunday night's dinner can also Le had of boiled nam if it is a good sized cr.e Empress Eic.-.- - ■- Wash 2oz of rice thoroughly aru uoi. it ;n tnreecuarters of a pint of milk till teruor, add 4oz butter. Eoii for a few minutes after the butter is put in and set on one side to cool. Then add a beater; egg. Butter a pie dish, put a layer 01 r;ce :n it, covering the sides neaoy. Reason ah with pepper and salt. Then a layer 01 grated Cheddar cheese, another layer of rice, and so on till the dish is full. Bake in a steady oven for thirty minutes. Turn out and serve very hot. Bread and butter should accompany the dish. Apple Meringue.- -Take "naif dozen lareg apples, peel, core, and slice-them. Then place them in a stew pan with two ounces of fresh butter, two ounces of sugar and the thin rind of a lemon, and stew slowly until tender. Finally rub the mixture through a hnir sieve. Take any remains of short crust which. has been left over in making pastry, line the edges of a piedish with it, and make patterns with, the back of a knife. Beat the yolks of two eggs thoroughly, mix with the apple puree, pour into the piedish, and bake for about twenty minutes. Have ready the whites of the eggs beaten stiffly, pile these over the apple when done. sift with castor sugar, colour slightly in a cool oven, decorate with strips of angelica, and serve. Peppermint Creams. — Ingredients: Threequarters pound of granulated sugar, half pint milk, one leaspoor.fui of essence of peppermint. Put the sugar and milk into a pan, and stir over the fire until the sugar is dissolved, then allow it to boil for four minutes without stirring. Take the pan off the fire, add the peppermint essence to the mixture, and beat steadily until. if a little is dropped on oiled paper, it will harden. Then drop the mixture, a teaspoonful at. a time on to the paper as quickly as possible. If towards the last the mixture is inclined to get hard too be workable, warm it over the fire again for a few minutes. Set the cream aside to harden. A meal should never be announced until everything is in readiness. For nervous headache keep bathing the back of the neck in hot water.