COOKING HINTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19895, 26 May 1936, Page 7

COOKING HINTS.

__,._.__ i THINGS WE DO DIFFERENTLV. I “~— I The way you peach eggs interests l me greatly, but I think your method laborious (says an American writer in 1 an English Magazine). When we pouch an egg, we break the egg into : a greased cup which will lodge inside i the hole of the kettle, so that the: t cup does not actually touch the water. While the kettle boils, the steam cooks lthe egg beautifully, without addi--7; tional pan and water and loss of time. | We have a gravy-browning hint] that seems Worth passing on, too.‘ We cover an old dinner-plate evenly ‘ with plain flour, about quarter of an inch thick, and place it in a fairly; quick oven till the flour is a good! brown colour, but being careful not to burn it anywhere. Then we tip the. flour into a basin, and season thoroughly with salt and a little pepper. This we store in an enamelled tin or glass jar, and use as required. 1 Our method of preparing apples for . pies varies greatly from yours. VVel . cut the apples in half from stalk lldownwards, then. with a. teaspoon, ' scoop out the core. This prevents I waste, and the apples look better 1 when stewed. E When we are washing green vege- . tables we do not use salt the same as - you. We use borax instead, or a 1 dessertspoonful of borax and a tablespoonful of vinegar. All insect life comes out on top of the water once _ this method is employed. ‘ And after draining, we pour boil-i ing water over greens and allow to, stand for a few minutes. This method shortens the time necessary for cooking, and does away with any unpleasant odour. If you use borax and vinegar for all salad greens, it will not only free them from insects, but it keeps the vegetables crisp and with an appetising ook. ‘ A Way With Soup. : When boiling soup we place a knife across the top of the saucepan, since i this prevents the contents of the pan . from coming over _,when they reach : boiling point. The same idea also ' comes in handy when boiling milk for . sauce. - Another economical hint that seems . well Worth passing on is that concerned with greasing pudding basins, ' and the like. Instead of using the but- . ter on to a cold basin, we fill the basin with boiling water and leave 1 to stand for a minute or two; then dry, and quickly rub with greasy ' paper in which the butter - was wrapped when received from the - grocer. l ‘ If you find your custard—powder dificult to mix, try our method: To‘ mix custard powder smoothly, mix half the sugar dry with the powder. ‘ The sugar granules separate the powder and make the mixing twice as 1 easy. Then add the remainder of the sugar in the usual way. When a. cake is wanted in a hurry, and we have not time to decorate it in the ordinary way, we melt a little red-currant jelly, smooth this carefully over with a brush, and then ‘ cover thickly with dessicated coconut ‘ or chopped almonds. Even plain sponge-cakes, if done in this way, are given a superior look, and made popular with young and old alike.