Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, 22 September 1921, Page 41

Domestic

By Maureen

TO MAKE POTTED MEAT. Four parts lean meat to one part fat bacon, and to ©very pound of meat add $ teaspoonful ground mace, i teaspoonful grated nutmeg, i teaspoonful cayenne pepper. Mince the meat and bacon in a machine; afterwards pound well in a mortar, adding the other ingredients. Put the mixture into a deep baking dish, and bake for half an hour. Press well ( into jars, and fill up the jars with clarified fat to make them airtight. Cover closely with paper. BRAN RAISIN MUFFINS. Mix and sift together one and one-half cupsful of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, two teaspoonsful of baking powder and one-half ° teaspoonsful of baking soda. Add two tablespoonsful of sugar and one and one-half cupsful of. bran. Mix one egg well beaten with one-half cupful of treacle and one and one-half cupsful of milk and combine mixtures. Stir in two tablespoonsful of melted fat and one cupful of raisins. Pour into well-greased muffin pan and bake in a moderate oven. queen’s pudding. Stir one quart of scalded milk into two cupsful of stale bread crumbs and let stand until crumbs are soft. Add two-thirds of a cupful of sugar, one-third of a cupful of melted butter, yolks of three eggs, beaten, juice and grated rind of one lemon, one tablespoonful of chopped citron, one cupful of raisins, and one-half teaspoonful of salt. Mix and pour into a well --greased baking dish. Bake in moderate oven until firm and browrf about forty, minutes. Cool slightly and turn out on a serving dish. Spread with a layer of any desired jam or marmalade. Beat the whites of three eggs until stiff, add four tablespoonsful of sugar and continue beating for a few minutes. Spread this over the pudding and bake in a slow oven until brown. ' VACUUM CLEANING. • To many housewives the possession of a vacuum cleaner is a not unmixed blessing. The trouble is caused by a lack of understanding ’ on the part of the housewife, not by contrariness on the part of the machine. The rules for use are simple but important. For use on carpets the nozzle should be parallel with the floor and raised by means of the adjuster at least a quarter of an inch off the floor. This allows the suction full play, with the consequence that the carpet is lifted up from the floor and a current of air gets underneath, greatly facilitating

the cleaning. The dustbag should be emptied after each cleaning, otherwise the accumulation of dust chokes the air inlet and thus the suction power is considerably reduced. A heavy dustbag also puts a strain on the mechanism, and altogether considerably impairs the cleaning powers of the machine. It is necessary to oil a vacuum cleaner at feast once a month. The machine should never be used to pick up nails, pins, wood splinters, etc. Such substances are apt to pierce the dustbag or get into the motor, in either case putting the machine out of order. A good vacuum cleaner possesses powerful suction action which draws all dust and grit through the carpet into the dustbag of the machine. With a brush it is impossible to remove deeply embedded grit from a carpet, and even surface dirt cannot be removed without friction and wear and tear to the carpet. All dirt and dust is sucked directly into the receptacle, and none is scattered about the room. The vacuum cleaner has a quite undeserved reputation for wearing out carpets and rugs. The facts are these: carpets and rugs in general use are subjected to the grinding of the pile between gritty dirt and shoe leather. As a result the grit becomes embedded, and if allowed to remain cuts farther and farther into the pile, to the ultimate destruction of the carpet. In order to preserve the carpet it is necessary to keep it as free from grit as possible. A clean carpet will last twice as long as an unclean one. The various accessory attachments that accompany a vacuum cleaner need to be used with discretion. A cleaning attachment at the end of a long coil of tubing is not as efficient as an attachment closer to the source'- of suction, and for' this reason it is best to place all hangings and draperies on the floor and clean with the floor nozzle. The same applies to mattresses, but in this case the hard brush attachment should be used to clean round the buttons. A short tubing and the upholstery attachment will clean all the upholstered furniture.