A FEW THINGS IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER.
EVERY housekeeper has pet "wrinkles" of her own which she thinks are
especially valuable; some are known to all the world, others are new to
many. So it may be with mine; but, on the chance that some few things
are as new to my friends as they were to me, I jot them down without any
pretense of order or regularity.
Lemons will keep fresher and better in water than any other way. Put
them in a crock, cover them with water. They will in winter keep two or
three months, and the peel be as fresh as the day they were put in. Take
care, of course, that they do not get frosted. In summer change the
water twice a week; they will keep a long time.
In grating nutmegs begin at the flower end; if you commence at the
other, there will be a hole all the way through.
Tea or coffee made hot (not at all scorched), before water is added, are
more fragrant and stronger. Thus, by putting three spoonfuls of tea in
the pot and setting in a warm place before infusing, it will be as
strong as if you make tea with four spoonfuls without warming it, and
much more fragrant.
Vegetables that are strong can be made much milder by tying a bit of
bread in a clean rag and boiling it with them.
Bread dough is just as good made the day before it is used; thus, a
small family can have fresh bread one day, rolls the next, by putting
the dough in a cold place enveloped in a damp cloth. In winter, kept
cold, yet not in danger of freezing, it will keep a week.
Celery seed takes the place of celery for soup or stews when it is
scarce; parsley seed of parsley.
Green beans, gherkins, etc., put down when plentiful in layers of rock
salt, will keep crisp and green for months, and can be taken out and
pickled when convenient.
Lemon or orange peel grated and mixed with powdered sugar and a squeeze
of its own juice (the sugar making it into paste) is excellent to keep
for flavoring; put it into a little pot and it will keep for a year.
Bread that is very stale may be made quite fresh for an hour or two by
dipping it quickly into milk or water, and putting it in a brisk oven
till _quite hot through_. It must be eaten at once, or it will be as
stale as ever when cold.
Meat to be kept in warm weather should be rubbed over with salad oil,
every crevice filled with ginger; meat that is for roasting or frying is
much better preserved in this way than with salt; take care that every
part of the surface has a coat of oil. Steaks or chops cut off, which
always keep badly, should be dipped into warm butter or even dripping,
if oil is not handy (the object being to exclude the air), and then hung
up till wanted.
Mutton in cold weather should be hung four or five weeks in a place not
subject to changes of temperature, and before it is so hung, every
crevice filled with ginger and thoroughly dredged with flour, which
must be then rubbed in with the hand till the surface is quite dry. This
is the English fashion of keeping venison.
It may be useful for those who burn kerosene to know that when their
lamps smell, give a bad light, and smoke, it is not necessary to buy new
burners. Put the old ones in an old saucepan with water and a
tablespoonful of soda, let them boil half an hour, wipe them, and your
trouble will be over.
Meat that has become slightly tainted may be quite restored by washing
it in water in which is a teaspoonful of borax, cutting away every part
in the least discolored.
In summer when meat comes from the butcher's, if it is not going to be
used the same day, it should be washed over with vinegar.
Poultry in summer should always have a piece of charcoal tied in a rag
placed in the stomach, to be removed before cooking. Pieces of charcoal
should also be put in the refrigerator and changed often.
Oyster shells put one at a time in a stove that is "clinkered" will
clean the bricks entirely. They should be put in when the fire is
burning brightly.
Salt and soapstone powder (to be bought at the druggist's) mend fire
brick; use equal quantities, make into a paste with water, and cement
the brick; they will be as strong as new ones.
Ink spilled on carpets may be entirely removed by rubbing while wet with
blotting paper, using fresh as it soils.