In cooking cabbage or anything having strong odors, set on the back of the stove a granite cup one quarter full of vinegar. Keep this hot. Do not let it boil, or burn, and it will absorb all the odor.

A piece of coal put in the pot when cabbage or cauliflower is boiling destroys all unpleasant smell through the house.

Burned sugar is a deodorizer. Sprinkle the sugar on a few live coals on a shovel and leave in the room for five minutes.

Porcelain For Acids

In cooking fruit, or in using any acid preparation in cooking, be sure your saucepans and kettles are porcelain or enameled or earthenware. If you use metal ware you run the risk of having the acid of the fruits combine with the metals and form deadly poisons. All fruits and vegetables holding any acid whatever should be cooked in porcelain, earthenware, or best enameled saucepans and kettles. Never cook anything

Acid In Tin Or Copper. To Clean Decanters And Cruets

Such glassware as decanters, carafes, and vinegar cruets sometimes become so discolored that shot or fine charcoal will not wash them clean. Try this remedy, which has worked satisfactorily: Fill the bottle with finely chopped potato skins. Cork tight, and let the bottle stand for three days. Empty and rinse thoroughly.

About Planking Boards

A board for planking fish should be made of hard, wellplaned wood, either hickory or oak. If it is to be used in a gas stove, measure the broiling chamber before ordering the plank. Have it one inch smaller than the oven, to allow of its being easily slipped in and out. Have the board about four inches narrower than its length, and slightly rounded, ironing board fashion, at one end, to accommodate the tail of the fish. The older and blacker the board becomes the finer flavor it imparts to a fish. Never wash it with soap; scrub with a brush and boiling water immediately on removing the plank from the table. Occasionally give it a good rub with sandpaper.

How To Keep Pears For Winter Use

Lay the pears on a shelf in a dry, cool place. Set them stems up and so far apart that they do not touch one another. Allow the air to move freely in the room in which they lie. Layers of paper or of straw make a soft bed, but the less the pear touches the shelf or restingplace the better for its keeping.

How To Pack Eggs

Put into a butter firkin a thick layer of coarse dry salt, then a layer of eggs, with the small end down, another layer of salt, then eggs, and so on until the firkin is full. Cover and keep in a dry place. These eggs will keep put up in this way almost any length of time.

How To Make Bread Cloths

Cloths for bread making, to put over sponge at night to preserve its even temperature, and to lay over rising bread to save it from chill, are nicely made by taking a good quality of cheesecloth, folding double, thus making a square of about threequarters of a yard or a yard, and laying a thin layer of cotton batting in between. Quit the batting in coarse quiltins so that it will not lose its place in the frequent washings the cloths must have.

Paper on Pantry Shelves

There used to be an old custom which was thought a good one by some housekeepers of covering pantry shelves with paper. Indeed, there were fancycolored papers with lace borders made for such use. But the sanitary housekeeper and cook of the present day who places cleanliness and simplicity before all else, has seen that these papercovered shelves harbored dirt and gave hidingplaces for dust. She has, therefore, abolished the paper. Pantry shelves should be painted a fair white, and if there are several coats of paint, so much the easier to wash them off clean. The utensils and dishes upon a wellpainted shelf can be moved about easily, and the shelf often wiped with a cloth wrung out of hot water this quite aside from the scrubbing of regular scrubbing days.

The Use of Wine

This book does not advise or encourage the use of wine in simple, everyday cooking. Now and then some of our receipts include it as a flavoring. But it may always be omitted. We certainly advise against its common use. Its constant presence may stimulate a depraved or morbid appetite for drink.