Household cookery and laundry work

Pick the strawberries nicely, and put some of them in a deep basin ; sprinkle sugar pretty thickly over them ; then repeat strawberries and sugar till all are used up, and allow them to stand thus for 24 hours. There will then be a good deal of liquid in the basin, which pour off into the preserving pan, and bring to boiling point, stirring frequently ; then add the strawberries, and boil for 20 minutes; after which skim and pot. Some varieties of strawberries do very well to be picked and put on at once with the sugar ; in that case, an improvement is to put on with the strawberries and sugar a cupful of currant or other fruit juice, or even water, to moisten the sugar, as the fruit gets too much broken when all is dry at first. ORANGE MARMALADE, 4 lbs. Bitter Oranges. 2 Lemons. 5 lbs. Crystallised Sugar. Water. Wipe the oranges with a hard cloth, and pare the yellow part of the rind very thinly off, and cut it up in PRESERVES. extremely slender chips ; then put those chips on in a small sauce-pan, with 2 breakfast-cupfuls of water, to boil slowly for half an hour. Remove all the skin from the oranges, break the pulp up a good deal, and put it in a jelly-pan with 5 breakfast-cupfuls of water to boil gently for half an hour, stirring occasionally; then pour all this into a pointed flannel bag, and let it drain thoroughly. Put all the liquid thus obtained, the chips, the liquid in which they were boiled, and 5 lbs. of sugar, on in a clean jelly-pan; stir, and allow it to boil for a quarter of an hour ; then skim and pot. CANDIED PEEL. Skins of 6 Oranges or Lemons. | 1 lb. Crystallised Sugar. Put the skins in salt and water to soak for a few days; then put them on in a saucepan, with fresh cold water, to boil till they are quite soft, which is known by the head of a pin being easily put in. Remove them from the saucepan, drain, and put them in a basin. Boil a pound of sugar and a breakfast-cupful of water for a few minutes, and pour it over the peel in the basin, and allow it to stand thus for about a week. Pour the syrup into the saucepan and allow it to boil up ; put the peel in and let it boil gently till it looks clear, which will be in about a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Take it out and spread it on a dish, put a little of the syrup in the hollows, dust some fine sugar over, and put it in the sun or a warm place till dry and candied. When dry put away in a jar. MISCELLANEOUS. PORRIDGE. I teacupful of Oatmeal. | £ teaspoonful of Salt. 3 breakfast-cupfuls of Water. Put the water in a clean pot, and when it boils stir the oatmeal very gradually in among it, and allow it to boil very gently for half an hour, stirring frequently; then sprinkle the salt in and boil for ten minutes longer ; dish in a plate or bowl. If porridge is preferred rather thick, a little more meal may be used. OMELETTE. 1 table-spoonful of Flour. I 1 teacupful of Milk. 1 table-spoonful of Sugar. j A few drops of Essence ol 2 Eggs. 1 pinch of Salt. | Lemon