Cooking and castle-building

"The grinding of coffee is an important consideration. If ground very coarse, much of the strength remains in the grounds, some of which are often seen floating about in your cup, in an independent manner, and an isolated condition. If ground too fine, it will be muddy in spite of everything. Of course a happy medium is right. Some ladies have coffee prepared in one pot and poured into another before sending to table ; but this is a bad practice, for every time coffee is exposed to the air it loses some of its aroma and excellence. When I have a fragrant perfume of coffee in my chamber while dressing, I take it for granted that I shall miss at breakfast the delicious aroma that has been so freely exhaled all over the house. If it is borne to me on the wings of the morning up three flights of stairs, how can I hope to find it concentrated in my cup at breakfast? Really excellent coffee can be made in various ways. The most perfect method of making it, perhaps, is by dripping the boiling water through the coffee. But rare coffee may be made in the ordinary manner of steeping, if it is not allowed to boil enough to extract the bitter, or waste the aroma. There is one thing you must insist upon, Cousin Emeline, if you would have the best quality of coffee and tea ; namely, the pots must be kept clean on the inside. If carefully washed every time they are used, they wdll not become dark and coated with deposits. Coffee made very strong, and diluted with boiled milk instead of water, is liked by many. That is a French style worthy of imitation. Mixed coffees are also considered by many finer in flavor than a single sort. I have tried various combinations, and like Rio and Java in equal proportions — or two parts Eio, two parts Java, and one part Mocha. To be most perfect, I think the different kinds should be roasted separately, and mixed afterward. But my advice to housekeepers is, experiment. Find out for yourselves what is best, and don't believe implicitly in any cook-book, not even Cousin Kate's. Use cook-books as helps, as hints, but not as infallible guides, and work out your salvation in cookery by the use of your own brains. A week's supply of coffee may be browned and ground at one time, if it is kept in air-tight cans or canisters. "Most cooks use too little coffee. I allow a large tablespoon heaping full of ground coffee to a medium-sized cup and a half of water. Measure the coffee, and add to it a fresh egg, well beaten — unless eggs has been mixed with it at the time of browning — and cold water enough to wet the whole. Beat it well together and, placing in the pot, add cold water till the pot is a third full. Set it where it will steep slowly, stirring it from time to time. Watch it closely, and as soon as it is about to boil, add more cold water. Keep adding cold water from time to time, just before the boiling takes place, until the pot is full. Then let it boil up once, settle, and serve." " But supposing," said Alice, "that you didn't want a pot full of coffee, and that filling the pot would make it too weak, would you still fill the pot?"