Efficiency in home-making and first-aid to good cooking

Corn bread, about 30 minutes. Wheat muffins, about 15 to 20 minutes. Graham muffins, 25 minutes. Pop-overs, about 30 minutes. TIME TABLE FOR CEREALS. Hulled wheat, over night in tireless cooker, after soak- ing 6 or 8 hours and cooking 20 minutes. Large hominy, cook all day slowly, or over night in tireless cooker, after soaking all night, and cooking about 30 minutes. Rolled oats ; cook about 10 minutes, then over night in tireless cooker, or cook two to three hours in double boiler. Cream of wheat, Y\ hour. Hominy grits, soak about 4 hours, cook 15 minutes, then over night in tireless cooker. TIME TABLE FOR COOKING FRUITS. Apple sauce, about 20 to 30 minutes. Baked apples, about 45 minutes. Baked bananas, 30 minutes or longer. Cranberries, about 30 minutes. Evaporated fruits, about 2^/2 hours, very slowly. First Aid to Good Cooking 89 Underlying Principles of Cooking BAKED FOODS. Is there danger of having the oven too hot in baking? Yes. Why? Because in baking if the oven is too hot, even though the food is not burned, it will be dried out and tasteless. A delicious roast of meat may be entirely spoiled, by having the oven too hot while baking, after it has been seared over. This is more liable to occur with a gas oven, but there is no excuse for it, because one can regulate the heat perfectly after a little practice. Is it very important to have the oven the right tem- perature for batters and doughs ? It is ; for it makes all the difference between a light, fine grained, or a coarse, tough heavy food. Why is this? The heat makes the bubbles of gas and air expand, and this pushes the particles of the batter or dough apart and so makes the food light; if the oven is too hot they will expand so fast that they will burst their separate cells and form a smaller number of large ones ; so making the food filled with large holes and solid masses between. What is a good rule to follow in baking batters and doughs? The thicker the batter or dough, the hotter the oven required. A thin batter like pop-overs or angel cake requires a very moderate oven, while bread and biscuit require a hot oven. Why should cakes made with molasses be cooked in a slow oven? Because molasses burns at a low heat, and if the oven is hot the cake will have a burnt taste. What is the danger in moving a cake or other kinds of dough, except bread or biscuits, that is baking? If it is moved before the batter has had time to set — that is, 90 First Aid to Good Cooking before the cell walls have hardened — it will collapse like the walls of a tent when the poles are taken down, and the food will be heavy. Will the amount of heat make any difference in baking custard or custard puddings? It will a great deal. If the oven is hot the custard will be tough, hard, and indi- gestible, because eggs cook at such a slow heat ; they shrink and become hard and indigestible if cooked at a high heat; but in a dish of hot water, baked in a moderate oven it will be soft and jelly-like. FRIED FOODS. What is the most extravagant and most unhealthful way to fry food? To put about half an inch of fat in the dish used for frying. Why? Because the food will soak up more grease than if plunged into a half kettle of hot fat, so that it is covered all over at once.