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

What shows that bread is underdone? What is one of the most important things in cooking? Is a hard coal fire difficult to manage? How is the best way to build a coal fire? Will it make any difference if the ash pan is full of ashes? Why should the coal never come up higher than two inches below the top of the fire box? Will the oven be hotter if the stove is filled close to the lids ? What four things will make the oven bake badly? When one is through using the fire what should be done ? Where must the cold air enter to make the fire burn? Where must the cold air enter to prevent the fire from burning? Should the coal burn to a white heat? What mistake is often made in caring for a kitchen fire or a furnace? What causes clinkers in the range or furnace? How can they be removed? If anything is spilled on the stove what is the best thing to do? What mistake is most often made with a gas range ? 104 First Aid to Good Cooking How can this be prevented? How can the gas be saved in cooking? Is there danger of having the oven too hot in baking? Can meat be spoiled by roasting in too hot an oven ? Is it important to have the oven at a certain heat in baking bread, muffins, etc.? Why will too hot an oven make the food coarse grained and heavy? Why should food mixed with molasses have a very moderate oven? Why should cake or muffin batter have time to set before moving or jarring it in the oven? Note. — Answers to these questions will be found on the preceding pages, and should be carefully studied. First Aid to Good Cooking 105 Fruits APPLE SAUCE. Y^ peck apples. 1 cup boiling water. 6 tablespoons sugar. Wash and pare thin ; cut into eighths ; put in stew pan and pour over the boiling water. Sprinkle the sugar over, cover tightly and cook about 20 minutes, or until tender, on an asbestos mat, shaking the dish often to keep from burning. Turn out carefully. BAKED APPLES. Wipe and core sour apples ; fill with sugar, put in granite pan, pour in a little boiling water, bake in moderate oven until very tender and soft looking. Some kinds take longer than others. Serve hot or cold. Or the apples may be pared after coring. If the apples are very tasteless a little spice may be mixed with the sugar. BAKED BANANAS. 6 bananas. 6 tablespoons hot water. 1/3 cup sugar. 3 tablespoons lemon juice. 2 tablespoons melted butter. Remove the skins of bananas ; scrape off the rough strings under; then cut in halves lengthwise, then once across ; put in layers in shallow granite pan ; mix the other ingredients together and spread between layers of bananas and on top ; bake 30 minutes or longer in slow oven until rich in color. Serve hot either as a vegetable or for dessert. STEWED PRUNES. Wash them very carefully one by one; put V/2 pints of cold water in the stew pan for each pint of prunes. 106 First Aid to Good Cooking Cook very slowly on the back of the stove where they can only simmer for 2,y2 hours. Cooked in this way they will not need any sugar and will be delicious. JELLIED CRANBERRIES. Look over and wash i pint cranberries ; put in granite kettle with y2 pint sugar, y2 cup water. Cook very slowly 30 minutes, pressing down occasionally with wooden spoon. Pour out to cool ; arrange in broken pieces in serving dish. CRANBERRY JELLY.