The home cook book

In choosing the fish be sure its preservation is good. Not infrequently it may be found bad in some part. Wash and skin and lay in cold water enough to cover. Set over a fire, cover tight, and keep just to simmering point. In half to three-quarters of an hour the flesh can be raised free from bone — which is a sign the fish is done. Have a hot platter, lay the fish on it, spread it with butter and serve at once. BROILED SMOKED HERRING Let the herring lie in hot water for a quarter of an hour. Wipe, rub ofif the skin, lay on a broiler over a hot fire and broil, turning both sides to the fire. Lay on a hot platter and spread with butter or with maitre d 'hotel sauce, given on page 145. SALT MACKEREL WITH MILK SAUCE Wash the mackerel and soak overnight in cold water in a cold place. If you have plenty of milk cover the fish overnight with that for freshening. Next day rinse rapidly with cold water and put on its back in a dripping-pan. Pour over it fresh milk enough to rise to the upper surface as it lies in the pan, and bake half an hour in a good oven. About ten minutes before the fish is done mix together two even tablespoons of butter and two even tablespoons of flour. Stir this in the hot milk round the fish, and leave it to finish cooking. Lay the fish on a hot platter, stir the thickened milk thoroughly, add a dash of cayenne and pour over the fish. BROILED SALT MACKEREL Follow the directions for soaking given in the foregoing receipt. Wipe the fish dry, brush it Hghtly with oHve oil, llay on the broiler with skin side up first, then broil quickly. Lay on a hot platter, squeeze half a lemon over it, and send it to the table at once. A few sprigs of watercress or crisp red radishes go well with broiled mackerel.e. A few sprigs of watercress or crisp red radishes go well with broiled mackerel. ECONOMY IN MARKETING AND COOKING 73 ECONOMY IN MARKETING AND COOKING MEAT Best Time to Market— The Market Basket— Mutton— Soup Meat— Other Cheap Meats— The Cuts of Meat— Making the Most of Meats IN all parts of the country, whether in city, town, or village, every housewife who looks carefully to the matter of current expenses makes complaint that the rise in the price of meat adds a few dollars each month to her accounts. The meats which have gone up most alarmingly in cost are the staple roasts, stews, and broils of every creature, and if one must have these regularly the bills will necessarily be larger. Yet there is a possibility of setting very tempting dishes each day before your family with a quite infrequent appearance of roast beef, lamb chops, or porterhouse steak. When nicely cooked, the meats which appear as a substitute will be so well relished that the expensive cuts will not be missed. Besides knowing how to cook, the woman who would economize along this line must know how to market. It is not the marketing which can be done over the telephone, or by orders given to a clerk. There are exemplary butchers and exemplary clerks, I have no doubt ; but it pays, even if it cost ten cents carfare, to visit the market yourself. A study of the counters will be sure to reveal something good and cheap which would not have been thought of in the kitchen or at the telephone. BEST TIME TO MARKET Except in hot weather, marketing trips need not be made every day. With a good refrigerator or well-chilled store