Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

into one large box. If they were well made they would be very desirable, but they are so poorly made that it is difficult to take the covers off or to put them on. The cut given on page 41 illustrates a very simple and good box with three compartments on each side ; the only objection being that the spice is not protected so well as in the case of the little boxes within one large box. However, one does not keep much spice at a time in these pantry boxes, and the saving of time and patience by using this box is a consideration. A flat-handled skimmer is one of the things that should be in every kitchen, and also a caketurner. Many housekeepers prefer the kind of potato-masher shown below to the wooden one. In unskilled hands it gives a lighter dish of potato than the wooden masher, Flat-handled Skimmer Potato-masher. but the wooden one will be needed for many other things for which the wire masher would not answer. There are many kinds of ice-picks, but for general use none are better than the iron- Iron-bound Ice-pick. bound one. Skewers should always be of steel. It is well to have two sets, — a graded set for meat and poultry, and a small kind for birds. Nothing made for opening cans is equal to sardineshears, which with care will last for a generation. Sardine-shears. Fluted Cake-pan. A cake baked in a fluted round pan, like that shown above, is nice to put on the table whole. Fancy Cake-pans. A few of each of the small moulds represented above give variety to a cake-basket. Plain cake baked in these Border-mould. fancy shapes is more attractive than a rich kind in one large loaf. In selecting baking-pans, get those made of XXX tin or sheet-iron, with perfectly straight sides and level bottoms. A plain round or oval bordermould will be very serviceable, as it can be used for baking cakes for dessert, for steaming any kind of forcemeat which is to be served with a garnish or ragout, or for shaping any kind of mashed vegetable, such as rice or potato, when it is to be served with a blanquette or ragout. These moulds are not expensive. There are some kinds of batters that require a peculiar kind of baking to make them perfect. Pop-overs and various kinds of puffs must always be baked in stoneware cups. When cooked in these cups they increase to four or five times the original size. These stone cups will last twenty years or more, and be perfectly sweet at the end of that time. Brown or yellow earthenware, or even stone-china cups, will absorb fat, and soon acquire a strong and disagreeable odor and flavor ; besides, they break and crack easily. Outside of New England these stone cups sometimes are called Boston cups, — probably because they are used so generally in New England, and Boston is the chief place of distribution. They are imported from England. With a dozen of them, and knowledge how to use them, one can have muffins "as light as air" without the use of a particle of baking-powder, yeast, or, indeed, any of the agencies especially designed to make breads light ; eggs and the air being sufficient. F. A. Walker & Co., Cornhill, Boston, may be mentioned as among the dealers in such cups. English Muffin -cup. un Dariole-moulds.