Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

The fat which was trimmed from the meat should be cut up, put in a frying-pan, and placed on the back part of the stove, to be fried slowly. After an hour or two the sediment and solid parts will fall to the bottom of the pan. A clear liquid fat can then be poured off. Strain into a dripping-jar, and put away in a cool place. The fat from beef, veal, pork, and chickens may be used for frying purposes, but for most tastes mutton, turkey, goose, and ham fat leave too strong a flavor to be mixed with other drippings. The fat from fried or roast ham or from sausages may be kept in a separate jar. It can be used for warming potatoes, frying hominy, etc. Many good housekeepers use mutton fat for shorten ing and frying purposes. It is quite as healthful as any of the fats, and if there be no objection to the taste, there is no reason why it should not be used as freely as other fats. There are few households where soft soap is not required in the kitchen. The strong fats can be utilized in making this soap, — which is a simple matter when the fat is fried and strained as directed. Never wait until the fat has become tainted before trying it out. The subject of the care and use of fat is so closely connected with the warming-over of meat that it could not well be passed over ; hence this digression. Having the meat cut in suitable pieces and the stock made, the housekeeper will, with a few rules and suggestions, be enabled to prepare many appetizing and healthful dishes. The meat must always be seasoned with salt and pepper ; for if the sauce should have enough seasoning for itself and the meat too, it would be spoiled. Season every pint of meat with a heaping teaspoonful of salt and one-fourth of a teaspoonful of pepper. If the meat be red, like beef, mutton, venison, duck, or grouse, the sauce should be dark ; if it be light, like veal, chicken, or turkey, the sauce also should be light. For a pint of meat, half a pint of sauce will be needed. After the sauce is made, its character and name may be varied by the addition of any of a variety of materials, such as olives, mushrooms, capers, etc. * Brown Sauce. Put one tablespoonful and a half of butter in the frying-pan and on the fire. When the butter gets hot and begins to turn brown, add a generous table-spoonful of flour, and stir until the flour turns dark brown. Now draw the pan to the back part of the stove, and stir until the mixture cools slightly ; then add half a pint of stock, pouring it in gradually and stirring all the while. Place the pan on the hot part of the stove, and stir the sauce until it begins to boil. Add a level teaspoonful of salt and about one-fifth of a teaspoonful of pepper. Simmer for five minutes. * Cold Meat Warmed in Brown Sauce. Add one pint of meat to the sauce just described, and simmer for five minutes. Serve immediately on a warm dish. * White Sauce. This is made in the same way as brown sauce, care being taken not to brown the butter and flour. When it has been boiled for three minutes, add one gill of cream or milk. * Cold Meat Warmed with Mushrooms. Cut half a can of mushrooms in small pieces, and add them to a pint of meat. Heat all in half a pint of brown sauce. * Cold Meat Warmed with Macaroni.