Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Roasted Chestnuts. Wash some French chestnuts. Make a slit in one side of the shell, that it may be opened readily. Put the nuts in a stew-pan with boiling water enough to cover them, and boil for ten minutes. Now drain them, and spread in a dripping-pan. Bake in a hot oven for ten minutes, and serve at once in a folded napkin. Salt is sometimes eaten with these chestnuts. They must not be allowed to cool when taken from the water before they are put into the oven. Although the simplest form in which French chestnuts are served, this is also the most satisfactory. Too much cooking makes them tough and soggy. Jellies are so much used on the every-day table and in the sick-room that it is essential that every housekeeper should understand how to make them easily. Before gelatine was made so good and sold at such reasonable prices many other substances were generally used for the sake of the gelatine they contained. Calves' feet, which are still used a great deal, were the principal substance employed ; but pigs' feet, pigs' skin, sheep's feet, cows' feet, etc., were common ingredients in these jellies. Of course, jellies made with foundations of this description had to be carefully cleared. Jellymaking in these days was a matter of much labor and time. With good gelatine the making of a jelly to-day is the work of a few minutes, unless one wish to have a sparkling jelly. Even in that case the whole time employed in making it need not exceed three-quarters of an hour. Gelatine has some peculiarities which many housekeepers do not understand. If it be kept for a long time in a warm place, say where the temperature is from 110° to 150°, a disagreeable odor and flavor will be developed. Many housekeepers cover gelatine with water, and place it on the hearth or on the back part of the range to dissolve slowly. Such gelatine will nearly always be found to have a strong odor and flavor, spoiling whatever it is mixed with. Gelatine should always be soaked in cold water and in a cool place. In making jellies, if the gelatine be soaked for two hours or more in its own volume of cold water, and then dissolved in hot water, and there be added to this liquid some pure granulated or loaf sugar and wine or clear fruit juice, a clear jelly will be the result, if it be strained through a flannel or a napkin. The sugar must, of course, be fully dissolved ; and it is a good plan to place the bowl containing the preparation in a pan of boiling water, and stir the mixture over the fire until it looks clear ; then strain. To Clear Jellies. When a sparkling jelly is desired it must be cleared with the white of egg. This is a simple operation, but it is easy to make a failure of it. For three pints of jelly use the whites of two eggs. Beat them until they are light ; but the beating must cease before a stiff, dry froth is formed. Add one cupful of the jelly to them, and beat for a minute longer. Stir this into the jelly, and place the liquid on the lire where it will heat slowly. When it begins to bubble set the stewpan back where the jelly will keep at the boiling-point for half an hour. Keep Jelly-strainer.