Practical household cookery

Gut eight pounds of apricots into slices; put them in a basin with five pounds of pounded sugar; stir with a wooden spoon till the sugar is melted ; then put the whole into the preserving-pan to boil for ten minutes, stirring the while with the skimmer; take this out of the jam, let what is on it cool, and if it feels greasy under the finger the jam is done. The same thing can also be ascertained by pouring a little into a cold plate ; if it shows little tendency to spread, it is done. Pour the jam into pots, and cover them with paper when cold, as described in the previous number. 878. QUINCE JELLY. Cut the quinces in quarters ; peel, core, slice, and weigh them, and allow for every pound of fruit put in the preserving-pan a quart of water ; then boil till the quinces are reduced to a pulp; drain them on a sieve over a basin, and to each pound of juice add ten ounces of lump- sugar ; after which, finish as for apple jelly. 879. CURRANT JELLY. For this jelly it is advisable to have half red and half white currants, say four pounds of each, and two pounds of raspberries ; put the lot into the preserving-pan with a quart of water, and boil it on a sharp fire for about eight minutes, stirring the whole with a skimmer, to prevent the fruit adhering to the bottom of the pan; then pour the fruit into a hair sieve, over a basin ; rub and press it well to squeeze all the liquor out of it ; after which, weigh the juice, put it back in the pan, and for every pound ten ounces of lump-sugar must be added; stir the contents over the £re until the sugar is well melted ; strain the syrup through a tammy; boil it in two parts on a brisk fire, and when marking 28'' on the syrup-gauge it is done; then finish as the apple jelly. List of Utensils Bequired for a Family of Six Persons. I herewith give the list of kitchen utensils required for a family of from six to twenty-four persons. Of course, this list can to a great extent be modified, according to the number and circumstances of the family ; but it must be borne in mind that there are but few households where there is not, now and then, an extra number of guests during the year, and that nothing tends to upset the temper of a cook more than the want of certain indis- pensable utensils at the time when everybody is busy, and which cannot then be obtained. I therefore strongly recommend the furnishing of every necessary implement in a kitchen, if good cooking is to be expected : — Two iron gridirons of eight and ten inches respectively, for meat and fish. One fish-kettle with drainer, two feet long hy about nine inches wida One turbot -kettle with drainer, about eighteen inches long. Two oval braizing-pans with their covers and drainers, twelve and fifteen inches long by eight and ten inches wide, and seven inches deep, respectively. Two untinned copper sugar-boilers, six and ten inches in diameter respectively, for stewed fruit, syrup, &a One bain-marie, with a set of five or six pans all in tinned copper. One four-gallon tinned copper stock-pot and cover, for making ordinary stock and broth. One two-gallon stock-pot and cover, for broth. Twelve tinned copper stewpans and covers, varying in size from four to twelve inches in diameter. Three sauté-pans with covers, eight, ten, and twelve inches in diameter. Two ordinary tinned iron pans, for blanching vegetables, &c. One copper preserving-pan, fourteen inches in diameter. One tinned copper slice, for boiled meat, &c. ' One broth-skimmer. One copper skimmer for preserves. Three tinned iron gravy-spoons. Three tinned iron soup-ladles of different sizes. One cutlet-bat. One chopper. One meat-cleaver. One meat-saw. Four kitchen-knives, assorted. One steeL 2 E