Principles of cookery

POACHED EGGS ON FISH BALLS. Dropped ■ Egg egg is added. Bread or cracker crumbs may be combined directly with the milk, for then the starch has already been cooked. A single dropped egg may show that water need not boil in order to cook an egg. Even if a thermometer is not available, it can be seen that the white of the egg instantly changes in appearance when it comes in contact with water far below the boiling point. A muffin ring placed in the water assists in keeping the egg in good shape. A little salt and lemon juice or vinegar in the water makes the egg harden quickly on the outside instead of mingling with the water. Since we reckon the cost of other foods by the Vaiu© pound, for easy comparison we must estimate the value of eggs on the same basis. It will be found that the average hen's egg weighs about two ounces, and that eight good sized eggs in their shells, or nine or ten shelled eggs, weigh one pound. The fuel required, the labor of preparation, and the waste are much less with eggs than for most other foods. Some experiments recorded in "Eggs and Their Uses as Food" (Farmers' Bulletin No. 128, U. S. Dept. Agl.), show that it cost more than twice as much to serve and satisfy at breakfast a family of over one hundred women in a college boarding hall with mutton chops or beefsteak at less than 20c. per pound, than with eggs at 25c. a dozen. Commercially, there are many grades of eggs, de- Preserving pendent upon their age. Cold storage has done away with most other methods of preserving eggs. Anything that will exclude air, without bringing ill flavor to the tgg, will aid in preserving it. Eggs are available almost everywhere at all seasons and even at their highest prices, are not more expensive than the choicer cuts of meat. An inferior egg injures all other materials with which it is combined, therefore it is never economy to buy poor eggs. When eggs are high do without them, 6o Variety jorobinations to Reduce Cost making dishes which require few, if any ; then when they are again plenty they will be all the more appetizing. With proper conditions for keeping eggs, it may be economy for some housekeepers to buy a large quantity in the fall and pack them carefully in an upright position, but many find it better to give the grocer a few cents more than to take the time and rrsk of loss. COMBINATION OF EGGS WITH OTHER FOODS. Any fundamental food, like the egg, must be served in a variety of ways or we tire of them. Foods having short seasons should be prepared in the simplest fashion. The nutritive value of the food is not materially changed by a variation in the method of cooking, provided no additions are made to it. It may appeal more to the palate in one form than another, and the time of digestion may vary, though in the end as much may be absorbed in the one case as in the other. To illustrate this point, let us take two eggs costing at average prices two cents each, or four cents. Whether boiled in the shell or dropped from the shell into boiling water, their food value would be practically the same ; when scrambled or made into an omelet there is a slight addition of nutritive material.