Buttered Crumbs

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup soft, stale breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt Few grains pepper

Use bread that is at least one day old, and not sufficiently stale to be hard. Grate the bread, or crumble it in the fingers; or cut it into one-inch slices, and these into quarters, and rub two quarters together. If any large pieces break off, crumble them fine with the fingers. If bread is being crumbled for scalloped dishes, it should be carefully done; if for stuffing, bread puddings, and such uses where it becomes moistened and softened it may be cut into very thin slices, then across into strips and small dice one-eighth inch in size. Mix the seasoning with the crumbs, then add them to the melted butter. When first mixed a few crumbs absorb all of the butter, but if lightly stirred with a fork for several minutes they will become evenly buttered. If richer crumbs are needed, the quantity of butter may be doubled.

Salted Nuts

1 pt. water 1/2 cup salt

1 cup blanched nuts 1 teaspoon butter

Blanch the nuts according to directions given below. Boil them in the salt and water for eight minutes, drain them and put them into a roasting-pan or pie plate with the butter. When warm, stir them well that the butter may coat each nut. Bake them in a moderate oven until they are a very light brown, stirring them frequently. When they are done, spread them out to cool and allow them to stand until crisp before putting them into a covered receptacle. If peanuts are used, take raw nuts.

To Blanch Nuts

Pour boiling water on to shelled nuts, let them stand two or three minutes, drain them and pour cold water over them. Press them from their skins.

To Shell Italian Chestnuts

Cut a slit in each nut with a sharp knife; put them into a frying or roasting pan with one teaspoonful of butter for each pint of nuts. Shake them over moderate heat until the butter is melted, and put them into a moderate oven for five minutes; or continue to shake them over the fire for that length of time. This loosens the shell so that it may be removed with a knife.

To Sterilize Jars Or Cans

Wash cans, jars or bottles and their covers and put them into a large pan of cold or tepid water, which is deep enough to fill and cover them.

Bring the water to a boil over moderate heat, unless a rack in the pan prevents contact of the glassware with the bottom of the pan, in which case a hot fire may be used. Let them boil for five minutes or more, and remove them, one by one, as they are to be filled. A clean stick or long wooden spoon-handle thrust into them may be used to take them out. Rubbers for cans should not be sterilized, as the heat will injure them. Corks may be dipped into boiling water or allowed to remain in it for a minute; but unless very stiff and shrunken, they will swell too much to fit the bottles if left long in the water.

Boiled Dressing

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon mustard

Cayenne

2 1/2 teaspoons butter

1 teaspoon sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/8 cup vinegar

Mix the dry ingredients, add the beaten egg and milk; heat them over a cooker-pail of warm water until 160 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring it constantly. Put it into a cooker for twenty minutes. Add the vinegar when it is cold, unless it is to be used for cole-slaw, in which case the hot vinegar is added at once and the dressing poured over the cut cabbage.

Soft-Cooked Eggs, No. 1

Into a cooker-pail put as many eggs as are to be cooked. Pour over them one pint of boiling water for one egg and one cup extra for each additional egg. Without heating it further, put the pail into the cooker for ten minutes. Remove them promptly at the end of that time and place them in a folded napkin to keep warm.

Soft-Cooked Eggs, No. 2

Put the eggs and cold water to more than cover them into a cooker-pail. Heat them over the fire until 165 degrees Fahrenheit, then put them into a cooker for ten minutes. Remove them immediately and serve them in a folded napkin.

Hard-Cooked Eggs

Put the eggs and enough cold water to more than cover them into a cooker-pail. Heat them till simmering, then put them into a cooker for twenty or thirty minutes, depending upon their size.

Chocolate

2 squares chocolate 1/4 cup sugar

1 cup hot water 3 cups hot milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Melt the chocolate in a pan to fit over a cooker-pail of boiling water; add the salt and sugar and, when mixed, the water. Remove the pan from the pail and let the chocolate cook directly on the stove until it has thickened, add the milk, gradually, and when scalding hot, but not boiling, put the pan back into the cooker-pail of boiling water. Set all in a cooker and leave it until it is to be served. Just before serving beat it well with an egg-beater and add the vanilla. It will keep hot without injury for a number of hours and makes a good drink for a late evening supper. It can be prepared before going out and on returning from concert, theatre, or other entertainment, will be found ready to serve. A tablespoonful or two of cream improves it.

Serves four or five persons.