at
guide, as the heavier they are the better; but if there be the least
sign of wateriness, they should be rejected at once.

Vegetables

Green vegetables always are at their best when cheapest and most
plentiful. Out of season they never have the same flavor, however well
they may be grown. Excepting artichokes, all summer vegetables,
as lettuce, peas, beans, and asparagus should be cooked as soon as
possible after gathering. The freshness of most vegetables may be
ascertained easily by taking a leaf or a pod between the fingers. If
fresh this will snap off short and crisp, while if stale it will be
limp and soft. It is an economy to buy winter vegetables, such as
carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, celery, and potatoes in large
quantities, if you have storage room, as if buried in sand and kept
from the frost they may be kept a considerable time. Onions should
be kept hung up in a cool, dry place. If allowed to sprout the flavor
becomes rank and coarse.

Eggs

A mode of ascertaining the freshness of eggs is to hold them before a
lighted candle or to the light, and if the egg looks clear, it will
be tolerably good; if thick, it is stale; and if there is a black
spot attached to the shell, it is worthless. No egg should be used for
culinary purposes with the slightest taint in it, as it will render
perfectly useless those with which it has been mixed. Eggs may be
preserved, however, for a considerable time without any further
special precaution than that of keeping them in a cool place. A very
effective method of preserving eggs for winter use is to rub a little
melted Crisco over each to close the pores, and then to pack the eggs
in bran, salt or sawdust, not allowing them to touch each other.

[Illustration]

_Methods of Cooking_

There are seven chief methods of cooking meat--roasting, boiling,
baking, stewing, frying, broiling and poaching.

The first three are most suitable for joints weighing four pounds
or more, but not satisfactory for smaller pieces which are liable to
become hard and flavorless by the drying up or loss of their juices.

Of the other three methods, stewing may be applied to fairly large and
solid pieces, but it is better for smaller thin ones, while frying and
broiling can be used only for steaks, chops, and similar cuts.

Braising and steaming are combinations and modifications of these
methods.

Roasting

Roasting is one of the oldest methods of cooking on record