actly what we must not do," said Mrs. Herbert. "There are a
few things which we must fry in a shallow pan, with very little fat.
Pancakes and omelettes are amongst them. But as a rule, this is a very
extravagant, wasteful mode of cooking. It is much better to _fry_
properly, that is, to cook in an abundance of fat, using as much fat as
will cover the food entirely, so that we may be said to boil the food,
but in fat instead of water."

"I should have thought it was very wasteful to use a quantity of fat,"
said Margaret.

"Do you remember how much fat we used when we fried the pancakes?" said
Mrs. Herbert.

"I remember," said Mary: "for every pancake we used a piece of fat about
the size of a walnut."

"And how much of this was left when all were finished?"

"Why, none, mother," said Margaret. "The fat was used each time, and it
seemed to dry up or go into the pancake, or something. At any rate, it
was lost altogether."

"Then if we were trying to find out how much the pancakes cost, we ought
to include the cost of the fat in which they were fried?"

"I suppose so."

"Do you not think, then, that if in frying we could so arrange matters
that the fat should be used again and again and again, that would be
less wasteful?"

"Of course it would," said Mary.

"Then this is what we will do. We will provide a quantity of fat, as
much as will half fill a good-sized iron saucepan. When we use this for
frying, we shall find that if we are careful of it--that is, if we lift
it from the fire as soon as it is done with, do not let it burn, and
strain it--we can use it again and again and again. In fact, it may be
used any number of times, and we keep adding fresh fat as we get it."

"But we could not fry pancakes in that way," said Margaret.

"No; I told you just now that pancakes and omelettes must be fried in a
little fat. This process is generally called by cooks _dry frying_.
When plenty of fat is used, and the food is boiled in the fat, the
process is called _wet frying_."

"And how are we to tell which way is suitable for what we have to cook?"
said Margaret.

"Ah, Margaret! you want to get on too quickly. To know which is the best
way of treating different kinds of food is a large subject, and can only
be learnt with time. I may tell you, however, that nearly all small
things which can be quickly cooked, and can be covered with fat, may be
wet fried. Things which need longer cooking, such as uncooked meat,
b