again boiling or stewing fish, which thus gains instead of losing its fine qualities, as it does to a great extent when boiled in plain water. Warmed every day and put into clean vessels fish liquor will keep for a considerable time, even in hot weather. The bones of fish are useful for making stock for many purposes, and especially for that last mentioned. Soles are deprived of much of their flavour and are rendered dry by skinning; they should always be scraped. Much fish is wasted for want of the simple precaution of rubbing it over with a little vinegar; may thus be kept good for days, and by properly wiping can be used for frying. All white fish is improved by this treatment, a very little salt being added if for use the same day.

it

We will but glance in this place at the great and universal waste of meat, the better plan being to show, as in the following recipes, how to economise in its use. As has before been said, the great object we have in view is to popularise other forms of diet than that which is comprised in the term 'plain roast and boiled.' In the former the waste is frequently enormous, especially in cases where the cook over-roasts the joints for the sake of securing to herself the perquisite of dripping, a perquisite, by the way, which no good housekeeper will concede. The cost of fuel for domestic purposes is now very great, and large fires are requisite for roasting joints weighing even eight or nine pounds. It is, therefore, a great point if dinners can be

cooked with less expenditure of heat and composed of less costly material than the aforesaid joints.

As a means of effecting great saving in roasting poultry, small joints such as loin of mutton, fillet of beef, or even a small Welsh leg of mutton, a shoulder weighing five or six pounds, &c., a kind of Dutch oven called a V oven, measuring fourteen by ten inches, is recommended. It has a sloping cover which is reversible, so that the meat can be constantly turned without being removed from the hooks; it also admits of basting with great facility. Any of the joints given in the bills of fare, as well as those mentioned above, may be roasted in this oven with a mere handful of fire, and will be found quite as nice as if done on the spit. Mr. W. S. Burton, of Oxford Street, has always these ovens in stock, the cost is seven and sixpence each, they can be used with any kind of range. Anxious inquiries are being made on all sides for the most economical cooking ranges, and as to the comparative extravagance of the old-fashioned open range and the modern kitchener. It may safely be asserted that the former has no merit on the score of economy, and that it is not possible to cook by it so well as by a closed range. There are, however, some people who say that meat is not eatable roasted in a kitchener. As the result of experiments it has been found that the best judges are unable to detect the difference between a joint roasted before the fire and in an oven with proper ventilation. Everything, indeed, depends

on the principle of ventilation, and in this respect the plan of the first patentee, Flavel, of Leamington, has never been surpassed.

The great difficulty of introducing gas stoves into middle-class houses has hitherto been the cost of the gas, but Messrs. S. Leoni and Co. have now succeeded in obviating this difficulty, and their gas stoves, both as regards economy and efficiency of action, are deserving of all praise. It is always desirable to have a small gas stove in every kitchen, for occasional use when the fire goes out; it is also most convenient for any little experiment the lady of the house desires to make.

Boiling meat is certainly more economical than roasting it, but then there are only legs of mutton, pork and lamb, and salted beef, which can properly be so treated. When the broth in which the three first mentioned are cooked is used, and providing the meat has not to be eaten cold, there is much to be said in favour of boiling, but in small families, or families with moderate means, these joints must now be regarded rather as a treat for high days than as daily fare. It must be understood that meat which has been cooked at boiling point, instead of just below it, has lost much of its savour, and is generally hard and indigestible. Boiled beef is so much relished by many persons that we hesitate to condemn it. Still the truth must be told; it is neither so wholesome, nourishing, nor economical, as fresh meat. All the juices are ex

tracted in the process of salting, and it is thus rendered hard and indigestible. The broth of boiled beef has no more value than plain salt and water, and it is a great error to suppose it will make a nourishing soup.

There can be no question that stewing is one of the best and most wholesome forms of cookery. But English cooks of this generation have very little knowledge of the art, and such stews as they prepare are generally wasteful and indigestible. Two causes contribute to this failure. The want of proper utensils and of knowledge how to regulate the temperature so that the contents of the stewpan are kept just below boiling point—or at that stage known as simmering. There are a number of pieces of meat now considered inferior, which, properly stewed, make exquisite dishes, and a good cook will send to table even the shin of beef as tender as a chicken. A celebrated physician has said that the action of the stewpan is very nearly like that of the stomach, and that it is a great gain when the first can be made to do some of the work often unduly assigned to the latter.

The great French novelist, who finished his literary labours by writing a voluminous cookery-book, says, 'what would the culinary art be without the stewpan? It is, without contradiction, the favourite arm, the talisman, the good fortune of a cook;' and he goes on to assert that the superiority of French cookery is due to the honour with which the professors of the art invest the stew-pan.'

In large and well-appointed kitchens, cooks have every kind of utensil necessary for bringing their work to perfection. In smaller establishments, however, the case is frequently reversed; and hence, no doubt, one great reason that our national style of cookery remains so bad. In many kitchens copper stewpans are not to be found, and it is impossible to make any good stew or delicate sauce in iron saucepans, which, from long use, or it would be fitter to say misuse, have acquired a flavour of their own, which they impart to everything put into them. An idea prevails that copper utensils are dangerous and poisonous. If this were the case the whole French nation would have been poisoned ere this, for the abominable iron saucepan is unknown amongst them. Copper stewpans are, indeed, dangerous to health and even life if kept in a dirty state, or if things are allowed to get cold in them. But these accidents are so easily avoided, or rather arise so exclusively from the grossest negligence, that they can never be urged as valid reasons against the use of copper utensils. The outside of a stewpan is easily kept bright by the aid of polishing paste sold by all ironmongers. As to the inside, if, the moment the pan is done with, it be quite filled with water and a little soda or sand, or even fine ashes, put in and allowed to boil awhile, it almost scours itself and will require little more than wiping out. Iron stewpans lined with enamel are the best substitutes for copper, and in cases where it is