Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR UOUSE WIVES. 401 



439. Preserving Eggs.— Tlic following receipt is of such easy application 

 that all housewives should try it, and satisfy tlieuisclves whether it is all that 

 its author claims for it : 



"Dissolve some gum shellac in a sullicient quantity of alcohol to make a 

 thin varnish, give each egg a coat, and after they become thoroughly dry, 

 pack them in bran or sawdust, with tiieir j)oints downward, in sucii a man- 

 ner that they can not shift about. After you have kept them as long jis you 

 dfsire, wash tho varnish carefully off, and they will be in the same state as 

 they were before packing, ready either for eating or hatching." 



440. Beans— How to Cook (lieiu.— '• Few i^euple know the luxury of baked 

 beans, simply because few cooks properly prepare them. Beans general! v 

 are not cooked half long enough. Tliis is a sure method: Two (piarts of 

 middling-sized white beans, two pounds of salt pork, and one sjioonful of 

 molasses. Pick the beans over carefully, wash them, and add a gallon of 

 boiling-hot soft water; let them soak in it all night; in the morning, jxit 

 them in fresh water, adding a teaspoonful of saleratus, and boil gently, till 

 the skin is very tender and about to Ijreak. Take them up dry, put them 

 in your dish, so as to have the beans fill the di.sh nearly to the ujipor edge; 

 turn in boiling water till the top is ju.st covered ; bake with a steady fire 

 four or five hours. "Watch them and add more water from time to time, a^s 

 it dries away. This is an old-time Xew Knglaml S:iturday-eve!iing dish." 



441. Tomatoes— Various Methods of rreserviiu aud Isiug tlieni.— There is 

 no way to preserve tomatoes for winter use so good as drying them. It is 

 lasily done thus: Scald, and peel, and stew to a gelatinous mass, and sprcaii 

 upon earthen plates, and dry in the sunshine or in a slow oven. It will tlien 

 resemble dried stewed pumpkin, or the luilj) of ]ieaches dried in the same w:iy. 

 When wanted for use in winter, a jiortiun of this dried tomato is soaked first 

 in cold water, and that is gradually warmed till tiio whole becomes n ho- 

 mogeneous mass, more or less thick, according to the quantity of wafer u.sed. 

 It may be eaten as a sauce with mcat^, or, by aihling sugar, as a swect- 

 mcat, or in place of currant jelly with venison and mutton, or as a siibsii- 

 tiitc for cranberries with reast turkey. It is an cscellcnt and a cheap 

 sauce. 



Tomato Chowder. — ^To one bushel of green tomatoes add one d^zen green 

 peppers, 12 common-sized onions, mio ([uart of grated horseradish, one cup 

 of ground mustard, one ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves, whole. The 

 tomatoes, onions, and peppers chop lino. Put the tomatoes and onions in a 

 vessel over-night, sprinkle a little salt over them, and in tho morning drain 

 off the water, jmt all together and boil them in clear water until tender, then 

 drain tho water from them, mix with tho above-named epices, pack iu ajar, 

 and pour scalded vinegar over them. 



Another way is to take green tomatoes, rut a small piece otT the stem end, 

 and also from the other side; then lay them in a pan. Sprinkle with »alt, 

 pour boiling wafer on them, and let them stand ten minutes. Pour tho 

 water olf and serve them in the sai.ie manner again ; then iK)ur lulling wa- 

 it 



