HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 
PREPARED BY MRS. C. G. HERBERT. 
Perhaps all housekeepers do not realize the con¬ 
venience of having sifted flour always on hand. A lady 
who devotes considerable time to ascertaining the best 
ways of managing her kitchen department, keeps a 
covered six-quart tin pail, in which you can always 
find sifted flour and a scoop. Powdered sugar makes 
finer-grained cake than any other, and is preferable for 
all nice cake. In measuring flour, a cup means a tea¬ 
cup, unless a colfee-cup is specified. AH flour should be 
sifted before it is measured, and an even cup is to be 
understood, unless the recipe calls for a heaping one. 
If your cake is too coarse-grained, you have too much 
soda for your cream tartar, or too cool an oven may be 
the cause ; or if baking-powder is used, there was too 
much in the cake ; if too fine grained, your proportion 
of cream tartar is too great. Exact measurement must 
be made, if you would have your cake perfect. The 
writer of this article once gave a recipe that had never 
failed, to some friends, and their experience with it was 
truly discouraging—the cake was a failure every time, 
not fit to eat, just because the butter was not properly 
measured. Butter should not be soft when it is meas¬ 
ured, but hard enough to be cut in pieces about the size 
of chestnuts, and should be only lightly pressed into the 
cup, as a solid cup of butter would spoil any cake that 
required “ a cup full.” To exactly measure the fraction 
of a cup, see how many tablespoons it will contain, and 
then it is easy to know exactly how much one-third, or 
one-fourtli, or any part of a cup is. The measurement 
should bo made with a silver spoon, as the iron spoons 
are of so many different sizes. An ordinary tea-cup 
should measure twelve tablespoons or an exact half 
pint. Then, if you have a recipe calling for two-thirds 
of a cup of butter, and the same of milk, measure eight 
tablespoons of milk into your cup, and note how much 
it fills the cup, and you will know just how full to make 
the cup when you measure your butter. Eggs should 
always be well beaten, the yelks as well as the whites. 
The whites are beaten enough, when some taken up on 
the beater will form a sharp peak that is stiff enough to 
keep its form without much quivering, being held up¬ 
right. If you do not use an egg-beater—and many 
prefer to beat eggs for cake and omelette in the old way 
—the nicest beater can be made of a piece of a hickory 
barrel hoop, about twelve inches long, and whittled 
perfectly smooth. It should be about an inch wide, and 
thin enough to be pliable. It will be a little bent, which 
makes it easy to beat on a platter or plate, will be noise¬ 
less, and much less tiresome than a fork. A stick 
made in the shape of a tiny oar, of hard wood, is the 
most convenient thing to stir cake with. If you live in 
the country, an old wagon-spoke will make a nice one, 
and any man or boy can easily make one. It is suid 
that cake should never be stirred but one way; how 
much truth there is in it we do not presume to say, but 
we think it is more important that it should be Stirre 
n an earthen bowl or dish. 
Oyster Stew. 
Put one quart of oysters and their liquor with half 
pint cold water in a porcelain kettle, or a bright tin-pair 
if you have nothing better—iibn spoils the flavor—add 
what salt they require, and heat them scalding hot. 
The scum will rise as quick as they begin to heat, and 
must be removed. Just as they are are about to boil,, 
skim out all the oysters into your soup-tureen, and add 
to their liquor one-half pint of cream or rich milk, and 
a piece of butter the size of an egg, as much red pepper 
as you like, and a little finely-rolled cracker crumbs ; 
when this is boiling hot pour on to the oysters and serve. 
The crackers to be eaten with the soup should be heated, 
as it makes them more brittle. G. C. F. 
Fish Cakes. 
Take any cod-fish that has been cooked, remove all 
skin, bones and fat, and make fine. Mix with it mash¬ 
ed potatoes rubbed to a cream with a little butter. One- 
third as much potatoes, or one-half, or even the same 
quantity as you have of fish, can be used. Make it out- 
into little cakes with the hands, and fry in a little 
butter or fresh suet. J. a. f. 
Poached Eggs on Toast. 
Grease the pan or skillet you wish to cook the eggs 
in, and salt the water. When it simmers—not boils-- 
carefully drop into it, so as not to break, one egg at a 
time. There should be water enough to cover them. 
Before they are hard, remove with a small flat skimmer,, 
and put each egg on a piece of hot buttered toast. 
G. c. F. 
Broiled Steak. 
The first requisite is a good fire of red-hot coals. 
Then grease your gridiron with pork or suet and heat 
it. Most people prefer to trim the fat off the steak be¬ 
fore broiling, as it is so apt to bum. Cover it as soon 
as it is put over the fire, and in a moment, when the 
steak is colored, turn it over. Watch it carefully and 
turn frequently. When done, lay it on a hot platter, 
sprinkle with salt and spread a little butter over it. If 
you have no metal cover for your meat platter, you can. 
heat a smaller platter, or some other dish that wilL 
cover it tightly, until it is time to serve it. Do not 
press the juice out when you put on the salt and butler. 
C. D. F. 
Marble Cake—never fails. 
One cup molasses; two cups flour; one-half cup butter; 
one-third of a cup of sweet milk; yelk of three eggs; 
one even teaspoon soda; cinnamon and cloves to taste. 
White Part. —One-half cup butter; one-half cup 
sweet milk; one cup sugar; two cups flour; whites of 
three eggs; one-half teaspoon of soda; one heaping tea¬ 
spoon cream tartar. Put the cake in the pan with a 
spoon alternating the dark and light, and bake in a 
moderately hot oven. o. C. F. 
Cream Cake. 
Four egg's; one tea-cup sugar; one tea-cup flour; one 
tablespoon sweet milk; two even teaspoons baking pow¬ 
der, Will make three layers. 
Cream.— One-half cup sugar; one-quarter cup of flour; 
- one egg. Stir into one-half pint of boiling milk. Spread 
between the layers while warm. m. e. w. 
