How to 8741 Cakes, Almond Sponge. 2525 Diarrhoea, do. do...... 8772 Cakes, Wine 467 Measure, An Acre, How Cakes, Apple, for chil- dren 218 Measure Corn in a Crib, Cakes, Bath Buns.. How to 2543 Earth and Sand, What 8740 Cakes, Belvedere. 856 they Weigh.. Cakes, Sugar. 8789 473 Cakes, Currant, [Econo- mical) 75 Cakes, Drop, (excellent) Cakes, Fruit. .......... Cakes, Gingerbread. 162 Mince Pie, (Plain) 3766 ..... INQUIRE WITHIN UPON EVERYTHING. 1 CHOICE OF ARTICLES OF| FOOD.-Nothing is more important in the affairs of housekeeping than the choice of wholesome food. We have been amused by a conundrum which is as follows: A man went to market and bought two fish. When he reached home he found they were the same as when he had bought them; yet there were three!" How was this? The answer is" He bought two mackerel, and one smelt!" Those who envy him his bargain need not care about the following rules: but to others they will be valuable: 2. MACKEREL must be perfectly fresh, or it is a very indifferent fish; it will neither bear carriage, nor being kept many hours out of the water. The firmness of the flesh and the clearness of the eyes, must be the criterion of fresh mackerel, as they are of all other fish. (See 65.) 3. FLOUNDERS, and all flat white fish, are rigid and firm when fresh; the under side should be of a rich cream colour. When out of season, or too long kept, this becomes a bluish white, and the flesh soft and flaccid. A clear, bright eye in fish, is also a mark of being fresh and good. 4. COD is known to be fresh by the rigidity of the muscies (or flesh); the redness of the gills, and clearness of the eyes. Crimping much improves this fish. 5. SALMON.-The flavour and ex cellence of this fish depends upon ita freshness, and the shortness of time since it was caught; for no method can completely preserve the delicate flavour it has when just taken out of the water. 6. HERRINGS can only be eaten when very fresh, and like mackerel, will not remain good many hours after they are caught. 7. FRESH-WATER FISH.-The re marks as to firmness and clear, fresh eyes, apply to this variety of fish, of which there are pike, perch, &c. 8. LOBSTERS, recently caught have always some remains of muscular ac tion in the claws, which may be excited by pressing the eyes with the finger. when this cannot be produced, the lobster must have been too long kept. When boiled, the tail preserves its elasticity if fresh, but loses it as soon as it becomes stale. The heaviest lobsters are the best; when light. they are watery and poor. Hen lobster may generally be known by the spawn or by the breadth of the "flap." 9. CRABS must be chosen by obser vations similar to those given above in the choice of lobsters. Crabs have an agreeable smell when fresh. 10. PRAWNS AND SHRIMPS, when fresh, are firm and crisp. 11. OYSTERS.-If fresh, the shell is firmly closed; when the shells of oys (81) 32 BREATH MAY BLOW OUT A CANDLE, AN EXTINGUISHER PREVENT A FIRE. ters are opened, they are dead, and much younger. If too young, the flesh unfit for food. The small-shelled oys-feels tender when pinched; if too old ters are the finest in flavour. Larger on being pinched it wrinkles up, and kinds, called rock oysters, are general y considered only fit for stewing and auces, though some persons prefer hem. so remains. In young mutton, the fat readily separates; in old, it is held together by strings of skin. In sheep diseased of the rot, the flesh is very 12. BEEF. The grain of ox beef, pale-coloured, the fat inclining to yelwhen good, is loose, the meat red, and low, the meat appears loose from the the fat inclinging to yellow. Cow bone, and, if squeezed, drops of water beef, on the contrary, has a closer ooze out from the grains; after cooking grain, a whiter fat, but meat scarcely the meat drops clean away from the as red as that of ox beef. Inferior bones. Wether mutton is preferred beef, which is meat obtained from ill- to that of the ewe; it may be known fed animals, or from those which had by the lump of fat on the inside of the become too old for food, may be known thigh. by a hard skinny fat, a dark red lean, and, in old animals, a line of horny texture running through the meat of the ribs. When meat pressed by the finger rises up quickly, it may be considered as that of an animal which was in its prime; when the dent made by pressure returns slowly, or remains visible, the animal had probably past its prime, and the meat consequently must be of inferior quality. 15. LAMB.-This meat will not keep long after it is killed. The large vein in the neck is bluish in colour when the fore quarter is fresh, green when becoming stale. In the hind-quarter if not recently killed, the fat of the kidney will have a slight smell, and the knuckle will have lost its firmness. 16. PORK.-When good, the rind is thin, smooth, and cool to the touch when changing, from being too long killed, it becomes flaccid and clammy. Enlarged glands, called kernels, in the fat, are marks of an ill-fed or diseased 13. VEAL should be delicately white, though it is often juicy and weil flavoured when rather dark in colour. Butchers, it is said, bleed calves pur-pig. posely before killing them, with a view 17. BACON should have a thin rind, to make the flesh white, but this also and the fat should be firm and tinged makes it dry and flavourless. On ex-red by the curing; the flesh should be amining the loin, if the fat enveloping of a clear red, without intermixture of the kidney be white and firm-looking, yellow, and it should firmly adhere to the meat will probably be prime and recently killed. Veal will not keep so long as an older meat, especially in hot or damp weather; when going, the fat becomes soft and moist, the meat flabby and spotted, and somewhat porous, like sponge. Large, overgrown veal, is inferior to small, delicate, yet fat veal. The fillet of a cow-calf is known by the udder attached to it, and by the softness of the skin; it is preferable to the real of a bull-calf. the bone. To judge the state of a ham, plunge a knife into it to the bone; on drawing it back, if particles of meat adhere to it, or if the smell is disagreeable, the curing has not been effectual, and the ham is not good; it should, in such a state, be immediately cooked. In buying a ham, a short, thick one, is to be preferred to one long and thin. 18. VENISON -When good, the fat is clear, bright, and of considerable thickness. To know when it is necessary to cook it, a knife must be plunged into the haunch; and from the smell the cook must determine on dressing or keeping it. 14. MUTTON.-The meat should be arm and close in grain, and red in colour, the fat white and firm. Mutton is in its prime when the sheep is about five years old, though it is often killed 19. TURKEY.-In choosing poultry |