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Show A Few Simple Homely Dishes BY HILDA BARKER. IT is quite as Important to know how to make the most simple dishes correctly as It la to understand under-stand how to carry out recipes for elaborate cookery. There are quite a number of women who can make so-called fancy dlshf-s but who cannot cook the proverbial potato satisfactorily, or turn out a dish of plain, well cooked rice. Boiling Potatoes. The average oook book says "Choose potatoes of uniform size." One cannot can-not always do this, but Instead of cutting the larger potatoes down to the size of the smaller ones as we are told a Mrs. Newlywed once did put the larger sized potatoes at the bottom bot-tom of the saucepan and the smaller ..-rr m top During the winter when this vegetable grows limp or soft. It can be much Improved by soaking In cold water for a couple of hours before be-fore peeling. Potatoes are put Into boiling water, the salt to be added when ihey are about half cooked. When soft, drain 1 off, lift the lid. open window or door 1 I and gle the pan a shake in the open (" air. Then cover the potatoes with a folded clean cloth (no metal coven and set at the back of the stove to dry- Tne potatoes will be like balls of flour. If mashod potatoes are desired after draining off the water, mash with a silver fork. Beat in a little hot milk, a teaspoonful of butler and pepper and salt to season. Heap In a hot dish, leaving the top fluffy looking. If It is necessary to keep the potatoes hot for any length of time place the pan In hot water, I but leave It uncovered If closely covered cov-ered the potatoes will taste soggy. Plain Boiled Rice. I To boll rice properly needs plenty of water as the grains take up much more than the amateur cook may imagine. im-agine. Also, it is necessary to have! sufficient water at the start. (It can be added during the cookln? of course to save the rice from burning.) I always al-ways allow four cupful of boiling water to one quarter cup of rice. First the rice is washed thoroughly, then dropped into boiling water seasnnnd with one teaspoonful of salt very I gradually so the water docs not stop boiling and cooked until soft, which will take about twenty minutes. Turn Into a strainer and drain, then pop into the oven with the door open for a few minutes to dry. Boiled Macaroni. This is cooked In about thp same way as the rice, the macaroni being ' broken Into short lengths. If, after cooking the macaroni looks dark It ; can be blanched by plunging into cold ! water. Onion Chowder. This Is another simple but tastv dish, especlolly when carefully pre- I pared. Two cupfuls of onions are cooked very slowly, say for half an hour, they must not be brown, in three tablespoonfuls of butter. Then pour In three quarts of boiling water, one quart of potatoes cut Into dice, gall and pepper to taste and one table-spoonful table-spoonful of fine herbs. Cook for an hour, when the chowder Is ready to serve. It is said that eating eat-ing freely of onion chowder will break up a bad cold. |