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Show By Mary Lois Reichert Home Demonstration Agent OCTOBER STEW A piping hot savory beef stew with rich-brown gravy and meat cooked to delicious tenderness will make almost any family call for1 seconds and is easier on the pocketbook now that medium and lower grade beef is in such good supply on the markets. One secret of success with stews is long slow cooking. Another is browning the cubes of lean beef on all sides in a little fat before adding water and cooking in a covered pan until the meat is tender enough to cut with a fork. A third secret is skillful seasoning with onions, tomato, celery tops, parsley pars-ley or other favorite herbs and seasonings. If the stew is not thick enough by the time the meat is tender, mix a little flour to a smooth paste with an equal quantity of water, add a little of the stew to this paste, then stirr the mixture slowly into the rest of the stew and cook until smooth and thick. This prevents lumpy gravy. Once a stew is made, it may be served in many different ways for variety. Try it with a border of riced potatoes or flaky rice, or with dumplings. Or make it into a meat pie under a lid of biscuits, pastry or mashed potatoes. Scallop it with macaroni or spaghetti. Or use it as a filling for hot biscuits in beef shortcake. KITCHEN ARRANGEMENTS Energy saving features are especially important in kitchens. Arrangements to save walking, lifting, carrying bending and reaching developed by long years of research can be of special benefit to the home-maker. home-maker. Both Federal and State publications on kitchens explain these arrangements and often suggest simple, inexpensive changes that help conserve strength. High-wastage bulbs in kitchen fixtures may make for safer, easier and more accurate work. Plenty of clear, glareless light is needed on counters, ranges, sink and other working centers. Women who wear glasses need to have fixtures arranged so that no beam is caught by the glass and reflected in the eyes. Good general illumination of the room prevents dark places that may cause missteps and falls. For easy seeing and reaching as well as safety, use open shelves just deep enough to hold a single row of utensils or supplies. sup-plies. Cupboard doors, may be hazardous to heads. Large clear print on labels of food containers contain-ers is especially helpful. For saving steps and energy, locate those supplies and utensils uten-sils used most often within easiest eas-iest reach and sight of the place where you use them first. For shelves, the area of easiest reach is no higher than the shoulders and no lower than the head as it hangs down. Women need arrangements for sitting down to work to save strength. Pull-out boards at a height convenient for working in a comfortable chair, low counters with knee-space underneath, under-neath, or a kitchen table save the fatigue of standing, especially espec-ially at long jobs. |