Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

asks a second time for a French dish, and pronounces French cookery to be--abominable! STIRRING. Never use any spoon but a wooden one to stir any thing on the fire or in a warm state. STRAINING. To strain, is to pass a sauce or any thing else through a sieve, a strainer, or a piece of cloth, in order to have it freed from particles of every kind. Broth is strained to make soup, so as to remove the small pieces of bones that may be in it, etc. SUGAR. Sugar plays a very important part in cooking. It is added to cereals, vegetables, and fruit, many of which would almost be unpalatable without it, and which are rendered not only palatable but wholesome by its action. It is the sugar of the carrot and that of the onion, or of the garlic, that gives such a peculiar and delicious flavor to gravies and sauces, to _beef à la mode_, _fricandeau_, etc. _Pulverized._--When pulverized or powdered sugar can be had pure, it saves the trouble to do it; but often there are foreign matters in it and therefore it is better to make it; you know then what you have. Break loaf sugar into small lumps, pound it and sift it. With a fine sieve, you can make it as fine as you please. It was not used in Europe until about the middle of the seventeenth century. For the cooking of sugar, see Preserves. TARRAGON. The French name of tarragon is _estragon_. It is excellent in vinegar and in many fish sauces. It is aromatic, sudorific, and stomachic, and grows very well in this country. It grows at least twice as large here as in Europe. TIN TUBES. These tubes are put in the pastry-bag, at the smaller end of it, to make _meringues_, ladies' fingers, etc.; they are of tin, and can be made by any tinsmith. They have the shape of a trapezoid or frustum. Two are enough for any purpose. No. 1. One inch and a half long; one inch and three-eighths in diameter at one