A Course of Lectures on the Principles of Domestic Economy and Cookery

fish; then you can fry anything else, meat, chicken, fritters or doughnuts, in the other fat. Generally keep two jars or crocks of fat, and take care only to let the fat get smoking hot in frying, and as soon as you have done frying set the kettle off the stove so that the fat does not burn; let it cool a very little, then strain it through a cloth into an earthen bowl and let it get cold. Wash the frying kettle out and clean it thoroughly, and then you can put the fat back in it, and it will be ready for the next time, if you use a porcelain-lined kettle; if you use a metal kettle for frying, tin or anything of that sort, do not put the fat in it till you are ready to use it again, because it might rust it a little. If you strain it through an ordinarily thick towel there will be no sediment. If you strain it through a sieve there will be a little sediment that will settle to the bottom of the fat, and you can turn the cake of fat out of the bowl when it is cold and scrape that off. The best way is to strain through a cloth in the first place. If you are careful with the fat you can use it repeatedly,--use it a dozen times or more, until it really is nearly used up. But if you are careless and let it burn, of course you very soon get it so dark in color that it colors anything directly you put it in, before it is cooked, and it has a burnt taste. But if you use it at the heat I tell you, just smoking hot, and do not let it burn, you can use it repeatedly. Sometimes you can lift it out in one solid cake when it is cold; sometimes you will have to break it and take it off in more than one piece. On the bottom of the cake you will find a little brownish sediment