Under "Drinks" will be found a description of the French coffee biggin.
There should be two brown-bread tins, each holding three pints. They answer also for steaming puddings.
The melon and round padding moulds are nice for frozen or steamed puddings.
The stew-pans that are porcelain-lined are better than the tin-lined, because the tin is liable to melt when frying is done, as, for instance, when meat and vegetables are fried for a stew. Granite ware stew-pans are made in the same shapes as the porcelain-lined.
The tin sauce-pans are nice for sauces and gravies. The porcelain-lined come in the same shapes. Copper is a better conductor of heat than either tin or iron, but when it is not kept perfectly clean, oxide of copper, which is very poisonous, collects on it, and is dissolved by oils and fats. Then when fruit, pickles, or any food containing an acid is allowed to cool in the vessels, verdigris is produced; and this is a deadly poison
The stamped tin-ware is made from a better quality of metal than the soldered; therefore, it comes higher, but it is in the end cheaper, and it is always safer. Bread, milk and dish pans should be made of stamped tin. The pans for roasting meat should be made of Russian iron.
The spoons for basting and mixing, and also the ladle, should be strong and well tinned.
The plain wooden lemon squeezer is the most easily kept clean, and is, therefore, the best. That made of iron, with a porcelain cup, is stronger, but it needs more care.
The Dover egg beater is the best in the market. It will do in five minutes the work that in former years required half an hour. There are three sizes. The smallest is too delicate for a large number of eggs. The second size, selling for $1.25, is the best for family use.
An apple parer saves a great deal of time and fruit, and is not very expensive.
Wooden buckets and boxes come in nests, or, they can be bought separately. A good supply of them goes a great way toward keeping a store-room or closet in order.
The Japanned ware is best for canisters for tea and coffee and for spice and cake boxes. Cake boxes are made square and round. The square boxes have shelves. The most convenient form is the upright. It is higher-priced than the other makes.
The spice box is a large box filled with smaller ones for each kind of ground spice. It is very convenient, and, besides, preserves the strength of the contents.
There are so many beautiful moulds for fancy dishes that there is no longer any excuse for turning out jellies, blanc-mange, etc., in the form of animals. There are two modes of making moulds. By one the tin is pressed or stamped into shape, and by the other it is cut in pieces and soldered together. Moulds made by the first method are quite cheap, but not particularly handsome. Those made in the second way come in a great variety of pretty forms, but as all are imported, they are expensive. The crown moulds are especially good for Bavarian creams, with which is served whipped cream, heaped in the centre.
The French pie mould comes in a number of sizes, and can be opened to remove the pie. Deep tin squash-pie plates, answer for custard, cream, Washington and squash pies, and for corn cake.
Tin vegetable cutters, for cutting raw vegetables for soups, and the cooked ones for garnishing, are nice to have, as is also a confectioner's ornamenting tube for decorating cake, etc. Larger tubes come for lady fingers and éclairs. Little pans also come for lady-fingers, but they cost a great deal. The jagging iron will be found useful for pastry and hard gingerbread.
href="#fb3_img_img_a8909761-48e7-5c8f-a10e-ceed9d0a3b1b.png" alt="Coffee Biggin."/>
