cooking customs. But many dishes can be made with less fat than we are
accustomed to put in or with different kinds from those we have hitherto
preferred. Often the fat from frying is left in the pan to be washed out
and thrown away. If every cook could say to herself, "Every two drops of
fat make a calorie and every calorie counts in the world today," it might
seem more worth while to hold the pan a minute and drain out the fat for
further use. A thousand calories mean a day's life to a baby. It is always
more wholesome to cook foods so that they are not coated with fat, and one
may get brown products in a frying pan without more than a thin film of
fat to keep the food from sticking. It is well to remember in this
connection that the unsalted lard substitutes are more satisfactory than
the saltier fat foods, in which there may be a trace of milk.

The thought that fat is fuel wherever we find it in food will stiffen our
resolution to take a little pains with the fats which we have been wont to
discard. Anyone can get from the Department of Agriculture suggestions for
the practical use of chicken, mutton, beef, and other kinds of meat fats.
The main points are to free them from flavor, by melting them with milk or
water, possibly using some special absorbent like potato or charcoal too,
and then mixing hard and soft together, just as the oleomargarine-makers
do, to get such a degree of hardness as suits one's purpose. All this
requires time and thought. Let no one dream that the patriotic duties of
the kitchen are trivial. Anything that is worth while costs something;
money, thought, labor--perhaps all three. To salvage kitchen fat may not
be economical in time and labor (though it generally is more so than one
might think), but there is more time and labor than food available today.
So it seems the "bit" of the housekeeper to set a standard for her family
as to the amount of fat she will purchase per week, which is at least
one-fourth lower than their ordinary consumption, and to depend upon
special conservation of what may have gone to waste hitherto for any