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Crullers and Doughnuts (To cook these properly the fat)

To cook these properly the fat should be of the right heat. When hot enough it will cease to bubble and be perfectly still; try with a bit of the batter, and if the heat is right the dough will rise in a few seconds to the top and occasion a bubbling in the fat, the cake will swell, and the under side quickly become brown. Clarified drippings of roast meat are more wholesome to fry them in than lard. A good suet may be prepared as follows for those who are sensible enough not to like greasy doughnuts or who Hebraically oppose lard. Use only beef suet, which is quite as cheap, cleanly, and healthy. Buy from the meat markets, speaking before hand, and securing nice, whole, clean leaves, which cut up in small pieces, put into a dinner-pot, which will hold well about ten pounds. Put in a pint of water, and after the first hour stir frequently; it takes about three hours with a good heat to render it. Drain through a coarse towel, and if the suet is good it will require but little squeezing, and leave but little scrap or cracklings. Put to cool in pans or jars, and you have an element into which, when well heated, you can drop the twisted goodies, with the assurance that they will not only be "done brown," but that they will emerge with a flavor and grain that will commend them to the favor of an epi- Doughnuts thus cooked are more digestible and of better flavor than if cooked in lard, and the most fastidious will not need to peel them before eating. Make the dough as soft as it can be handled; if cut about half an inch thick, five to eight minutes will be time enough to cook, but it is better to break one open as a test. When done, drain well in a skimmer, and place in a colander. The use of eggs prevents the dough from absorbing the fat. Doughnuts should be watched closely while frying, and the fire must be regucure. 1