TINNED MEATS; THEIR VALUE TO HOUSEKEEPERS BY A. G. PAYNE, Author of “Common-sense Cookery,” “Choice Dishes at Small Cost,” “The Housekeeper’s Guide,” &c. PART II. In my last article on tinned meats I described how to give a nice little dinner at a short notice, supposing the larder only contained a cold shoulder of mutton. I will now give a few hints on the general management of tinned meats. I will also fulfil my promise of describing how to make that most useful article in cooking, brown roux, which in my opinion is absolutely essential should we wish to make our tinned thick soups a success. First let us consider the best way of managing tins, the contents of which are generally eaten cold, and do not require warming up. Perhaps the two most common examples of tinned provisions are sardines and tinned lobster. For very many years sardines have been a popular breakfast dish, and the plan has been to open the tin of sardines, and leave the sardines in the tin till all are finished. Tinned lobster is a more modern invention, and inexperienced housekeepers, from habit, have treated the lobster exactly as they have the sardines, viz., they have opened the tin and left the lobster in the tin. I would warn you that this method of dealing with tinned lobster is not merely wrong, but absolutely dangerous. From time to time reports have arisen on the danger of eating tinned goods, and every now and then we hear of cases of persons being ill, who date the origin of their illness from eating some species of preserved provision. You would do well to bear in mind that the persons to blame are not the makers of the tinned goods, but the housekeeper who opens them and then fails to exercise her common sense. Probably every housekeeper is aware of the fact that if you make soup it is necessary to turn the soup out in a basin before going to bed. Every cookery book teaches us the fact that if we leave the soup in the saucepan all night long it spoils. Why? Why should soup get bad in a metallic vessel, where it would not get bad in a porcelain one? The answer is very simple—on account of the metal being acted on by the air. If you leave a moist knife in the kitchen, in two or three days it becomes rusty. Why, then, should we expect meat or fish or food of any kind whatever to keep good in a tin, when we know it would not keep good in a tin saucepan? The fact is, we have never thought about it at all. But I do not think I need enlarge upon the subject, as, if you have any common sense, a hint will be sufficient, and if you have no common sense, it is useless to attempt to reason with you. Therefore bear this one most important point in mind—whenever you open any kind of tinned provision, turn it out of the tin directly the tin is opened; otherwise it will instantly commence to undergo a chemical change, which becomes stronger the longer it is opened. Some persons, perhaps, will say, How is it that we have been in the habit for years, perhaps,