Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1044

 1U20 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. in inverted quadrangular pyramid, terminated at the less end by an open grate, and dropped into a square hole formed in a cast-iron or earthenware table to receive it, as in fig. 1820. They are especially used in Italy, and I have often watched the dispatch and neatness with which cookery may be performed by this simple apparatus. As a first-rate kitchen is but a kind of culinary laboratory, it is well to have such a uni- versally available apparatus at hand ; as it can be used with effect at five minutes' notice, while every other kind of appa- ratus, except that for cooking by -^V^^^^ST^ ' ^^'^ /^^^^^^ gas, requires some time to be put ■ ^ ^ vvvN^ ' ^ / i^ <SSi into working trim. Charcoal, of course, is the fuel used; which, un- fortunately, involves the necessity of having a hood over this appa- Vb en C3 en C3 ratus : this hood may be made of wood, tin, copper, or iron, or it may be neatly and well made of earthenware tiles. A table apparatus fitted up with gas burners for cooking, in a manner hereafter to be more fully described, is shewn at e. The table itself is of cast iron, and underneath it are several wrought-iron cylinders, made steam-tight, with manhole covers properly secured for cooking, and particularly for making soup, by high pressure steam, generated by the boiler placed in the scullery immediately behind. Soup can be made, by these means, from almost any kind of bones (say those of fish, for instance), superior, I think, to any other." 2031. The Scullery, D. In this room, /is a large cast-iron sink for washing fish, and vessels of different kinds ; ^ is a similar sink, to be used solely for washing vegetables (see figs. 1259 and 1332). A flap-board may be added to/, for laying down plates and dishes, wlien washed, to drain. Each sink has a supply, by cocks, of hot and cold water ; h is the high pressure steam-boiler before mentioned : it is of wrought iron, cylindrical, with hemispherical ends, two feet long, and ten inches in diameter, and the iron is nine sixteenths of an inch thick. It may be worked to eight atmospheres, and should have two safety valves, each one inch and a quarter in diameter : one of them should be locked up, in order to render it inaccessible to servants. The steam from this boiler may be used to warm the store-room occasionally ; i is an open boiler for boiling and cleansing the cloths used in culinary operations, such as puJding-cloths, &c., which are not things that should be sent to the general laundry. It is also to be made, by the circidation of hot water, subservient to heating the apparatus-room, pantry, and larder, through the line of pipes shown by the dotted line, .r. This open boiler will also afford a supply of hot water to both the sinks, /and g. The cleaning of cloths may be done by night, so as not to interfere with the purity of the water by day. This boiler must be self-supplied. There are two tables, k k, of considerable magnitude, on which culinary materials, when first introduced from the kitchen court, may be laid. Large plate drainers may be placed in the corners, z z. 2032. The Fuel-Room, L, must have an external door, as shown at w, for the intro- duction of fuel : it should be divided into bins of brickwork for the various kinds of fuel. 2033. Apparatus- Room, H. This is a room in which bright copper vessels, and all the finer utensils of tiie culinary art, should be kept. No vessels are so safe, in a poisonous point of view, as glass ; and, if cooks were only a little better educated, almost any «])eration at present performed in copper vessels might be done in glass, or porcelain, over gas flames, charcoal, or hot air. If this idea were reduced to practice, an apparatus room would be essential. It should contain a knife-cleaner, and a broad band of buff leather, coated with fine emery, to clean the vessels with rapidity : this should be worked by the foot. The room should be fitted up with shelves, racks, &c. ; and should have a middling-sized table in the centre. 2034. Pantry and Larder, E and F. Both these rooms should be fitted up with shelves, and drawers in abundance ; and a table, as large as convenient, should be placed in the centre, on which should be fixed a pair of scales with weights. The windows sliould have fly wirecloth, and be cajjable of giving abundant ventilation, 2035. The Store-Room, K, should be fitted up with shelves, drawers, hooks, &c. ; and diould have a table with di-awers and fixed scales of various sizes. A desk and books may be placed here, for the clerk of the kitchen, or head cook. 2036. Pastry-Room, I. This room is devoted solely to making and baking pastry. It has a large capacious oven of brick, cased in cast iron ; and must have abundant ventilation. A table and scales must also be provided for this room, and various ovens may be suggested; but I think one on the plan of the common confectioner's oven as good as any. 2037. General Construction. The kitchen, scullery, fuel-room, and pastry-room should