Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/109

 Copper is, of course, everlasting, but the initial outlay is considerable ; it is heavy for constant lifting, and needs thorough clean- ing and burnishing, and unless the tinned interior is kept intact it soon becomes a serious danger to health. Tin utensils are useless except for spirit lamps, although good block-tin answers well for gas-stove cooking, or for such utensils as fish-kettles, steamers, etc. The seamless steel pans are, perhaps, the most serviceable. They are very strong, easily cleaned, and can be re-tinned, if necessary. Nowadays, no kitchen would be con- sidered properly equipped without a supply of earthenware utensils, casseroles, mar- mites, and such like, for they are so cleanly, and there is never the least risk of their spoiling the most delicately flavoured foods, if they are kept properly cleaned. LABOUR-SAVING APPLIANCES Although there is a vast number of really useful labour and time-saving appliances in the market to-day, it is a remarkable fact that there are but comparatively few houses into which they have been introduced. The British housewife is apt to be dis- tinctly behind the times in her kitchen ; if her mother's cook was content to do all the chopping by hand, pound away at the bread-dough, etc., why should she spend her money and pamper her domestics with mincing machines, bread mixers, forcing bags, wire and hair sieves ? The daintiest little moulds can be obtained, and other contrivances that put joy into the heart of any cook. Of such kitchen treasures there are scores, such as : The frying basket, vegetable pressers, trussing needles, cutters, egg poachers, egg whisks, apple corers, pastry brushes. Many of these things can be bought for less than a shilling, and yet the cook is grudged these helpers, although, maybe, she is allowed a "char" at 2S. 6d. per day and her meals, plus her wonderful skill for producing the muddle and dirt which she is supposed to be eradicating. 91 KITCHEN AND COOKERY SYSTEM IN ARRANGEMENT Wall space should not be wasted ; if utensils are kept in sight the easier it is to find them, and the more likely they are to be kept clean. Each new cook, however, should not be allowed to hammer in nails at ]ier own sweet will, but strips of painted wood should be fixed properly to th^ walls, and into these brass hooks screwed. Pans of all sorts should be arranged in one group, iron spoons, fish slice, and skewers in another. " A place for everything and everything in its place " is one of the golden rules for the kitchen. An orderly cook should be able to find the merest trifle in the dark. Provide white-glazed earthenware-covered jars for ingredients, with the name of the contents on each in black lettering. Enamelled tins of a similar kind look bright, although the former are really preferable. Bits of groceries should on no account be left lying about in paper bags, since, if they are, they merely invite mice and beetles. Jars and tins should be arranged on a shelf at a convenient height ; this facilitates work and avoids hunting for things in a badly lighted cupboard. In the scullery it is useful to have fixed wooden grooved draining boards, sloping towards the sink ; slate, marble, or tiled sides are very cleanly and look well, but plates are easily chipped against the stone when laying them to drain. DISHCLOTHS In many households dishcloths are a thing of the past ; they are considered, and correctly, as non-hygienic, and indeed, often are greasy and slimy, and contain fragments of food. In their place large, stout, round brushes are used ; something like, only, superior to. the brushes used for putting on enamel paint. These brushes are easily washed, the bristles penetrate well into any crevices in the crockery, round the handles of cups, and so forth, and remove dried substances far more quickly than cloths. TME A C OF COOHIHG It seems that the average woman begins the study of cookery at the wrong end. She follows recipes and makes dishes, then in- cidentally finds out the various points about cooking them. For example, after making a dozen or so boiled puddings, all more or less heavy, it suddenly occurs to her that perhaps it would have been better not to have checked the cooking by adding cold water when the pot needed replenishing, so for a change she adds Result, a beautifully light pudding. It seems a pity, however, that through her ignorance of such an important detail the family digestions have suffered, not to men- tion the waste of good material. Now, we are most anxious that those of our readers who do not already know some- thing of cooking should learn to walk before they attempt to run, while we hope ex- perienced housewives will not mind having their knowledge " brushed up." boihng water. THE VARIOUS METHODS OF COOKING Boiling has three objects : I. To RETAIN ALL FLAVOUR AND NOURISH- MENT in the food, instead of allowing it to BOILING This is one of the simplest ways of cooking. It implies immersing the food to be cooked in boihng liquid, not necessarily water, for a certain length of time. escape into the water — e.g., boiled mutton, boiled cod ; a boiled fowl, these must be