CHAPTER III. The kitchen-Larder-Pantry-The cook and her duties-Washing up the tea and dinner things--Cleaning glass and plate-Making bread-Breakfast-Toast-Coffee-Eggs-Bacon-Tongue. THE kitchen is the most important room of the house, and the comfort, the health, even the very lives of the family depend on its purity and cleanliness. It should be lofty, that there may be an admission of pure air; light, that the cook may see that all her vessels are clean; and conveniently fitted up, that the work may be done well and completely. For this reason, though certainly attended by some inconveniences, kitchens on the third or fourth floor, as they are often found in houses of business in London, are not without their advantages; they are airy, light, and commonly healthy. The doors of a kitchen should always open towards the fireplace, that the current of air may not be disturbed by the opening and shutting, and cause the chimney to smoke. There should be in the kitchen a dresser to run along the side, above which may be a rail on which the copper stew-pans and saucepans, which are tinned inside, may be conspicuously placed, so that any defects in the tinning be seen by the vigilant mistress, and remedied immediately. The dresser should have drawers with locks, to contain the kitchen linen. may Beneath this dresser should be a shelf, where the fishkettle, steam-pans, frying-pans, gridiron, and drippingpans should stand, so exposed that it may be seen that they are clean. A dark pan-closet is often made a hiding-place for slovenliness, and a receptacle for waste. 24 INSTRUCTIONS FOR VARIOUS In the middle of the kitchen should stand the dishingup table, as large as it can stand conveniently, kept scrupulously clean, free from spot and grease, and perfectly smooth, that no dirt may be harboured in the inequalities. There should always be a clean coarse cloth to spread over this table when the dinner is dished up, and a loose piece of floorcloth to place at one end, where a pan may conveniently be set. If there be no steam-apparatus, so convenient for performing the offices of cooking in the kitchen, the fireplace should be wide, an oven on one side, always kept in a serviceable state; on the other side a boiler with a tap, which should be kept filled up with hot water, as well for kitchen use as for the emergencies of the household. Besides fish-kettle, steam-pans of block-tin, and tinned copper pans, the kitchen should be provided with one large brass pan for preserving, two or three brass saucepans, a frying-pan, an omelette-pan, and a gridiron. A marble mortar is exceedingly useful, and with care will last two or three lifetimes. It is prudent to have a good supply of common knives and forks, wooden and pewter spoons, a chopper, a meatsaw, colander and colander-spoon, graters, dredgingboxes for flour and for salt, a cleaver for separating joints, and a steel for sharpening knives in the kitchen. It is also well to have an abundant supply of common crockery, large dishes with wire covers, to set the cold meat by; basins, plates, moulds, jugs, and large bowls, besides baking-dishes of various sizes. In one of the kitchen drawers the cook should have a ball of packthread, and some large needles, also some painters brushes, for egg, &c. A plentiful supply of tubs and brushes, with a wooden plate-rack, are absolutely requisite; and the kitchen linen for a moderate-sized family should consist of→ Four table-cloths for dishing-up table. Four covers for dresser. Six kitchen dinner-cloths, all coarse huckaback. MODES OF COOKERY. Twelve rubbers of coarse brown cloth, all hemmed. Six napkins for fish, vegetables, or tarts. 25 Twelve tea-towels of soft huckaback or linen, a yard long and about three quarters wide. Four round towels to fit a rack behind the door, of Russia towelling. Six square pudding-cloths, of linen. One bag, shaped for pease-pudding. Flannel jelly-bag. Besides dish-cloths, flannel-rubbers, &c. A small scullery, with sink and cold-water tap, adjoining the kitchen, is very convenient for the scouring pans and washing dishes; and this should be kept as clean as the kitchen itself. The larder should be large enough to contain all the meat, dressed or undressed, in the house; it should be airy, but perfectly dry, flagged, with a window to the north protected by wire net. It should have strong iron meat-hooks above, with separate wire safes for game, vegetables, and fruit. A marble slab for making paste is a desirable addition to the larder; which should also contain a balance to weigh the meat, and a block to chop it upon. Where a man-servant is kept, a small room or closet, near the dining-room, is appropriated to the plate, glass, knives, &c., called the pantry. If there be no man-servant, the cook must have the charge and responsibility of the pantry, which should have presses and drawers to contain the china, glass, knives, and plates, a dresser, on which to wash the things, and a knife-board. In the drawers of the pantry should always be placed, at least, one dozen china-cloths of soft linen or diaper; and one dozen glass-cloths of the same material, one yard long and three-quarters broad. Flannel knife-rubbers and lamp-rubbers. Fine linen cloths and wash-leathers for the plate. The cruet-stands and liquor-stands should have brown 26 INSTRUCTIONS FOR VARIOUS holland covers; and there should be flannel bags or coverings for the knives which are not in constant use. It is absolutely necessary that a cook should be healthy and strong, or she never can perform her arduous duties; she should be clean as well in appearance as in habits, honest and sober. Of the value of cleanliness a good cook will be perfectly aware, for the least particle of dust, soot, or any extraneous matter will entirely ruin a carefully-prepared dish. Cleanliness, it has been well observed, is the soul of cookery. The floor of the kitchen should be washed every morning, and swept over before the cookery of the dinner begins, and after all the dishes are set by. The pans and kettles used should be carefully washed and scoured every day, perfectly dried and polished near the rim; it is useless and destructive to keep the outside of pans in daily use polished. Every cook should remember the great responsibility she takes on herself, and have all her pans in good order; and it is the duty and interest of every lady who does not keep a housekeeper once a week to see herself that the pans are clean, dry, free from rust, and securely tinned. Jelly-bags, pudding-cloths, and all binding-tapes, &c., should be kept perfectly pure; they should never be washed with soap, but immediately after use be scalded, rinsed in cold water, and thoroughly dried before they are put by. An honest cook should avoid all extravagance. Waste, in coals, in scraps of meat, in pieces of bread, is dishonesty. For washing tea-things there should be two wooden bowls of hot water; the cream-jug should be first washed, after standing a few minutes filled with hot water; then the teacups and saucers: they must be washed in one bowl, dipped in the other, and then dried with a perfectly clean tea-towel. A clean flannel to rub the edges is sometimes used. MODES OF COOKERY. 27 The spoons must be washed in a separate basin, rubbed with a leather, and counted before they are put by. A careless servant will sometimes throw a silver spoon down the sink in the washing-up water. The tea-pot requires careful washing; if put carelessly into the water after the cups and plates it will be greasy, and inevitably spoil the tea next made in it. It should be emptied, the leaves being put by in a jar for the housemaid; then filled with clean hot water, which must stand some time; then be shaken about and poured out. Finally, it must be rinsed in cold water, the inside made quite dry, and if silver or other metal, the outside must be rubbed with a leather. For washing up the dinner things there should be a good-sized tub of hot water, and another by the side of it filled with cold water. The plates and dishes are first washed with a clean dishcloth in the hot water, then dipped in the cold water, and placed in the rack to drain. If many plates and dishes have been used, the water, which soon becomes greasy, must be renewed. blades of the knives may be dipped in the hot water and wiped, to cleanse them from the grease before being cleaned on the knife-board; but great care must be taken not to wet the haft. The Silver spoons and forks must be washed in a separate bowl in hot water-then polished with the leather. A wooden bowl, with cold water, should always be used for washing glasses; for in an earthenware vessel they are liable to be broken by striking against the sides. They must stand ten minutes in the water, then be taken out, and turned over to drain for ten minutes more,wiped carefully with a clean glass-cloth, one corner of which, with the foot of the glass, should be held in the left hand, while with the rest of the cloth the glass should be dried with the right hand. They must be polished with a wash-leather. The greatest care is necessary in cleaning decanters. There are several materials used for the purpose: pounded |