An Ideal Kitchen: Miss Parloa's Kitchen Companion: A Guide for All Who Would Be Good HousekeepersParloa, Maria
General
An Ideal Kitchen: Miss Parloa's Kitchen Companion: A Guide for All Who Would Be Good Housekeepers
Parloa, Maria
Cooking, American; Home economics; Kitchen utensils; Kitchens
Now, a portable range can be so placed as to permit of one’s walking
almost around it; it can be used as advantageously as a set range,
with about half the same quantity of coal; there is a prompt response
to the opening or closing of a draught; one’s feet do not get heated
by standing near it; there are no dark corners; the need of moving
utensils is to a large extent avoided, and it can be so managed that
there shall be a hot oven at any time of the day. But roasting must be
done in the oven, and broiling over the coals, and the supply of hot
water is limited.
With a set range there must be a broad hearth of tiles, slate, or best
face-brick. If a portable range be used, only a large piece of zinc
will be required under it.
THE PANTRY.
And now the pantry. It should be about 12 × 8 feet. The window
should have a wire screen, and inside folding blinds will be found
a great convenience,—indeed, they are a necessity. A large, strong
table, containing two drawers, should be placed at this window. There
should be hooks at the ends of the table, from which to suspend the
pastry-board, the board on which cold meats are cut, and that on which
bread and cake are cut. In one drawer the rolling-pin, knives, pastry
and cake cutters, and a few other utensils may be kept; and in the
other drawer, spices, flavoring extracts, etc.
At one end of the room the wall should be covered with hooks on which
to hang saucepans. At the same end, about a foot from the floor, there
should be a broad shelf on which to keep heavy pots and kettles, turned
upside down to keep out dust. Two feet above this shelf there should
be a narrow one for the covers of the utensils just mentioned. By
following this plan one can keep all these articles together and always
in sight, and no time need be lost in searching for any of them.
There will be space in this end of the room for small shelves for the
glass jars in which to keep materials used frequently, such as tapioca,
barley, rice, baking-powder, soda, cream-of-tartar, ginger, split peas,
etc. Here, also, may be kept small pasteboard boxes containing herbs.
In the window-frame put brass hooks, on which to hang the egg-beater,
spoons, graded measuring-cups, a whisk, etc.
At the lower end of the pantry have a strong rack, a few inches from
the floor, on which to place flour-barrels. This plan insures the
circulation of air under the barrels, keeping their contents sweet.
About a foot above the barrels have a wall closet, with shelves
about twenty inches wide. This should be supplied with a lock, as it
is designed for keeping cooked food and such groceries as raisins,
currants, and citron, in glass jars, besides fresh fruit. The door or
doors should be made partly of wire.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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