The Business of Being a Housewife: A Manual to Promote Household Efficiency and EconomyMalek, Leona A. (Leona Alford)
General
The Business of Being a Housewife: A Manual to Promote Household Efficiency and Economy
Malek, Leona A. (Leona Alford)
Cooking, American; Home economics
Place cereals, syrups, coffee, tea, spices, baking powder, salt,
extracts and all canned foods upon the pantry shelf or in the
convenient kitchen cabinet.
_Select foods carefully and use them with respect_
TO HELP THE HOSTESS
To observe the rules given for maid service when without a maid, would
be an unnecessary tax upon one’s time and strength. The serving can be
done nicely if attention be paid to certain points.
To avoid disturbance and frequent rising from the table, all foods
which the temperature of the rooms will not affect should be placed
upon the table or the serving table.
It is a good plan to have some young member of the family circle
perform what service is required. For this kind of service it is
permissible to remove plates or dishes two at a time, one in each hand,
and to leave a person without a plate. This is, of course, contrary to
conventional service.
A FEW STANDARD RULES FOR SERVING
1. Pass and place everything from the left, except beverages and extra
silver belonging on the right.
2. Place and remove plates one at a time. To save time, two plates may
be brought to the dining room. Place one on the serving table and the
other on the dining table; return to the serving table for the second
plate, rather than to the pantry.
3. Use a folded napkin in the hand under all dishes served which
contain food.
4. Use a tray only when passing or removing more than one article, as
cream and sugar, or salt and pepper.
5. In removing a course, first take all dishes containing food, then
soiled plates and silver.
6. Special watchfulness should be given by the maid that each person’s
needs are attended to.
7. Two pieces of silver placed on a platter containing food to be
served are more convenient than one, for the person serving himself.
8. No sound of preparation should come from the pantry.
9. Hot dishes must come to the table hot and served on hot plates. Cold
dishes must be cold and served on cold plates.
10. A maid should always wear a clean fresh dress and apron.
PREPAREDNESS MAKES DOING EASY
The great majority of the American housewives do their own work.
A bit of hourly help now and then is the extent of help in thousands of
representative homes.
To be able to prepare a perfect meal, have the house in order, the
children happy and spotless, the table attractively set, and to serve
the meal oneself at the same time retaining one’s poise, occupying the
hostess’ place at the table, directing the conversation and creating
a feeling of true hospitality is, perhaps, the greatest test of one’s
generalship.
These suggestions will help make the accomplishments a pleasure.
The “Day Before”
1. Plan menu and do all buying excepting fresh salad materials.
2. Prepare as much as possible of the company meal.
3. Put the house in order.
4. See that all silver, china, glassware and linen is in perfect
condition.
The “Day Of”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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