Utensils

—for bread-making purposes, earthen or china ware is preferable to either tin or wooden utensils: being a poor conductor, it protects the sponge from the cold air much more effectually than tin, and is much more easily kept clean and sweet than wood. The utensil should be kept exclusively for the purpose of bread-making, and should never be allowed to contain any sour substance. The bowl should be thoroughly scalded before and after each using. Use silver or granite-ware spoons for stirring the bread. Iron and tin discolor the sponge. For measuring the material, particularly the liquid and the yeast, half-pint cups, divided by marks into thirds and fourths, as shown in the cut, are especially serviceable.

The expert cook is known by the small number of utensils that she uses. If you watch the expert at work, you will see too, that each utensil is exactly fitted to its use.

The skilled cook is like the carpenter or painter, and her set of tools is individual. When you first furnish a kitchen, avoid an elaborate display of tools, beginning with the few essentials only.

No one material is suitable for the construction of all utensils. Those subjected to intense heat must be of material able to resist it. The material for a given utensil must be selected with the purpose of the utensil in mind. The material should be durable, easy to clean, and of such a nature that it does not affect chemically the food material cooked in it.

• Aluminium—A white metal, fairly durable, very light in weight. Discolors easily, and is not easy to clean. Expensive. Used for all kinds of utensils.

• Copper—Endures heat, durable, fairly light to handle. Hard to keep clean. Expensive. Used for kettles. Not desirable for family use.

• Earthenware—Will not endure the highest temperatures without crackling. Easily breakable. Easy to clean, unless crackled. Inexpensive. Useful for slow oven processes, for pitchers and mixing bowls.

• Enamel—A vitrified material upon iron or steel. The English enamel ware upon iron is durable, excellent for preserving, heavy. The German and American enamels are lighter. Avoid the attractive blue, and blue and white except for pitchers, cups, bowls, and plates. They crackle and chip off more easily with heat then the gray enamels. One German make, of a dark mottled gray, is less brittle in the finish than most American makes. All the enamels are easy to keep clean. Used for kettles, saucepans, roasting, and baking. Less durable than steel and iron.

• Iron—Endures intense heat. Durable. Heavy to handle. Becomes smooth with long use, and then is not difficult to clean. Affects the color of acid fruits. Not expensive. Used for frying kettles and pans and kettles for boiling.

• Russia iron is a sheet iron of good quality for roasting and bread pans. Expensive.

• Steel—Endures intense heat. Durable. Medium weight. Fairly easy to clean. Affects acid fruits. Medium cost. Same uses as iron, also for roasting and baking pans, and smaller kettles.

• Tin—Tin, a “useful metal,” is plated on thin sheet iron for utensils. So-called block tin is the best quality. Will not endure intense heat. The tin wears and scratches off with use. Not easy to clean. Discolors easily, and colors acid fruit. Poor tin ware is not worth buying. Good quality is not cheap. May be used for measures, and for small saucepans, but is less desirable than other wares.

• Wooden ware—Used for molding boards, meat boards, and spoons.

• The patterns of utensils—Select those made without seams, or flutings, where food particles collect. Bowls, saucepans, and kettles should have a lip on the side, for the pouring out of liquids. A pitcher should be of such shape that it can be easily washed, and it should have a lip that will pour well. A pot for boiling coffee should have a lip and not a spout. Select utensils with non-conducting handles.

Study carefully the selection of knives, and do not try to economize in their purchase. Knives must be sharp, and poor quality steel will never take a good edge. A worn table knife of Sheffield steel, when ground down, makes the best of kitchen knives. Buy a good sharpener and use it frequently.

Labor-saving devices.—A good machine saves the wear and tear of human muscle, and also much time. If you have studied the principles of the lever and other mechanical devices, you will understand why this is.

Learn to pay for, use, and clean good machines.

• Dover egg beater is built on the principle of the “wheel and axle.” The large wheel has five times as many28 cogs as the small, one revolution of the large wheel giving five of the small, and one turn of the handle five revolutions of the blades. It saves your wrist, and saves time to use the “Dover” in place of a fork. It is more trouble to wash the Dover beater than the fork. Yet a cook may object to a bread mixer and meat chopper, because they are harder to clean than the bowl and spoon and knife.

A good bread mixer saves strength and is sanitary.

A meat chopper or grinder also saves strength and time, and is cleaner than the wooden chopping bowl.

LIST OF UTENSILS

Utensils needed for preparing and mixing

1 can opener.

1 corkscrew.

1 vegetable knife, pointed.

1 steel table knife, broad blade.

1 meat knife and fork.

1 bread knife, or slicer.

1 small meat axe.

1 knife sharpener.29

1 3-bladed chopping knife, or meat grinder.

1 apple corer.

2 plated or steel forks, table.

1 long-handled fork, three-pronged.

1 palette knife.

1 pair heavy scissors.

1 set skewers.

1 large mixing spoon, enamel ware.

6 plated tablespoons, or German silver.

6 plated teaspoons, or German silver.

1 saltspoon, bone.

1 wooden spatula.

1 Dover egg beater, large size.

1 wire egg beater.

1 wire potato masher.

1 colander.

1 wire strainer.

1 wire strainer, cup size.

1 flour sifter.

1 flour dredger.

1 salt shaker.

1 coffee mill.

1 grater.

1 nutmeg grater.

1 glass lemon squeezer.

1 large mixing bowl for bread.

1 medium bowl for cake.

2 pint bowls.

1 quart measure.

1 half-pint measuring cup.

1 molding board.

1 rolling pin.

1 meat board.

1 or 2 plates.

1 or 2 china molds.

1 kitchen scales.

Classic things and conveniences needed in the kitchen

6 small hand towels.

Towel racks.

1 high stool.

1 or 2 comfortable chairs.

A clock.

Sheets of paper, tissue and heavier.

Heavy linen thread and large needle.

Ball of soft, strong twine.

A shelf for cook books.

Utensils needed for stewing, steaming, and boiling

(Sizes dependent on number in family.)

1 teakettle, enamel or aluminium.

1 double-boiler, enamel ware.

1 pint saucepan, enamel covered.

1 or 2 stewpans, enamel covered.

1 kettle, covered.

1 steamer.

Utensils needed for broiling, pan broiling, the sauté, and frying

(Broiler and toaster supplied with gas range.)

1 wire toaster.

1 heavy wire broiler.

1 frying pan, with lip, steel or iron.

1 frying kettle and basket.

Utensils needed for roasting, braising, and baking

(Roasting pan provided with gas range.)

1 roasting pan, covered, steel or iron.

1 or 2 heavy earthen pots, covered.

1 baking pan for fish, iron, or heavy earthenware.

2 or 3 bread pans (for loaf cake also).

1 shallow pan for cake.

1 muffin pan.

1 flat cooky tin.

3 round pans, for layer cake, enamel.

2 pie pans.

2 or 3 pitchers.

6-12 heavy earthen cups, for popovers and custards.

2 round baking dishes, earthen or enamel.

Utensils needed for holding food materials

A few cheap saucers, plates, and bowls for food in the refrigerator.

Bins for flour, meals, and sugar.

A dozen glass wide-mouthed preserving jars.

Jelly glasses for spices, etc.

Tin boxes can be kept for such purposes.

(Use gummed labels on these jars and glasses.)

Utensils needed for washing dishes

1 dishpan, enamel.

1 shallow rinsing pan.

1 soap shaker.

2 soap dishes.

1 shaker for washing powder.

6 glass towels.

6 heavier towels.

6 loose weave dishcloths.

• Care of the kitchen.—The daily cleaning must include the care of the sink and traps, the cleaning of the stove, brushing the floor, and washing off of tables. More thorough cleaning includes the scrubbing of the floor, washing of walls, woodwork, and windows, cleaning of closets and drawers.

The stoves should be rubbed often with paper, and washed thoroughly when necessary. Great pains must be taken to keep the ovens clean, by frequent washing out. Gas burners must be taken off and boiled in a solution of sal soda once in a while. The top and bottom of coal ovens should be cleaned out once a month. Kerosene stoves need constant cleaning. Stove blacking makes the stove more attractive.

• Dish-washing.—It is not difficult to wash dishes well, although many people make it a very disagreeable process. The necessary apparatus is given in the utensil list. The cleansing materials include a plentiful supply of hot water, a good soap, ammonia or borax to soften the water, a gritty soap or powder. Have a pan for washing and another for rinsing, and a tray for draining if there is no drainer attached to the sink.

• Order of work in the kitchen—Prepare the dishes by scraping and neatly piling articles of a kind together. Rub greasy dishes with soft paper, and put water and ammonia or washing powder into utensils that need soaking. Have clean towels at hand. Make ready a pan of hot soap suds, by using a soap shaker, or soap solution, but do not put the cake of soap in the pan. Have rinsing water ready.

Wash the cleanest dishes first, usually the glasses, next the cups and saucers, and the silver next. Have the soiled dishes near the pan, and put in only one or two articles at a time, washing with mop or dish cloth. To pile in a number means the nicking of china, and scratching of silver. Dip each dish in the rinsing water and then put in the drainer. If there is not room for two pans, the dishes may be piled on the drainer not too many at a time, and the rinsing water poured over. Be careful not to use too hot water for delicate china and glass. Change the soapy water when it becomes in the least greasy.

Wipe the dishes while they are still warm, and use dry towels.

Wash the utensils thoroughly, especially on the bottom. Heavy utensils can be dried without wiping, on or near the stove. Do not put any utensils away until they are perfectly dry.

Steel knives should be scoured and thoroughly rinsed and dried. Wash out the towels and dishpan, and leave the sink and drainboard perfectly clean. It does take time and work for this whole process, but spotless cleanliness is our aim.

Home dish-washers are being devised, and should save some of the labor. None as yet has proved very satisfactory.

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