Smooth paint is the best surface for the shelf. Shelf covers of paper or oilcloth look clean when they are fresh, but are less sanitary than uncovered shelves. Drawers should not be too large, for these are heavy to pull and push when full. Cupboard shelves are on the whole more satisfactory than drawers, because this tiresome pulling out and pushing in are avoided. Towels can be piled on the shelves, and small utensils hung on right-angled screw hooks. Do not use curved hooks, except for hanging cups from the bottom of a shelf.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7.--Section of a refrigerator wall. _Courtesy of the White Enamel Refrigerator Co._]
=The refrigerator.=--A good refrigerator is built with double walls, and has several layers of non-conducting material. Figure 7 shows the careful way in which the refrigerator wall is made. 1. Porcelain enamel lining lock joint. 2. Inside wood lining. 3. Three-ply red rope water-proof paper. 4. Wool felt deafening paper. 5. Flaxlinum insulation. 6. Dead air s.p.a.ce. 7. Flaxlinum insulation. 8. Wool felt deafening paper. 9. Three-ply red rope water-proof paper. 10. Outside wood case. The ice chamber is arranged to be easily filled, and has a connecting pipe for carrying off the water. If this is connected with the sewerage system of the house, make sure that it is properly trapped (Fig. 8). See "Shelter and Clothing," page 51, for description of the S trap. The closets for the food should have an enamel or tiled lining. This is non-absorptive, and may be kept perfectly clean. A large refrigerator is more economical of ice than a small one, and in the end more than balances the few dollars extra that must be paid for the larger size. Select the coolest spot that you have for the refrigerator. Figure 9 shows the construction of a good refrigerator.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8.--A refrigerator trap. _Courtesy of the White Enamel Refrigerator Co._]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 9.--A well-constructed refrigerator. _Courtesy of the White Enamel Refrigerator Co._]
Artificial ice is cleaner and therefore safer to use than the natural.
Always wash off the block before putting it into the ice chamber. Wash out the ice chamber once a week, and pour a solution of washing soda down the waste pipe.
The food chambers should be washed out once a week and dried, and no spilled food allowed to remain a moment. Do not leave the doors open. Have a strong ice pick for breaking ice.
A _window box_ fastened outside the window by strong iron brackets provides a convenient place for cooling food, and keeping some semi-perishable foods. It is easily made from a watertight wooden box, painted outside and in, the opening toward the window having a curtain of table oilcloth. A piece of wire netting set in one side of the box permits of a current of air.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 10.--A sink of simple construction. _Courtesy of J. L.
Mott Co._]
=The sink.=--White enameled iron and porcelain are the most desirable materials for the sink. A simply constructed sink is shown in Fig. 10.
Notice that the sink is supported from the wall, leaving a free s.p.a.ce underneath. A larger sink is shown in Fig. 11, with the draining board in the sink. The trap below the sink should be a large S trap, and the trap and faucets should be nickel plate.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 11.--A larger sink. _Courtesy of the J. L. Mott Co._]
An iron sink should be rubbed and polished until it becomes very smooth.
Do not attempt to paint it. If it is left perfectly dry, it will not rust.
=Hot water supply.=--A good supply is essential to rapid and thorough work. The apartment dweller who finds it piped to the sink is most fortunate. The separate house must have a boiler connected with the coal range, or a water tank fastened to the range. If gas is used, have some kind of gas water heater that will give a sufficient flow for dish-washing and cleaning purposes. A boiler may be heated with a kerosene stove. The boiler should be fastened above the floor with s.p.a.ce below for a one-burner blue-flame kerosene stove. Have a faucet in the boiler.
Wherever a boiler is used it is economy to have it covered with some non-conducting material, just as steam pipes are packed.
=Utensils.=--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. The list given on page 28 is a sample one, to be changed to suit the individual preference, and increased as the need arises; it could be smaller, if necessary. 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.[3]
Learn to pay for, use, and clean good machines.
A "_Dover_" _egg beater_ is built on the principle of the "wheel and axle." The large wheel has five times as many 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. Fig. 12.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 12.--An inexpensive bread mixer, cover on and off.
_Courtesy of Landers, Frary and Clark._]
A _meat chopper_ or grinder also saves strength and time, and is cleaner than the wooden chopping bowl.
LIST OF UTENSILS[4]
_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.
1 3-bladed chopping knife, _or_ meat grinder.
1 apple corer.
2 plated or steel forks, table.
1 long-handled fork, three-p.r.o.nged.
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.