Miss Parloa's New Cook Book. Maria Parloa
then pour the fat into the pot through a fine strainer, being careful to keep back the sediment, which scrape into the soap-grease. In this way you can fry in the same fat a dozen times, while if you are not careful to strain it each time, the crumbs left will burn and blacken all the fat. Occasionally, when you have finished frying, cut up two or three uncooked potatoes and put into the boiling fat. Set on the back of the stove for ten or fifteen minutes; then set in a cool place for fifteen minutes longer, and strain. The potatoes clarify the fat. Many people use ham fat for cooking purposes; and when there is no objection to the flavor, it is nice for frying eggs, potatoes, etc. But it should not be mixed with other kinds. The fat from mutton, lamb, geese, turkey or ducks will give an unpleasant flavor to anything with which it is used, and the best place for it is with the soap-grease. Every particle of soup and gravy should be saved, as a small quantity of either adds a great deal to many little dishes. The quicker food of all kinds cools the longer it keeps. This should be particularly remembered with soups and bread.
Bread and cake must be thoroughly cooled before being put into box or jar. If not, the steam will cause them to mold quickly. Crusts and pieces of stale bread should be dried in a slow oven, rolled into fine crumbs on a board, and put away for croquettes, cutlets or anything that is breaded. Pieces of stale bread can be used for toast, griddle-cakes and puddings and for dressing for poultry and other kinds of meat. Stale cake can be made into puddings; The best tub butter will keep perfectly well without a brine if kept in a cool, sweet room. It is more healthful and satisfactory to buy the choicest tub butter and use it for table and cooking purposes than to provide a fancy article for the table and use an inferior one in the preparation of the food. If, from any cause, butter becomes rancid, to each pint of it add one table-spoonful of salt and one teaspoonful of soda, and mix well; then add one pint of cold water, and set on the fire until it comes to the boiling point Now set away to cool, and when cool and hard, take off the butter in a cake. Wipe dry and put away for cooking purposes. It will be perfectly sweet.
Milk, cream and butter all quickly absorb strong odors; therefore, care must be taken to keep them in a cool, sweet room or in an ice chest. Cheese should be wrapped in a piece of clean linen and kept in a box. Berries must be kept in a cool place, and uncovered.
KITCHEN FURNISHING.
Stove, or Range?
The question often arises, even with old housekeepers, Which shall it be--a stove or a range? There are strong points in favor of each. For a small kitchen the range may be commended, because it occupies the least space, and does not heat a room as intensely as a stove, although it will heat water enough for kitchen and bath-room purposes for a large family. That the range is popular is evident from the fact that nearly every modern house is supplied with one; and thus the cost of, and cartage for, stoves is generally saved to tenants in these days.
There are these advantage of a stove over a set range: it requires less than half as much fuel and is more easily managed--that is, the fire can be more quickly started, and if it gets too low, more easily replenished and put in working order; and the ovens can be more quickly heated or cooled. But, although you can have a water-back and boiler with most modern stoves or, as they are now called, portable ranges, the supply of hot water will not be large. And you cannot roast before the fire as with a range.
So near-perfection have the makers of ranges and stoves come that it would be difficult to speak of possible improvements, especially in stoves. This can be said not of a few, but of a great many manufacturers, each having his special merit. And where the products are so generally good, it is hard to mention one make in preference to another. When purchasing, it is well to remember, that one of simple construction is the most easily managed and does not soon get out of order. No single piece of furniture contributes so much to the comfort of a family as the range or stove, which should, therefore, be the best of its kind.
Gas and Oil Stoves.
During the hot weather a gas or oil stove is a great comfort. The "Sun Dial," manufactured by the Goodwin Gas Stove Co., Philadelphia, is a "perfect gem," roasting, baking, broiling, etc., as well as a coal stove or range. Indeed, meats roasted or broiled by it are jucier than when cooked over or before coals. The peculiar advantage of oil and gas stoves is that they can be coveniently used for a short time, say for the preparation of a meal, at a trifling expense. The cost of running a gas stove throughout the day is, however, much greater than that of a coal stove, while an oil stove can be run cheaper than either. There are a great many manufacturers of oil stoves, and as a natural consequence, where there is so much competition, the stoves are nearly all good. One would not think of doing the cooking for a large family with one or, indeed, two of them; but the amount of work that can be accomplished with a single stove is remarkable. They are a great comfort in hot weather, many small families doing their entire cooking with them.
Refrigerators.
The trouble with most refrigerators is that the food kept in them is apt to have a peculiar taste. This is owing in a great measure to the wood used in the construction of the interior and for the shelves. On the inside of the Eddy chest-shaped refrigerator there is not a particle of wood, and the food kept in it is always sweet. It is simply a chest, where the ice is placed on the bottom and slate shelves put on top. With this style of refrigerator the waste of ice is much greater than in those built with a separate compartment for ice, but the food is more healthful.
Utensils.
The following is a list of utensils with which a kitchen should be furnished. But the housekeeper will find that there is continually something new to be bought. If there be much fancy cooking, there must be an ice cream freezer, jelly and charlotte russe moulds and many little pans and cutters. The right way is, of course, to get the essential articles first, and then, from time to time, to add those used in fancy cooking:
Two cast-iron pots, size depending upon range or stove (they come with the stove).One griddle.One porcelain-lined preserving kettle.One fish kettle.Three porcelain-lined stew-pans, holding from one to six quarts.One No. 4 deep Scotch frying kettle.One waffle ironThree French polished frying-pans, Nos. 1, 3 and 6.Four stamped tin or granite ware stewpans, holding from one pint to four quarts.One double boiler, holding three quarts.One Dover egg-beater.One common wire beater.One meat rack.One dish pan.Two bread pans, holding six and eight quarts respectively.Two milk pans.Two Russian-iron baking pans--two sizes.Four tin shallow baking-pans.Four deep pans for loaves.Two quart measures.One deep, round pan of granite-ware, with cover, for braising.One deep Russian-iron French roll pan.Two stamped tin muffin pans.One tea-pot.One coffee-pot.One coffee biggin.One chocolate pot.One colander.One squash strainer.One strainer that will fit on to one of the cast-iron pots.One frying-basket.One melon mould.Two brown bread tins.One round pudding mould.Two vegetable cutters.One tea canister.One coffee canister.One cake box.One spice box.One dredger for flour.One for powdered sugar.One smaller dredger for salt.One, still smaller, for pepper.One boning knife.One French cook's knife.One large fork.Two case-knives and forks.Two vegetable knives.Four large mixing spoons.Two table-spoons.Six teaspoons.One larding needle.One trussing needle.One set of steel skewers.One wire dish cloth.One whip churn.One biscuit cutter.One hand basin.One jagging iron.Three double broilers--one each for toast, fish and meat.One long-handled dipper.One large grater.One apple corer.One flour scoop.One sugar scoop.One lemon squeezer.Chopping tray and knife.Small wooden bowl to use in chopping.Moulding board of good hard wood.Board for cutting-bread on.One for cutting cold meats on.Thick board, or block, on which to break bones, open lobsters, etc.A rolling pin.Wooden buckets for sugar, Graham, Indian and rye meal.Wooden boxes for rice, tapioca, crackers, barley, soda, cream of tartar, etc.Covers for flour barrels.Wire flour sieve--not too large.A pail for cleaning purposes.One vegetable masher.Stone pot for bread, holding ten quarts.One for butter, holding six quarts.One for pork, holding three quarts.One dust pan and brush.One scrubbing brush.One broom.One blacking brush.Four yellow earthen bowls, holding from six quarts down.Four white, smooth-bottomed bowls, holding one quart each.One bean pot.One earthen pudding dish.
All the tin ware should be made from xx tin. It will then keep its shape, and wear three times as long as if made of thin stuff. Scouring with sand soon ruins tin, the coarse sand scratching it and causing it to rust. Sapolio, a soap which comes for cleaning tins, wood-work and paint, will be found of great value in the kitchen.
Granite