To clean the stove, first wash it with hot water and soda
after it is cold, if it is greasy ; and then blacken it with any
good stove-polish, according to the directions accompany-
ing the polish, and rub the steel fittings of the stove with
emery-paper. To build a fire, first let down the grate, and
take up the ashes and cinders carefully to avoid raising a
dust, sifting the cinders to use in building the fire ; brush
the soot and dust out of the upper part of the stove, and
from the flues which can be reached ; be sure that all parts
of the ovens and hot-boxes are clean ; if there is a water-
back attached to the stove, see that it is filled with water ;
if it is connected with water-pipes, be sure in winter that
they are not frozen ; brush up the hearth-stone. Lay the
fire as follows : Put a few handfuls of dry shavings or paper
in the bottom of the grate ; upon them, some small sticks
of pine wood laid across each other; then a few larger
sticks, and some cinders free from ashes ; a few small lumps
of coke or coal may be mixed with the cinders. Open all
the draughts of the stove, close all the covers, and light the
THE KITCHEN, PANTRY, AND CELLAR. 5
fire ; when the cinders are lighted, add fresh coke and coal
gradually and repeatedly until a clear, bright fire is started ;
then partly close the draughts. To keep up a fire, add fiiel
often, a little at once, in order not to check the heat : let-
ting the fire burn low, and then replenishing it abundantly,
is a wasteful method, because the stove grows so cold that
most of the fresh heat is lost in raising the temperature
again to the degree necessary for cooking. Removing the
covers of the stove, to place a utensil nearer the fire, lowers
the heat of the entire surface, and affects the temperature
of the ovens ; therefore flat-bottomed cooking-utensils are
the best, for they fit close upon the covered top of the
stove. Black iron saucepans cook more quickly than bright
tin ones ; coppers retain the heat, even when brightly pol-
ished, longer than any other metal, and are much the most
durable. All these points of excellence are treated in detail
in the author's "Cooking-school Text-book," to which the
reader who desires further information is referred. When
the fuel used is wood, the fire should be built and man-
aged much in the same way. Hard wood is preferable to
pine for cooking-purposes. Charcoal is a good cooking-
fuel, but it is generally expensive.
All the kitchen refuse should be burned, first draining it
from the slops ; and then, when there is no cooking going
on, it should be put upon the back of the fire, and all the
draughts thrown open so that it can be quickly and entirely
consumed. If there is no accumulation of rubbish in the
kitchen, there will probably be no more croton-bugs or
roaches than can be destroyed by the persistent use of
powdered borax and insect-powder.
THE PANTBY.
Although cleanliness in the kitchen is generally enforced
in well-regulated households, the same care is not always
6 PRACTICAL AMERICAN COOKERY.
Page 12
Presented as published in 1885. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
To clean the stove, first wash it with hot water and soda after it is cold, if it is greasy ; and then blacken it with any good stove-polish, according to the directions accompanying the polish, and rub the steel fittings of the stove with emery-paper. To build a fire, first let down the grate, and take up the ashes and cinders carefully to avoid raising a dust, sifting the cinders to use in building the fire ; brush the soot and dust out of the upper part of the stove, and from the flues which can be reached ; be sure that all parts of the ovens and hot-boxes are clean ; if there is a waterback attached to the stove, see that it is filled with water ; if it is connected with water-pipes, be sure in winter that they are not frozen ; brush up the hearth-stone. Lay the fire as follows : Put a few handfuls of dry shavings or paper in the bottom of the grate ; upon them, some small sticks of pine wood laid across each other; then a few larger sticks, and some cinders free from ashes ; a few small lumps of coke or coal may be mixed with the cinders. Open all the draughts of the stove, close all the covers, and light the
fire ; when the cinders are lighted, add fresh coke and coal gradually and repeatedly until a clear, bright fire is started ; then partly close the draughts. To keep up a fire, add fiiel often, a little at once, in order not to check the heat : letting the fire burn low, and then replenishing it abundantly, is a wasteful method, because the stove grows so cold that most of the fresh heat is lost in raising the temperature again to the degree necessary for cooking. Removing the covers of the stove, to place a utensil nearer the fire, lowers the heat of the entire surface, and affects the temperature of the ovens ; therefore flat-bottomed cooking-utensils are the best, for they fit close upon the covered top of the stove. Black iron saucepans cook more quickly than bright tin ones ; coppers retain the heat, even when brightly polished, longer than any other metal, and are much the most durable. All these points of excellence are treated in detail in the author's "Cooking-school Text-book," to which the reader who desires further information is referred. When the fuel used is wood, the fire should be built and managed much in the same way. Hard wood is preferable to pine for cooking-purposes. Charcoal is a good cooking-fuel, but it is generally expensive.
All the kitchen refuse should be burned, first draining it from the slops ; and then, when there is no cooking going on, it should be put upon the back of the fire, and all the draughts thrown open so that it can be quickly and entirely consumed. If there is no accumulation of rubbish in the kitchen, there will probably be no more croton-bugs or roaches than can be destroyed by the persistent use of powdered borax and insect-powder.
THE PANTRY.
Although cleanliness in the kitchen is generally enforced in well-regulated households, the same care is not always