Always get your material for breakfast ready over night ; fix the fire
all ready to light, fill the tea kettle, grind the coffee and prepare the
potatoes, and thus you can sleep half an hour longer in the morning.
Every housekeeper should have " a place for everything and every-
thing in its place " framed and hung in a conspicuous place and follow
the directions.
Keep your salt and pepper boxes on a little shelf back of or near the
stove and save your steps.
Lard requires no other care than to be kept in a dry, cool place.
Pack butter in a clean, scalded firkin ; cover it with a strong brine and
spread a cloth all over the top. If you have a bit of saltpetre dissolve
it with the brine. Butter comes more easily and has a peculiar hard-
ness and sweetness, if the cream is scalded and strained before it is
used. The cream should stand down cellar over night, after being
scalded, that it may get perfectly cold. Suet and lard keep better in tin
than in earthen. Suet will keep good the year around, if chopped and
packed down in a stone jar covered with molasses.
Do not let Coffee and Tea stand in tin. Scald your wooden ware
often, and keep the tin ware perfectly dry. Wash dishes in a wooden
bowl and there will be less danger from breaking, or scratching of the
silver ware.
Keep Salt in a dry place ; yeast in wood or glass ; fresh lard in tin
vessels ; vinegar in wood or glass ; preserves and jellies in glass ; meal
and flour in a cool, dry place.
Sugar is an admirable ingredient in curing meat and fish. Crusts
and pieces of bread should be kept in an earthen jar, closely covered, in
DOMESTIC COOKERY SCIENCE. 193
a dry, cool place. Lard for pastry should be used hard as it can be
cut with a knife. It should be cut through the flour, not rubbed.
Poor Flour should never be bought for bread ; the best is cheapest.
Pans for wheat bread should be greased very lightly, either with butter
or lard ; for rye, Indian or Graham, they must be greased more thor-
ougly, as the dough clings to the pans more. Bread or anything con-
taining much starch should be eaten slowly. A crust of French bread
eaten very slowly at the beginning of a meal often improves the appe-
tite of delicate people.
Good flour is not tested by its color. White flour may not be the
best. The test of good flour is the amount of water it absorbs.
Meats. — In boiling meat for soup, use cold water -to extract the
juices. If the meat is wanted for itself alone, plunge in boiling water
at once. . . . To prevent meat from scorching during roasting, place a
basin of water in the oven. The steam generated prevents scorching,
and makes the meat cook better. . . . Broil steak without salting. Salt
draws the juices in cooking; it is desirable to keep these in if possible.
Cook over a hot fire, turning frequently, searing on both sides. Place
on a platter; salt and pepper to taste. . . . Beef having a tendency to
be tough can be made very palatable by stewing gently for two hours,
with pepper and salt, taking out about a pint of the liquor when half
done, and letting the rest boil into the meat. Brown the meat in the
pot. After taking up, make a gravy of the pint of liquor saved. . . .
Cutlets and steaks should be fried as well as broiled, but they must be
put in hot butter or lard. The grease is hot enough when it throws off
a bluish smoke. ...
Page 171
Presented as published in 1886. 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
Always get your material for breakfast ready over night ; fix the fire all ready to light, fill the tea kettle, grind the coffee and prepare the potatoes, and thus you can sleep half an hour longer in the morning.
Every housekeeper should have " a place for everything and everything in its place " framed and hung in a conspicuous place and follow the directions.
Keep your salt and pepper boxes on a little shelf back of or near the stove and save your steps.
Lard requires no other care than to be kept in a dry, cool place. Pack butter in a clean, scalded firkin ; cover it with a strong brine and spread a cloth all over the top. If you have a bit of saltpetre dissolve it with the brine. Butter comes more easily and has a peculiar hardness and sweetness, if the cream is scalded and strained before it is used. The cream should stand down cellar over night, after being scalded, that it may get perfectly cold. Suet and lard keep better in tin than in earthen. Suet will keep good the year around, if chopped and packed down in a stone jar covered with molasses.
Do not let Coffee and Tea stand in tin. Scald your wooden ware often, and keep the tin ware perfectly dry. Wash dishes in a wooden bowl and there will be less danger from breaking, or scratching of the silver ware.
Keep Salt in a dry place ; yeast in wood or glass ; fresh lard in tin vessels ; vinegar in wood or glass ; preserves and jellies in glass ; meal and flour in a cool, dry place.
Sugar is an admirable ingredient in curing meat and fish. Crusts and pieces of bread should be kept in an earthen jar, closely covered, in
DOMESTIC COOKERY SCIENCE. 193
a dry, cool place. Lard for pastry should be used hard as it can be cut with a knife. It should be cut through the flour, not rubbed.
Poor Flour should never be bought for bread ; the best is cheapest. Pans for wheat bread should be greased very lightly, either with butter or lard ; for rye, Indian or Graham, they must be greased more thoroughly, as the dough clings to the pans more. Bread or anything containing much starch should be eaten slowly. A crust of French bread eaten very slowly at the beginning of a meal often improves the appetite of delicate people.
Good flour is not tested by its color. White flour may not be the best. The test of good flour is the amount of water it absorbs.
Meats. — In boiling meat for soup, use cold water -to extract the juices. If the meat is wanted for itself alone, plunge in boiling water at once. . . . To prevent meat from scorching during roasting, place a basin of water in the oven. The steam generated prevents scorching, and makes the meat cook better. . . . Broil steak without salting. Salt draws the juices in cooking; it is desirable to keep these in if possible. Cook over a hot fire, turning frequently, searing on both sides. Place on a platter; salt and pepper to taste. . . . Beef having a tendency to be tough can be made very palatable by stewing gently for two hours, with pepper and salt, taking out about a pint of the liquor when half done, and letting the rest boil into the meat. Brown the meat in the pot. After taking up, make a gravy of the pint of liquor saved. . . . Cutlets and steaks should be fried as well as broiled, but they must be put in hot butter or lard. The grease is hot enough when it throws off a bluish smoke. ...