Girl's home manual of cookery, home management, home nursing and laundry

From the librarian's dossier · AI-generated, grounded in the scanned text

This 1913 manual was written for young students in British Columbia, combining cookery instruction with home management, home nursing, and laundry work into a single comprehensive domestic science text. It opens with kitchen equipment and the science of combustion and household fuels before moving into nutrition theory, covering proteins, fats, carbohydrates, mineral matter, and water, along with digestion and food science. The bulk of the book proceeds through practical cookery: beverages, fruits, cereals, vegetables, sugar work and candy, eggs, milk and cheese, bread, flour mixtures, meats, poultry, soups, fish, fats and frying, pastry, puddings, gelatine desserts, ices, and cakes. Later sections pivot to preserving and canning, invalid cookery, table service and etiquette, household cleaning, furniture and utensil care, home nursing, and an extensive laundry course covering equipment, materials, stain removal, and ironing techniques. A concluding reference list of home economics books and magazines situates the manual within a broader educational movement. The text reflects an instructional, textbook-like approach, blending scientific explanation with concrete recipes and household procedures, evidently intended to train girls in domestic competence as part of a structured home economics curriculum tied to provincial education.

The book proceeds in a logical curriculum sequence rather than alphabetically. Section 1 opens with kitchen equipment, fuels, and nutrition science before easing into cookery methods and beverages. Sections 2 through 6 move systematically through food categories: fruits, cereals, vegetables, legumes, sugar and candy, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, flour mixtures, meat, poultry, soups, fish, fats and frying, pastry, puddings, gelatine desserts, ices, and cakes, each preceded by explanations of composition, digestibility, and nutritional value. Section 7 shifts to food preservation, canning, pickling, and invalid cookery, along with fireless cooker and paper bag cookery methods. Sections 8 through 9 turn to household management topics, including table service, cleaning procedures for surfaces and utensils, house planning, furniture, and home nursing care. Sections 10 and 11 form a detailed laundry course covering equipment, materials, stain removal, and ironing techniques, with section 11 also containing an index to the cookery portion and a scattering of additional recipes. Section 12 closes the book with a final recipe and a bibliography of home economics books and magazines.