FoodNetArchive

The housewife's referee

1898

Page 20

Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Candles, macaroni, barley, rice, tapioca, sugar, etc., are best kept in tin canisters, or even large tin biscuit-boxes where economy is strictly necessary. Amongst the articles there should be a store of tea, coffee, Cadbury's cocoa, flour, cornflour, rizine, oatmeal, macaroni, barley, split peas, meat extracts, sauces, essences, vinegars, jams, marmalade, pickles, chutney, mustard, salt, capers, salad oil, baking and egg powders, currants, raisins, candles, beeswax, furniture polish, lamp wicks, emery paper, blacking, night lights, matches and vestas, house-flannel, hearth-stones, and blacklead ; also bottles containing the dregs of port wine and sherry, which are most useful in cooking. The bacon should hang on hooks in the ceiling. It is well also to have a pair of scissors hanging on one of the shelves ; string, kitchen, and lining papers, dessert papers, souffle cases, cutlet and ham frills should be kept in a drawer. Crueteen as a kitchen seasoning stands unrivalled among sauces, as it is the perfection of condiments and contains no herbs. It dispenses with the use of spice in small home-made dishes, which are often spoilt by the use of too much spice. It is a very necessary adjunct to the kitchen, as it is the most economical and convenient form THE DAIRY 29 of seasoning, and is a complete cruet of itself ; it should also be found on the shelves of all store-rooms. Tabasco Sauce or Liquid Pepper is a preparation manu- factured in the United States and ought to become very popular, as it is an article that should be in every house- hold. It is the produce of a plant whose red fruit, when ripe, is put up into tiny bottles ; and a little goes a long way, a few drops being sufficient to fortify a tureen full of soup ; a mere suspicion will enhance the flavour of dishes made with cheese, whilst its action as a digestive stimulant is decidedly wholesome. Ghoorka, Tuscany, Worcester and Yorkshire Kelish should also be among the sauces. An Emergency Cupboard. — In every household there should be a cupboard assigned in the store-room to medicine, etc., for emergencies, and I will give a list of what I think should be kept in readiness in case of accidents, sudden ill- ness, etc., whilst waiting for medical aid. A small tin can of flour and mustard mixed in equal parts to make into a paste for a mustard plaster, a tin of mustard leaves, a box of old linen and cotton rags, pieces of flannel, court plaster, camphorated oil, vaseline, glycerine, ammonia, olive oil, diachylon plaster, hazeline, sal volatile, castor oil, linseed meal, carron oil, three thermometers, Condy's fluid, and Calvert's carbolic fluid, gutta percha tissue, an enema, an India-rubber hot-water bottle, Epsom salts, Eno's fruit salt, liquorice powder, bandages of all sorts, a spatula, rhu- barb, quinine, chlorodyne, Elliman's embrocation, homocea, syringes, a feeding cup, medicine glasses with measure- ments, a bed pan, medicated cotton wool, and a fumigator. THE DAIRY " ' Where are you going to, my pretty maid ? ' I'm going a-milking, sir,' she said." A BOOK on household matters will be hardly considered complete without a few words respecting the dairy. There- fore, I write a chapter on the subject which may, I hope, be of use to my readers. A dairy should be a model of cleanliness, purity, and neatness. The situation, if possible, 30 THE housewife's EEFEEEE