The scullery being merely used for washing up, the drawing, cleaning, and plucking of poultry, and work of that nature, would require a well made water-tight sink, communicating with an equally carefully made cistern, covered by a trap-door, outside the building : the cistern should be emptied every day, and well sprinkled with McDougall's disinfecting powder. A tap of Red Hills water in the scullery would bo a great boon at Madras. 502 OUR KITCHENS IN INDIA. Tlie floor of room number one might be of chiinam mat- ted over, that of number two shoukl be paved with slabs of stone, and a similar one of stone should be laid down in the scullery. The day's work having been completed, the doors of the three rooms should be carefully locked, and the whole corps de cuisine dismissed, the keys being brought to the mistress of the house. The idea of the kitchen being used by a number of native employes as a sleeping cham- ber is obviously too horrible to need more than a passing remark. The two chief objections tli:it will here suggest them- selves will bo, I feel sure, on the one hand the difficulty of establishing the kind of kitchen I have described, and, on the other, the expense of equipping it according to the standard which obtains in England. I propose, therefore, to deal with those points independently, taking the kit- chen first. The little building that I advocate, — entirely separat- ed from the godowns, planned specially to meet culi- nary requirements, close to the house, and connected with it by a covered way, — in spite of its niceness theoretically, is, I admit, practically speaking almost an impossibility. Few owners of houses 'vould go to the expense of a new building. I nevertheless offer the idea to those who are about to build de novo^ and to such of my fellow countrymen, who, interested in houses that they have purchased, may be tempted to make their " offices" as complete, and as home-like as possible. In what way, then, can anything be done to im- prove upon matters as they at present stand ? Well, a great deal, of course, depends upon circumstances. There are a good many houses that possess small build- OUR KITCHENS IN INDIA. 503 ings close to the back verandahs, which, I presume, were originally intended to be used as a " coolers' godo^Yns," or, perhaps, for the hanging of meat. Thej cannot be of mnch use for either of those purposes now-a-days, for the ancient cooler's " occupation's gone," and the modern zinc- lined safe has made us independent of a larder. It seems to me, then, that some of these little places might be easily converted into kitchens, large enough at all events to accommodate one of the small yet very excellent Anglo- American cooking ranges now procurable, together Avith its accessories, and such things as are necessary for mere cooking. A place for washing up might easily be con- trived on one side, or at the back of this room, and a light covered way might be thrown up cheaply enough to con- nect it with the house.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The scullery being merely used for washing up, the drawing, cleaning, and plucking of poultry, and work of that nature, would require a well made water-tight sink, communicating with an equally carefully made cistern, covered by a trap-door, outside the building : the cistern should be emptied every day, and well sprinkled with McDougall's disinfecting powder. A tap of Red Hills water in the scullery would be a great boon at Madras. Tlie floor of room number one might be of chunam matted over, that of number two should be paved with slabs of stone, and a similar one of stone should be laid down in the scullery. The day's work having been completed, the doors of the three rooms should be carefully locked, and the whole corps de cuisine dismissed, the keys being brought to the mistress of the house. The idea of the kitchen being used by a number of native employes as a sleeping chamber is obviously too horrible to need more than a passing remark. The two chief objections that will here suggest themselves will be, I feel sure, on the one hand the difficulty of establishing the kind of kitchen I have described, and, on the other, the expense of equipping it according to the standard which obtains in England. I propose, therefore, to deal with those points independently, taking the kitchen first. The little building that I advocate, — entirely separated from the godowns, planned specially to meet culinary requirements, close to the house, and connected with it by a covered way, — in spite of its niceness theoretically, is, I admit, practically speaking almost an impossibility. Few owners of houses would go to the expense of a new building. I nevertheless offer the idea to those who are about to build de novo^ and to such of my fellow countrymen, who, interested in houses that they have purchased, may be tempted to make their " offices" as complete, and as home-like as possible. In what way, then, can anything be done to improve upon matters as they at present stand ? Well, a great deal, of course, depends upon circumstances. There are a good many houses that possess small build- ings close to the back verandahs, which, I presume, were originally intended to be used as a " coolers' godowns," or, perhaps, for the hanging of meat. Thej cannot be of mnch use for either of those purposes now-a-days, for the ancient cooler's " occupation's gone," and the modern zinclined safe has made us independent of a larder. It seems to me, then, that some of these little places might be easily converted into kitchens, large enough at all events to accommodate one of the small yet very excellent Anglo- American cooking ranges now procurable, together Avith its accessories, and such things as are necessary for mere cooking. A place for washing up might easily be contrived on one side, or at the back of this room, and a light covered way might be thrown up cheaply enough to connect it with the house.

Culinary jottings