Elements of the theory and practice of cookery

86. Directions for dish-washing. Preparation. — 1. Collect all dishes to be washed. 2. Scrape them, put- ting scraps in an earthenware or enamelled dish ; wipe frying-pans and other greasy dishes with pieces of soft paper. This paper may be used for kindling. 3. Fill 1 It is better to avoid using a garbage-pail. Garbage may be burned in a bright fire if all the drafts are left open. PREPARATORY LESSONS 43 greasy pots and pans with hot water to which a tea- spoonful of sal-soda has been added, and let them stand. Soak dishes that have contained batter, dough, eggs, or any starchy material in cold water ;• dishes that have been used to cook sugar, in hot water. 4. Put all dishes of a kind together ; plates in piles, knives, forks, and spoons laid with handles one way, etc. Place near- est to you the dishes to be washed first. 5. Have a clean dry place clear for clean dishes. 6. Make ready two pans, — one half full of hot soapy water, and the other half full of clear hot water. 87. Washing. — 7. Wash the dishes in the follow- ing order : a. Large kettles and cooking utensils. h. Smaller articles of kitchenware. c. (With clean water and dish-cloth) glassware, d. Silver, e. Cups and saucers. /. Plates, g. Platters, vegetable dishes, etc. 88. General instructions. — 8. Wash all dishes, includ- ing kettles, inside and out, in soapy water ; rinse in clear water, drain, and wipe dry. 9. Use sapolio to remove food that sticks or is burnt on. 10. Use a wire dish-cloth on ironware, a scrubbing-brush, if necessary, on enamelled ware, tinware, and wire strainers. Clean seams in tinware and enamelled ware with a wooden skewer. 89. Special instructions. — 11. Do not put knife- handles in water. Water discolors and cracks ivory and bone handles, and may loosen wooden ones. After 44 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY washing knives, scour them with bath brick. 12. Do not wash bread-board or rolling-pin at an iron sink. The iron will leave marks on them. Wash them at the table. 13. Be careful not to wet the cogs of a Dover egg-beater. Wash the lower part, and wipe off the handle with a damp cloth. Water washes the oil from the cogs, thus making the beater hard to turn. 14. Dry the seams of a double-boiler carefully. 15. Do not waste time polishing tins. It is sufficient to have them clean and dry. 16. Dip glasses into hot water, so that they will be wet inside and outside at the same time. Unequal expansion of the glass, caused by one part being heated suddenly, is what breaks them. 17. Silver and glass are brightest if wiped directly from clean, hot suds, without being rinsed. A damp towel makes dull spoons and glasses. 18. Scald, i.e. rinse with boiling water all vessels that have contained milk. 19. Wash teapot and coffee-pot in clean hot water without soap, and wipe dry. Clean the spout carefully. Let them stand for a while with covers off. 20. Wash dish-pan and rinsing-pan, and wipe dry with a towel, not with the dish-doth. For care of towels and sink, see §§81 and 92. 90. To scour steel knives. — Scrape off a little bath brick with the hack of the knife or with an old knife. Dip a cork in water or oil, and then in the brick-dust. Hold the knife firmly, with the blade resting flat upon a level surface, and rub both sides of the blade with the PREPARATORY LESSONS 45