FoodNet

Foods and home making

1928

Page 87

Presented as published in 1928. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
If dishes are washed at home or at school without a dishwash- ing machine, it is comfortable to use water in which we can bear our hands. Such water is not hot enough to destroy disease bacteria. If, after washing dishes, they are put in a rack we can rinse them in boiling or scalding water without putting our hands in the water. Putting dishes in boiling or scalding water is the most important step in dishwashing. When a dishwashing machine is used for dishes, scalding water can be used for wash- ing dishes as well as for rinsing. What makes some dishes hard to wash? Have you ever washed a dish on which bits of food had dried for several hours or over night? If so, you surely found the dish hard to wash. Food which dries on dishes is usually hard to remove. We can prevent food from drying on dishes by filling a dish with water as soon as the food is scraped from it. It is a good plan always to put cooking utensils to soak as soon as the food is taken out of them. Greasy dishes are hard to wash. Soaking them in plain water does not make the process much easier. Before washing uten- sils in which doughnuts or other foods have been fried, wipe out the utensil with a piece of paper. This will remove the coating of fat which clings to the utensil. Then fill the utensil with water, add a tablespoon of washing soda and let the water heat. When you pour out the hot water, you will find that much 164 Modern Housewifery of the grease has disappeared. The utensil will then be much easier to wash. Before washing the butter plate, it may be wiped off with paper. Since plates are usually quite smooth, much of the but- ter is removed with the paper. Therefore, heating the butter dish in soda water is usually unnecessary. Shall you soak soiled dishes in hot water or in cold water? When you learned to poach eggs, you found that the egg began to harden when poured into hot water. When you wash a bowl in which eggs have been beaten, you want to loosen the coating of egg from the bowl. Can you loosen the egg by pouring hot or cold water in the bowl? If you have ever heated milk in a pan, you have seen a coating hardened on the inside of the pan. Heat hardens something in the milk. In soaking a milk pitcher or bottle, should you fill it with hot or cold water? You have also learned that when flour and water are cooked together, a sticky paste is formed. If you pour hot water in a bowl having held flour, a sticky paste will be formed. Should you rinse out a dish having held flour with hot or cold water? You will remember that muffins and many other flour mixtures contain eggs and milk in addition to flour. What would hap- pen to the coating of batter if the bowl is rinsed with hot water ? How can you loosen the coating from the bowl ? If you make some fudge or other candy, shall you soak the soiled utensil in hot or cold water? You should be able to answer this question after you have done a little experimenting. Experiment 12 : To discover whether sugar dissolves more readily in hot or in cold water. (а) In a cup or test tube, put about 1 teaspoon of sugar. Now add about 2 tablespoons of cold water to the sugar. Stir the contents of the cup or shake the tube. Does the sugar dissolve at once in the cold water ?