In washing dishes, pots and kettles, a wisp of broom-corn and a small
quantity of soapy water is handy and useful in cleaning them from all
bits and grease, which is objectionable to the dishcloth. The wisps are
formed by tying the broom-corn into bundles as large as a broom
handle, with two stout cords near the coarse ends, which form a handle.
SEX VICE ABLE S UGGES TIONS. 189
Old boot tops, cut into pieces the right size and lined, make good iron
holders. The leather keeps all heat away from the hand.
Corsets with the whalebones removed make good cleaning cloths.
Iron holders should have a cover of white cotton cloth made to fit
nicely, and fastened on with buttons, and when it becomes soiled it can
be removed, washed and replaced.
To make a mop take old wrappers cut in convenient strips ; do not
get it too heavy or it will strain the hands.
The best dish cloths are made of corsets with the whalebones all out
and only the cords left in, or small turkish towels cut to convenient size.
When dish-towels begin to wear out, fold them together, the best
outside, as small or large as you like, and run together around and
across through the center with coarse thread.
It is a good idea to keep a supply of ironing holders made up ; take
old cloths, fold as many thicknesses wanted, and cover with a new
piece of heavy cloth, tacking in the center, then you can have a clean
holder when necessary without having to stop and make one.
An oven holder should be made of heavy cloth, two thicknesses, and
fully half a yard square; an old grain sack makes them. This, will
save you many a burn and keep you from using your dish-towel or
apron.
Keep your stove blacking brush and plate handy, and after dinner
each day brush off your stove, and you will find it much nicer than
washing it off; besides with an occasional brushing your stove will
always look nicely, and if your stove is not kept looking clean the whole
kitchen looks untidy.
A cloth saturated in kerosene and dipped into whiting, for cleaning
tinware, is much better than anything else used.
When sweeping, dip the broom occasionally in water, hot is best, and
keep the dust from flying over everything. Coarse salt sprinkled over
the floor occasionally is said to keep the moths out of the carpet.
It is a good plan to put new earthen ware into cold water and let it
heat gradually until it boils ; then cool again. Brown earthenware in
particular may be toughened in this way. A handful of rye or wheat
bran thrown in while it is boiling will preserve the glazing so that it
will not be destroyed by acid or salt.
New iron should be gradually heated at first. After it has become
used to the heat it is not as likely to crack.
To remove iron taste from new kettles, boil a handful of hay in them,
and repeat the process if necessary. Hay water is a great sweetener of
tin, wooden and iron ware. In Irish dairies everything used for milk is
scalded with hay water.
All sorts of vessels and utensils may be purified from long retained
smells of every kind, in the easiest and most perfect manner, by rinsing
190 HO USE-KEEPING.
them out well with charcoal powder after the grosser impurities have
been scoured off with sand and water.
Page 168
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
In washing dishes, pots and kettles, a wisp of broom-corn and a small quantity of soapy water is handy and useful in cleaning them from all bits and grease, which is objectionable to the dishcloth. The wisps are formed by tying the broom-corn into bundles as large as a broom handle, with two stout cords near the coarse ends, which form a handle.
[illustration: SERVICEABLE SUGGESTIONS. 189]
Old boot tops, cut into pieces the right size and lined, make good iron holders. The leather keeps all heat away from the hand.
Corsets with the whalebones removed make good cleaning cloths.
Iron holders should have a cover of white cotton cloth made to fit nicely, and fastened on with buttons, and when it becomes soiled it can be removed, washed and replaced.
To make a mop take old wrappers cut in convenient strips ; do not get it too heavy or it will strain the hands.
The best dish cloths are made of corsets with the whalebones all out and only the cords left in, or small turkish towels cut to convenient size.
When dish-towels begin to wear out, fold them together, the best outside, as small or large as you like, and run together around and across through the center with coarse thread.
It is a good idea to keep a supply of ironing holders made up ; take old cloths, fold as many thicknesses wanted, and cover with a new piece of heavy cloth, tacking in the center, then you can have a clean holder when necessary without having to stop and make one.
An oven holder should be made of heavy cloth, two thicknesses, and fully half a yard square; an old grain sack makes them. This, will save you many a burn and keep you from using your dish-towel or apron.
Keep your stove blacking brush and plate handy, and after dinner each day brush off your stove, and you will find it much nicer than washing it off; besides with an occasional brushing your stove will always look nicely, and if your stove is not kept looking clean the whole kitchen looks untidy.
A cloth saturated in kerosene and dipped into whiting, for cleaning tinware, is much better than anything else used.
When sweeping, dip the broom occasionally in water, hot is best, and keep the dust from flying over everything. Coarse salt sprinkled over the floor occasionally is said to keep the moths out of the carpet.
It is a good plan to put new earthen ware into cold water and let it heat gradually until it boils ; then cool again. Brown earthenware in particular may be toughened in this way. A handful of rye or wheat bran thrown in while it is boiling will preserve the glazing so that it will not be destroyed by acid or salt.
New iron should be gradually heated at first. After it has become used to the heat it is not as likely to crack.
To remove iron taste from new kettles, boil a handful of hay in them, and repeat the process if necessary. Hay water is a great sweetener of tin, wooden and iron ware. In Irish dairies everything used for milk is scalded with hay water.
All sorts of vessels and utensils may be purified from long retained smells of every kind, in the easiest and most perfect manner, by rinsing
them out well with charcoal powder after the grosser impurities have been scoured off with sand and water.