Housekeepers may think that it is a piece of extrava- gance to buy these large towels for lifting utensils, but they are really as necessary as the dish-towels. The small padded holders that many people use are both CARE OF UTENSILS AND FURNITURE. 59 inconvenient and unclean, because they are not washed as soon as soiled, as in the case of the stove-towel. These towels are made long so that they can be used in putting large pans into the oven and taking them out of it. Having enough towels, and a plentiful supply of soap and hot water, there is no reason why dishes should not be sweet and clean. Be as generous with soap as you are with towels. Greasy dishes cannot be washed with- out it. Every dish must be scraped free of particles of food. As soon as you are through with a bowl or pan, fill it with water, that the substance prepared in it shall not harden on the surface and make your work ten times as difficult and long as it should be. When ready to wash the dishes, half fill the dish-pan with water as hot as you can bear your hand in. Have a second pan half filled with water that is even hotter. Shake soap in the first pan until strong suds are formed ; then begin washing the dishes, rubbing well with the dish-cloth every part, inside and out. When about eight or ten dishes have been washed, rinse them in the pan of clean hot water and drain them on the inclined grooved board beside the sink ; or if you have not that, an old tray will do. Wipe them dry with a clean soft towel ; and if the utensils be tin, granite-ware, or iron, place them near the fire — but not in a very hot place — for a few minutes, to insure their being perfectly free of moisture before they are put away. If all the utensils be treated in this manner, even the iron pots would not soil a cambric handkerchief. The tinware, granite-ware, and frying-pans will need scouring frequently. This should be done whenever a dish looks rough or dull, or when soap and water will not remove all traces of the food prepared in the dish. For this purpose there is nothing better than Sapolio, which cleans without scratching. Many housekeepers 60 MISS PARLOA'S KITCHEN COMPANION. complain of the expense of this article ; but if it be bought by the box it will be found comparatively cheap. Where the cost of Sapolio is an objection, soap and pow- dered Bristol brick may be used. This is not so con- venient, and therefore the dish will not get cleaned so often as it would if it were only a matter of rubbing a cake of Sapolio on a dish-cloth and then on the article to be cleaned. When washing wooden-ware, like chopping-bowls, moulding-boards, etc., never dry them by the fire. They warp and crack when exposed to dry heat while they are wet. Sometimes the most careful washing will not wholly remove the flavor or odor of food from the utensil in which it was cooked. This is frequently the case with fish, onions, cabbage, etc. After any of these articles have been cooked, wash the utensil carefully with soap and water. Now nearly fill it with cold water, and for each quart of water add about a table-spoonful of dis- solved washing-soda. Place on the fire, and let the water get boiling hot. Now turn this water into the sink. Rinse the utensil with clean warm water, and on wiping it dry it will be found perfectly sweet.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Housekeepers may think that it is a piece of extravagance to buy these large towels for lifting utensils, but they are really as necessary as the dish-towels. The small padded holders that many people use are both inconvenient and unclean, because they are not washed as soon as soiled, as in the case of the stove-towel. These towels are made long so that they can be used in putting large pans into the oven and taking them out of it. Having enough towels, and a plentiful supply of soap and hot water, there is no reason why dishes should not be sweet and clean. Be as generous with soap as you are with towels. Greasy dishes cannot be washed without it. Every dish must be scraped free of particles of food. As soon as you are through with a bowl or pan, fill it with water, that the substance prepared in it shall not harden on the surface and make your work ten times as difficult and long as it should be. When ready to wash the dishes, half fill the dish-pan with water as hot as you can bear your hand in. Have a second pan half filled with water that is even hotter. Shake soap in the first pan until strong suds are formed ; then begin washing the dishes, rubbing well with the dish-cloth every part, inside and out. When about eight or ten dishes have been washed, rinse them in the pan of clean hot water and drain them on the inclined grooved board beside the sink ; or if you have not that, an old tray will do. Wipe them dry with a clean soft towel ; and if the utensils be tin, granite-ware, or iron, place them near the fire — but not in a very hot place — for a few minutes, to insure their being perfectly free of moisture before they are put away. If all the utensils be treated in this manner, even the iron pots would not soil a cambric handkerchief. The tinware, granite-ware, and frying-pans will need scouring frequently. This should be done whenever a dish looks rough or dull, or when soap and water will not remove all traces of the food prepared in the dish. For this purpose there is nothing better than Sapolio, which cleans without scratching. Many housekeepers complain of the expense of this article ; but if it be bought by the box it will be found comparatively cheap. Where the cost of Sapolio is an objection, soap and powdered Bristol brick may be used. This is not so convenient, and therefore the dish will not get cleaned so often as it would if it were only a matter of rubbing a cake of Sapolio on a dish-cloth and then on the article to be cleaned. When washing wooden-ware, like chopping-bowls, moulding-boards, etc., never dry them by the fire. They warp and crack when exposed to dry heat while they are wet. Sometimes the most careful washing will not wholly remove the flavor or odor of food from the utensil in which it was cooked. This is frequently the case with fish, onions, cabbage, etc. After any of these articles have been cooked, wash the utensil carefully with soap and water. Now nearly fill it with cold water, and for each quart of water add about a table-spoonful of dissolved washing-soda. Place on the fire, and let the water get boiling hot. Now turn this water into the sink. Rinse the utensil with clean warm water, and on wiping it dry it will be found perfectly sweet.

Miss Parloa's kitchen companion