FoodNetArchive

Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

1887

Page 5

Presented as published in 1887. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
And now the pantry. It should be about 12 x 8 feet. The window should have a wire screen, and inside fold- ing blinds will be found a great convenience, — indeed, they are a necessity. A large, strong table, containing two drawers, should be placed at this window. There should be hooks at the ends of the table, from which to suspend the pastry-board, the board on which cold meats are cut, arid that on which bread and cake are cut. In one drawer the rolling-pin, knives, pastry and cake cutters, and a few other utensils may be kept ; and in the other drawer, spices, flavoring extracts, etc. At one end of the room the wall should be covered with hooks on which to hang . saucepans. At the same end, about a foot from the floor, there should be a broad shelf on which to keep heavy pots and kettles, turned upside down to keep out dust. Two feet above this shelf there should be a narrow one for the covers of the utensils just mentioned. By following this plan one can keep all these articles together and always in sight, and no time need be lost in searching for any of them. There will be space in this end of the room for small shelves for the glass jars in which to keep materials used frequently, such as tapioca, barley, rice, baking- powder, soda, cream-of-tartar, ginger, split peas, etc. Here, also, may be kept small pasteboard boxes contain- ing herbs. In the window-frame put brass hooks, on which to hang the egg-beater, spoons, graded measuring-cups, a whisk, etc. 18 MISS PAKLOA'S KITCHEN COMPANION. At the lower end of the pantry have a strong rack, a few inches from the floor, on which to place flour- barrels. This plan insures the circulation of air under the barrels, keeping their contents sweet. About a foot above the barrels have a wall closet, with shelves about twenty inches wide. This should be supplied with a lock, as it is designed for keeping cooked food and such groceries as raisins, currants, and citron, in glass jars, besides fresh fruit. The door or doors should be made partly of wire. Extending the length of one side of the room have a tier of shelves, beginning about a foot from the floor and running as high as the top of the wall closet. Tin cans of meal und sugar, stone jars of salt, and jugs of molas- ses and vinegar may be kept on the lower shelves ; and mixing-bowls, mixing-pans, stone-china measuring-cups, etc., — indeed, all utensils for which no other place has been provided, — may be kept on the upper shelves. AN IDEAL KITCHEN. 19 In some place near the door of the pantry have a hook or a roller for a towel, in order to avoid taking steps across the kitchen whenever the hands require wiping.