Wipe the shelves every morning ; look over the food and
plan to use left-overs at the next meal if possible; avoid
crowding the shelves with messes. Use small dishes and put
things of a kind together. Keep liquids where they may be
seen easily. Meat and food needing the greatest cold should
be kept on the bottom. A covered stone jar is best for butter
and when filling it, cut the butter in shapes for the table.
The milk jar should be covered and stand near the ice. Keep
drinking water in quart glass-jars near the ice ; this is cold
enough and much better than to drink ice water. Wash and
scald the jars every morning and re-fill during the day when
needed.
Do not put hot food into the refrigerator.
Do not put bananas, onions, fish, pine-apples, and other
foods with strong odors, inside.
Never put uncooked meat next to the ice. Put it on an
agate dish near the ice.
Lettuce, celery, radishes, etc., may be wrapped in a napkin
and laid on the ice.
When you go to the refrigerator, work quickly, set out near
by all you will need, and always close the door, even though
you may have to open it in a few minutes. Save ice in this
way by not letting hot air inside, but do not try to save it by
28
CARE OF REFRIGERATOR, PANTRY, AND GARBAGE 29
wrapping the ice in a blanket or paper, for the ice must melt
if we are to keep the inside of the refrigerator cold.
Once a week remove the tray and strainers under the ice ;
wash and scald with a sal-soda solution ; rub the pipe up and
down with a wire brush or with a narrow strip of cloth tied
on a loop in the end of a stiff wire ; pour the solution down
slowly while you rub ; rinse with clear boiling water ; wash
and scald the drip pan. No matter how clean you may keep
the shelves and walls by the daily wiping, the pipes and pan
and ice-tray must have this weekly cleansing to remove the
sediment that collects from the melting ice.
Garbage. Keep a tightly covered pail on the sink shelf for
use at meal times; empty it into the outside garbage pail
after washing dishes, and wash and scald the pail. Lay a
piece of paper in the bottom, letting it come up round the
sides, that the contents may slip out easily when emptied.
Wash the outside garbage pail every morning or after col-
lection.
Where gas stoves are used or you have no garden in which
to bury refuse, you will have to depend upon a collector.
With a wood or coal fire much of the refuse may be consumed
in the space between the top of the oven and the middle
cover lids. If put in after you are through with baking, it
will be quickly converted into ashes. Avoid crowding in
much at a time and open the chimney draft. It will not
injure the stove if burned at once.
The Sink. Avoid letting any grease, scraps of food, coffee
grounds, matches, and the like drop into the sink. Keep
the strainer over the waste pipe screwed down, and if you
have a brass scraper handy, it is much easier to take scraps
up at once and put them into the garbage pan. Do not try
to wash them down by flushing with water for they do not
belong in the pipe.
Use a cloth for scrubbing the sink ; it is easily kept clean,
sweet and dry, but a brush or corn-broom, or rubber-shovel
soon become offensive. The brass scraper needs only a little
scouring when you clean the brass strainer.
Page 18
Presented as published in 1915. 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
Wipe the shelves every morning ; look over the food and plan to use left-overs at the next meal if possible; avoid crowding the shelves with messes. Use small dishes and put things of a kind together. Keep liquids where they may be seen easily. Meat and food needing the greatest cold should be kept on the bottom. A covered stone jar is best for butter and when filling it, cut the butter in shapes for the table. The milk jar should be covered and stand near the ice. Keep drinking water in quart glass-jars near the ice ; this is cold enough and much better than to drink ice water. Wash and scald the jars every morning and re-fill during the day when needed.
Do not put hot food into the refrigerator.
Do not put bananas, onions, fish, pine-apples, and other foods with strong odors, inside.
Never put uncooked meat next to the ice. Put it on an agate dish near the ice.
Lettuce, celery, radishes, etc., may be wrapped in a napkin and laid on the ice.
When you go to the refrigerator, work quickly, set out near by all you will need, and always close the door, even though you may have to open it in a few minutes. Save ice in this way by not letting hot air inside, but do not try to save it by
CARE OF REFRIGERATOR, PANTRY, AND GARBAGE 29
wrapping the ice in a blanket or paper, for the ice must melt if we are to keep the inside of the refrigerator cold.
Once a week remove the tray and strainers under the ice ; wash and scald with a sal-soda solution ; rub the pipe up and down with a wire brush or with a narrow strip of cloth tied on a loop in the end of a stiff wire ; pour the solution down slowly while you rub ; rinse with clear boiling water ; wash and scald the drip pan. No matter how clean you may keep the shelves and walls by the daily wiping, the pipes and pan and ice-tray must have this weekly cleansing to remove the sediment that collects from the melting ice.
Garbage. Keep a tightly covered pail on the sink shelf for use at meal times; empty it into the outside garbage pail after washing dishes, and wash and scald the pail. Lay a piece of paper in the bottom, letting it come up round the sides, that the contents may slip out easily when emptied.
Wash the outside garbage pail every morning or after collection.
Where gas stoves are used or you have no garden in which to bury refuse, you will have to depend upon a collector. With a wood or coal fire much of the refuse may be consumed in the space between the top of the oven and the middle cover lids. If put in after you are through with baking, it will be quickly converted into ashes. Avoid crowding in much at a time and open the chimney draft. It will not injure the stove if burned at once.
The Sink. Avoid letting any grease, scraps of food, coffee grounds, matches, and the like drop into the sink. Keep the strainer over the waste pipe screwed down, and if you have a brass scraper handy, it is much easier to take scraps up at once and put them into the garbage pan. Do not try to wash them down by flushing with water for they do not belong in the pipe.
Use a cloth for scrubbing the sink ; it is easily kept clean, sweet and dry, but a brush or corn-broom, or rubber-shovel soon become offensive. The brass scraper needs only a little scouring when you clean the brass strainer.