Dishwashing

“ Much unnecessary delay and unpleasant feeling is often caused by the late arrival of a consignment of dirty dishes which should have reached the kitchen an hour or two before. The carelessness of those in charge of the ward dishes results in upsetting the arrangements of the other work of the kitchen, the maids who had finished their task having to gather together their dishwashing utensils and begin over again. ”

“ A special tray that will fit the cupboard shelf, to hold the constant accessories, will save handling.
Dishwashing is an ever-recurring, three-times-a-day problem. There are several fairly good dishwashing machines now on the market, both electric and hand-power. ”

“ There is never any magic about household equipment. You must not expect to do the impossible. If you have a dishwasher you must not expect it to do any more processes of washing than you expect of your player piano of playing. The dishwasher is to wash, the piano to play.
Many women have said, “I think a dishwasher is a nuisance, you have to stack your dishes, hand-scrape pots and pans, carry water by the pailful and then have the job of cleaning the dishwasher itself. The only thing it does is to wash off some of the dishes.” ”

“ Brush the tablecloth, fold in its creases, also the sub-cover of canton flannel, and lay both away until again needed.
Washing the Dishes.—Plenty of hot water and clean towels are the essential requisites for expeditious and thorough dish-washing. A few drops of crude ammonia added to the water will soften it and add to the luster of the silver and china. Soap may be used or not according to circumstances; all greasy dishes require a good strong suds. There should also be provided two dish drainers or trays, unless there is a stationary sink with tray on which to drain the dishes. ”

“ Rub greasy dishes with soft paper, and put water and ammonia or washing powder into utensils that need soaking. Have clean towels at hand. Make ready a pan of hot soap suds, by using a soap shaker, or soap solution, but do not put the cake of soap in the pan. Have rinsing water ready.
Wash the cleanest dishes first, usually the glasses, next the cups and saucers, and the silver next. Have the soiled dishes near the pan, and put in only one or two articles at a time, washing with mop or dish cloth. To pile in a number means the nicking of china, and scratching of silver. ”

“ Most of the washings in this country are done in the kitchen. The wash-boiler is on the stove, and the servant or mistress of the house, or both, attempt to wash and do their cooking without seriously disturbing the routine of meals. There is a fussiness about everything pertaining to that day, which creates an atmosphere of blueness which is proverbial. The steamy, crowded kitchen, the almost inevitable wetness or slipperiness, the great physical exertion required, the carrying of water, the lifting of tubs, are all uncomfortable, and the work is done at a great disadvantage. ”

“ Greasy dishcloths and sour towels are neither neat nor wholesome and are a most fertile source of germs, often breeding disease and death. After each dish washing, the dishcloth, towels, and mops should be thoroughly washed in hot water with plenty of soap, well rinsed and hung up to dry either upon a line out of doors or a rack made for the purpose near the kitchen range. If care is always taken to clean the dishes as much as possible before washing and to change the suds as often as they become dirty, the towels will not be hard to keep clean and sweet-smelling. ”

“ In conveying the cooked food from the kitchen, in houses where there is no lift, the heavy weighted dishes have to be conveyed down, the emptied and lighter dishes upstairs. The hot water from the kitchen boiler is distributed easily by conducting pipes into the lower rooms, so that in every room and bedroom hot and cold water can at all times be obtained for washing or cleaning purposes; and as on every floor there is a sink for receiving waste water, the carrying of heavy pails from floor to floor is not required. ”

“ Because a thing can be used intemperately is no reason why it should not be attempted. We drink water, yet we don’t choke or drown ourselves very often.
In these servant famine days where people either have none, one or a very depleted staff of them, processes must be cut down, handling of utensils must be decreased. Therefore, cooking in dishes that can be used on the table, and coming directly from the stove, cuts the use of one set of dishes, of washing the extra dishes, and as these utensils are of pottery or glass the ease with which they can be washed cuts this process in half. ”

“ Here will be the best place for me to say something about washing powders and fluids of which there are so many on the market. I think I have tried all or most of them and I do not believe any one of them has saved me half an hour’s labour or made my clothes any whiter than I could get them with the ordinary soap and soda. Some of them ruin the clothes, others turn them yellow after a few washings. When washing very greasy or dirty things a tablespoonful of kerosene added to the boiler is a great help, but unless put in just at the right moment, which is when boiling, it is useless. ”

“ As I have said before, dish-washing, as done by a lady, takes little time and labor, and may be a pleasant occupation. The laborer, not the labor, makes a thing common or refined. With an abundance of scalding hot water, a soap-shaker, mop, gloves with the tips cut off, clean and soft dish-towels, and delicate glass and china, dish-washing is in every sense of the word a lady's work. The mistress will do it in one-third of the time, with five times the thoroughness, and one-tenth as many breakages as will the average servant. ”

“ Fill each dish or pan with water, using cold water for all utensils which have held milk, cream, eggs, flour, or starch, and hot water for all dishes having contained sugar or sirup.
ARRANGING DISHES.—Arrange dishes and all the requisite dish-washing utensils in convenient order for washing, placing all of one kind of dishes together. Also place the dishes to be washed at the right of the dish-pan. Wash them and place the washed dishes at the left of the pan. A dish-washer invariably holds a dish that is being washed in her left hand and the dish-cloth or mop in her right hand. ”

“ The pipes in the wash-basin and bath-room are slimy and foul, indicative of neglect. They should be well washed every morning, and once a week a pail of boiling suds, with a spoonful or two of soda or potash, must be poured in, to eat away all impurities, and sweeten the pipes. In passing, let us say this care is more especially necessary in the kitchen sinks. They require a stronger suds, and more soda or lye, and more attention, to eat out all the grease that will accumulate in washing dishes. ”

“ The top and bottom of coal ovens should be cleaned out once a month. Kerosene stoves need constant cleaning. Stove blacking makes the stove more attractive.
Dish-washing.—It is not difficult to wash dishes well, although many people make it a very disagreeable process. The necessary apparatus is given in the utensil list. The cleansing materials include a plentiful supply of hot water, a good soap, ammonia or borax to soften the water, a gritty soap or powder. Have a pan for washing and another for rinsing, and a tray for draining if there is no drainer attached to the sink. ”

“ The hands should be washed constantly and in warm water as a rule. When they have been doing kitchen work a lemon cut in halves and rubbed all over them before washing will help to cleanse, and is a great help in taking off the smell of grease, &c. You want to cut it, squeeze out the juice into a cup and rub the fruit part all over the hands, and the pure juice after if necessary, then wash in warm water with carbolic soap, or common yellow will do, and again with "pasta mack" used in the water, which gives a pleasant odour to the hands. ”

“ The problem with dishes in the sink isn’t just that it’s a pain when I want to cook a meal: it’s that when you leave them in the sink, you’re being inconsiderate. And the reason you’ve left them in the sink, as you’ve pointed out, is that putting dishes in the dishwasher is a pain in the ass: you have to bend over, you have to empty it out, and so on. If we moved the dishwasher into the kitchen cupboards and turned half of them into a dirty side and half into a clean side, then disposing of dishes would be as easy as getting them out.”
Lester laughed, and so did Tjan. ”

“ With the advent of a maid, the dishes multiply and time is spent in dish washing that should be given to the larger affairs of the housekeeping. For the mother or one maid the washing of dishes must be regulated to make the work an incident and not the event of the day. We are not protesting against a change of plates, or forks, etc., for the dessert; but extra dishes for vegetables, the plate underneath the plate, both handled and therefore to be washed, much glassware that requires careful washing and polishing, all tend to prolong the time at the sink. ”

“ Next wash plates, never allowing small ones and large ones in the water together, then platters, vegetable dishes, milk pitchers, salad bowl and gravy boat, putting not more than one or two in the water at a time.
As often as dishwater becomes cool or greasy, change it. This is a fixed rule for those who have an ample water supply. If however, it is necessary to be extremely economical with water, it is better to stint the dishwater than the rinsing water. ”

“ Scrupulous neatness about all your cooking-utensils should never be forgotten. If iron, tin, wood, or earthen vessels are set aside without being scrubbed perfectly clean and wiped dry, you will waste much time when next they are needed, aside from risking a moldy or rusty taste in your food.
A good-sized bread or molding-board, white and clean, perfectly dry and smooth, should be placed on the table. It keeps the flour, sugar, etc. that may fall, from the table, and is readily lifted, with all the soiled dishes on it, to the sink for washing,—thus saving much litter and many steps. ”

“ Never put kitchen knives and forks into the dish water, as it loosens the handles; hold them in the hand and wash with the dish cloth. Burn all refuse, both for convenience and as a sanitary measure. If a refuse pail is used, it should be scalded frequently and a solution of carbolic acid, chloride of lime or other disinfectant used. Do not put pans and kettles half filled with water on the stove to soak, as it only hardens whatever may have adhered to the kettle and makes it more difficult to clean. ”

“ Cooking utensils should soak in cold water until time for dish washing, unless they can be washed as soon as used.
Use a tray for carrying dishes to the closet or pantry instead of travelling with a handful back and forth. Strain the dish water before pouring it down the sink. Be sure that no greasy water is put into the sink. Let the grease rise and cool; skim it off and dispose of it after the dishes are washed.
HEIGHT OF SINK
Taking Care of Rooms
Keeping a house in order means having everything in its place in every room. It means sweet, fresh air in every room ”

“ The most disagreeable work of a kitchen, and that which takes much time, is the dish-washing. It is possible to make this work lighter and pleasanter than is usual. The necessary conditions are plenty of water, hot and cold, a place where the dishes will drain themselves, an abundance of table room for them both before and after washing. In the kitchen given the sink is placed next the kitchen flue. This gives a place for the pipe duct next the warm bricks, which prevent freezing even in severe cold weather. ”

“ By giving the washing into the care of the second girl, we think one may escape most of the terrors of “washing-day.”
Early rising should be one of the well-understood rules of the house, for the servants at least. As soon as up, on Monday morning, the laundress’s first work is to light the fire, if the laundry is separate from the kitchen; if not, the cook, of course, attends to that. The furnace is then to be well shaken and cleaned out, fresh coal added, and the ashes sifted and removed; which, if done every day, as it should be, is but a small item comparatively. ”

“ Under the sink should be kept a slop-pail; and, on a shelf by it, a soap-dish and two water-pails. A large boiler of warm soft water should always be kept over the fire, well covered, and a hearth-broom and bellows be hung near the fire. A clock is a very important article in the kitchen, in order to secure regularity at meals.
WASHING DISHES. No item of domestic labor is so frequently done in a negligent manner, by domestics, as this. A full supply of conveniences will do much toward the remedy of this evil. ”

“ After looking at these things, we proceeded to view one of the model washing houses, which had been erected for the convenience of poor women. We entered a large hall, which was divided by low wood partitions into small apartments, in each of which a woman was washing. The whole process of washing clothes in two or three waters, and boiling them, can be effected without moving from the spot, or changing the tub. Each successive water is let out at the bottom, while fresh is let on from the top. ”

“ Joints require no basting, and provided care is taken to lower the gas sufficiently to prevent scorching the bags, the food can be left to look after itself until the proper time for dishing up arrives.
A very great advantage both to mistress and maid is the cleanliness of the process. It is undoubtedly an advantage when doing without a servant to have no pots and pans to soil one's fingers, or to roughen one's hands with the necessary strong soda water for cleansing kitchen utensils. ”