Kitchen utensil

“ It will not become discolored by any kind of cooking, and is so perfectly smooth that articles of food will not stick and bum in it as quickly as in the porcelain-lined pans. Nearly every utensil used in the kitchen is now made in granite ware. The mixing spoons are, however, not desirable, as the coating of granite peels off when the spoon is bent. Have no more heavy cast-iron articles than are really needed, for they are not easily handled, and are, therefore, less likely to be kept as clean, inside and out, as the lighter and smoother ware. ”

“ I don't like a single dish or utensil in sight when the kitchen is in order. This roll of paper toweling here by the sink is very convenient for wiping off the table or taking grease off pans and dishes or even for drying glass and silver. A roll lasts a long time, and certainly does save dishcloths and towels.
"Do you use your fireless cooker often?"
"Every day of the year—I do believe. I cook breakfast food in it, and all kinds of meats except those that are boiled or fried. Then it is splendid for steaming brown bread and baking beans, and oh, so many other things! ”

“ Use saucepans with tightly fitting lids and short handles. Those made of aluminum or earthenware are preferable. [161] Jam jars or large tins tightly covered may be used.
Bring the food to boiling point on the gas cooker or kitchen range and while boiling place it at once in the box. Some foods require a certain amount of cooking previous to being placed in the Fireless Cooker. (See table below.)
Wrap the cooking utensil in newspaper, and place in the prepared nest in the Fireless Cooker. ”

“ For the proper cooking of grains the double boiler is the best and most convenient utensil for ordinary purposes. If one does not possess a double boiler, a very fair substitute may be improvised by using a covered earthen crock placed within a kettle of boiling water, or by using two pails, a smaller within a larger one containing boiling water. ”

“ Cleanliness and care in respect of the stove and kitchen utensils generally are as necessary to success as knowing the right materials to use and how to put them together, and every one who can cook a dinner should also know how to clean and keep in good order the stove and all culinary utensils. Order and neatness must reign in the kitchen as well as in the drawing-room, and it will help greatly to bring about this desirable state of affairs if all utensils are cleansed and put away immediately they are finished with, for it is much easier to wash them then than if left dirty for some time. ”

“ A reasonable equipment of kitchen utensils and a convenient, systematic arrangement of them will save time and strength. Kitchen scales are almost indispensable, and a cooking thermometer eliminates guesswork, especially in boiling sugar and heating fat for frying. Pans, molds, and cutters of various shapes prevent monotony; suitable baking dishes and covered casserole dishes simplify both cooking and serving ”

“ Enamelled Ware is now much used, both for cooking and other kitchen utensils. As a rule these consist of rather thin sheets of steel, or iron, stamped out into different shapes, and then coated inside and out with fireproof enamel; the coat used for the outside generally being blue, and that for the inside white. The advantages of enamelled ware are that it is clean, acid-proof and does not injure the colour or flavour of any article cooked and placed within it. Vessels of this ware are especially useful for making sauces, boiling milk, farinaceous puddings and stewing fruit. ”

“ Kitchen Utensils.—A vast amount of drudgery in the kitchen has been relieved by the convenient inventions in labor-saving appliances: coffee and spice mills, can-openers, stationary washtubs, stopper extractors, superseding the old style of hand-corkscrews where large numbers of bottles are to be uncorked; refrigerators and provision safes, attaching and lifting devices and convenient culinary dishes and utensils of great variety.
Curtains, shades and screens have been wonderfully improved and their use made widely possible by modern inventions and new adaptation of old methods. ”

“ They are not iron boxes like our modern kitcheners, but are brick structures, matters of masonry in all but certain adjuncts, such as bars, fire-doors, covers, oven-boxes, etc., which are very simple and inexpensive. Even some of Rumford’s kitchen utensils, such as the steamers, were cheaply covered with wood, because it is a bad conductor, and therefore wastes less heat than an iron saucepan lid. ”

“ Food was once cooked in a firepit in the center of the floor, below a hole in the roof which allowed the smoke to escape, but today it is 48 prepared on stoves which increasingly are butane gas or electric models. In good weather, cooking is done outside. Iron and aluminum pots and pans have replaced homemade pottery and baskets as kitchen utensils. ”

“ The materials of which cooking utensils are made, as well as their shape and size, have also a great bearing on the success with which cooking may be done. As no one material is suitable for all utensils, they are made of various materials, such as wood, tin, glass, enamel, aluminum, sheet iron, and earthenware. In the purchase of a utensil, therefore, it is well to have in mind the use to which the utensil will be put, and then to select one that is made of durable material, that can be easily cleaned, and that will not affect the food that is cooked in it. ”

“ Rapidity is its chief attribute. By this rapidity in cooking there is a saving of fuel, and as the utensils are taken directly from the stove, as are the casseroles, and used on the tables, there is the same saving of service time. These glass utensils bring out the flavors in all kinds of foods; they do not absorb odors or greases; they are very easy to keep clean; there is never any burn to remove and one can always see inside the utensil to find out how the food is faring! ”

“ Care should always be taken to have covers that fit snugly on any pans that are used in the cooker. Aluminum ware makes the best utensil, though enameled ware or agate ware may be used. A six-quart pail with a pan to fit inside of it is a good size for the ordinary family. ”

“ The beautifully finished light, handy, and convenient porcelain-enamelled saucepans and stewpans and aluminium cooking pots used on modern gas stoves and ranges, would have been just as unsuitable on the open fires of the older grates as what are now regarded as the curios of the kitchen would be deemed to be in modern culinary operations. In almost every house there are to be found obsolete utensils, some of which are valued on account of their great age, others because of their unusual forms, and some because of the beauty of workmanship and the costly materials of which they have been made. ”

“ A built-up fireplace in the middle of the floor is the only fixture. A large flat iron pan for cooking, or, if the parties are luxurious, they may possess two such utensils, and sport two fireplaces, by which means they can boil their mutton and water for their tea at the same time. A basin to hold milk, and a good large jug with a spout for the same purpose, and for the convenience of boiling it at the fire while the big pan is on, comprise all their kitchen and table service. ”

“ Kettles for the cooking of fruits with sirup should be flat and have a broad surface. Fruit is not so likely to crush in such kettles as in kettles that are deep and have a small surface.
18. KNIVES, SPOONS AND OTHER SMALL UTENSILS.--Many of the small utensils in a kitchen equipment are practically indispensable for canning purposes. Thus, for paring fruits and vegetables and cutting out cores, blossoms, and stem ends or any defective spots, nothing is more satisfactory than a sharp paring knife with a good point. ”

“ COOKING FOR TWO While the fireless cooker is, perhaps, especially adapted to families of average size, or larger, there is no reason why small quantities of food cannot be equally well cooked, provided the cooker is properly made with that in view.
A large utensil will involve a great waste of gas and time, for in every case it will be necessary to heat a considerable quantity of water which is only required to fill the utensil. Select, instead, a two-quart pail, pack it very tightly in a moderately small box, allowing, however, the requisite thickness of insulation (see page 16) . ”

“ Even in the fifteenth century the appliances for cookery were evidently far more numerous than they had been. An illustrated vocabulary portrays, among other items, the dressing-board, the dressing-knife, the roasting-iron, the frying-pan, the spit-turner (in lieu of the old turn-broach) , the andiron, the ladle, the slice, the skummer; and the assitabulum, or saucer, first presents itself. It seems as if the butler and the pantler had their own separate quarters ”

“ I can think of nothing more interesting than a kitchen with the frequently used utensils decorating the walls where they can be reached with few steps; and such little things as spoons, egg beaters, can openers, spatulas, cork screws, potato mashers, measuring cups, funnels, soup dippers, wire strainers, pinchers and skimmers, not forgetting a small cushion with pins, hanging just over the table ”

“ By and by they left the woods and entered a big clearing, in which was the Kingdom of Utensia.
Standing all around the clearing were a good many cookstoves, ranges and grills, of all sizes and shapes, and besides these there were several kitchen cabinets and cupboards and a few kitchen tables. These things were crowded with utensils of all sorts: frying pans, sauce pans, kettles, forks, knives, basting and soup spoons, nutmeg graters, sifters, colanders, meat saws, flat irons, rolling pins and many other things of a like nature. ”

“ A cast-iron skillet with legs to lift it above the coals and ashes. As all cooking vessels were 55 used at an open fire they were all made either to hang above it like a pot or to stand before it like a tin oven, or to rest upon its coals like a three-legged skillet.
FIGURE 5
A tin kitchen or roaster. A box of tin standing on legs and with one side open. A steel spit was stuck through the meat and the meat was fastened to it by skewers, which passed through the meat and through small holes in the spit itself. ”

“ On the external surface of each side is a handle, by which the utensil may be placed on or removed from the plate hanger, which consists of a sliding plate on two bars, terminating in hooks in front, to hang on the bars of the range. Attached to the sides of the Dutch oven at the very apex of each, is a cover, or flap, which, in consequence of being fixed on a swivel, may be used on either side. ”

“ After installing an electric stove, start with new utensils because they will not blacken on an electric stove, and so can be washed with the other dishes.
Fig. 21. Utensil with heating unit.
When ordinary household utensils are used, they should be of such shape that they stand flat, as they also should on a coal range. The most economical use of heat is secured when the area of heat is smaller than the area of the bottom of the kettle and is concentrated on the utensil. Care should be taken when stoves are installed, that they are properly grounded so that they cannot burn any one. ”

“ Soup pots and kettles should be washed immediately after being used, and carefully dried by the fire, before they are put by. They must also be kept in a dry place, or damp and rust will soon destroy them. Copper utensils should never be used in the kitchen; or if they be, the utmost care should be taken not to let the tin be rubbed off, and to have them fresh done when the least defect appears. ”

“ To Take Rust from Flat-Irons, tie some yellow beeswax or paraffine in a cloth, and when the iron is warm, but not hot enough to use, rub with the wax and then rub it through sand or salt.
A Good Stove Polisher—A piece of burlap is a very good polisher for the kitchen stove or range when it is hot. It does not burn readily, and for that reason is better than flannel or cotton cloth or paper.
Wire Rack for Use Under Pies—When taking pies from the oven, do not put them on the flat surface of the table to cool unless a high wire rack is put under them. ”

“ Knife drawers or racks with grooves to keep the [167] knife blade inviolate are too little used. This is one of the things that will make the kitchen a more proper tool chest, prolong the life of cutlery and save time in the search for wanted knives on the part of the worker. These are being made in compact, useful fashion to meet the needs of the well ordered kitchen. We can’t stress the housing of cutlery hard enough—and it is a real housing problem.
The pot cover rack for those who do not hang up their pots is a great comfort. ”

“ A few good paring knives, some plates, and if possible some cutting or slicing device to lighten the work of preparation are all that are necessary. A sharp kitchen knife will serve every purpose in slicing and cutting fruits for drying, if no other device is at hand. The thickness of all slices of fruit should be from an eighth to a quarter of an inch. ”

“ There are a few utensils, not at all expensive, which are a great aid to the cook and a saving of time too, and yet from some cause or other are seldom found in an ordinary kitchen. Before glancing at these we might consider what is the best covering for the floor. There is no doubt that deal boards well scrubbed look nicer than anything else, but to keep them spotless involves a lot of labour, and as this is not always to be had, perhaps the wisest plan is to cover it with oilcloth or linoleum; a good medium quality can be bought for 3s. ”