Foods and Household Management Part 4

=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.

_Order of work._--Prepare the dishes by sc.r.a.ping and neatly piling articles of a kind together. 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 gla.s.ses, 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. Dip each dish in the rinsing water and then put in the drainer. If there is not room for two pans, the dishes may be piled on the drainer not too many at a time, and the rinsing water poured over. Be careful not to use too hot water for delicate china and gla.s.s. Change the soapy water when it becomes in the least greasy.

Wipe the dishes while they are still warm, and use dry towels.

Wash the utensils thoroughly, especially on the bottom. Heavy utensils can be dried without wiping, on or near the stove. Do not put any utensils away until they are perfectly dry.

Steel knives should be scoured and thoroughly rinsed and dried. Wash out the towels and dishpan, and leave the sink and drainboard perfectly clean.

It does take time and work for this whole process, but spotless cleanliness is our aim.[5]

Home dish-washers are being devised, and should save some of the labor.

None as yet has proved very satisfactory.

EXERCISES

1. What is essential to the planning of a convenient kitchen?

2. How may cleanliness be secured through the furnishings?

3. What are the requisites in a good work table?

4. Explain the construction of a refrigerator. Of a good sink.

5. Compare the materials used in utensils.

6. What is the advantage of a machine compared with hand power?

7. Make an estimate of the cost of utensils for the home kitchen from a price list obtained from some standard furnishing shop.

8. Examine the utensils in the school kitchen and at home. Consider the material and shape with reference to durability and convenience.

9. What are the important points in cleaning the kitchen?

10. What are the important points in good dish-washing?

11. What is a good order of work in dish-washing?

CHAPTER III

FUEL AND STOVES

The fuels most widely used in this country are coal, gas, and kerosene.

Wood is still used for cooking by those who own wood lots, or who live in a district where wood is abundant, but in a sense it is the fuel of the past. Electricity is generated from coal except in the few communities where the electric current is derived through machinery from the energy of falling water but electricity is not in common household use, and is still the method of the future for the average family. Other substances are burned for fuel occasionally or in restricted localities. Corn cobs are used sometimes in the corn belt. Peat is an old-world fuel. It is a vegetable substance taken in blocks from marshes, in reality the first stage of coal formation. It is a slow-burning fuel which is cheap in its own locality.

Economy of fuel is a world problem, for it is evident that the coal supply will be exhausted in course of time, and this is true also of coal oil or petroleum. Scientists are experimenting to discover practical methods, not dependent upon the burning of coal, for generating electricity. Water power is the only practicable method so far, and to make it permanently available we must conserve the forests still remaining to us, and thus safeguard the sources of our rivers.

Another effort toward economy is seen in the use for fuel of waste products treated in some way to make them readily combustible. The briquet is used in Europe where the fuel supply is limited. It is made of sawdust or waste coal, with some petroleum, tar, resin, or other substance, heated together and molded. Good briquets yield a large amount of heat in proportion to bulk and weight. The problem here, as with all waste, is to find a manufacturing process that will make the product cheap enough to be practical for common use.

It is a natural impulse to use lavishly whatever is at hand in abundance, and it is only a highly civilized community that takes thought for the economy of the future. Considered only from a selfish point of view, however, with coal and petroleum at the high prices that are likely to prevail, the saving of fuel is one of our most important economies.

=The common fuels.=--_Coal_ is of two kinds, anthracite and bituminous, or hard and soft. Hard coal of good quality has 90 per cent or more of carbon, and burns with little flame. Soft coal contains as much as 18 per cent of flame-making substances, and gives off a heavy smoke. Hard coal is therefore cleaner, but it is more costly than soft coal, because the supply is smaller. The most important anthracite mines are found in the eastern United States, and hard coal is used more in this section than elsewhere. Good hard coal may be recognized by its glossy black color and bright surfaces. It is sold under different names taken often from the locality where it is mined. There are two kinds, one leaving a reddish ash, and the other a white. The red ash coal burns more freely than the white ash and the ash is heavier and therefore cleaner. The price is higher per ton or bag.

Coal is sorted in different sizes, a medium size being best for the ordinary range. Poor coal has slaty pieces in it, that will not burn but break up and mingle with the ashes. You can learn to detect it by the slaty color. _Clinkers_ are formed by unburnable minerals, mixed with the coal, that melt and stick together, and even adhere to the lining or the grate. They are not often troublesome in the cooking range.

Coal is measured by the ton of two thousand pounds avoirdupois. A common hod of coal holds about thirty pounds. Coal should be bought in large quant.i.ty, and stored away in summer, if possible. The retail dealer in the city often charges an exorbitant sum for coal by the bag, so that the buyer of small quant.i.ties pays a much higher price for a ton bought in this way. The wholesale price of coal has increased on an average about 13 per cent since 1900.

_c.o.ke_ is the solid substance remaining after gas has been made from certain kinds of coal, and is sometimes sold by gas companies, as a by-product. It is light, and therefore easy to handle and does not smoke, but it burns out quickly, and the fire of c.o.ke requires frequent replenishing. It is sold by the bag, or in large quant.i.ties by the ton, also sometimes by the chaldron, an old English measure for coal, containing from thirty-two to thirty-six bushels.

_Gas_ was used for illuminating long before it came into common use for heating and cooking. Commercial gas manufactured for both lighting and cooking is really a mixture of various gases. One method produces it from bituminous coal heated in retorts. Another method gives "water gas," by pa.s.sing steam through heated coal. The value of gas will depend upon the components of the mixture, and the manufacturer has an opportunity to make an inferior gas unless the law stipulates what the quality shall be.

The small town or country dweller may use a gas machine on the premises, the gas to be stored or generated in some tank in the ground, and piped into the house. Acetylene, a compound of carbon and hydrogen, is used in this way. Acetylene has a low flashing point, and there is question as to its safety. One firm sends a mixed gas of good quality in metal bottles to the consumer, the bottles being placed in a metal closet above ground outside the house. The firm claims that an explosion has never occurred.

Gas is measured by the cubic foot, and its price estimated per 1000 cubic feet. The amount is recorded on a meter as the gas pa.s.ses into the house.

See Fig. 13. It is an easy matter to learn to read a meter, and every one should do so who uses gas. Always compare the gas bill with the amount recorded by the meter. If the gas bill becomes larger than usual, and you feel sure that the consumption has been normal, report the matter to the company. A meter may be out of order, and need repair.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 13.--Reading the gas meter. _Courtesy of New York Consolidated Gas Co._]

_To read the meter._--Figure 13 shows the three dials found on the face of a gas meter. The arrows show the direction. The dial at the right indicates 100 cubic feet between the numbers, the middle dial 1000 and the left-hand dial 10,000. The dials in this figure record 53,250 cubic feet.

The price of gas varies from eighty cents to a dollar and a half per thousand cubic feet. "Eighty-cent gas" is the hope of many a consumer. At a dollar and a half it is not a cheap fuel.

Gas does away with the handling of coal and ashes in the kitchen and is thus a clean and labor-saving fuel. It gives an intense heat the moment the flame is lighted and this heat is easily regulated in a well-made stove. The flame should burn with a clear blue or greenish color. With a properly constructed stove only a small percentage of the heat is lost. In all these points it has the advantage over coal. The comparative cost is studied in the problems on page 53.

_Natural gas_ is used in those regions where it occurs, piped to the house from a central source. It is found in limited areas only, and in some places has already been exhausted.

_Coal oil_, or _petroleum_, sometimes found oozing from crevices in rocks, or even floating on water, is a natural inflammable oil stored in the earth. It was known in ancient Persia, Greece, and Rome, but did not become of great commercial importance until the middle of the nineteenth century. It is now obtained by boring wells, and is found in great quant.i.ties in certain regions of the country. The crude oil yields many products valuable in the arts, medicine, and manufacture. _Kerosene_ is the substance useful as a fuel and for giving light. When of good quality it is nearly colorless, and the flashing point should be 149 F., or 65 C. This _flashing point_ is the temperature at which the vapor from the kerosene explodes or flashes. If the vapor flashes at a point lower than this, it means that the oil has not been sufficiently refined; that is, in the process of manufacture the substances that flash at a low temperature have not been removed, and therefore the oil is less safe.

Kerosene is sold by the gallon or barrel. The price for a good quality is about seventy cents for a five-gallon can. By the barrel a saving is made of several cents a gallon. It is useful as a fuel to those housekeepers who cannot have gas, and who find it a convenient subst.i.tute for coal in the summer. With the new blue-flame stoves it gives an intense heat, easily regulated. There is no heavy labor involved in its use, but even the best stove requires constant care and watchfulness. It is not so clean and easy to use as gas. The kerosene supply should be kept in a cool place, and stoves and lamps should never be filled by candle or lamplight.

_Gasolene_ is used as a fuel for cooking in some places, but in others the fire insurance companies have such strict rules in regard to it that its use is practically prohibited. It is more volatile than kerosene, and its flashing point is very low. Kerosene is much safer for household use.

_Alcohol_ is used with the chafing dish. Denatured alcohol is so cheap in Germany that it is used in large and especially adapted stoves for cooking purposes. There are denatured alcohol stoves on the market here, but they are little used.

_Charcoal_, wood partially burnt out, is little used for domestic purposes now.

The relative value of the common fuels is stated in quant.i.ties as follows, but this is of course dependent on the quality of the coal and the gas.

One thousand feet of gas about equals from fifty to sixty pounds of coal, or four and one half gallons of kerosene; and one half ton of coal approximates a cord of wood.

Those who may be interested will find a fuller discussion of fuels and fuel values in Snell's "Elementary Household Chemistry."

_Electricity_ is not a fuel, but is cla.s.sed here as a source of heat. It may be supplied for cooking purposes by any company that furnishes electric light, and should be available in the country wherever an electric trolley runs. The energy supplied is measured and paid for by the kilowatt; that is, one thousand watts. The terms used for electrical measurements cannot be really understood until one has studied electricity. It may be said, however, that the _ampere_[6] is the unit of current strength, the _volt_ is the unit of electrical pressure or electromotive force, the _watt_ is the unit of electrical power and the basis of payment for current supplied for heating or lighting.