Care of Pantry
Neatness and order in your pantry will depend in great measure upon the way you clear your table. If you look upon your butler’s pantry as a dumping-ground, then dirt and disorder will be inevitable. But, on the contrary, if you consider it a workshop, to be kept shipshape, you will avoid these dangers. Shipshape means a place for everything and everything in its right place.
Make up your mind in the beginning where you want to lay your knives, where you want your silver, which is the best place for your heavier china and the safest for your delicate pieces. When these places are well chosen, then stick to them.
You must be sure to have a bowl or pan large enough to hold all the broken bits and
bones from any meal. A large yellow bowl or agate pan is suitable for this. Do not use a tin pail; it is not cleanly. A piece of lemon or a spoonful of tomato will rust it and it will soon become disagreeable.
Do not begin your work until the food is put away. Next empty every glass, cup, bowl, and pitcher. Rinse with cold water those which have been used for milk or cream. Scrape your plates and dishes carefully, and put those of one sort together. This saves time; it does not waste it. A crust of bread from the broken bits will easily wipe out a fine china bowl or silver ladle without scratching it as a knife or spoon might do.
Keep a pan and brush at hand, and if food is dropped on your pantry floor take it up at once. Then you will have one greasy spot instead of long streaks to scour out.
When you have finished washing dishes, always leave your pan or sink perfectly clean. Your sapolio is provided for the purpose of
cleaning them thoroughly and in an expeditious manner. Once a week you must wash down the pipes with a strong solution of sal soda and water that is actually boiling, not simply hot.
Never leave soiled towels lying in your pantry. After each meal wash out those you have used and hang them to dry. You may add a little dilute ammonia to the water in which you wash them. Once a week, all towels that have been used should be thoroughly washed, scalded, and ironed. You need fresh ones each time for glass and fine china. Do not let your pile of fresh ones get exhausted before you have other fresh ones to take their place.
Your pantry shelves should be kept well dusted, every drawer clean and in order, the knife cleaner in proper place, the silver-cleaning materials in their place. See that the clean hand towels are not mixed with the dish towels. Keep salad cloths by themselves. Be sure that the brooms and long dusters are
hung, not standing on the floor, and choose a good place for keeping dusting cloths and small feather dusters.
Always remember that shipshape means a place for everything and everything in its right place.