3. THE SEQUENCE
Going into the kitchen to make one dish; or getting a supper for which much of the food has been previously prepared, gives no suggestion of one of the chief difficulties in getting meals. This difficulty is the sequence of work. Unless thoughtful and orderly arrangements are made, one dish will be done too early, another too late, the cook may find she is required to perform two pieces of work at once and the last moments before the meal will be crowded with more things than can possibly be done.
The time required to cook different articles of food often furnishes a sort of schedule for getting the meal. Additional time must be allowed, however, for preparations before cooking and for finishing touches after cooking.
Except when a gas range is used the fire is the first thing to attend to.
The other things to be arranged for naturally fall into three groups with intervals between in which work may be done which does not have to be timed.
The first group contains things which take long to cook, such as baked and boiled meats, oatmeal, some puddings, old vegetables, and vegetables which are cooked slowly like stewed tomatoes. These things are prepared and put on the fire as soon as the fire is ready for them.
Between this and the second group is an interval which may be used for preparing the second group and for setting the table, arranging salad, putting dishes to warm, etc. Sometimes a dessert has to be prepared in this interval, in that case the food of the second group may have to be made ready and the table set at the very beginning of things, before the fire is looked after.
The second group contains vegetables and desserts which cook in from thirty to forty-five minutes, soup which is to be warmed, eggs which are to be boiled hard to accompany vegetables, anything which takes a half or three-quarters of an hour to cook or which is needed in the concluding preparations of the other food.
After this second group is on the fire comes another interval in which things may be done which were left over from the other interval and in which cold food such as bread, butter and milk may be put on the table. In this time also preparation must be made for the cooking necessary to the third group. Some of these are, mixing thickening for gravy, shelling hard-boiled eggs for spinach, and collecting on the kitchen table seasonings, butter and milk for the cooked vegetables and meat.
The third group contains things which must be done a very brief time before the meal. These are broiling meat, preparing cooked vegetables for the table, making sauces and gravy, putting beaten egg or vermicelli in soup and getting everything arranged in dishes.
Then there are three last things for the housewife to do before the meal: to see that the fire is in condition to leave, that soiled pots and pans are filled with water, and last of all to take an instant to wash her hands, remove her apron and make herself tidy.
There are one or two ways in which preparations for meals may be simplified. For any large meal but especially for dinner served late in the day, as many preparations as may be, should be made in the morning or at luncheon time. When making the menu for a meal do not select things which conflict; for instance, a roast of meat and a delicate pudding cannot be baked at the same time. Likewise, it is inconvenient, not to say unappetizing to have the meat and vegetables and dessert for a meal all boiled or all baked or all fried. Try not to have two things for the same meal which will be spoiled if they are not served the instant they are cooked.
At the end of this chapter about food, I have the desire to put a little verse which often runs in my head when I am getting meals.
"Though o'er the board the constellations shine,
Austere the feast for time's retainers spread;
Laughter the salt of life, and love the wine,
Sleep the sweet herbs, and work the bitter bread."