Science in the Kitchen / A Scientific Treatise On Food Substances and Their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome Recipes

by E. E. Kellogg

Steel knives and forks with ivory or wooden handles should not be put into dishwater. Hot water will expand the steel and cause the handles to crack. Wash them thoroughly with the dishcloth, scour with bath brick, and wipe dry.

All tin and iron dishes should be thoroughly dried before putting away, to prevent rusting.

If draining is considered preferable to wiping dishes, a good plan, if one has not a patent dish drainer, is to fold an old tablecloth in several thicknesses and spread upon the table. Wash the dishes carefully and rinse in hot water. Place a cup or bowl bottom upward, lay a plate on each side, then one between and above them, with two more on the outside, and so on, not permitting them to touch more than necessary.

Dishcloths and Towels.—No dishes or utensils can be well cared for without good, clean dishcloths and towels, and plenty of them. An excellent dishcloth may be either knit or crocheted in some solid stitch of coarse cotton yarn. Ten or twelve inches square is a good size. Several thicknesses of cheese-cloth basted together make good dishcloths, as do also pieces of old knitted garments and Turkish toweling. If a dish mop is preferred, it may be made as follows: Cut a groove an inch from the end of a stick about a foot in length and of suitable shape for a handle; cut a ball of coarse twine, into nine-inch lengths, and lay around the stick with the middle of the strands against the groove; wind a fine wire or cord around the twine to fasten it in the groove; then shake down the twine, so it will lie all one way like a mop, and fasten it to the handle by tying a second cord around it on the outside.

Towels for drying dishes should be of three different grades,—fine ones without lint for glass, silver, and fine china; coarser ones for the ordinary table ware, and still another quality for pans, kettles, and other kitchen ware. The right size is a yard in length and half as wide, with the ends hemmed. As to material, fine checked linen is usually employed for glass and silver towels, and crash for ordinary dishes, for iron and tinware towels which have become somewhat worn, or a coarse bag opened and hemmed, may be used. Old, half-worn tablecloths may be cut into excellent dish towels.

It is of the greatest importance that all dishcloths, mops, and towels be kept perfectly sweet and clean. 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. Those used during the week should go into the wash as regularly as other household articles. Dish towels are also much better for being ironed. It gives them a "surface" which facilitates the drying operation.

The Care of Silver, Glass, Etc.—If silver is well washed in hot water containing a few drops of ammonia, and carefully dried with a fine, soft towel, it will keep bright for a long time without other cleaning. If special cleaning is necessary, try the following: Place the silver in a pan of hot water, then with a soft cloth, soaped and sprinkled with powdered borax, scour the silver well; afterward rinse in clear cold water, and dry with a clean cloth. If a more thorough cleaning is needed, apply moistened Spanish whiting with a silver brush and soft flannel, afterward polishing with dry whiting and chamois skin. Frequent scouring should be avoided by careful washing, as too much rubbing wears out plated ware and dulls the best of silver. Silver ware and plate which is not in ordinary use can be kept from tarnishing by varnishing with collodion, a solution of gun-cotton in ether. The articles should be carefully brushed in this colorless varnish with an elastic brush, taking care that the entire surface is covered. The film of collodion will protect the underlying metal from the action of the sulphurous vapors to which is due the blackening of silver.

Tinware which has become blackened may be made to look bright and shining again by rubbing with a damp cloth dipped in sal-soda. Afterward wipe dry. Sand soap or sapolio may be used for the same purpose.

Cut-glass ware which has become in any way blurred or tarnished can be restored by polishing it with a soft piece of newspaper. First rub well with a piece slightly moistened and afterward repeat the process with dry paper. Rubbing with a soft brush dipped in fine, soft whiting is another method often employed for the same purpose. Cut-glass water-bottles dim or stained on the inside are best cleaned by rinsing with dilute muriatic acid, then carefully rinsing several times in clear cold water to remove all trace of the acid, which is a poison.