One may buy food with good judgment, and yet fail to be an economical provider because she does not take proper care of it. Perfect cleanliness is essential for the best preservation of food. The cellar, pantries, storerooms, refrigerators, and all the receptacles in which food is kept, should be frequently inspected and thoroughly cleaned. Heat and moisture tend to cause decay; therefore it is important that all foods should be surrounded with pure, cool, dry air. When it is possible, expose every closet and food receptacle to the sun and air several times a week.
All kinds of cooked food, particularly the animal foods, spoil quickly when covered closely while still warm. All soups, meat, fish, bread, etc., that are to be kept for many days or hours, should be cooled thoroughly and quickly in a current of cold air. In hot weather it is a good plan, when cooling soups, milk, or any liquid mass, to place the vessel containing the food in another of cold water,—with ice, if convenient,—and set it in a cool draught.
All meat, when not hung up, should be placed on a dish and set in a cool place. If poultry be drawn, and a few pieces of charcoal be placed in the body, it will keep longer than if hung undrawn. It must not be washed until it is to be cooked. The dryer the meat is kept the better.
A dish of charcoal placed in the refrigerator or pantry helps to keep the atmosphere dry and sweet.
Milk and butter should be kept in a cool place, and away from all strong odors.
Bread and cake must be thoroughly cooled before being put in boxes or jars; if not, the steam will cause them to mould quickly. The bread box should be washed, scalded, and thoroughly aired in the sun, twice a week. The crusts and stale pieces of white raised bread, for which there is no other use, should be put in a pan, be dried slowly in a warm oven, and then be pounded, sifted, and put in glass jars for future use.
All the trimmings of fat should be rendered while they are sweet; then strained into jars or pails kept for that purpose. Put beef, pork, and chicken fat together; this will answer for deep frying. Ham, bacon, and sausage fat answers for frying potatoes, hominy, mush, etc. All the strong-flavored fats, such as mutton, duck, turkey, and the skimmings from boiled ham, are to be kept by themselves for making soap.
It should be remembered that pure fat will keep sweet many months, but if water or any foreign substance be left in it, it will spoil quickly. When rendering or clarifying fat, cook it slowly until there are no bubbles. As long as bubbles form, you may be sure that there is water in the fat. If put away in that condition it will become rancid.
Clarifying Fat.
To clarify fat that has been used for frying, put it into a frying kettle, being careful not to let the sediment go in, and place the kettle on the fire. When the fat becomes hot, add three raw potatoes cut into slices, and stir well. The impurities gather on the potatoes. Three potatoes will be enough for four pounds of fat. Whenever there are any trimmings of fat from any kind of meat cut them in bits and place in a frying-pan on the back part of the stove, where they will cook slowly until all the liquid fat has been extracted. Strain this into a pot kept for this purpose.