Do not speak harshly or imperatively to servants, or tell them of their faults in the presence of strangers or visitors; but take the earliest opportunity of reproving them after your company have left.
821. Store-room.—A store-room is essential for the custody of articles in constant use, as well as for others which are only occasionally called for. These should be at hand when wanted, each in separate drawers, or on shelves and pegs, all under the lock and key of the mistress, and never be given out to the servants but under her inspection.
Pickles and preserves, prepared and purchased sauces, and all sorts of groceries, should be there stored; the spices pounded and corked up in small bottles, sugar broken, and everything in readiness for use. Lemon-peel, thyme, parsley, and all sorts of sweet herbs, should be dried and grated for use in seasons of plenty; the tops of tongues saved, and dried, for grating into omelets, &c.; and care taken that nothing be wasted that can be turned to good account.
Coarse nets suspended in the store-room are very useful in preserving the finer kinds of fruit, lemons, &c., which are spoiled if allowed to touch. When lemons and oranges are cheap, a proper quantity should be bought and prepared, both for preserving the juice, and keeping the peel for sweetmeats and grating, especially by those who live in the country, where they cannot always be had; and they are perpetually wanted in cookery.
822. Sugar.—The lowest-priced and coarsest sugar is not the cheapest in the end, as it is heavy, dirty, and of a very inferior degree of sweetness; that which is most refined is the sweetest: the best has a bright and gravelly appearance. East India sugars appear finer in proportion to the price; but they do not contain so much sweetness as the other kinds. Loaf-sugars should be chosen as fine and as close in texture as possible, except they are for preserving, when the coarse, strong, open kind is preferable.
823. Pepper.—The finest Cayenne pepper consists of powdered bird-pepper; but, as this is of a bad color, it is often adulterated to heighten the color. English chilies, dried and pounded, make good pepper.
White pepper is inferior to black, although the former is sold at the highest price. White pepper is merely black pepper deprived of its outer coating, which has a stimulating property; so that white pepper is much weaker than black.