978. Washing Dishes.—The dirty dishes and plates should be put into a dish-tub of warm water, immediately they are taken from the dinner table; for, by this means, half the trouble of washing-up will be saved, as it will prevent the gravy, mustard, juice, &c., from cooling and drying on the plates and dishes. When you commence washing them, add sufficient boiling water to make it hot enough to wash them in, and with a dish-cloth wash them clean on both sides, one at a time. Rinse them immediately, in a pan full of cold water, part of which should stand under the tap, which should be turned a little on to keep it full. The reason for keeping the pan full of water and running over, is, that any grease, &c., which may rinse off the plates and dishes, may swim over into the sink in the act of rinsing, otherwise it would remain on the water, and make those you rinse, after the first few, look greasy, instead of clean and bright.
979. Washing Saucepans, Kettles, &c.—When you have washed all the dishes and plates used at dinner, as above directed, and put them in the rack to drain, the saucepans and kettles which have been used for cooking, should next be cleaned. The proper plan is to fill them with cold water as soon as the food has been taken out of them, as, by this means, whatever may hang about the sides cannot stick close, nor dry on hard, and they will clean much more readily. If the insides are discolored or dirty, a little soda or wood-ash is the best thing to clean them with; or, if they are very dirty, the wood-ashes, or some soda, must be boiled up in them. They should afterwards be well rinsed with boiling-hot water, wiped, and made perfectly dry, by being placed for some time bottom upwards, before the kitchen fire. The upper rims of saucepans, and the rims and insides of the lids, must be kept quite clean. If tin saucepans are not completely dry, they will soon get rusty, and if copper ones are not perfectly cleaned and dried, they become poisonous. Never leave food of any kind in a saucepan to become cold.
980. Washing Pudding-cloths, &c.—Pudding-cloths should be washed as soon as possible after the puddings are taken out of them. They should be washed in clean warm water, without soap, rinsed and thoroughly dried before being folded and put in the kitchen drawer, otherwise they will give a musty smell to the puddings that are next boiled in them. The paste-brush, egg-whisk and sieves must also be washed, first in cold and then in warm water, and put away clean and dry, or they will spoil whatever you use them for afterwards. All things through which eggs are strained, should be washed, first in cold and then in hot water.
981. Cleaning the Sink.—First, wipe into one corner and take up all the little bits of gristle, fat, or vegetables, or whatever else may have collected in the sink; and, if you live in or near to a town, throw it on the back part of the top of the kitchen fire; for, if thrown into the dust-bin, it will either entice rats or other vermin, or else cause an offensive and unwholesome smell. If forced down the sink holes, the same unpleasant consequences will follow, besides stopping-up and destroying the drains. But if you live in the country where a pig is kept, it may be thrown into the pig tub with the dish washings.
You must next clean the sink, which, if of stone, is best done with a hard brush and a little soda; or, if of lead, with the following mixture:—One pennyworth of pearlash, one pennyworth of soft-soap, and one pennyworth of fuller's-earth, (the fuller's-earth dried,) mixed together in a pipkin, or something of the kind, with a quart of water. About a table-spoonful of this on a piece of flannel will clean the leaden sink.
982. Cleaning the Spit, Frying-pan, &c.—The spit, if one is used, must also be always perfectly cleaned when done with. A little dripping rubbed on a hot frying-pan or gridiron, after cleaning it, will greatly remove the smell and taste of fish; but some persons rub a little salt well about the inside of a hot frying-pan, with a piece of clean paper, which also removes the taste of fish or onions. If these things are put away into damp places, they will soon become unfit for use.