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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1907 



Using the Kitchen 



By Sarah Adams Kellar 



|0 MATTER how completely a kitchen may 

 be equipped there must be knowledge of 

 how to use the permanent fixtures and the 

 utensils with which it is supplied or it will 

 be utterly useless and a matter of constant 

 expense and annoyance. Hence the trained 

 cook and housewife, each of whom is sup- 

 posed to be more or less familiar with the tasks that must be 

 performed here. It is not the province of these papers to 

 present directions for kitchen management, but no series of 

 papers on the kitchen would approach completeness which 

 ignored this aspect of the subject. 



Every housekeeper should have a certain familiarity with 

 the more ordinary sort of kitchen work. The young woman 

 particularly whose acquaintance with a kitchen is first made 

 in her own house when she sets up housekeeping is at so 

 serious a disadvantage that years may be necessary to over- 

 come this difficulty. Expert knowledge of cookery and of 

 housework cannot be expected of all women, but no one 

 should begin housekeeping without some preliminary expe- 

 rience. Even if this is but slight it will help very much in 

 bridging vacancies in domestic service and in meeting unex- 

 pected contingencies which are sure to arise from time to 

 time, and which will certainly come to the surface at the 

 most unexpected and inconvenient periods. 



There are several ways in which this preliminary training 

 can be acquired. Home training is the most accessible and 

 because the opportunities it afforcis for practical work are so 

 abundant and convenient it has merits of a very pronounced 

 character. Cooking schools offer more elaborate opportuni- 

 ties, because they are planned and conducted on a broader 

 scale, and the novice will gain in them knowledge and expe- 

 rience which she may never acquire in the best kept home. 

 The advantages offered by courses in these schools are very 

 great and should be availed of whenever possible. 



Still another source of information is supplied by the cook 

 books. The practical merits of a good cook book are of the 

 highest value. There are many such books to be had, and 

 many of them are very able and excellent indeed. One or two 

 cook books should be in every kitchen. Too many are apt 

 to be confusing, but a shelf should always be provided for 

 these volumes and it will be strange indeed if they do not 

 constitute one of the most valuable features of the kitchen 

 equipment. 



If one has a prejudice against cook books one will do well 

 to get rid of it at once. A good cook knows, of course, how 

 to prepare many dishes without recourse to printed directions; 

 but the seeking of such authority should not be regarded as 

 detrimental to the cook's status. Good cooks are scarce; 

 very good cooks are too high priced for the average pocket 

 book; a cook book is by no means a substitute for a good 

 cook, but it is a very great help, and in these difficult days of 

 domestic servants everything that helps in the kitchen work is 

 to be welcomed with a glad hand. 



The recipes given in any cook book fall naturally into two 

 classes; easy and difficult. The beginner will do well to 

 avoid the latter, for delightful as the results promise to be — 

 and are, when successful — the work involved often seems dis- 

 couraging. The elements should be mastered first, and when 

 success has been achieved with them it will be time enough to 

 think of moving on further. The simple recipes are numer- 

 ous enough for all ordinary purposes, for the most common 



foods are prepared simply enough, and those who have mas- 

 tered the easiest of them will not want for variety and inter- 

 est in their table furnishings. 



There is one general rule that should be followed in using 

 cook books in every instance, and that is to do exactly as the 

 directions say, using the quantities given in exact measure, 

 mixing the ingredients in the order indicated, arranging the 

 cooking vessels precisely as stated, and in every way following 

 the given order literally. One must assume that all the 

 recipes in a given book have been tried again and again by 

 the author who puts them forth. It must be assumed, there- 

 fore, that the printed directions give precisely the way to 

 prepare the dish and any variation from them will give dif- 

 ferent results and lead to well-merited disappointment. The 

 directions are intended to be followed literally and a particu- 

 lar dish should not be undertaken unless this is done. 



Even with the utmost care the beginner may meet with 

 failure. The lesson taught by this experience is simply that 

 of more care. But one should not be discouraged because a 

 desired result is not obtained the first time. You may not 

 get it at first, be you as careful as you may, but you will 

 have better luck the second time, and may have complete suc- 

 cess the third. So many experiments may not always be nec- 

 essary, but one should not condemn a cook book or a certain 

 recipe because it was not a success at first trial. 



A kitchen scrap book should be placed in every kitchen, 

 and in it the mistress should place every recipe that has been 

 found successful or which appeals to her in any way. Recipes 

 from the family cook books should be copied out and kept 

 together in this book, as this will facilitate reference and, in 

 a measure, separate the wheat from the chaff. It will add 

 very much to the ease with which such a book is consulted if 

 the contents is typewritten. In copying recipes the utmost 

 care should be taken to see that the ingredients and their 

 quantities are accurately given, for mistakes are frequently 

 made in copying and too much care cannot be exercised. 



For the "latest things" in kitchen work and recipes there is 

 a goodly list of special periodicals, from which much of value 

 and of interest may be gained, but which will be found chiefly 

 of interest to the mistress. The servant cannot be expected 

 to cull these papers systematically; but the interested house- 

 keeper, bent on keeping her house in the latest way, intent on 

 knowing the latest and best way of doing things, will find 

 them of great help and assistance. 



The daily press, not to be behind hand in the noble work 

 of bettering the kitchen, prints daily or weekly installments of 

 contributions to kitchen lore which the inquisitive may consult 

 for such guidance as she hopes to find there. Signed recipes 

 and suggestions by competent persons are always valuable, 

 and the best of these should find their way into the kitchen 

 scrap book. The scope of that book, by the way, should not 

 be limited to immediate needs, but should include anything 

 and everything which may seem to be of future value. 



There are few things more important in the kitchen than 

 for the mistress to have entire control. If one can employ a 

 corps of servants this is not needed because in that event there 

 are always others to do work which the mistress would not 

 undertake under any circumstances. But in families of mod- 

 erate means the mistress must be mistress literally. She can 

 turn her kitchen over to her servants and rest content with re- 

 sults, but she should never be compelled to appeal to them 

 for ordinary information. 



