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Full text of "The handbook of household management and cookery, comp. at the request of the School board for London, with an appendix of recipes used by the teachers of the National school of cookery"

TX 



UC-NRLF 




SB 



REESE LIBRARY 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 

^Received LfTA^^-l^ , 180 7 

Y 
Accessions Nn.wlfvOf . Class No. 



THE HANDBOOK 



OF 



HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT 
AND COOKERY 

; 

COMPILED AT THE REQUEST OF 



WITH AN APPENDIX OF RECIPES USED BY THE TEACHERS OF THK 

NATIONAL SCHOOL OF COOKERY 



BY 

W. B. TEGETMEIER 

AUTHOR OF i: A MANUAL OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY 



(JTWIVERSITY) 



H o n tr o n 
MACMILLAN AND CO. 

AND NEW YORK 
1894 

The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved 




RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, 
LONDON AND EUNGAY. 

First Edition printed 1876. 
Reprinted 1877, 1879, 1882, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1894. 




PREFACE. 



THE present work was written at the request of THE 
SCHOOL BOARD FOR LONDON. It was designed to 
supply a want which has:iong been felt by practical 
teachers ; that of a handbook on the general principles 
on which the processes of Cookery and the sanitary 
management of a home depend. 

No work on the subject at present exists which 
can be advantageously placed in the hands of the 
pupils in ordinary schools. A mere collection of 
recipes, however valuable in themselves, does not 
constitute a book fit for use in schools, where the 
pupils should be instructed in the first principles 
adapted to all cases, and not have the memory 
burdened by details applicable only to each indivi- 
dual case. The " Manual of Domestic Economy," * 
published by the Author for the use of students in 
female Training Colleges, is adapted for the instruc- 
tion of teachers, by whom it has been used with so 

1 "A Manual of Domestic Economy," by W. B. Tegetmeier. 
Tenth Edition. Hamilton and Adams, 1877. 



PREFACE. 



much success that Her Majesty's Commissioners, 
appointed to Investigate the Education in Mining 
Districts, in their Report on the Industrial Schools 
founded by Messrs. Baird at the Iron Works at 
Gartsherrie, stated that "The girls, in three months, 
can be taught plain cooking, washing, and cleaning, 
enough to prepare them for service, or to make 
them useful to their mothers at home. They are 
all instructed in Tegetmeier's ' Domestic Economy ' 
at school, so that their minds have been directed 
to many useful principles. On going to service 
after such a course, a girl would probably get i/. 
more wages for the first half-year's service." 

The value of the present work has been greatly 
increased by an Appendix of upwards of 150 
recipes prepared for the use of those teachers of 
the NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL OF COOKERY, South 
Kensington, who inaugurated the teaching at the 
Cookery Centres, established by the SCHOOL BOARD 
FOR LONDON. For the permission to use these 
recipes the author has to express his sincere thanks, 

Finchley, N. 




CONTENTS. 



PART I. FOOD. 

CHAP. PAGH: 

I. THE NATURE AND USES OF FOOD .... II 

II. MEAT : ITS COMPOSITION ....... 15 

III. MEAT : THE PROCESSES OF COOKERY . . . 2O 

IV. FISH : ITS VALUE AS FOOD, AND COOKERY . 34 

V. EGGS : THEIR COMPOSITION, VALUE AS FOOD 

AND COOKERY 37 

VI. MILK : ITS CONSTITUENTS AND PRODUCTS 

BUTTER AND CHEESE 41 

VII. FLOUR : ITS CONSTITUENTS, STARCH, SUGAR 

BREAD-MAKINGPASTRY, ETC 47 

VIII. PULSE, PEAS, BEANS, AND FRESH VEGE- 
TABLES AND FRUITS . 56 

IX. CONDIMENTS : SALT, PEPPER, SPICES, ETC. . 60 

X. BEVERAGES : TEA, COFFEE, COCOA, BEER., ETC 63 



CONTENTS. 



PART II. 
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT. 

CHAP. PAGE 

XL THE HOME : CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO 

HEALTH 66 

XII. WATER SUPPLY : QUALITIES OF WATER, 
INFLUENCE ON HEALTH, WASHING, 
COOKING, ETC 72 

XIII. AIR AND VENTILATION 76 

XIV. FIRING: STOVES, RANGES, AND ECONOMI- 
CAL MANAGEMENT OF FUEL 80 

XV. LIGHTING : CANDLES, PETROLEUM, BENZO- 
LINE, AND GAS LAMPS. THEIR MANAGE- 
MENT, ETC 85 

XVI. CLEANING, WASHING, AND GENERAL HOUSE- 
WORK 91 

XVII. CLOTHING 99 



APPENDIX. 



LESS. PAGE 

J. LIGHTING A FIRE, MILK AND EGGS, CHIL- 
DREN'S FOOD 103 

II. ROASTING, AND THE PUDDINGS EATEN 

WITH ROAST MEAT . ., 105 

III. BOILING 106 

IV. SOUPS AND BROTHS . , . IO8 

V. STEWS ...... \ ....... 109 

VI. BAKING . . . * . \ v , * ; . . . . IIO 

VII. FRYING , 112 

VIII. BROILING , . . 113 

IX. USING UP COLD MEAT ....... 114 

X. AUSTRALIAN MEAT .....'.... 115 

XL FISH 117 

XII. VEGETABLES . Il8 

XIII. PIES AND BAKED PUDDINGS . . . , . JJ9 



APPENDIX. 



LESS. PAGE 

XIV. BOILED PUDDINGS I2O 

XV. BREAD AND CAKES 122 

XVI. INVALID COOKERY 123 

XVII. FARINACEOUS FOODS , . 125 

XVIIL CHEAP SAUCES 126 

XIX. CHEAPEST DISHES WITHOUT MEAT . . . 127 

XX. CHEAPEST DISHES WITH MEAT . . . . 128 



^A/fyX 

OF THE Y \ 

UNIVERSITY) 



THE HANDBOOK 

OF 

HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT 
AND COOKERY. 

PART I. FOOD. 

CHAPTER I. 
THE NATURE AND USES OF FOOD 

1. Milk is almost the only example of a substance 
which is to be regarded as a naturally prepared food ; 
other articles of diet serve other purposes. Seeds 
grow, plants and animals live ; but milk is expressly 
formed for food, and for food alone. 

2. The young animal fed on milk grows or increases 
in weight daily. It forms or secretes several sub- 
stances, such as the saliva of the mouth, the bile of 
the liver, the tears from the eye, &c. ; it keeps itself 
warm, and exercises its strength in moving the limbs ; 
all of which it is enabled to accomplish only by means 
of materials derived from the milk which is its sole 
food 



12 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

3. Hence, as milk supplies every requisite for the 
body, and enables a young calf to grow into a heifer 
and a baby into a child, we may regard it as a model 
food ; it is, in fact, the most perfect food that exists 
in nature. 

4. It is desirable, therefore, to examine milk and 
ascertain the materials of which it is composed. A 
very large proportion of milk consists of water, which 
is necessary to supply the fluids of the body. 

The cream which rises to the top when the milk is 
allowed to stand at rest consists of fat, which is 
chiefly consumed or burnt away in breathing, and 
maintains the warmth natural to the young animal, 
and, like the coal in a steam-engine, is the source of 
the force or strength that it exercises ; when more 
cream is taken than is required for immediate use it 
is stored up in the body in the form of fat. 

If milk is allowed to become sour the solid part 
separates in the form of curd. It is this portion 
which supplies the materials for the growth of the 
flesh, skin, hair, heart, lungs, &c., of the young animal, 
and for replacing the daily loss arising from the 
wearing out of the different parts of the body. 

The whey, or liquid left after the separation of 
the curd, contains dissolved in it salt and other saline 
bodies necessary for digestion, and the earthy materials 
of which the bones are formed. It also contains some 
sugar, which acts like the cream in keeping up the 
warmth and maintaining the strength of the body. 

5. In preparing our food we must endeavour to 
imitate as far as possible the composition of milk ; 
for any one simple substance, such as starch, arrow- 
root, fat, gelatine, &c., which only fulfils one of the 



CHAP, i.] THE NATURE AND USES OF FOOD. 13 



purposes required in our food will not alone support 
life; hence it is necessary we should arrange the 
articles of food according to their uses. 

6. The substances that when eaten go to supply the 
materials of our bodies, and in this respect resemble 
the curd of the milk, are sometimes termed flesh- 
forming foods ; and, from containing nitrogen, are 
sometimes called nitrogenous ; but as they resemble 
white of egg (albumen) in many properties, they are 
better termed albumenoid, or albumen-like. 

The most important albumenoid articles of our 
food are the solid parts of the flesh of animals, the 
curd of milk, which when dried becomes cheese, the 
albumen of eggs, gelatine, the gluten of flour, and the 
curdy matter that forms a large portion of many seeds, 
as peas, beans, &c. 

7. The foods that are used to keep up the warmth 
natural to the body, and by being consumed in the 
breathing are the source of the strength we exercise, 
are sometimes termed warmth-giving foods; as they 
contain a great amount of carbon or charcoal they have 
also been termed carbonaceous; and as they resemble 
oil in being combustible they are frequently termed 
oleaginous foods. 

The most important of these foods are fats, oils, 
starch, sugar, gum, and the softer and more digestible 
fibres of plants. 

8. Many of the articles used as food do not con- 
tain a proper proportion of these two kinds of sub- 
stances, and in economical cooking it is desirable that 
the defects in one article of diet should be supplied 
by using it with some other which contains that which 
is wanting in the first. 



14 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

_ ___ 

For example, rice and potatoes consist chiefly of 
starch, and of themselves are bad foods unless com- 
bined with fatty and albumenoid matters; therefore 
we endeavour to use rice in puddings with milk, eggs, 
and butter, which supply all that is wanting, and it 
thus becomes a valuable article of food. Potatoes 
are most useful and economical if eaten with milk, 
fat meats ; alone they are barely able to support life 
and cannot sustain health and strength. Beans, 
which are chiefly albumenoid, are eaten with bacon. 
Bread, which is wanting in fat, with butter or bacon, 
&c. &c. 



CHAPTER II. 
MEAT: ITS COMPOSITION. 

9. Meat, or the flesh of animals used for food, 
consists of several very distinct substances, each of 
which possesses different qualities. Some of these 
substances are hardened, others softened by heat ; 
some dissolved, and others rendered tough by boiling 
water. It is therefore necessary to understand the 
nature of these different substances, in order to per- 
form the different operations of cooking in the best 
and most economical manner. 

10. If we take some small shreds of lean meat 
and wash them repeatedly in clean water, rubbing 
them at the same time, we shall wash away all the 
soluble part, and at last there will remain nothing 
but some white threads which constitute the fibrous 
part of the flesh of the animal from which they were 
obtained. We could in this manner obtain about 
fifteen pounds from every hundred pounds of flesh. 
This substance of which these threads are composed 
is termed fibrin ; it is an albumenoid (6) article of 
food. Fibrin also exists dissolved in the blood of 



1 6 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

living animals ; and when the fresh blood of a pig 
or other animal is stirred, as is done in making black 
puddings, the fibrin separates and adheres to the stick 
in long fibres. 

The action of heat on fibrin is very important. It 
is hardened and contracted by a heat as great as that 
of boiling water : this is easily shown by pouring some 
perfectly boiling water on the threads obtained by 
washing meat, or by cutting a thin shred of meat in 
the direction of the fibres, boiling it for a few minutes, 
and then noticing the alteration in its size and the 
hardening it has undergone. 

In water that is considerably less hot than boiling, 
the fibres of meat become soft, consequently any 
meat, even if old and tough, can be rendered useful 
for food by long continued stewing, at a heat much 
less than that of boiling water. 

ii. When meat is thoroughly washed to obtain the 
fibrin, a soluble substance, similar to the white of egg, 
passes away in the water; this is termed albumen. 
There are from three to five pounds of albumen in 
every hundred of meat; it also forms a very large 
proportion of the brain and of the blood. In cold 
or warm water it is easily dissolved, but if heated to 
near the boiling point of water it becomes solid. If 
a piece of fresh meat is suddenly plunged for a few 
minutes into water quite boiling, the albumen at the 
outside is hardened and becoming solid prevents the 
escape of the juices which form the gravy. Exposed 
to a heat greater than that of boiling water albumen 
becomes very horny and indigestible, but when pro- 
perly cooked it is one of the most valuable articles of 
diet. 



CHAP, ii.] ME A T: ITS COMPOSITION. i ^ 

1 2. The tendinous or gristly parts of the flesh, such 
as cow's heel, the sinewy parts about the joints, also 
the skin and the nutritive parts of the bones, consist 
chiefly of a peculiar substance termed gelatin. This 
is a valuable album enoid article of food when used 
with other substances. Gelatin and gelatinous articles 
of food may be dissolved by boiling, and the solution 
becomes a jelly when cold. Gelatin is rendered hard 
and horny by a dry heat, and therefore the sinewy 
and tendinous parts of meat are better adapted for 
stewing or boiling, than for roasting, broiling, or 
frying. 

13. If a quantity of lean meat be chopped up small, 
and placed in a closely-covered earthen pot, without 
water, and the pot be then put in a saucepan of water 
by the side of the fire so as to be very gradually heated, 
the juice of the flesh will escape. At first this will 
be of a red colour, being tinged with a little blood, 
but if heated to a greater degree it will become brown. 

The juice of the flesh contains many substances of 
the greatest value as food, and meat from which it is 
extracted is of very inferior value. 

All operations of cookery should be conducted so 
as to prevent as far as possible any loss of this 
valuable fluid. When meat is salted a large propor- 
tion of the juice of the flesh is extracted and forms 
the brine. This contains so much albumen as to 
become partly solid if heated. It is from the loss of 
this valuable juice that salted meats are so much less 
nutritious and wholesome than those that are used 
in a fresh state. What is termed extract of meat 
is merely the juice of the flesh from which the water 
has been evaporated so that it is nearly solid. 



1 8 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

14. Almost all flesh used for food contains a con- 
siderable proportion of fat, which when eaten main- 
tains the warmth of the body. Hence we have a much 
greater appetite for fat in cold seasons and climates 
than in those that are warm. Fat is one of the olea- 
ginous foods (7) which are the source of the force 
we exert ; it is also essential to the proper action of 
the digestive organs. When taken in too great a 
quantity it accumulates in the body, which thus be- 
comes fattened. 

15. The quantity and quality of these different 
substances vary very much in the different kinds of 
meat. The flesh of very young animals is not nearly 
so nutritious as that of those which are of mature age. 
Lamb and veal contain much less solid food than 
mutton or beef, and are consequently not so econo- 
mical, even if purchased at the same cost per pound. 
Mutton, if in good condition, is one of the most easily 
digested of the ordinary flesh meats. Pork is not so 
easily digested as beef or mutton, consequently is 
unfitted for sick persons, and from the unwholesome 
manner in which pigs are often kept, is more subject 
to be diseased than the flesh of sheep or oxen. 

1 6. Some of the internal parts of animals are ex- 
ceedingly useful as food. The stomach of the ox 
when cleaned and partially boiled is sold as tripe, an 
easily digestible and nutritious food. In the tongue 
the fibres of the flesh are very small and delicate, 
and if stewed slowly, become very soft and digestible ; 
but tongues are frequently much hardened by salting 
for a long time. The flesh of the heart of the ox and 
of the sheep is very firm and solid, and though nutri- 
tious, is not very easily digested. Kidney and liver, 



CHAP, ii.] MEAT: ITS COMPOSITION. 19 

except in the case of those of young animals, are also 
hard and firm when cooked, and are not very digest- 
ible. The brain consists chiefly of albumen and water, 
and if properly prepared is a useful food. The blood 
contains a very large proportion of nutritive albu- 
menoid substances, but it is not a favourite food, and 
except in the form of " black puddings," which are 
made from the blood of the pig, is rarely used in this 
country. 



CHAPTER III. 
MEAT: THE PROCESSES OF COOKERY. 

17. Roasting is a mode of cooking meat that is 
more common in this than in any other country. It 
is, however, not an economical or advantageous mode 
of cooking small joints, as they become dried up ; and 
it is exceedingly wasteful in the case of sinewy or 
tendinous pieces of meat, as it renders a very large 
proportion of them quite uneatable. Roasting is an 
advantageous mode of cooking only in cases where 
the joints are large and where the cost of a large fire 
is not of importance. Consequently it is not the best 
suited to the circumstances of the working classes. 

When a piece of meat is hung before a fire, part of 
the fat melts and forms the dripping which should be 
carefully and cleanly preserved, as it constitutes a 
valuable article of food. During the process some of 
the water of the juice of the flesh is dried up ; from 
these two causes the meat loses in weight. In some fat 
joints more than one quarter of the weight is lost, in 
others much less, as in the case of a leg of mutton 
which is covered by a skin, and has but little fat to 
melt away. 



Ctt. in.] MEAT : TtfE PROCESSES OF COOKERY. 21 

To roast well the meat should be hung up before a 
brisk bright fire, the first effect of which is to harden 
the albumen in the outer parts and thus prevent the 
escape of the nutritious juices. The heat should then 
be continued until it has penetrated the inside. When 
it is heated the natural red colour of the flesh is 
changed, and from the hardening of the albumen the 
meat becomes firm and can be cut in thin slices. 

Underdone meat is not, as is generally supposed, 
more nutritious than that which is properly cooked. 

The heat of the fire causes the production of pecu- 
liar flavours and odours which distinguish one kind of 
meat from another. 

1 8. In roasting it is important that the meat be put 
down before a bright, clear fire, sufficiently large to 
heat the whole of the joint at once. If possible, 
skewers and spits should not be thrust into the meat, 
as they make holes through which the gravy escapes. 
The time usually allowed for roasting is a quarter of 
an hour or twenty-minutes for every pound, but this 
depends on the thickness and also on the size of the 
joint. 

The usual plan of making gravy for roast meat is, 
to sprinkle a little salt on the joint after it is placed in 
the dish, and then pour some boiling water over it ; this 
washes off some of the brown and makes a coloured 
liquid in the dish. 

A much better plan is to collect the dripping in a 
flat pan, and when the meat is dished to leave as much 
as may be required for making the gravy ; and then to 
dredge in some flour and place the pan over the fire 
or stove until the flour is browned. A little cold water 
is next added, which is to be well mixed with the brown 



22 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

flour so as to avoid leaving any lumps. Boiling water, 
or still better, broth made by stewing any scraps of 
bones from the joint, is then poured on in sufficient 
quantity, the whole being constantly stirred ; the whole 
is allowed to boil for a few minutes and poured 
over the joint. In this manner a large quantity of 
very good, rich, nutritious gravy is produced which 
is very economical, as it renders potatoes and other 
vegetables much more acceptable, especially to child- 
ren, and in this mode saves the consumption of meat. 

If a joint is to be eaten cold it is better that it 
should not be cut whilst warm, as the contraction of 
the fibres forces out the gravy; but if not cut until cold 
the gravy is retained and the meat is much more tasty 
and tender. 

19. Baking is a more economical mode of cook- 
ing than roasting, especially in small families where 
economical stoves or ranges with side ovens are used, 
In baking there is less loss of weight than in roasting 
as the joint is less dried. Care should be taken that 
the floor of the oven is not too much heated or the 
fat may be burnt, which causes a bad flavour. A great 
advantage in baking is that it requires less attention 
than roasting, and that potatoes, or a batter or York- 
shire pudding, can be cooked under the meat. This 
latter may be made by taking four tablespoonfuls of 
flour, and rubbing them into a smooth batter with a 
pint of milk, which has previously had a well-beaten 
egg mixed with it. If eggs are abundant two or three 
may be employed with advantage, the quantity of 
flour being lessened. The milk and egg must be 
added gradually, the batter being rubbed until uni- 
formly smooth after each addition. 



CH. m.] ME AT: THE, PROCESSES OF COOKERY. 23 

20. Broiling is the rapid cooking of a small 
piece of meat, as a chop or a steak, by exposing it to 
the heat of a fire ; in large kitchens the gridiron on 
which the meat is cooked is usually placed over a 
large, clear fire, but in smaller houses it is generally 
hung up before the fire. Broiling has very nearly the 
same effect on meat as roasting. The albumen of the 
outer portions is hardened, and forms a kind of skin 
retaining the juices. 

In order that this may be done most perfectly, the 
meat should be rapidly turned so as to prevent the 
juices escaping on the side furthest from the fire. 
A fork should not be thrust into the flesh, as it makes 
holes through which the juices escape. 

In large chop-houses, the chops are turned over very 
quickly with broiling-tongs. 

Broiling is a good mode of cooking thick fleshy 
chops and steaks, but is a wasteful method of pre- 
paring thin pieces such as are often purchased when 
cheap meat is required. 

Success in broiling depends on having a thick, fleshy 
piece of tender meat, a clear fire, a clean gridiron, and 
on the meat being turned repeatedly. Broiled meat 
should not be sprinkled with salt until after it is 
cooked, and it should never be cut into in order to 
ascertain whether it is done ; as if again put down 
to the fire the juice escapes from the cut, and the 
meat becomes dry and much less nutritious. 

21. Frying is the cooking of meat in melted fat 
heated in a frying or stew-pan over a fire or stove. 

If the frying-pan is placed over an open fire, the fat 
is usually over-heated, and gives out a very disagree- 
able smell ; meat when placed in overheated fat ha. 



24 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

its fibrin hardened and contracted, so that it becomes 
very tough ; therefore fried meat is usually regarded as 
inferior to such as is broiled. 

If, however, the fat is not over-heated, and there 
is sufficient to prevent burning, and to cover the 
piece to be cooked, meat may be fried of a very light 
brown colour without being hardened. 

22. Boiling may be performed in various modes. 
If the joint is put in cold water and placed on the 
fire, and the heat very slowly raised to the boiling- 
point, after which the saucepan is pulled back from 
the fire so as to be kept hot without boiling until the 
joint is thoroughly done ; the meat will be tender in 
proportion to the length of time and slowness with 
which it has been cooked, but a considerable propor- 
tion of the gelatin and albumen will be dissolved in 
the water, and unless this be used for soup or broth 
will be wasted. 

This dissolved albumen coagulates or hardens as 
the water approaches the boiling-point, and forms the 
scum, which should be removed by skimming just 
before the water boils, or it is carried down by the 
boiling and discolours the meat. 

A different mode of boiling is sometimes adopted 
when the liquor is not required for soup. It is to 
place the joint in perfectly boiling water for a quarter 
of an hour ; this hardens the outside and prevents the 
escape of the nutritious juices ; the water is then 
cooled, either by adding a quantity of cold water or 
by drawing the vessel back from the fire, and the 
process continued at a low heat until the whole is 
thoroughly cooked. 

If the water is made to boil during the whole time 



CH. ill.} ME AT: THE PROCESSES OF COOKERY. 25 

the meat is being cooked, the fibrin is rendered hard, 
and the meat becomes tough and stringy. 

To have meat tender it is important not to expose 
it to the heat of boiling water for any length of time. 
In what is termed a Norwegian kitchener the water 
in which the meat is placed is made to boil. Then 
the vessel is placed in a box thickly lined with 
layers of woollen felt ; this prevents the escape of the 
heat, and the largest joints will be perfectly and most 
tenderly cooked after having been taken away from 
the fire for three or four hours. 

In all cases of boiling it is desirable to avoid 
thrusting a large fork or skewers into the joint, as 
these, by passing into the interior where the albumen 
is not hardened, make holes through which the juice 
escapes, and the meat becomes dry and less nutritious. 
If necessary, it is better to tie the joint round with 
string than to employ skewers. 

Ham and the lean of bacon, which is usually hard 
and tough, may be cooked so as to be perfectly tender 
and without waste of fat, by not allowing the water to 
boil. At the large ham and beef shops in London, 
where the meat is always very tender, the hams are 
placed in large coppers of cold water, a small fire is 
lighted under the copper, and the water gradually 
raised to the boiling-point, when the fire is imme- 
diately raked out, the copper covered over, and the 
hams allowed to remain in the water until it is nearly 
cold. In this manner they are several hours in cook- 
ing, and are never heated to the boiling-point, conse- 
quently the flesh becomes exceedingly tender, and 
there is no loss of fat. 

23. Stewing is a much more advantageous and 



26 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AtfD COOKERY. 

economical mode of cooking than boiling : by its use 
the flesh of old animals, and tough, sinewy joints that 
would otherwise be wasted, can be used for food. 
Stewing consists in cooking meat in a small quantity 
of liquid, by a very moderate heat, which is continued 
for a very considerable time. By this long-continued 
action of a gentle heat the fibres are softened and the 
toughest joints become tender and eatable. In cook- 
ing meat by stewing it must be remembered that 
length of time is much more important than extra 
heat; and that the cooking of the food cannot be 
hastened by increasing the heat, which if raised to the 
boiling-point only hardens the fibres and renders the 
meat tough. 

In the houses of the working classes in England 
stewing is not so much employed as it should be. 
By its use small pieces of meat may be cooked with 
vegetables, and made into the most savoury and 
nourishing dishes, and the coarsest and cheapest 
joints may be made almost equal in flavour and quite 
as nutritious as the dearest. 

The stews best known in this country are stewed 
steak, haricot mutton, Irish stew, and jugged hare. 
The value of these is recognized, and it is only 
prejudice or ignorance which prevents the English 
housewife applying the same mode of cooking to 
other joints, and using the French plan of always 
having a stewing pipkin or pot-au-feu by the side of 
the fire. 

24. As examples of different modes of stewing, the 
following recipes are given : 

Stewed Steak. Take a clean, well-tinned stew- 
pan, which is much better for the purpose than an 



CH. in.] MEAT: THE PROCESSES OF COOKERY. 27 

ordinary saucepan, put in a little butter or dripping, 
and melt it; then place in the steak, cut into conve- 
niently sized pieces, and fry each of a very light brown, 
frying a sliced onion at the same time; when suffi- 
ciently fried, add the seasoning, such as pepper and salt. 
The salt must not be added at first, as it would draw 
out the gravy and prevent the meat browning. The 
meat should then be barely covered with cold water 
and allowed to stew slowly for four or five hours, 
the greatest care being taken that it does not boil. 

The vegetables, such as turnip, carrot, celery, &c., 
should be cut up and boiled in a separate saucepan 
of water until tender, and them added to the stewed 
meat. The object of cooking the vegetables separately 
is to prevent the necessity of boiling the meat, which 
would harden it. Half an hour before serving, add a 
little flour and water, mixed into a very thin paste, and 
let the stew just simmer so as to thicken the gravy. 

Haricot Mutton is made in precisely the same 
manner, using small cutlets from the neck of mutton 
instead of steak. 

Irish Stew is a popular dish ; it is usually made 
by placing in a stew-pan alternate layers of pieces of 
mutton and sliced potatoes and onions, with pepper 
and salt, barely covering them with water, and allow- 
ing the whole to stew for some hours. If a large 
quantity of potatoes are required, it is desirable to 
partially boil some small ones and place them on the 
top of the stew half an hour or more before serving, 
as they then become perfectly cooked and acquire the 
flavour of the stew. If too many potatoes are added 
at first, so much water is required to cover them 
that the stew is spoiled. 



28 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

Jugged Hare is a very good example of the 
utility of stewing. If a hare is too old and tough to 
be eaten when roasted, it is cut up and placed in an 
earthenware vessel with a little bacon, onions, cloves, 
lemon peel, sweet herbs, pepper and salt, and 
a little water; the earthen jar is then to be very 
closely covered over and placed in a large sauce- 
pan of cold water, taking care the water is not 
sufficiently high to run into the jar. The saucepan 
is allowed to boil for four hours, or the jar may be 
placed in a very slow oven. Before serving, the 
gravy is thickened by adding a little flour and water. 

Stewed Rabbits. A very economical and useful 
mode of cooking rabbits is used in Spain. Alternate 
layers of pieces of rabbits and sliced onions are 
placed with a little seasoning and flour in a stew-pan 
without any water, the whole is closely covered down, 
and placed by the side of the fire for three or four 
hours. 

Vinegar is sometimes used in the preparation of 
stews, as directed in the following recipe, which, if 
strictly followed, produces a most excellent dish : 

" Take shin or leg of beef, cut it into slices or 
pieces of two or three ounces each ; dip it in good 
vinegar, and with or without onions, or any other 
flavouring or vegetable substances, put it in a stew- 
pan, and without water, let it stand on a stew-hearth, 
or by a slow fire for four or six hours, when it will 
be thoroughly done, will have yielded plenty of gravy, 
and be perfectly tender. Great care must be taken 
that the heat is sufficiently moderate. Leg or shin 
of beef makes the richest and most nutritious stew, 
and., may be had at a low price \ but any other meat 



CH. in.] MEAT: THE PROCESSES OF COOKERY. 29 

or fish may be so dressed. A pound and a half of 
leg of beef, without bone, so dressed, and plenty of 
potatoes, will dine four people luxuriously." 

25. The Stewing Pipkin or Pot-au-feu is the 
general mode of cooking amongst the working classes 
in France. Its use effects a great saving of fuel, 
trouble, and skill. Careme, one of the most celebrated 
French cooks, gives the following directions : 

"The good housewife puts her meat into an 
earthen pot, and pours cold water on it, in the pro- 
portion of two quarts to three pounds of the beef. 
She sets it at the side of the fire. 

" The pot grows gradually hot, and as the water heats 
it dilates the muscular fibres of the flesh by dissolving 
the gelatinous matter which covers them, and allows 
the albumen to detach itself easily, and rise to the 
surface of the water in light foam or scum, while the 
savoury juice of the meat, dissolving little by little, 
adds flavour to the broth. 

" By this simple proceeding of slow cooking, the 
housewife obtains a savoury and nourishing broth, 
and tender boiled meat, and with a good flavour. But 
by placing \hzpot-aii-feu on too hot a fire, it boils too 
soon the albumen coagulates and the fibre hardens ; 
the sad result is that you have only a hard piece of 
boiled meat, and a broth without flavour or goodness. 
A little fresh water poured into the pot at intervals 
helps the scum to rise more abundantly." 

Whatever vegetables are in season may be added to 
the ste wing-pot, as celery, onions, carrots, turnips, and 
salt, pepper, and sweet herbs. The broth may be 
poured over toasted bread, or rice or Scotch barley 
may be added so as to make it more nutritious. 



30 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 



The great precaution to be taken in stewing is not 
to allow the heat to rise too high. This is quite pre- 
vented in Captain Warren's cooking-pots. These 
consist of one saucepan within another, like a car- 
penter's glue-pot, the outer being filled with water. 
By this arrangement the inner cannot become over- 
heated to the boiling point ; consequently the meat 
is cooked slowly and without becoming hard. In 
Warren's cooking-pots, meat, fowls, ham, bacon, &c., 
can all be cooked perfectly without any water 
being placed in the inner vessel, so that the whole of- 
the gravy flowing from the meat is preserved in the 
richest form. 

26. Soups and Broths are not so generally 
used among the working classes in this country as is 
desirable. They furnish, when properly prepared, 
very economical and nutritive articles of food. 

Pea Soup is that which is most generally used in 
England. It may be prepared either with or without 
meat ; the latter is hardly required, except for the 
flavour, as the peas are remarkably rich in albumenoid 
substances. The following directions may be fol- 
lowed. Soak a quart of split peas over night, place 
them in a stewpan with half a pound of lean bacon, 
or some bones from roast meat broken small, and 
three quarts of cold water, or the liquor in which 
some fresh meat has been boiled ; place on a very 
slow fire and add celery, onions, and sweet herbs, and 
simmer for two or three hours until the peas and 
vegetables are sufficiently soft to pass through a 
colander, when pepper and salt should be added and 
the whole reheated, and eaten with toasted bread cut 
into small square pieces. If no meat can be obtained 



CH. m.] MEAT: THE PROCESSES OF COOKERY. 31 

the soup may be rendered much more savoury by 
frying the onions and celery in a little dripping before 
adding them to the soup ; and if dripping is plentiful, 
the bread may be fried instead of toasted. 

Scotch Broth is very generally used among the 
middle and working classes in Scotland. It is very 
economical, as both broth and meat are used. The 
following are the directions : Put into a pot three 
quarts of cold water, along with a cupful of Scotch 
barley, and let it boil. Add two pounds of neck of 
mutton. Allow it to stew gently for an hour, skim- 
ming occasionally. Then add turnips cut in squares, 
and onions sliced, and carrots and turnips uncut. The 
half of a small cabbage chopped in moderately sized 
pieces may be put in instead of all these vegetables, 
and leeks may be used instead of onions. Stew the 
whole for an hour longer. The broth is now ready. 
Season with salt, and serve in a tureen. The meat 
is served in a separate dish, with the uncut pieces of 
turnip and carrot, and a little of the broth as gravy. 
Any meat may be employed in the same way, which 
is not unlike that followed in preparing the French 
Pot au feu (25). 

27. Salting Meat is in most cases a very waste- 
ful process ; salt when applied to fresh meat extracts 
a very large proportion of the nutritious juice of the 
flesh, and at the same time hardens the fibres and 
renders them much less easily digestible. The brine 
that runs from salted meat contains so much nutri- 
tious albumen that it becomes nearly solid on being 
heated, and as there is no means of extracting the 
salt, it is necessarily wasted. 

The salting of meat before cooking is an English 



32 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

prejudice which is not followed in any other country, 
nor is there any good reason why beef and pork should 
be salted before boiling, and mutton and veal boiled 
without salting. The plan followed on the Continent 
of slowly stewing a joint of beef without first salting 
it, yields a much more nutritious, tender, and well 
flavoured food. 

In cases where it is necessary to preserve meat, as 
on shipboard, salting may be useful, but .health can- 
not be preserved for any length of time on meat from 
which the most valuable part, the nutritious juice> 
has been extracted by salting. 

In the case of very fat meats, as bacon, salting is 
not objectionable, as in them the most valuable con- 
stituent is the fat, which is not injured by the process. 

In the case of ham a peculiar flavour is produced 
during the process of salting which is highly esteemed) 
but it should be remembered that the value of the 
flesh of ham as food is very much less than that of 
the meat from which it is produced. 

28. Preserved Meats. The meats imported in 
tins from Australia and South America are exceed- 
ingly valuable articles of diet ; and are at the present 
time much cheaper than fresh butcher's meat. The 
only drawback to their value is that they are rather 
overcooked in the process for preparing them, it is 
therefore more advantageous to use them cold than in 
any other manner. 

29. Extract of Meat. The extracts of meat sold 
in small jars are merely the juice of the flesh eva- 
porated till it becomes nearly dry. It is useful as 
means of making beef tea or soup quickly, but is by 
no means an economical article of food. 



CH.III.] MEAT: THE PROCESSES OF COOKERY. 33 

Beef-tea, which is so valuable in cases of illness, 
is usually made by boiling the meat in water ; this is a 
very bad plan, as the fibres are hardened, and the 
soluble portions less readily extracted. It should be 
made by pouring a pint of cold water on half-a-pound 
of finely-cut or chopped lean beef, and then placing it, 
in a covered earthenware vessel, by the side of the fire 
for an hour or two. By this means the whole of the 
soluble nutritious portions are extracted and the 
insoluble fibre alone remains. A small quantity of 
salt and two or three cloves greatly improve the 
flavour. 



TEG. 



CHAPTER IV. 
FISH: ITS VALUE AS FOOD, AND COOKERY. 

30. Fish although of great importance as yielding 
a cheap supply of nutritious and easily digested animal 
food, is not equal in value to the same weight of meat, 
as it contains a much larger proportion of water and 
less solid material. 

Fish usually contain a very considerable proportion 
of oil, in some kinds, as herrings, sprats, pilchards, 
salmon, eels, mackerel, this is found in all parts of 
the body, whilst in others, which are usually termed 
white fish, the oil is contained in the liver, and the 
rest of the body is almost entirely free from it. Such 
is the case in cod, haddock, whiting, soles, plaice, 
flounders, &c. 

The fibre of the flesh of fish is very digestible, and 
the juice though more watery than that of meat is of 
considerable nutritive value. When boiled, a large 
proportion of this escapes into the water and is lost ; 
hence though so frequently practised, boiling is not 
the most economical or advantageous mode of cooking 
fish. 



CHAP. iv.J FISH : ITS VA&UE AS . 3C 

^ 



31. Salting, though often necessary to preserve 
fish when caught in large quantities, is not a desirable 
mode of preparing white fish. It extracts a very large 
proportion of the nourishment and hardens the fibrin ; 
and if the salt has to be extracted by soaking in water 
before cooking, as in the case of salt cod, very little 
nourishment remains. The fat of the oily fish, as 
hearings, &c., is not removed by salting ; hence they are 
very valuable as food when preserved in this manner. 

32. The most advantageous modes of cooking fish 
are those that retain the whole of the nutritious por- 
tions. A plaice or" a sole placed on a buttered dish 
covered over with a few bread-crumbs and seasoning 
and baked retains the whole of the nutriment, and 
furnishes a much more savoury meal than if boiled. 

The following recipes give directions for the econo- 
mical and advantageous cooking of fish. 

Baked Fish. Almost any kind of fish, as 
mackerel, haddock, whiting, soles &c. may be cooked 
by being placed in a dish with bread crumbs, a little 
chopped parsley, and other seasoning, as pepper, salt, 
a few sliced onions, if desired, and baked in a side oven. 
The more oily fish, as herrings, pilchards, sprats, may 
be packed closed in a deep earthenware dish, seasoned 
with pepper and salt, covered with vinegar and cooked 
perfectly even by the side of the fire. Fish prepared 
in either of these modes, are very good to eat cold, and 
as they will keep good for some days furnish very 
useful and cheap articles of food. Broiling fish is an 
excellent mode of cooking them, there is no loss of 
nourishment and the flavour is much better than 
when they are boiled. A broiled mackerel, &c., is a 
much more substantial meal than one that has been 

B 2 



36 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

cooked by boiling, and no sauce is required to be 
prepared. 

Frying is a useful mode of preparing fish, especially 
soles, whitings, plaice, cod, and other white fish. 
The chief precautions are to dry them thoroughly, 
either to flour or dip them in a thin batter made of 
flour and water, and fry in a deep pan with sufficient 
fat or dripping to cover them if possible, and to take 
care that the heat is not so great as to burn the fish, 
which should be of a light brown colour. 

Fish soups are largely used in some countries. In 
the Channel Islands a very good and nutritious soup 
is made of conger-eel according to the following 
directions : 

Cut up a moderate sized conger-eel in a stewpan 
with three or four quarts of water, and let it simmer 
two or three hours till it breaks to pieces. Rub it 
through a sieve, and pour back into the stewpan with 
a little butter. Throw in a small leek, the white heart 
of a cabbage cut up, some parsley chopped small, and a 
bunch of thyme. Mix two table- spoonfuls of flour in 
a pint of milk, and when the cabbage is done, throw 
it into the stewpan, stirring all the time, till it comes 
to a boil ; then let it boil ten minutes to take off the 
rawness of the flour. Before dishing up, season with 
a little salt, as the salt is apt to curdle the milk if 
added before. Have ready thin slices of bread in 
your tureen, and pour the soup over. 



CHAPTER V, 

EGGS: THEIR COMPOSITION, VALUE AS 
FOOD, AND COOKERY. 

33- Eggs contain two distinct substances, the 
white and the yolk. The solid part of the white is 
almost entirely albumen which forms fifteen parts out 
of every 100, the remaining eighty -five parts being 
water. Albumen is a valuable flesh-forming food and 
gives its name, albumenoid, or albumen-like, to the 
class of foods to which it belongs. It possesses 
peculiar properties, it dissolves in cold or warm water, 
but in the white of egg it is in layers like those of an 
onion, and these require to be broken up by beating 
before the albumen can be dissolved. 

If the beating is long continued a glairy fluid is 
formed in which large quantities of air are contained 
in bubbles; when used in pastry in this state eggs add 
very much to the lightness or sponginess of the mass. 
Heated to a point many degrees below that of boil- 
ing water the albumen hardens, becoming solid and 
of an opaque white, hence its name from the Latin 
word, albus, white. 

When an egg is boiled very hard and allowed to 



38 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

become cold, the solid albumen may be separated into 
the layers of which it consists. 

The yolk contains a considerable quantity of 
albumen, with nearly a third of its weight of oil, and 
a very large proportion of sulphur and other mineral 
matters. It is the sulphur which causes eggs to tarnish 
silver, and produces their exceedingly offensive smell 
when rotten. 

34 The value of eggs as food is very great. Like 
milk, they contain all the materials required for the 
growth of the body. The entire of the young chick, 
its bones, down or feathers, skin, internal organs, and 
flesh are formed out of the materials contained in the 
egg, which must therefore contain every substance 
required for the support of the body. 

35. The usefulness of eggs as food depends very 
greatly upon the mode of cooking. When boiled 
in the shell the outer portion of the white becomes 
much hardened, and is of so solid a character, being 
quite destitute of pores, that it is digested with ex- 
treme slowness, and hence is not fitted for children 
or persons of weak digestion. Eggs may be boiled 
so as to render them much less difficult of digestion 
by placing them in a saucepan of cold water, making 
it boil, and then allowing the eggs to remain a few 
minutes in the saucepan after it has been removed 
from the fire, the time they have to remain in the 
boiling water varies with that required to make the 
water boil. 

Poached eggs, if well prepared, are much less 
hardened. The usual plan is to break each egg sepa- 
rately into a tea-cup and pour it with the yolk un- 
broken into a frying-pan or shallow stewpan of boiling 



CHAP, v.] EGGS: THEIR COMPOSITION, c. 59 

water ; where this cannot be had a very small quantity 
of soda may be used; and in order to soften the 
water as much as possible, it should be made to boil 
rapidly before the greens are put in ; it should also 
boil quickly during the whole time the green vegetables 
are cooking, or they will become brown. 

Turnips also contain about ninety per cent, of 
water; the solid part is very nutritious, easily digested, 
and wholesome. Turnips are used as fresh vegetables, 
and flavour soups, broths, &c. 

Boiled turnips pressed so as to get rid of the water, 
and mashed up with a little butter or dripping, pepper 
and salt, supply a very valuable article of food. 

Carrots and Parsnips are more nutritive than 
turnips ; they can be kept many months if the tops are 
cut out and they are placed in damp sand. 

Onions. Onions and leeks owe their flavour to a 
volatile pungent oil ; if eaten uncooked they are not 
easily digested, but when boiled or roasted, they are 
nutritious and wholesome they contain a large amount 
of albumenoid matter. They are also largely used 
for flavouring stews and soups. 

59. Fresh Fruits, such as apples, gooseberries, 
oranges, pears, &c., are very important foods ; the 
health of children can hardly be preserved without 
their use, and they suffer greatly if deprived of 
them. 

Nuts and dried fruits, such as figs, raisins, &c., do 
not possess the beneficial action of fresh fruits, and 
nuts are very difficult of digestion. 



CHAPTER IX. 
CONDIMENTS: SALT, PEPPER, SPICES, &c. 

60. THE most important condiments are salt, pep- 
per, and mustard of these salt alone is a necessary 
of life. The others are useful if used in small 
quantity to render food more palatable, but employed 
in large quantity they are injurious, and not required 
by the young, whose powers of digestion are good. 

6 1. Salt is absolutely essential to health, and even 
to life. It is one of the most abundant of all 
minerals \ in many places it is found in the earth in 
great quantities. Sea water contains three parts in 
every hundred ; it is found in small amount in all 
soils, in spring and river water, and in all those 
vegetables which are used for the food of man and 
animals. 

Salt when taken in the food supplies two substances, 
an acid which helps to form the sour fluid of the 
stomach that digests our food, and soda, which is the 
bile, a fluid which must be added to the dissolved or 
softened food before the nourishment can be extracted 
from it. If persons are compelled to live without 
salt, or on such food as does not contain a sufficient 
quantity, they become ill. The quantity of salt each 



CH. ix.] CONDIMENTS: SALT, PEPPER, &c. 61 

person requires is between a quarter to half an 
ounce daily. A large part of this is contained in the 
various articles of food and drink. 

Salt possesses the power of preserving meat and 
other substances. It acts by removing a large pro- 
portion of the liquid parts. The injurious effect of 
salted meat, when used for a lengthened period, has 
already been described (27). 

Salt is largely employed in some countries in pre- 
serving green vegetables for winter use. Thus French 
beans may be kept for many months by cutting them 
in slices, packing them in a jar with layers of salt, and 
pressing them down so that no part comes above the 
brine, which flows out. If tied over and placed in a 
cool situation they will keep a long time, and are ready 
for use as soon as the salt brine is washed away. In 
many countries cabbages and cucumbers and other 
vegetables are preserved in the same manner. 

Salt should always be taken with our meals, for a 
sufficient quantity does not exist in our food to supply 
the wants of the body. 

62. Vinegar. Vinegar is an acid liquid, obtained 
in this country by allowing a kind of weak beer to 
become sour. 

It has the power of preventing substances putrefy- 
ing, and is used for this purpose in making pickles. 
If taken with our food in small quantity it helps us 
to digest many substances that are difficult of diges- 
tion ; in large quantity it is very injurious. It is 
employed in cookery to assist in softening the fibres 
of tough meat, 1 and to pickle fish, vegetables, &c. 

1 See directions for making Brazilian Stew in Appendix, 
Fifth Lesson. 



62 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

Pickled vegetables, as onions, cabbage, &c., are very 
difficult of digestion, and if taken in large quantity are 
decidedly injurious. 

63. Mustard is one of the most common condi- 
ments. If used in small quantity it promotes the 
appetite and increases the digestive power, but taken 
too freely it irritates the stomach and is very injurious. 
As a medicine mustard is of very great use, spread on 
calico and applied to the skin it relieves internal 
inflammation, by drawing the blood to the surface, 
in this manner it often relieves the most violent pain, 
and may be safely used in the absence of medical 
aid. 

64. Pepper is the spice most frequently employed 
in this country ; like other spices it is useful in sea- 
soning, but great care should be taken not to use it in 
large quantity, as it injures the stomach and renders 
the digestion of plain food difficult. Children should 
not be accustomed to highly spiced and seasoned 
dishes. 



CHAPTER X. 
BEVERAGES : TEA, COFFEE, COCOA, BEER, &c. 

65. Tea is more used in this country than any 
other unintoxicating beverage. Taken in moderate 
quantity it is not injurious, but in large quantity it 
is hurtful, especially to persons who are not well 
fed. Tea is best made in an earthenware teapot, 
which should be kept dry, for if allowed to remain 
damp after use it acquires a musty flavour. The 
water should be boiling, and, if possible, soft; when 
hard water is used, it may be softened by being 
kept boiling for half-an-hour, when the lime which 
causes the hardness is partly thrown down, forming 
what is called fur or rock on the kettle ; or a very 
small quantity of carbonate of soda may also be used, 
or the tea may be allowed to remain soaking for half- 
an-hour by the fire-side, or be covered over with a 
woollen cover to prevent the escape of heat. As a 
general rule, the harder the water the longer the tea 
should be allowed to remain before use, care being 
taken to keep its temperature as near as practicable 
to that of the boiling point. 

66. Coffee is more stimulating than tea. If taken 
immediately after a meal, it appears to assist the 



^HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY* 

digestion. Like tea, if drunk strong, it produces 
wakefulness, which sometimes lasts for many hours. 
Coffee contains a bitter principle, but its flavour 
.mainly depends upon a volatile substance which 
is driven off by boiling ; to preserve its taste, it 
should therefore be made without boiling. The 
French coffee-pots, made of two Cylindrical vessels, the 
upper having a metal strainer on which the ground 
coffee is placed, and through which the clear infusion 
runs into the lower one, are the best. The flavour of 
coffee is also very greatly improved by the employment 
of hot boiled milk. 

Chicory is the root of a plant. When roasted it is 
used with ground coffee to give colour and flavour ; it 
is most advantageous to purchase it separately and 
mix it in the proportion of one part to three or four 
of coffee. 

67. Cocoa. Cocoa and chocolate are prepared 
from the crusted seeds of an American plant. The 
kernels contain nearly half their weight of fat. Cocoa 
is much more nutritious than tea or coffee, but not so 
stimulating. Chocolate is made of the pure kernels 
ground in a mill with sugar. Cocoa should con- 
tain the ground kernels only, but the husks are 
ground up with the cheaper kinds, which also contain 
potato-starch, and earthy substances, as red ochre, &c. 
Soluble cocoa contains a large proportion of starch, 
which thickens when boiling water is poured upon it. 
Genuine ground cocoa unmixed with other substances 
cannot be sold under one shilling to fourteenpence 
per pound. 

Cocoa is a very wholesome and nutritious beverage, 
and does not produce those effects which render tea 



CH. x.] BEVERAGES: TEA, COFFEE, &c. 65 

and coffee objectionable to some people; and is far 
better for working men and for children. 

68. Beer and other intoxicating drinks are taken 
as luxuries. There is no doubt that they are not 
necessaries of life. To children all stimulants are 
particularly injurious ; and they are never taken 
willingly, unless the child has been trained to use 
them. If children are brought up without them their 
strength and health are much better than those of 
children who take them, and they can do more work 
and endure more fatigue. 

There is more support and strength to be obtained 
from a pint of milk than a gallon of beer. To old 
persons who have been accustomed to the use of 
spirits and beer for many years they often become 
necessary, but it is exceedingly wrong to teach children 
to use them. 



TEG. 



PART II. 
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE HOME: CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO 
HEALTH. 

69. Good health and the power of working so as to 
gain a comfortable living are impossible when persons 
dwell in unhealthy and overcrowded homes. Many 
circumstances render a house or dwelling unhealthy. 
The neighbourhood of an overcrowded churchyard, or 
a place where any unwholesome trade is carried on, 
is always injurious to health. If a house is in a 
narrow dark street, and the rooms face the north so 
as not to be warmed by the sunshine, or if they are 
closely shaded by trees, they always remain damp and 
cold, and the health of the persons inhabiting them 
suffers. 

Houses in low situations, where the ground is 
always damp, are never healthy, and fevers, rheuma- 
tism, colds, and other diseases, are much more frequent 
than in drier situations. 



CH. XL] THE HOME, 6*. 67 

70. In London and other large towns where the 
houses are drained into the sewers, no house should 
ever be lived in which is built over or near a cess- 
pool, nor in which the drains allow an unpleasant 
smell to escape, as fever is certain to attack the 
inhabitants sooner or later. If cesspools are neces- 
sary, as is the case where there are no sewers, they 
should be placed at as great a distance as possible 
from the house. 

Earth closets are much more healthy than cesspools, 
as, if well managed, they do not give out any offensive 
smell ; the use of any patent apparatus is not neces- 
sary; any outdoor closet may be made into an earth 
closet by placing a stout well-pitched drawer or box 
beneath the seat, arranged so as to pull out behind 
when required to be emptied, and a box of dried 
earth, with a scoop in the inside, is all else that is 
necessary. Or the seat may be made to lift up, and 
a large galvanized iron pail placed below, which can 
be removed and emptied when necessary ; very little 
earth is required if no slops are thrown into the pail. 
Slops should not be thrown into an earth closet. 

71. The homes of working men in London and 
other large towns are generally greatly overcrowded, 
and without proper sleeping-rooms. When a family 
is obliged to dwell in one or two rooms, it is impos- 
sible that they can live healthily or decently. Bed- 
rooms should be of good size, and each one should 
have a fire-place and chimney, which should never be 
closed by a board, as the current of air passing up the 
chimney helps to ventilate the room. It is not possible 
to state any exact size for bedrooms as the air in a small 
room properly ventilated may be purer than a large 



68 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

one that is closed up. A room 12 feet square by 
10 feet in height, would contain 1,440 cubic feet of 
air. In barracks this would only be regarded as 
space for two men, and in the best hospitals for 
one patient. 

In the country every cottage for a working man 
with a grown up family should have three bedrooms 
one for the husband and wife, one for the elder boys, 
and a third for the girls. One of these bedrooms at 
least should have a fire-place, to be used in case of 
illness ; and for the sake of ventilation, it is better 
that each one should be so provided. 

Every cottage should have a living-room not less 
than 12 feet square, and a small scullery or wash- 
house. A small pantry for food is necessary ; this 
should have a window able to be opened outside 
of the cottage into the air. A place for tools, and 
another for fuel, are desirable. Every house should 
have a back as well as a front door, so that by open- 
ing both in summer thorough ventilation may be 
effected. If the front door opens into the sitting-room, 
there is in cold weather a great loss of heat each 
time the door is opened, and the sudden change of 
temperature often gives rise to colds and coughs, 
tiie front door should always be made to open into 
a porch or lobby. 

72. The following designs for a pair of cottages for 
agricultural labourers, show the smallest accomoda- 
tion that is necessary for health. 1 

73. Furniture. Good well-made articles of furni- 

1 They are from the publications of " The Society for Im- 
proving the Condition of the Labouring Classes." Exeter Hall, 
W.C. 



CH. XI.] 



THE HOME, 



69 



ture are much more lasting than those of inferior 
quality, and are really the cheapest. Therefore it 
is much better to purchase furniture of a durable 
kind, although the first cost is greater. 

Articles purchased at cheap shops are always made 
of bad materials and are very much the dearest. 




DOUBLE COTTAGES FOR THE COUNTRY. 

It is desirable in a working man's house not to use 
furniture which requires much time and trouble in 
cleaning; glass and earthenware are more readily 
cleaned than any other substances, and, for many 
purposes, are preferable to metal. 

Iron bedsteads are better than wooden ones, as they 
do not harbour insects, are easily cleaned, and very 



70 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

durable. The laths may be prevented from becom- 
ing rusty by laying a piece of coarse canvas or old 




GROUND FLOOR PLAN. 




UPPER FLOOR PLAN. 



carpet over them ; waterproof materials should not 
be used under the mattress as they prevent the damp 



CH. XL] THE HOME, &c. 71 

escaping, when the bedding decays quickly and the 
bed remains cold and damp. On getting up in the 
morning the bed-clothes should be thrown across the 
foot of the bed or on the backs of some chairs, and 
aired for two or three hours before the bed is made ; 
making the bed immediately on rising is a very 
bad plan, as the sheets are charged with the moisture 
of the perspiration which has passed out of the skin 
during the night. 

Mattresses are cheaper and more healthy to use than 
soft feather beds; and curtains which keep the foul 
air that has been breathed round the sleepers should 
not be used. 

74. It is very undesirable to buy furniture or cloth- 
ing of the hawkers known as Tallymen, who call at 
working men's houses, and sell showy and inferior 
goods, to be paid for by small payments of sixpence 
or a shilling per week. The articles are generally 
purchased by the wife, often without the knowledge 
of the husband, who becomes liable for the debt. 
Should the payments not be kept up, the husband is 
summoned to the County Court, and ordered to pay 
so much a week or month ; after a judgment has been 
obtained, if only one of these instalments be left 
unpaid, the whole balance becomes instantly due, 
and everything the debtor has can be seized by 
the brokers and sold by auction immediately. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WATER SUPPLY: QUALITIES OF WATER, 

INFLUENCE ON HEALTH; WASHING, 

COOKING, &c. 

75. THE goodness of the water used by us is of 
very great importance. Many more diseases are 
caused by bad water than even by bad food. Water 
forms three-quarters of our weight, and before any part 
of our food can be taken into our bodies it must be 
dissolved in the watery fluids of the stomach. All 
fresh vegetables contain a very large proportion of 
water. Thus potatoes consist of three-quarters, and 
turnips and cabbage of upwards of nine-tenths, of their 
weight of this liquid. Even the driest vegetable sub- 
stances contain a large proportion. Dry wheaten flour 
has fifteen pounds of water in every hundred ; this is 
driven off by the heat when it is baked in making 
infant's food ; 1 and bread contains one third of its 
weight of water. 

76. Water has so great a power of dissolving other 
substances, that it is not found anywhere in a perfectly 
pure state, but has always in it mineral substances, 
sometimes decaying vegetable and even animal mate- 
rials derived from the soil or earth thrcugh which it 
flows, and gases and odours absorbed from the air. 

1 See Appendix, First Lesson. 



OF THE 
CH. xii. ] WA TER SUPJ&y[g?&g$ *&$ 73 



77. In large towns water is usually supplied by the 
water companies through pipes, having been obtained 
from rivers. The water is generally supplied only for 
a short time each day, and the quantity received has 
to be stored up in cisterns or water-butts. These 
should be very frequently cleaned out, as the impurities 
of the water settle at the bottom and are stirred up 
each time the fresh water comes in. Water-butts and 
cisterns should never be placed near any decaying 
matters, such as manure heaps, or in close underground 
cellars, or near cesspools or drains, as the water very 
quickly absorbs the gases and bad smells arising from 
such substances, and becomes unwholesome. Water 
standing for a night in a close or crowded room 
absorbs the impure air and becomes unpleasant to 
the taste and injurious to health. When the waste or 
overflow pipe from a cistern runs into a drain the foul 
air rises up the pipe and renders the water unwhole- 
some, and the same evil arises if the cistern supplies 
a water-closet. 

78. River water varies very much in quality, that 
from some rivers contains a great amount of decaying 
matter from the sewers and drains that run into them ; 
such water should not be used if it is possible to 
avoid it, but if no other can be obtained, it should be 
filtered and boiled before being drunk, or used in 
preparing food. 

All river water contains a small proportion of chalk, 
or carbonate of lime, dissolved in it. If the quantity 
is large the water is said to be hard the greater the 
proportion of chalk the harder the water. The water 
of the river Thames, with which the greater part of 
London is supplied, contains fourteen grains of chalk 



74 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

in each gallon. Very little chalk (only two grains in 
every gallon) can be dissolved by pure water. The 
large quantity found in river and spring water is dis- 
solved by means of a gas, called carbonic acid gas, 
which is always present. When the water is heated 
this gas is driven off in small bubbles, which may be 
seen just before the water reaches the boiling point ; 
the chalk is then thrown down in a solid form, 
rendering the water slightly cloudy or turbid, and 
afterwards it settles down on the sides and bottoms 
of boilers or kettles forming the rock or fur which 
is always found in old boilers. 

When green vegetables are boiled in hard water, 
the chalk causes them to be of a dull colour ; and 
when clothes are boiled in hard water, as is sometimes 
done in washing, the rock or fur settles on them, 
causing them to be of a bad colour, the dirt being 
fixed in the clothes. 

When hard water is used for cooking or washing it 
is best to boil it for a few minutes before using it, as 
then the fur is thrown down on the sides of the 
boiler, and not on the food or clothes. Hard water 
is not good for making tea, as the strength of the 
tea-leaves is very slowly extracted. 

The bad effects of hard water in cooking may be 
partly remedied by using a small quantity of carbonate 
of soda, or even common washing soda, this softens 
the water, but if much be added it gives a soapy, un- 
pleasant taste ; as much as would cover a sixpenny- 
piece may be added to a large saucepan of greens, 
and about a quarter as much to a large teapot of tea. 

79. Spring or well water differs very much in 
purity, that which is collected in shallow wells should 



CH. xii.] WATER SUPPLY QUALITIES, &c. 75 

never be used in places that are thickly populated or 
highly manured, for the water is rendered impure by 
the decaying animal and vegetable substances in the 
soil, and becomes very unwholesome. 

When shallow wells are situated near cesspools or 
drains, the water becomes quite poisonous, and gives 
rise to cholera, fevers, and other fatal diseases. The 
water of wells situated in large cities, or near grave- 
yards, is always to be avoided. 

80. The water from deep wells is generally free 
from any decaying vegetable matter or drainage, and 
is wholesome as a beverage, but it most frequently is 
excessively hard from containing a large amount of 
chalk dissolved in it. 

8 1. Rain water is very pure if collected in country 
districts where there is but little smoke, but in towns 
it is always blackened by soot It is very soft, being 
perfectly free from mineral substances, and if collected 
in proper tanks free from leaves of trees and other 
decaying substances is very well fitted for cooking, 
drinking and washing. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
AIR AND VENTILATION. 

82. The Air we breathe is necessary to purify the 
blood and to support life. Air, though invisible, is a 
material substance, a quantity of it in a bladder or air- 
tight bag prevents the sides being pressed together ; it 
also possesses weight ; a box, each side of which is one 
foot square (or one cubic foot), contains one ounce 
and a quarter of air. The air in a room twelve feet 
square and ei & ht feet in height weighs ninety pounds. 

83. Air is not a simple substance, but a mixture of 
several gases. The most important of these is oxy- 
gen, which forms one-fifth part of its bulk. It is the 
oxygen which purifies the blood when we breathe, and 
it also enables combustible substances to burn when 
set on fire. The remaining four-fifths of the air consist 
chiefly of nitrogen, which serves to dilute the oxygen 
and render it milder, otherwise both our breathing 
and the burning of fires would go on too rapidly. 

84. The breathing of men and animals and the 
burning of fuel take away part of the oxygen of the 
air, and its place is supplied by a gas called carbonic 



CH. xiii.] AIR AND VENTILATION. 77 

acid. This is very injurious if breathed. Air con- 
taining only one-thousandth part ( 10 1 00 ) of carbonic 
acid destroys health if breathed for any length of time. 
In crowded places, or in bed or sitting-rooms when 
the doors and windows have been kept closed for 
some time after they have been occupied, the air often 
contains two or three times as much of this poisonous 
gas, or from two to three parts in a thousand. If this 
air is breathed for any length of time it speedily causes 
headache, weariness, and loss of strength. Persons 
who spend great part of their lives in rooms filled 
with bad air become pale and sickly, and are liable 
to many more diseases than those living in pure air. 

85. The air always contains a considerable quantity 
of moisture, which varies very much at different times 
of the year and in different places. When the quan- 
tity of moisture is so great that it settles upon objects 
and makes them damp, it is injurious to health ; and 
houses in which the walls and foundations are damp 
are always unhealthy. 

A large quantity of moisture passes away from the 
body in the air that is breathed out from the lungs, 
and a great amount is produced by the burning of 
gas and other lamps. 

86. Not only is the air of close rooms and houses 
rendered injurious by the carbonic acid and water 
produced, but it is made still more poisonous by the 
decaying animal matter which passes off in our 
breath, and which is also given out by the walls and 
floors of unclean houses, by dirty clothes, and by 
that air which comes into the house through drains 
or passes over stinking dust-bins and heaps of decaying 
refuse. 



^HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

Whenever a house smells close and fusty to a 
person coming in out of the open air, it is always 
unhealthy, and sooner or later will produce illness 
in those who live in it. The good health that 
persons who live in houses in open country places 
enjoy is entirely owing to the pure air they breathe. 
But even in country villages the air is often rendered 
unwholesome by cesspools or dung-heaps being kept 
close to the house, or by the filthy habit of throwing 
the house-slops and dirty water on the ground close 
to the door. 

87. A full-grown person takes into his lungs about 
two-thirds (f ) of a pint of air every time he breathes, 
and when not breathing quickly, from running or 
hard work, he usually does so about eighteen times 
every minute ; this is equal to twelve cubic feet every 
hour. This quantity of air weighs nearly one pound, 
so that we actually take into our lungs nearly twenty- 
four pounds of air every day, a greater weight than 
our food and drink taken together. 

88. The air that passes out of our lungs is quite 
unfit to support life if breathed again, even when 
mixed with ten times its bulk of pure air, therefore 
the air in our living and sleeping rooms must be con- 
stantly changed, or it would soon become poisonous. 
Persons have often been killed by being shut up in 
close rooms or in ships during storms. 

The burning of a candle renders the air nearly as 
impure as the breathing of a single person, and every 
gas burner consumes a very much larger quantity. 

89. The impure air that passes off from our bodies 
and that produced by the burning of lamps and fires, 
is always, from being heated, lighter than before, it 



CH. xiii.] AIR AND VENTILATION. 79 

therefore rises and at first collects in the upper part 
of the room, unless it is allowed to escape. 

In a room that has a fire-place a stream of air is 
usually passing up the chimney, fresh air coming in 
by the cracks round the doors and windows. No bed- 
room should be slept in without a fire-place unless 
ventilation is otherwise provided for ; even the quan- 
tity of air coming in round the window and door is 
not sufficient, it is therefore much better to sleep with 
the window open. This may be done without causing 
a draught, by placing a board three inches wide on its 
edge under the lower sash, which is thus raised, caus- 
ing a space between the two sashes in the centre of 
the window ; through this the air enters and being 
directed upwards does not cause a draught. 

90. It is much more desirable to let the air come 
into a bedroom through the window than through the 
door, as the house being closed at night the air often 
comes through the drains or damp cellars, and is not 
as pure as that which comes from outside the house. 
Gas is not desirable in close sitting or bedrooms, its 
effect on the air being much more injurious than 
candles or lamps. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FIRING: STOVES, RANGES, AND ECONOMICAL 
MANAGEMENT OF FUEL. 

91. The fuel used for cooking our food and 
warming our dwellings is usually coal or coke ; in some 
parts wood or peat is employed, and occasionally 
coal gas. 

92. The heat produced during the burning of fuel 
is given out when the carbon of the fuel unites with 
the oxygen of the air, and carbonic acid gas is pro- 
duced, as it is by the breathing of men and animals. 
This poisonous gas usually passes up the chimney with 
some unburned carbon which forms the smoke. 

When charcoal is burnt, the carbonic acid is pro- 
duced without smoke, and therefore it is often used in 
stoves without chimneys, and the carbonic acid escap- 
ing into rooms is frequently the cause of fatal accidents. 
All stoves without flues or chimneys to carry off the 
carbonic acid are dangerous, and many persons have 
been poisoned by their having been used. 

93. The heat produced by the burning of any kind 



CH. xiv.] FIRING: STOVES, RANGES, &c. 81 

of fuel makes the air in and around the fire much 
lighter, and it rises rapidly over the fire, usually passing 
up the chimney. More than nine-tenths ( T V) of the heat 
of a common grate passes up the chimney in this 
manner, and is wasted. If the grate is constructed of 
thick solid metal, this conducts away a large quantity 
of the heat so that it is impossible to keep in a very 
small fire in an iron range, whereas a mere handful of 
fuel can be kept alight in a grate lined with fire brick 
or fire-clay which does not cool the burning fuel in the 
same manner metal does. Part of the heat produced 
is thrown out by the fire, and passes into the room. In 
ordinary grates the amount of heat passing off in this 
manner is very much lessened by the thick bars which 
are frequently placed in the front of the grate. 

94. Ordinary fire-grates are most extravagant modes 
of using fuel, and are not employed by the people of 
any other nation. Not only is a good deal of the 
heat carried away up the chimney, and by the con- 
ducting power of the iron, but the shape of the grate 
and the bars also prevents much being thrown out 
into the room. 

95. An ordinary grate may^however, be made more 
economical. If it be lined with bricks, tiles, or fire- 
clay, and the open bars underneath be closed, either 
by fire-clay or a piece of tin plate, the air will have 
to enter in front where the fire will be brightest, and 
no heat will be thrown down into the ash pit. 

96. Cooking ranges with an oven on one side are 
very useful in a small family. If well constructed they 
will bake bread, meat, and pies or puddings very 
perfectly. 

Even when there is a low fire the oven can be used 



82 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

for stewing, and slow cooking can be done on the top 
much better than over a common fire. 

A boiler by the side is not so important as an oven. 
Boilers are liable to get filled with the deposit or rock 
from the water ; and if they are of cast iron, they are 
apt to crack. 

As an example of a good cheap open range, the 
following may be taken ; it has a fire-clay back to 



IftltHtHHtt 




prevent the heat passing away where it is not required, 
a good sized oven with the door to let down in front, 
and a boiler. Grates of this kind are now made by 
many manufacturers, and are sold at a low price. 

97. Cooking stoves are much more convenient 
and economical in use than ranges. They are used by 
almost all persons in America, and are now very largely 



CH. xiv.] FIRING: STOVES, RANGES, &>f. 



employed in this country. A very good pattern is 
shown in the engraving. It has an open fire which 
can be used for broiling and toasting. This fire is 
quite under control, and can be raised or lowered in 
a few minutes by opening or closing the doors so as 
to cause a strong current of air to pass through the 




burning fuel or over it as required. The size shown 
will bake a joint as large as a leg of mutton, or two 
tins of bread admirably. 

The cooking vessels can be put down on the fire or 
placed on the hot iron top, and shifted so as to receive 
as much heat as required. 

The stove can also be used as a hot plate for 



84 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY, 

preserving or stewing. The open fire is cheerful, 
and the stove is a good heating stove as well as 
cooking stove. Any large boiler placed on the top 
will furnish an unlimited supply of hot water. If 
placed in front of an open fire-place these stoves 
require about six feet of iron pipe to be placed up the 
chimney. Being perfectly movable they can be carried 
by the owner from one house to another and placed 
in front of any fire-place. They are sold by Smith 
and Welstood, Ludgate Circus. 

98. Gas-stoves. Gas when employed as ordinary 
fuel is exceedingly expensive, being at least five or six 
times as dear as coal. When the gas is burned inside 
the oven in which meat is to be baked the vapour 
arising from the burnt gas renders the meat sodden 
and unpleasant, and quite different from the meat 
cooked in an ordinary oven or before the open fire. 

Gas can however be used as an occasional source 
of heat with great economy as it is instantly lighted 
and put out ; there is no waste of fuel or loss of time. 
The best small gas stoves are those that can be placed 
on a table and burn the gas mixed with air; when it 
produces a pale blue flame which does not smoke 
any vessel placed within it. These stoves are particu- 
larly useful in heating a kettle of water in the summer 
time, or when there are no fires in the house. 



CHAPTER XV. 

LIGHTING: CANDLES, PETROLEUM, BENZO- 
LINE, AND GAS LAMPS, THEIR MANAGE- 
MENT, ETC. 

99. Flame, which gives the light employed in our 
houses during the absence of the light of the sun, is 
always produced by the burning or combustion of 
inflammable gas. 

When a candle is lit, the fat, wax, or other material 
of which it is formed, is melted, then drawn upwards 
into the flame by the attraction of the wick, it is there 
heated so strongly that it is converted into gas, which 
burns as fast as it is made, thus producing the flame. 
In oil lamps the same happens, and in gas burners the 
gas burns as it escapes. 

100. The gas which is burnt to give us artificial 
light, whether obtained from coals and supplied through 
pipes, or produced in the burning of a lamp or candle, 
consists chiefly of two substances, namely, hydrogen, 
which is always a gas, and carbon, which when not 
united with hydrogen or any other substance is usually 
a black solid, like charcoal or soot. 



86 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

i o i . Both these substances burn in the flame, uniting 
with the oxygen of the air. The hydrogen in burning 
forms water, a large quantity of which passes off from 
every flame in the form of vapour or steam. Many 
gas lights in a close room make the air very damp, 
and the moisture they produce may often be seen 
settling on the cold glass of the windows, or even run- 
ning down the walls. The carbon or charcoal when 
burnt forms carbonic acid, an invisible gas. When 
there are many gas lights in a badly ventilated room, 
or even one in a room that is not ventilated at all, the 
air becomes very unwholesome from the presence of 
carbonic acid gas. 

102. If there is not enough air to enable both the 
carbon and the hydrogen to burn, the hydrogen burns 
first, and part of the carbon passes oft in the form 
of smoke. By putting any cold pieces of metal, glass, 
or earthenware into a flame, the carbon is prevented 
from burning and settles on the metal or glass, cover- 
ing it with black soot. 

103. Candles, which were formerly very generally 
used, give out very little light and are the dearest mode 
of producing light. 

Much may be learned of the nature of flame by 
watching attentively that of a common candle ; at the 
bottom is a pale blue light which is caused by the 
fresh air rising against the flame and producing the 
perfect burning of both the carbon and the hydrogen ; 
in the interior of the flame is a dark centre which 
consists of the unburnt inflammable gas rising from 
the wick ; this cannot burn until it reaches the air 
outside. The outside of the flame is very bright it is 
there only the gas burns. 



CH, xv.] LIGHTING. 87 

If a small slip of wood be held for a moment 
steadily across the centre of a flame, it will be seen 
that the part in the middle is not burnt, only that 
which was at the outside of. the flame. 

104. The oil used in lamps is of two distinct 
kinds. The fat greasy oils, such as seal or whale oil 
from animals, and olive or colza oil from vegetables. 
To obtain a good light from these fat oils it is necessary 
to make the flame hollow, and admit air into the in- 
terior, as is done in what is termed an Argand burner. 

In order to cause a strong current of air through 
the flame of an Argand, a tall glass chimney is requisite. 

105. The mineral oils, called paraffin or petro- 
leum oils, are the cheapest oils in use They contain a 
very great amount of carbon or charcoal, and if they are 
burned without a chimney this escapes into the air in 
dark clouds of black smoke. These oils, therefore, 
require to be burned in a properly constructed lamp, 
so that sufficient air shall be sent against the flame to 
consume all the carbon. 

The best paraffin lamps are those with a single flat 
wick, which is able to be turned to any required height 
above the wick tube A, by small toothed wheels turned 
by a handle, B. The large quantity of air required by 
the flame rises up through the cone or cap c, and is 
directed against the sides of the flame, producing a 
complete combustion of the carbon, and a very 
brilliant light. 

Paraffin or petroleum oils were formerly sold con- 
taining much volatile inflammable spirit. At the 
present time no mineral lamp oil must be sold which 
is dangerous. 

Petroleum lamps are perfectly free from danger if 



88 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

properly used. The oil-holder should be of glass, as 
if made of metal, it is apt to become heated. The 
lamps should always be filled before dark, and never 
after being lighted. 

Any oil spilled on the outside should be carefully 
wiped off, or it will produce a disagreeable smell when 




DIETZ'S FLAT WICK BURNER. 

the lamp is used. To light a petroleum lamp the 
glass chimney should be removed, then the wick turned 
above the slit in the cone, and when lighted instantly 
turned down again ; the chimney should then be put on 
and the wick turned up so as to produce a large bright 
flame without smoke, but so as to produce the full 
flame, when the lamp burns without smell. -If the 
flame is turned down low, there is no saving of oil, 



CH. xv.] LIGHTING. 



as a large quantity is sent off in vapour and produces 
a most disagreeable smell. 

1 06. Sponge or spirit lamps are made for using 
the very inflammable spirit termed benzoline. They are 
rilled with sponge or cotton wool which is moistened 
with benzoline, the wick-holder is then screwed on and 
the wick turned up level to the top; when lighted a 
small flame, rather greater than that of a candle, is 
produced. As the benzoline is very inflammable these 
lamps should never be trimmed after dark, or near a 
fire, as the vapour may take light. If trimmed in the 
day-time, and only enough spirit poured in to moisten 
the cotton wool, they are quite safe, and are the cheap- 
est source of a small light. When used as night 
lights they should always be placed under a chimney as 
the vapour escapes and smells when they are turned 
down low. 

Coal gas is unquestionably the cheapest source of 
light, but its economy is not so great as is generally 
imagined ; the flame cannot always be brought 
where it is wanted, consequently a much greater 
amount of light is necessary than when movable 
lamps are employed. 

For small rooms, the two-hole, or fish-tail burner is 
best, being cheap, simple, and capable of causing a 
very perfect combustion of the gas. With this burner 
the flame is spread out into a thin, flat sheet, by the 
two currents of gas striking against one another. In 
a fish-tail burner the gas should always be turned on 
so as to cause a full-sized flame without flickering, as 
otherwise the gas is not perfectly burnt. A large-sized 
burner should not be used where a smaller one will 
answer. The flame gives a much brighter and steadier 



go HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

light when placed horizontally, with the flat sides 
turned up and down, than when burned upright in a 
glass globe, when the flame always flickers and is 
injurious to the eyes. An ordinary- si zed fish-tail con- 
sumes from three to four cubic feet of gas per hour, 
and gives the light of from six to nine candles. 

Where a great amount of light is required a circular 
or Argand burner is more economical than the fish-tail. 
In most burners the chimney is too high ; this causes 
too strong a current of air, and a great loss of light 
ensues. An Argand with a ring having fifteen holes, 
should not have a chimney more than seven inches 
high. Such a burner will consume about five cubic 
feet of gas in an hour, and give an amount of light 
equal to that of fifteen sperm candles. 

In all cases where gas is used, the room should be 
ventilated, or the air will become very unhealthy from 
the great amount of carbonic acid and vapour of 
water produced. 

Explosions sometimes occur when gas has escaped 
from a leaky pipe or a burner that has been left open. 
The explosion is generally caused by some person 
taking a lighted candle to discover the leakage, when 
the escaped gas takes fire instantaneously, and burns 
with a violent explosion. Whenever there is a strong 
smell of escaped gas, the maincock at the meter should 
be immediately turned, and the doors and windows 
opened to allow the gas to escape. No attempt should 
be made to search for the leak with a light, but notice 
should instantly be given to a gas-fitter. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



CLEANING, WASHING, AND GENERAL 
HOUSEWORK. 



107. THE healthiness or unhealthiness of a house 
depends very greatly upon its degree of cleanliness; 
dirty, uncleaned houses are always more or less un- 
healthy. In country places, where the ground around 
a house is not paved with stone, care should be taken 
that no puddles of dirty water remain close to the 
house, as they not only render the air damp and 
unwholesome, but cause much dirt to be brought in 
on the feet. 

Slops of dirty water, tea-leaves, coffee-grounds, &c., 
should never be thrown out near the house, as they 
decay and are injurious. 

All decaying vegetable and animal matter near a 
house is injurious. Cabbage-leaves, potato and apple- 
parings, and other waste vegetables should never be 
thrown into the dust-bin, but should always be burnt ; 
which can always be done if they are first dried by 
throwing them at the back of the fire or in the ash-pit. 

The dust-bins of houses in town should only be 



92 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 

used for ashes ; instead of using dust-bins, it is a 
much better plan for the dust to be put into a 
galvanized iron pail and carried away each day, as 
is done in many towns. 

1 08. The inside of the house not only becomes 
dirty by the dust carried in by the air and the dirt 
brought in by the feet, but from the odour or smell 
given out by our skin, and by the lungs with the 
breath. 

This smell or odour is absorbed by all porous 
substances, as the walls, floors, and ceilings ; it then 
decays, and gives rise to that close, sickening, un- 
wholesome smell, which is present in all dirty houses, 
especially such as are overcrowded. No house with 
such a smell can possibly be a healthy place to 
live in. This animal effluvium, or smell of decay- 
ing animal matter, is taken up by some substances 
much more readily than others. Walls that are 
covered with paper smell much more offensively than 
those that are painted. And in rooms where one 
paper has been pasted over another the whole thick- 
nesses of paper become very offensive and injurious to 
health. Painted or lime-washed walls are much 
to be preferred to papered walls for crowded dwellings 
and for all sleeping rooms. 

Woollen garments, carpets, and curtains absorb 
these smells freely, and give them out for a long 
time. Rough wooden floors also take them up, and 
consequently require frequent washing ; smoo thed 
waxed, or painted floors are much preferable to rough 
wooden ones. 

109. The wholesomeriess of a dwelling is much 
increased by its being frequently white-washed. 



CH. xvi.] CLEANING, WASHING, &c. 93 

White -wash is made by pouring water on cakes of 
whiting, and stirring until the liquid is like a thin 
cream, when a small quantity of warm size or dissolved 
glue is then added, to prevent the colour from 
rubbing off when dry. White- wash is applied with a 
broad, flat brush, working in a uniform direction up 
and down the wall. It is requisite first to remove the 
dirt and the old white-wash by washing it away with 
a brush and abundance of clean water. 

no. Lime-washing is a much more effectual 
mode of purification than white-washing, but is not so 
often used, as few persons know how to make lime-wash. 
If glue is used, it is destroyed by the lime, and the 
wash easily rubs off the walls when dry. This also 
happens if the lime be simply slaked in water and 
used without any fixing material. Lime-wash should 
be made by placing some freshly-burned quick-lime 
in a pail, and pouring on sufficient water to cover 
it; if the lime is fresh, great heat is given out; 
boiled oil (a preparation of linseed oil, sold by all 
oilmen) should then be added, one pint to each gallon 
of wash. For cheapness, any refuse fat, such as 
dripping, may be used instead of the boiled oil. The 
whole should then be thinned with water. The brush 
should not be left in the lime-wash or the bristles will 
be destroyed. Should coloured wash be required, 
one pound of green vitriol added to every two gallons 
of wash gives a very pleasing drab. 

Quick-lime slaked with skimmed milk, and after- 
wards thinned with water, makes an excellent wash 
for out-door walls, as it is not acted on by the 
weather. 

Lime- washing is strongly recommended as a means 



94 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND COOKERY. 



of purification, more especially when any infectious 
disorders are prevalent. 

in. Floors should not be scrubbed so frequently as 
is often recommended ; once a- week is generally quite 
sufficient. In damp weather wet floors do not dry, 
and the house remains damp and cold for a consid- 
erable time ; it is better, in all cases, to defer the 
scrubbing even for a week, than to wet the floors 
on a rainy or foggy day. In cases of illness this is 
particularly important ; so injurious is damp air to 
invalids, that in some hospitals the floors are waxed, 
and dry rubbing used instead of scouring, with g