Household Hints

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Preface

This little book aims to help the young housekeeper who comes to her new duties without much preparation, and with no one to advise or assist her.

The hints and suggestions I have found helpful in

my own work, and have learned their value through

experiences not always sweet.

E. W. B.

To the memory of mie who ^^ filed the common ways of life with the reflection of some far-off hrightnessr

Contents

PAGK

I. Introductory 9

II. Bread, tea, and coffee.

I. Introductory

There is nothing more discouraging to the young housekeeper than her first attempts at mastering the details of her work ; she looks with amazement at the calm faces of her friends, who seem, somehow, to have made the secret their own. By and by she finds out for herself that it may all be summed up in these words : Eternal vigilance is the price of a well-kept house. Eternal vigilance ! the spider, the moth, the flour-bug, the red ant, and the black ant demand it. She thinks that if somebody had framed it for her motto instead of "God Bless our Home," or "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry," she might have got on better.

One of the first things she learns is that system is absolutely necessary — ^not the relentless system which decrees that Friday shall be sweeping day though the heavens should fall, but which considers calmly the whole business to be dispatched, portions out the work as wisely as possible, and then adheres to the plan as closely as may be. Of course, at first mistakes will be made, but this comforting assurance may be kept in mind, that housekeeping does not come by instinct /to anybody. However easily some may seem to get along with it, they have acquired that ease by hard and varied experience.

If one is intensely in earnest about becoming a good housekeeper, occasional failures will help on the work ; an ordinarily bright young woman will only once steam brown bread in an ungreased tin, or build a hot fire with a new oilcloth under the stove, and leave no ashes under the fire in the stove.

"Some people have the knack of doing these things," said a lady the other day, " while I — ^well, it is with housekeeping as it used to be with arithmetic — I have no gift. You know there are people who can not do anything with figures." Of course there is a difference in people after due allowance has been made for education, but many would be surprised if they were told that the reason why they can not do certain things is because they have never really tried. Herein lies the secret of the poor performance of common duties that we frequently see ; the woman is content to leave the more serious matters in life as the girl left her arithmetic — ^with the poor consolation that she is not elected to do anything with figures, and she is likely to regard those able to accomplish creditably the tasks set before them as having a certain mysterious knack — a "sleight of hand" way of getting along with them.

It is wonderful to see how much ingenuity is displayed by some women who, with very little money, are always dressed in perfect taste, and, with no apparent effort, keep old furniture from looking shabby, old carpets and curtains fresh and bright, but these things are accomplished by much thought and a great deal of hard work. Nothing helps a person to do things like doing them ; and it is a fact that in time one who has an actual distaste for housework may come to regard her kitchen as a laboratory in which careful manipulations will produce exact results. One seeing only these results is not very much to blame for thinking them brought about in some magical way. It has sometimes seemed as if more hard brain-work was done

INTRODUCTORY. H

during house-cleaning and spring sewing than would suffice to produce a tolerably good history of the State of New York. It would be easier to write a poem than to turn an old carpet so that every spot and worn place will come where it can be covered with a suitable piece of furniture, or to make a new coat for the boy out of the old soiled one of his father's. These efforts of genius will probably never be appreciated or estimated at their true value, but there is discipline to be had from them which, in the great economy of nature, will surely count for what it is worth.

A source of trouble to one beginning to keep house is the fact that, after she has done the best she knows how, her housekeeping reminds her of the action of a scale ; when the front steps, parlor, and sitting-room are up, the back steps, kitchen, and pantry are down. It may be a comfort to her to know that in the best regulated families, where one woman does all the work, this sometimes occurs, but experience helps to remedy the matter somewhat.

Beginning after breakfast, let the table be cleared, the food all put away, and the dishes placed in an orderly way on the kitchen table. The tank should be filled with water, and the fire all right to keep the water hot, while she goes to the front part of the house and does the necessary work there, not neglecting anything which in the event of a visitor will cause her annoyance.

Get all the work as soon as possible narrowed down to the kitchen. This plan should be pursued regularly ; the day on which it is departed from will be one of defeat and humiliation. She is certain to have one or more neighbors who have plenty of help, and who enjoy running in to chat with her in the morning.

If it can not be avoided, she can wash the breakfast dishes and attend to the lamps while cooking the dinner.

It must not be understood that by pushing all the work back into the kitchen this room is to be neglected. Above all things^ keep the kitchen clean ; in a great measure the health of the family depends upon this. A pleasant kitchen, convenient and inviting, is an inspiration to thorough work ; better meals will be prepared there, and all that it costs to make this workshop what it should be will be amply paid for by the increased happiness of the faithful housewife, and, through her, to each member of the family.

One of the best things about housekeeping is that it requires the exercise of the highest faculties of the human mind ; we see women every day who are statesmen in the wise management of their affairs, calm, independent, and tfclf-possessed in emergencies. Some of the best traits of character are constantly cultivated. If any class of women can be said to have virtues thrust upon them, it is the housekeeper of our day.

If every woman would set it before her as an aim worthy of all that is strongest and best in her to conduct a well-ordered home, a great deal of happiness and real beauty would be gained. How many faces once lovely are transformed by the addition of those wicked little lines "about the eyes and mouth which come from having fretted over necessary work ! work, too, which, if properly engaged in, would not injure the doer. There are times, probably, when the happiest wife and mother thinks with longing of Thoreau's housekeeping at Walden Pond, and admires his resolution in throwing the fragments of limestone, with which he had ornamented his desk, out of the window when he found they must be dusted every day ; but there is absolutely no use in fretting over petty annoyances, and, since the danger of falling into the habit is great, every sensible woman will endeavor to look on the bright side of all her troubles. Suppose that baked potatoes should be eaten the moment they are done, and an important member of the family, knowing the dinner hour, is late ; do not worry over the matter ; every such little worry indulged in

INTRODUCTORY. 13

is like a chisel deepening the lines, perhaps, already formed by some real trouble.

One of the most difficult and also one of the most necessary lessons for a housekeeper to learn is, that, in order to be successful, she must assert her individuality ; it is useless to try to please everybody. It is surprising to notice how many things in our homes are done directly with " an eye single " to our neighbors.

In housekeeping, as in religion, endeavor to have a reason for the faith that is in you, and then go ahead. Study • your work and your own strength, do the best you can, and be content with that; learn to be willing to be condemned for your ways of doing, providing that they are right. To be independent is a great virtue, not only in matters of taste, in decoration, and the choice of furniture, but in all that pertains to the welfare of the household, in the hours for meals, ii\ the hours for sleeping and waking.

If the smoke does rise from a neighbor's chimney one or two hours earlier or later than from your own, do not regard that as an infallible indication of the amount of work done in that dwelling.

Emerson strikes the key-note when he says that " the vice of our 'housekeeping is that it does not hold man sacred," and that "persons are treated too much as things." The criticism is just. Who can not recall homes which seem to be maintained with reference to other ends than that of the comfort and well-being of those who live in them ?

There is nothing more interesting or beautiful than a home which, in all its appointments, reveals the character of its inmates ; which has, as Bishop Butler says, "a certain physiognomy of its own." Such a home is a blessing to those whose happy fortune it is to be born into it, and it is a means of culture to the community in which it stands.

It is possible to possess such a home — this is not an idle dream — since it does not depend upon great genius or great wealth, but upon the spirit with which its duties are met and performed ; upon the soul which animates its body.

II. Bread, Tea, And Coffee

Almost every young housekeeper starts out with the conviction that she will be obliged to bury or throw away the first barrel or two of flour which her husband will buy, and which she will make up into uneatable bread. She has heard so much of the importance of having good bread, and the mysterious difficulties in the way of making it, that she fears it is something beyond her, and expects to succeed only after repeated failures. Now, this is all wrong ; it is not difficult to make good bread ; and there is no reason why the first loaf she makes should not be creditable, if she takes the precaution to use good flour and good yeast. She can easily ascertain what flour is used by some good cook of her acquaintance, and the yeast she can make herself.

Of course, if she is wholly inexperienced, she will have to use a great deal of care in making and baking the bread ; she will have to watch the oven closely, and leam to keep a steady fire.

Bread will not bake itself, as she may be inclined to think from having noticed the ease with which older cooks manage the baking. For a time she will be obliged to give undivided attention to every little detail.

Start the bread the night before it is to be baked. Take a six-quart pan a little more than half full of flour, make a little hollow in the center, take (for three loaves, or for two

BREAD, TEA, AND COFFEE, 15

loaves and one tin of biscuits) a small cupful of yeast — if the yeast is fresh, less will do — and a pint of lukewarm water ; stir in and make a sponge in the hollow in the flour, cover the pan with a clean paper, and a cloth over that ; in winter set it in a warm room, in summer in a cool one. In the morning, early, mix the whole of the flour with the sponge, adding enough lukewarm water to make the dough the proper consistency ; knead it thoroughly with your knuckles, not with the ends of your fingers ; let it rise, and when very light mold it quickly, and with light touches, into loaves, and put into pans which are warm and buttered. An ordinary-sized loaf needs baking about forty-five minutes ; the last five minutes the oven door may be left open, if there is the least danger of the bread being browned too much. When you take it out of the oven turn the loaves topside down iii the hot tins, and allow them to stand a few minutes, and you will find that the crust is tender and cuts easily. If you like potatoes in the bread, mash about two for the quantity of bread spoken of here, and put in when you start the bread-sponge. Biscuits need baking about twenty minutes ; add a little lump of butter to the bread-dough and knead longer. They may be turned in the hot tins, or be rubbed over the top with butter.

Potato Yeast, — Take six good-sized potatoes, about a quart of water, a large handful of hops in a little bag, a tablespoonful of sugar, and one of salt ; put all together and cook till the potatoes' are soft enough to mash readily ; then take them out, mash the potatoes, and stir in with them a pint of flour ; when the flour is thoroughly mixed with the potatoes, so that there will be no danger of lumps, put this into a clean tin pan and set on the stove ; then pour over it the hot water in which the potatoes and hops were boiled ; put it in a little at a time. If the water has boiled away so that you haven't enough to make nearly a quaint.

pour in boiling water from the tea-kettle (which, by the way, should always be on the stove with plenty of hot water in whenever you are cooking anything). Have, when the yeast is done, nearly two quarts ; cook it until it is as thick as boiled custard. This will be ready for use in a day or two.

Warm Weather Yeast. — Take a handful of hops and put into a pint of cold water ; let the water come to aboil, but do not let it boil, as an undesirable substance is then extracted from the hops. Put two large potatoes into a pint of water, boil until soft, then take out and mash thoroughly ; stir two tablespoonfuls of flour and one of sugar into the potato, then add the water the potatoes were boiled in, and the hop- water ; if less than a quart, fill from the tea-kettle, stir well, and when cool add three tablespoonfuls of yeast ; put into a jug, cork, and* set in a convenient place in tlie pantry ; shake well every morning ; on this command hangs all the virtue of the yeast. Use less of this than of ordinary baker's yeast ; about half the quantity will do. Yeast which will keep well in summer is something greatly to be desired. The recipe here given supplies a need long felt by those who do not like yeast-cakes.

The yeast and white bread question being settled, you can proceed to try other kinds of bread. It is desirable to have a variety, especially if there are children in the family, that the needs of their growing bodies may be supplied. Corn meal and Graham are excellent, and especially good to help make strong and white teeth.

Brown Bread. — Two cups of meal, one of flour (white or Graham may be used), one cup of sweet milk, one of sour, two tablespoonfuls of molasses, one teaspoonf ul of bi-carbonate of soda, and a pinch of salt. Sometimes when making it I find that I haven't any sweet milk, and so use water in place of it. Of course the milk makes it more nourishing. This should be well beaten ; be sure that there are

BREAD, TEA, AND COFFEE. 17

no lumps of flour left, and that the soda is entirely dissolved. Put into a two-quart basin, which must first be thoroughly greased. Steam the bread one hour ; then set it in the oven to dry and to brown ; any time from fifteen minutes to half an hour will do ; this will depend on the state of the oven.

Ordham Bread. — Take some of your white bread-sponge — the quantity to depend upon how much you wish to make ; to enough of the sponge for one loaf add a cup of molasses and a little warm water ; stir (not knead) the Graham flour into it ; make the dough a little stiffer than that for corn bread ; let it rise, and bake it in a slow oven. Another way, which -has the advantage of being made quicker than the other, is to take two cups of Graham flour and one cup of white flour, one cup of sour milk, one cup of molasses, one teaspoonful of soda; stir it thoroughly and put into a well-buttered tin, steam two hours, then dry off in the oven.

Rusks, which are nice warm for supper or cold for dinner, are easily made. Take one pint of bread-sponge, one egg, one cupful of sugar, half a cupful of sweet milk, half a cupful of butter, and two teaspoonfuls of baking powder ; stir all thoroughly together, and let it rise till very light ; knead it down again and let it rise, then mold into biscuits about the size of an egg, put them quite close to each other in the tin, and let them rise ; when very light, bake them a little longer than common biscuits, and until the top is a dark brown.

Buns. — Three cups of sweet milk, one cup of yeast, one cup of sugar. Mix soft at night. In the morning add one cup of butter, part of a cup of sugar, a bit of soda ; then mix, put in the pans, and let rise till quite light. Bake same as rusks. Currants may be added if you like, and when they are, and the buns served warm, they are said to resemble closely the tea-cakes made by Mrs. Southey, which Shelley, having once tasted them, requested his wife to serve for supper for ever after.

Rolls. — One pint of scalded milk, let it cool, and add two tablespoonfuls of sugar, two of lard, two of yeast, a little salt. In winter, mix the batter over night ; in summer, mix early in the morning. When light, knead and let it rise, then add a lump of butter, and make into the desired shape. Bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. Nice rolls may be made by taking part of your bread-sponge and adding a lump of butter.

Graham Oems, — Take three teacups of water, four and a half cups of Graham flour ; beat together for five minutes. Have your gem pans hot, put in each a little bit of butter, fill the pans even full of the batter. Bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. This quantity will fill the pans twice.

Corn Bread, or Johnny Calce, baked in geln pans is delicious for breakfast. Johnny cake is made by taking about two cups of meal, one ^gg, a tablespoonful of molasses, sour milk enough to mix the meal with, a teaspoonful of soda, and a little salt. If you choose you can add a little flour, and use sugar in place of molasses.

Baking Powder Biscuit. — To a quart of flour allow three teaspoonfuls of baking powder, sift thoroughly into the flour, add a small lump of butter, mix with milk or with milk and water, roll as soft as possible, and bake in a hot oven.

RocJc Biscuit. — Two cups of butter, two cups of sugar, two eggs, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, one cup of raisins, mix stiff, roll out and bake as you would cookies, only do not roll them quite so thin. Before rolling out the dough, pick it with a fork to give it a rough look.

Alice^s Muffins. — One cup of sour milk, one egg, a little shortening, a teaspoonful of soda, less if the milk is not very sour. Make a thick batter, add a little salt. Bake in gem pans, or if you have not these you may use patty pans ;

BREAD, TEA, AND, COFFEE. 19

but I would get the gem pans ; you will save so much time whenever you bake, and run less risk of burning your hand and wrist. It pays in the end to get all these little improvements.

Tea, — One of the most surprising things one constantly meets is to find that the people who have the same duties to perform day after day, or year after year, do not improve in their manner, or even once blunder into the right way of doing them. Nothing is more easily made than good tea, and yet how seldom away from home does one enjoy delicately fragrant tea, which Hawthorne calls "an angel's gift," and which Miss Mitford said she could be awake all night drinking. The first thing needed is a clean tea-pot ; it is useless to try to make good tea in a rusty pot, or one in which the leaves have been allowed to remain all night. The water should be boiling, but the tea itself must never be boiled. I wish these words could be painted on the wall of every hotel and restaurant kitchen in the United States. After the boiling water has been poured over the tea, set the tea-pot on an extra griddle on the back of the stove. All that is good in the tea will be gradually extracted from it ; then when brought to the table one may well echo De Quincey's wish for an "eternal tea-pot," though not inclined to follow his example of drinking it from eight o'clock in the evening until four in. the morning.

The most satisfactory steeper I have ever used is an old-fashioned brown earthen tea-pot. This may be kept perfectly clean with almost no trouble. Whatever may be said of the hurtfulness of tea wh«n immoderately used, a cup of the afternoon tea so frequently mentioned in novels and essays is an unpurchasable luxury. Hamerton says in "The Intellectual Life" : "If tea is a safe stimulant, it is certainly an agreeable one, and there seems to be no valid reason whv brain- workers should refuse themselves that solace."

Coffee. — I wish it were possible to impress every one with the convictions I hold upon the subject of boiling ; it seems to me that more mistakes are made in carrying on this process than almost any other. Things that ought not to be boiled are boiled, and things that ought to be are not 1 It is easy to make these mistakes ; there comes a time in baking, frying, or broiling when injured nature revolts and burns up, but a thing may boil till not a vestige of its original condition remains, and, unless the water evaporates, it may go on boiling for hours without reminding one by smell or smoke that it is spoiled.

Nothing suffers more from this treatment than coffee.

Brown and grind the coffee at home ; it is more trouble, but the result is so satisfactory that you will be amply repaid for your labors. Then have the water boiling when it is poured over the coffee. If you use the ordinary tin coffee-pot, be sure to stuff some soft paper into the nose to keep in the steam and the fragrance. After pouring on the boiling water, let the coffee-pot stand on a hot griddle just as you do your tea-pot ; in five minutes set it on the front part of the stove, and let it boil for two or three minutes, not longer. Allow two large spoonfuls of coffee to each cup of water. There is nothing so nice to " settle " the coffee as an egg ; mix the egg with the ground coffee before pouring the hot water on. If eggs are not plenty and are dear, you may economize by measuring out in a bowl the quantity of coffee needed for two mornings ; stir the egg into this, adding a little cold water, then divide, and so make one Qgg answer ; cover closely the coffee left for the second morning, so that it will not lose its strength. If no eggs are to be had, after the coffee has boiled set it on the hearth of the stove, and pour in a very little cold water. A bit of codfish skin carefully washed is said to answer this purpose.

Cream adds the crowning excellence to a good cup of coffee ; but, if it is not to be had, scald the milk, and stir into it the white of an egg which has been beaten to a stiff froth.

MEATS, SOUPS, AND FISH. ^ ^21

III

meats; soups, and fish.

Beefsteak, — There is no meat which can be eaten day after day and meal after meal with the satisfaction which a tender, juicy, well-cooked beefsteak gives. The ideal steak is a fat sirloin or porter-house, not because the fat itself is particularly good to eat, but the lean which comes with the fat is better in quality. The best meat is the cheapest in the end, as then every little bit can be disposed of in. some way. I do not have much faith in the rules given for choosing meat ; they depend upon too many contingencies, and so hesitate to give any. I think there is only one way to cook a steak, and that is upon a gridiron over a bed of coals ; butter, pepper, and salt to be added the moment it is taken off on the warm platter. Some cooks are quite successful in cooking steak on a hot meat-griddle, having it smoking hot when the meat is put on.

Pieces of nice steak that are left from one or two meals can be made into an inviting dish for breakfast by chopping them fine, taking care that no grizzle or bits of bone are left in ; season with pepper and salt, and heat with a very little water and a lump of butter.

Eoast Beef. — Every woman who has kept house a few years has a theory of her own as to how beef should be roasted ; one says that it should be put into the oven without a drop of water in the pan ; another that it should be rolled in flour, a little lemon-juice squeezed on it, and so on indefinitely, each one thinking her way is the best ; as for me, I am sure that my ways are best, for I have two of them. If the beef is fat, and seems juicy, I put it into the oven with just about a tablespoonful of water, and roast, allowing an hour and a half for five pounds of beef. If the meat is lean and dry, and gives an impression that it is tough, especially if my butcher has been betrayed into confessing that it is not very tender, then I put it in the dripping-pan on the top of the stove with half a pint of water, turn a pan over it, and let it steam for half an hour, then put in the oven. I have in this way served what appeared to the unsuspicious family as a delicious roast, but which I knew to be a very tough, unpromising piece of meat. So unorthodox is this way of roasting beef that I almost fear to make it known.

Beef Omelet, — This is good for breakfast or tea. Take one pound of chopped beef, two well-beaten eggs, three soda-crackers rolled fine, three or four tablespoonfuls of milk or cream ; season to your taste with pepper, salt, and sage. Make this in a roll, cover it loosely with a well-buttered cloth, and bake half an hour in a basin, with a little water in it. When cold cut it in thin slice?.

Baked Beef, — Take a piece of round steak, stuff it with force meat the same as for chicken or turkey, sew it together, and bake, basting it frequently with a little melted butter and warm water. A tough piece of meat may be disposed of in this way which otherwise would, perhaps, be thrown away.