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The Larder

We will now run lightly through the ordinary daily duties of a cook, finishing up with that greatest of events in the everyday life of an Englishman--his dinner. Of course, the cook must consider herself responsible for the larder and its contents, and should consequently be careful not to allow bloaters, haddocks, lobsters, crabs, etc., or any strong-smelling thing of a similar description, to remain among the cold meat, butter, etc. Again, care should be taken to keep the larder scrupulously clean, and the shelves, especially if of wood, should from time to time be scrubbed. Let me here also warn servants generally against that too common practice of putting meat on the wooden shelf instead of on a dish or slab. For instance, the butcher sends, perhaps, a couple of pounds of gravy beef, and a careless cook, in hot weather, places this piece of raw meat on a wooden shelf, the result being that the blood adheres to the shelf, and becomes a fruitful cause of contaminating the whole larder.

The atmosphere of the larder must be dry, cool, and airy, if the meat that is hung in it is to be kept in good condition. The best meat will go wrong if kept in a damp, ill-ventilated spot. It is obvious, therefore, that the larder must not face the sun, and that it should not be near enough the kitchen to be influenced by the heat of the kitchen fire. It should have wire-gauze in the window frame instead of glass. Perfect ventilation may be ensured by having ventilators at opposite sides of the room, such as over the window and over the door; or the panels of the door as well as the window may be made of wire-gauze.

Stone-work should be used wherever possible in the fittings of the larder, and the floor should be of asphalt or of concrete. The shelves should be covered with paper, such as old newspapers. Plenty of strong iron hooks should be fixed into the ceiling, from which to suspend hams, joints of meat, poultry, and game. A refrigerator is an indispensable adjunct of the larder, especially in hot weather. By keeping perishable articles in good condition it soon pays for itself. Earthenware jars, fitted with lids, and labelled with the names of their respective contents, should also find a place in the larder. Old biscuit canisters can also be utilised for a variety of purposes, and a good supply of wire meat covers, to keep flies from meat, fish, etc., should be provided. Various measures are necessary in the larder, in order that the exact quantities necessary for the dishes to be cooked may be used--no more and no less. The tablespoons, dessertspoons, and teaspoons used for the purpose should be of the regulation size, and the cup should be the regulation kitchen cup, holding half a pint. In measuring dry materials, we may here remark, a spoonful means that whatever is measured should round as much above the spoon as the spoon rounds underneath. When a level or a heaped spoonful is required, it is so stated in the recipe. A spoonful of liquid is the spoon full to the brim; half a tea-spoonful should be measured lengthways of the spoon--not across.

It need hardly be added that a set of weights and scales should form part of the equipment of every larder, and that nothing should be received from the tradespeople without checking the weight of the goods. Many unpleasant disputes would be prevented if this were universally done.