Cooking Utensils

A nurse should always have at hand a standard measuring cup, divided into thirds and fourths. Wooden spoons are preferable to metal ones for mixing and stirring, as metal spoons are too hard and may break off bits of enamel, and are also acted upon by acids. For beating egg-white, a spoon-shaped wire beater should be used; for the yolks, a fork or Dover egg beater is preferable. Use round bottom utensils when stirring is necessary during the cooking. Use earthen bowl and wooden spoons for mixing batters, etc. A double boiler should be used when cooking any food that burns easily (as milk); also when foods are to be cooked at low temperatures.

Blending Ingredients

There are several ways of accomplishing this purpose.

1. Stirring. This is simple mechanical mixing in which a mass of ingredients is made uniform.

2. Beating or whipping consists in so manipulating a soft mixture as to incorporate the air. A spoon or special device is so applied that the bottom of the mixture is steadily lifted to the top.

3. Folding-in is a term applied to the method of introducing beaten white of egg slowly and gently into a soft mass, so as to render it light, the air being retained.

4. Cutting is used only in making pastry. Two knives are worked in opposite directions until the shortening is well incorporated in the flour.

Suggestions As To Methods Of Working

If a fire and oven are to be used these must be first of all attended to that they be in readiness when needed. All the cooking apparatus should be laid out and the materials to be cooked measured in preparations for mixing. It is advisable to be economical in the use of utensils. Thus one measuring cup may sometimes be used in succession for dry materials, liquids and fats, in the order named. A receptacle should be at hand for soiled spoons and other utensils employed in measuring or mixing. It is desirable to work as much as possible in a small space; thus the measuring and mixing should be done on a single table if possible. All soiled dishes should be put to soak; at odd moments they may be washed, dried and put away. The purpose underlying these principles is that the nurse may go into the family kitchen and prepare food for the patient without in the least interfering with the regular kitchen work of the household.

Ice Box And Contents

The ice box should be maintained in a state of absolute cleanliness. This is not difficult in the case of a simple portable refrigerator without a drain pipe, which may be flushed out daily with boiling water containing borax or ammonia (half ounce to the gallon). However, in the larger kinds of portable refrigerators, and in the set ice boxes where a tube is necessary for drainage, all the compartments and shelves should be washed with soap and hot water at least once in a week, while every day loose particles of food which have escaped from dishes, etc., should be carefully removed; or if advisable in certain cases, the food and shelves may be removed and wiped or brushed off. The drainage pipes must be cleaned with a brush made for the purpose at least once a week. It is advisable to sprinkle borax on the shelves after cleaning. Certain pungent articles can not be kept in an ice box without flavoring other foods such as butter, milk, etc.

Institutions, if large enough, may use a refrigerating plant, which does away in part with the handling of ice; or by the aid of an ice machine, superintendents may assure themselves of the purity of all ice designed for internal use.

The drain pipe of an ice box should not, for obvious reasons, communicate with the sewerage system.

The temperature in the food compartments is sometimes much warmer than one would imagine; and it is desirable to get some idea of what the temperature fluctuations are by using a thermometer. The reading can hardly go lower than 40° P. and should not be over 60° F.

The ice cake should be wrapped in cloth or paper, not only for economy's sake but because it may be dirty inside or outside. No food should be placed in the box while warm, for the sudden cooling may set up undesirable changes. Canned food should not be placed on ice in the opened can, but in a fresh receptacle. When possible, each article should be placed in a separate container, or wrapped in paper. Moisture in the ice box, while unavoidable, should be kept down by wiping walls and shelves dry at intervals.