Making the Best of Things

by Mrs. A.J. Wilder.

We would all be delighted to have modern kitchens, with up-to-date utensils; but some of us must put up with the old things while we are helping to pay off the mortgage or to save toward buying that little place of our own. However, we need not always use the old things in exactly the old way; and sometimes we can even do better with a skillful juggling of our old tools than we could with some new fashioned utensil.

For instance, the woman who wishes she had a roaster so she would not be obliged to baste the roasting meat, may take two iron dripping pans, bend the handles of one pan a little narrower so they will slip thorugh the handles of the other, and join them in that way with the roast inside. If she has poured a cut of hot water over the meat as she put it in the pan, she will not need to baste it.

The same pans used in the same way make a covered baking pan for light bread. The loaves cannot run over nor crack along the sides as they often do if baked in an open pan, and the crust is more tender and a more even brown. These pans may be separated in a second's time and used for anything else, and still become a roaster or a baking pan at any time.

The idea of covering things may be carried farther and do away with some of the standing over a hot stove. When frying meat cover the skillet with a close cover. It will keep the grease from spattering over the stove, the meat will only require turning once, and it will be more tender. Do the same when frying eggs and they will not need to be turned, nor to have the hot grease dipped on them. They will cook much quicker and on both top and bottom. Chicken can be fried in the roasting pans and will brown evenly all over, without turning, if there is plenty of lard or butter in the pan.

If you wish to make some cheese and have no press, the lard press will do exactly as well. If you need the little kitchen table with the large wheel which you often see described for carrying loads of things from stove to table and from table to pantry, remember that any small table with large casters will do equally well and be much less expensive.

We may not be able to have electric lights, but we may have a much better light from our coal oil lamps and make the care of them easier by using them properly. The simple expedient of turning a lamp down before blowing it out will make the difference between a bright, clean burner with a good light and a burner that is dark and greasy, so causing a poor light with a bad odor. The wick acts as a pump to bring the oil to the blaze. As long as it is warm it keeps right on pumping. If the blaze is not there to burn it the oil overflows onto the outside of the burner, making a dirty lamp and a poor light.

Mrs. A. J. Wilder. "Making the Best of Things." Missouri Ruralist, June 20, 1915.

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