Cleanliness must be considered as the _first and leading principle_ of
the kitchen-maid, as well as of the head cook and all other persons in
any way employed in the business of the kitchen.
This servant has, in many families, the hardest place in the house. It
is her business, under the superintendance of the cook, to take nearly
the whole management of roasting, boiling, and otherwise dressing all
plain joints and dishes, and all the fish and vegetables.—She is also,
if there be no _scullion_, to keep the _kitchen_, _larder_, _scullery_,
all the _kitchen utensils_, and every thing belonging to it perfectly
clean,—in the best possible condition, and always fit for use. On the
due performance of this important part of her business mainly depends
the credit and character, not of herself only, but of the cook also; it
therefore behoves the cook to see it properly done.
The kitchen-maid must always rise betimes, light the kitchen fire,
and set on water to be heated for all the purposes of the family, the
first thing she does.—She next scours the dressers and shelves, and the
kitchen tables, with soap and sand, and hot water; and cleans up the
kitchen: she then clears out and cleans the housekeeper’s room, the
hall and passages, the front door, and area steps, the larder, and the
butler’s pantry; in doing which, the scullion (if there be one kept)
takes the dirtiest and most laborious part. She then prepares the
breakfasts in the housekeeper’s room, and the servants’-hall. These
things, if she be active, she will have accomplished before the cook
begins to require her attention and attendance in the larder, in the
furtherance of the culinary preparations; to which, however, she must
have an eye, even from her earliest rising, particularly to the soups
and other things, that require a long time to prepare.
After breakfast, if not before, the cook will require her assistance
in the larder, and afterwards for the remainder of the day she will
be occupied in the kitchen, under the direction of the cook; first,
in preparing for the servants’ dinner, the dinner in the nursery, or
elsewhere, and the lunch in the parlour; next in helping to get ready
the family dinner; then in washing up and clearing away every thing,
and cleaning up the kitchen; and lastly, in setting out and preparing
the supper, either hot or cold, for the servants.
As the kitchen-maid generally fills her situation with the view of
becoming a cook, at a future day, it behoves her to read with attention
the foregoing _Directions to the Cook_, which contain the rudiments of
the art, and which, if she attentively study, and practically apply,
will enable her to attain such a proficiency in her business, as will
render her a valuable acquisition to her future employers. [Wages from
12 to 14 guineas per year.]
Having given a full and adequate sketch of the theory and leading
principles of the culinary art, and exemplified them in the practical
duties of the cook and kitchen-maid, we shall conclude the subject
with a brief outline of the duties of their humble and laborious
assistant,