Sections:

As a guide in purchasing equipment for a kitchen, a list of utensils is here presented. This list is divided into utensils that are necessary and those that are convenient and only at times necessary. In any case, however, the number of utensils and the size must be determined by the quantity of food that is to be prepared.

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT

Baking dish with cover

Bread box

Bread knife

Bread pans

Can opener

Cake knife

Chopping bowl and knife or food chopper

Coffee mill

Coffee pot

Colander

Cookie cutter

Corer, Apple

Cutting board

Dishpan

Double boiler

Egg beater

Flour sifter

Forks

Frying pan, large

Frying pan, small

Garbage can

Grater

Kettle covers

Kettles, two or more

Knife sharpener

Knives

Lemon squeezer

Long-handled fork

Measuring cup

Meat board

Meat knife

Mixing bowls

Mixing spoons

Molding board

Muffin pan

Paring knife

Pepper shaker

Pie pans

Potato masher

Rinsing, or draining, pan

Roasting pan

Rolling pin

Salt box

Saucepans

Spatula

Tablespoons

Teakettle

Teapot

Teaspoons

Toaster

Wire strainer

Wooden spoon

CONVENIENT EQUIPMENT

Bread mixer

Cake coolers

Cake mixer

Cake turner

Casseroles

Clock

Coffee percolator

Containers for spices and dry groceries

Cookie sheets

Cream whip Egg whip

Fireless cooker

Frying kettle and basket

Funnel Glass jars for canning

Griddle

Ice-cream freezer

Ice pick

Jelly molds

Nest of bowls

Pan for baking fish

Potato knife

Potato ricer

Ramekins

Quart measure

Scales

Scissors

Set of skewers

Steamer

Waffle iron

Wheel cart

GETTING FOODS READY FOR COOKING
PRELIMINARY PREPARATION


Before foods that require cooking are cooked or before foods that are to be eaten raw are served, they must be properly prepared, for their palatability and their value as food depend considerably on the way in which they are made ready for cooking or for eating. Of course, the way in which food should be prepared will depend on how it is to be served, but in any event all foods, for the sake of cleanliness, must first be washed with water or wiped with a clean, damp cloth.

The ways in which vegetables and fruits are made ready for cooking vary. Sometimes such foods are cooked with the skins on, and sometimes certain vegetables, such as new potatoes, young carrots and parsnips, vegetable oysters, etc., are made ready in an economical way by scraping off their skins with a knife.

Vegetables are also peeled, and when this is done a very sharp knife with a thin blade should be used and as little of the food removed as possible. Still another way of removing the skins of such foods as tomatoes, nuts, and some fruits is by blanching. In this process, the skins are loosened so that they may be removed easily, either by immersing the foods in boiling water or by pouring boiling water over them and allowing them to stand in the water for a few minutes, but not long enough to soften them.

Blanching used in this sense should not be confused with the same word when it means "to take color out" and has reference to a process of bleaching. Only when the word means "to remove the covering of" can it be applied to the peeling of tomatoes, fruits, and nuts. Vegetables and fruits may be cooked whole or they may be cut into chunks, or pieces, or into slices.