Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-07-18
THE FRENCH COOKING ROOM.


Some of Its Points Of Difference From the
American Kitchen.
The French cooking room is found TO
be ''sui generis'' a delightfully."- con.
venient little affair, although the first
impression its brick floor and conserva-
tive dimensions gives is of primitive
ness. 1t is always small, that is, the
average kitchen. and in the French
apartment any nook answers for it.
FOR French economy reckons time and
space in its ratio. and it stands to rea-
son that much useless time is spent in
walking about a large room in
search OF materials or utensils.
1t was a sense of this very thing
which led a bright western woman,
who had become reduced to do
ang her own work. to make her buffers
pantry and gas stove answer the needs
OF kitchen. since in that way she had
everything ready to hand.
No matter how small the French
Kitchen, it always boasts of generous
range, with an artistic wall setting of
blue and white thing corresponding
with the like setting of the water pipes
and sink. This thing is not the least
u,
forming, as it does, with the red bricks
OF the floor fascinating color scheme
SO in the beginning, even in the kitch-
en-, you find the touch of color that
these Latin nations are never without,
their love for which speaks from the
blossorning plant in the window TO the
painted ashbarrel.
Despite the generous range, which
has all sorts of devices and different
places for burning wood. or coke, or
coal, or nothing-for. when you will,
you can employ the gas stove, which
is fixture of the French kitchen-there
is seldom large boiler attachment,
but in its stead a queer little copper
boiler let down at one side of the oven
is supposed TO hold enough water to
meet the needs of the average house
holder in France. Hot water, as a con-
sequence, is at a premium, which, per-
haps, accounts for the Indifference of
the French to the luxuries of the bath.
Even the friendly. kissing teakettle,
that most appealingly cozy bit of
kitchen furnishing, is a quantity I'M
known Its place in the French cuisine
is taken by a queer little tin pitch
: er. with a cover. These come in as
sorted sizes, and no matter how siza-
BILE or imposing the dimensions, they
always seem to be make-shifts.
There is seldom a dipper; its use and
abuse is not French; and there are DO
ibrooms. Brushes of all kinds and a
sort of a broom made of tiny twigs,
the kind used by the street sweepers,
are to be found in France, but nothing
along the practical lines of the article
SO familiar to the New World house
hold. The merits of the chopping-
bowl have not found a place in the
French cooks heart. A square board
and peculiar two-handled chopping
knife, held in both hands when used,
answering to the needs of that delect-
able dish, hash, or the savory ragouts
and croquettes a la Francois.
Such implements of kitchen warfare
as the poker, tongs, shovel, and dust
pan of France are all strangely un-
familiar and decidedly primitive in ap-
pearance. So also are the baking
dishes and saucepans of unbaked clay,
which, however, are most desirable on
account of their cleanliless.
Most of the apartment kitchens and
many OF those in private houses are
pTOFIucu WITH al lce-DOX 6LGaClm0nL,
built out under a window, and fitted
about with wooden stats lined with
Very fine wire gauze, this answer
ing every need in winter, and proving
even in summer. as it usual
1y juts into shaded court.
The most cheering note in French
kitchen furnishings is the copper sauce
pan. 1t is omnipresent, and in we'll
appointed habitations you see rows of
them. of all sizes, from the half pint
up, hanging along the high wainscot-
ing above or beside the range. The
higher the state of polish to which
these may be brought by the usually
immaculate femme de menage, the
more she seems to consider they stand
in the light of satisfactory reference,
and from the fact, perhaps, that the
French kitchen contains no closets,
and at the best nothing but dressers,
may be deduced a reason for the inn
maculate maid and the delightful sug-
gestion of absolute cleanliness which
pervade this apartment.-N. Y. Times.