The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-02-15
ia UGHT HOW TO. COOK.
Successful Work In tho Newly Es-
tAblished# Department on the ~
s&.55; South Side. 8 81 q


white aprons and oyersieeyes, their heads
crowned with cunning little white caps,
gathering eagerly around the kitchen.
range where simmered a sayory-smelling
dish, made>a pretty enough picture in
the newly established public cooking
school in, the old south side high school
building. II any one doubts that wom-
ans natural sphere is in the connecting
of dishes that appeal forcibly to the pal
ate. he shonld visit the cooking school
and watch the little maids who, with tai
ents still unperverted, joyously. devote
half day each week to learning prac-
teal lessons that make Of them actual
little housekeepers and that will fit them
to become. some future day. intelligent
housemothers.
Sunshine in the Kitchen.
The rooms where the cooking school is
located were in former days the conser-
vatory and laboratory of the old high
school. The first room with it's row of
sunny western windows, is used as the
their lessons in the useful art. The cook
Ing table, forming three sides of
square. occupies the center of the room,
with One-burner gas stove for each
pupil, and the lower part of the table
divided into compartments, where are
placed in apple-pie order the little
the soap trays and the various other
utensils that the little cooks use daily.
At one end Of the long room is the range,
and beside it is the gas stove, while over
IN the corner is the enameled sink, kept
lmmaculately white. The other room,
which has tiled floor, is the dining room
and here the members Of the Classes
take turns in sitting at table, while
otners act as mattresses. A glass-doored
cupboard holds the simple outfit of plain
white dishes, shining knives and forks
and spoons and plain glass. The whole
place is flooded with sunshine, and kept
scrupuiously clean, teaching by example
most potent lesson.
Chicken Fricassee the Lesson.
1t was chicken fricassee that the
class was making on the day in question,
and Miss Marshall, the teacher, showed
her eager scholars how to divide the
chicken at the joints, after which the
pieces were put into a pan and covered
with boiling water, simmering until ten
Ger. Next the pieces were dredged in
nour and Drowned in dripping, and then
laid IN approved order upon slices of
toast. Then one of the little girls mixed
up the necessary portion of flour and wa
TEL Ter TO thlcken the gravy and added it to
the broth, with a spoonful Of lemon juice
and a bit of celery sauce, and when the
gravy was poured over the chicken and
toast there was a dish fit for king.
In the meantime, two little girls had
been laying the table in the dining roor..
spreading the snowy cloth with 1:"ch
exactness, and making sure that the cen
ter crease came just in the middle of the
table and that the corners hung evenly.
Each place was laid with knife. fork.
spoon and plate, the latter previously
warmed in the oven, and paper napkins
gave the requisite finish. Then the four
fortunate little maids whose turn it was
to play lady" and sit at the dining-room
table took their places with much digni-
~, while another small girl bore the
tray and waited upon them. serving deft-
~ and always from the left. The re-
mainder of the class were served at the
cooking table, for the dining table only
accommodates four.
7S Eat Their Own Cooking. ,.es>s t.,
After the sample repast was over, the
table was cleared with neatness and dis
patch, and each girl brought out dish
pan and a dishcloth and towel, and the
work Of doing the Dishes went merrily
on: 1t would be a revelation, too: to
some seasoned housekeepers to see how
these schoolgirls wash dishes. It is part
of their education not to slop, and in or
der to teach them this lesson they are
not allowed to put up the little white
oversleeves with the starched frills clus-
tering about chubby hands, though at
the same time it is impressed upon them
that these same frills must not be unused
or wet; SO they wash dishes and pans
and scrub the tables and black the stove,
all without soiling the oversleeves.
When the lesson was over fifteen little
caps and aprons were put away, and
fifteen happy little girls put on hats and
coats and mittens and filed out with
cheerful "goodnights," having learned
one more lesson which every one of them
will proceed to demonstrate in her moth
er's kitchen at the earliest opportunity.
Interest is Widespread.
That the interest in this class is wide
spread is shown by the fact that some
Of the scholars come long distances to
away as Bay View, while others attend
flom the Fifth, Eighth, Twelfth, -Four.
tcenth and Seventeenth wards There
are now 119 pupils going to the south
side. cooking school. The course this
year was increased from twenty to forty
lessons. and each class has one lesson a
week, there being two lessons given
daily.
One mistaken idea prevails somewhat
among people who only know in
cursory way about the teaching of cook.
ing in the public schools, and that is in
regard to the quantity of food pre-
pared at the lessons. One man
even went SO far as to suggest
that with the food cooked by the
children a cafeteria might be established.
The fact is that only enough food 10
cooked at each lesson to demonstrates the
workings of the recipe and the PRINCIPLES
that govern it, the dish concocted A.
fording only a taste to each little cook. in
order that they may test the results Of
their work. The materials for cook;no
are bought in the smallest possible nnan.
titles, and the marketing is done nv fhe
little girls in turn, this being an imnor-
tant educational part Of the whole Dlan
What the Lessons Are.
Miss Marshall, the teacher, is a gradn-
ate from the Boston Cooking school. and
the Boston School Kitchen textbook is
used as reference. The lessons are
printed upon slips, and each pupil has a
blaDkbook of her own where she inserts
the lesson leaflets, and adds such other
recipes as may be given, making notes
as she goes along Of the different process
es. Nothing elaborate is attempted n
a hit 49,