Steep in a light broth

My father used to complain that having a bath was like soaking in a tub of soiled water. His heavy water use compromise was a soak in the tub to relax and then shower to clean up.

In our house we still wash up by hand. At school there was a poster explaining how it should be done properly. Fill the bowl with very hot water then wash by turn first the glassware, then the crockery and finally the pots and pans. Cutlery can be added at any stage. By the time you get onto scrubbing the pans the floating grease and food is quite noticeable. Afterwards air drying or tea towels were both acceptable.

The Spanish system has, traditionally, been to swill the debris from the plates under running water then to use a soapy cloth/scourer on the stubborn stains again under running water. Generally they go for air drying rather than tea towels with lots of kitchens having neat drying racks hidden in what look like kitchen cupboards.

We were talking today, in one of my classes, about using less water. I was surprised when everyone in the class claimed that their showering method was to shower themselves down, turn off the water to soap up and then turn back on the water to swill off. Pretty water efficient I thought. I asked about doing the dishes. Most have dishwashers but for hand washing it was the same basic answer. Swill the plates, clean with a soapy cloth/scourer with no extra water then swill off the individual items and leave to drain.

Times change.