Camp kettle

“ Old flour bags are just the thing. Into these you can put all your things except perhaps the camp kettle. The camping party should be supplied with a tent, a hatchet, a camp kettle, coffee pot, tin plates and cups, old knives, fork and spoons, a tin pail and dipper and a tin wash-basin ”

“ Then over the fire we had a crossbar of green wood (if you use old wood it will catch fire and drop your pot into the fire just as the stew is ready) ; it was supported on two stout, firmly-driven forked stakes, not the wobbly, rickety things which tenderfoots like to put up.
On the crossbar our kettle was hung by a pot-hook—just a hooked stick with a good notch cut in it to take the handle of the kettle.
Also on the crossbar in the sketch you see our tongs. These are most useful things for a camp-fire for lifting hot embers into the spot where you want them for giving extra heat. ”

“ We carefully strain a kettleful for ourselves, then divide what is left between them--two or three gallons for each; but it does not satisfy them, and they rage around, refusing to eat the scanty grass. We boil our kettle of water, and skim it; straining, boiling, and skimming make it a little better, for it was full of loathsome, wriggling larvae, with huge black heads. But plenty of coffee takes away the bad smell, and so modifies the taste that most of us can drink, though our little Indian seems to prefer the original mixture. We reach camp about sunset, and are glad to rest. ”

“ If you can carry a farina kettle with you, and you use it with care, it will be almost invaluable to you, as by that means you can always be sure that your oat-meal, hominy, rice, &c., will always be cooked without burning. Always be sure that there is water enough in the bottom kettle. ”

“ Bore a hole in the ground near the fire and fit in the fire-pole, making it slant over to one side and hang directly above the fire. Place a stone over the embedded end of the pole to keep it firm. Suspend an acorn kettle or any little kettle of the right size for the Indians to use on the pole and the camp will begin to look cosey for the red men to enjoy. ”

“ When you put it up, drive four crotched sticks into the ground at the four corners and stretch on poles placed on these crotches.
The next important adjunct is the camp fire. It seems almost superfluous to tell a man how to build a fire, but it is an old saying, that “It takes a wise man or a fool to make a good fire.” I take it the reader classes himself as neither. The cooking fire will be the most important. If you have flat stones, lay up a fireplace, placing the stones close enough together so that the fire will play all around the kettle, and with a space long enough to hang two pots. ”

“ Simple contrivances of metal followed, the suspension hooks and chains leading to improved cranes with rack and loop handles.
No doubt many have noticed the apparent indiscriminate use of the term "kettle"; the tea kettle as we understand it to-day is a modern invention. The old kettle was a boiling pot with a bail handle, its modern survivor being the three-legged kettle of the gipsies, and the boiling pot or fish kettle of the modern household. ”

“ If the kettle is not yet clean, the process should be repeated. If a kettle has been used directly over a wood fire and becomes blackened with soot, it should be rubbed off with a newspaper and then with an old cloth. Kettles should be dried well before being put away. With proper care they seldom become rusty. If an iron kettle has rusted, it should be rubbed with kerosene and ashes, then washed in strong, hot, soda-water, rinsed in clear hot water, and dried on the stove. ”

“ Types of Open Kettles The open kettle method produces a very satisfactory product when the proper precautions are taken, and if the cooking and subsequent processes are carried out intelligently, the finished product compares very favorably with that which is condensed in vacuum. The types of kettles in most common use are the copper jacketed kettle, the glass-lined tank with closed copper coil, and the cypress tank with closed copper coil. ”

“ This conveys the seed in a trough to a set of elevators, which supply it continuously to the kettle. This kettle, which is 3 ft. 6 in. internal diameter and 20 in. deep, is made of cast iron and of specially strong construction. There is only one steam joint in it, and to reduce the liability of leakage this joint is faced in a lathe. The inside furnishings of the kettle are a damping apparatus with perforated boss, upright shaft, stirrer, and delivery plate, and patent slide. The kettle body is fitted with a wood frame and covered with felt, which is inclosed within iron sheeting. ”

“ Of course it is, mamma, because at a red heat iron begins to unite with oxygen, or to rust. Another thing that injures kettles is the fur that collects in them. All water in common use contains more or less of earthy and other salts. In boiling, these things separate from the water, and gradually form a fur or crust inside the kettle or boiler. ”

“ It took us half an hour’s hard labour, after that, before it was properly up, and then we cleared the decks, and got out supper. We put the kettle on to boil, up in the nose of the boat, and went down to the stern and pretended to take no notice of it, but set to work to get the other things out.
That is the only way to get a kettle to boil up the river. If it sees that you are waiting for it and are anxious, it will never even sing. You have to go away and begin your meal, as if you were not going to have any tea at all. ”

“ But the kettle was no sooner on the fire than five or six spears bore off, in savage triumph, the contents: they even emptied out the water, and threw the kettle on one side; and this was no sooner done than thirty or forty ill-favored wretches fired a volley in the embers before us, which caused a cloud of smoke and ashes to ascend, darkening the air around us: a strong hint not to put the kettle any more on the fire, and we took it. ”

“ Pots and Kettles.--Cooking apparatus of any degree of complexity, and of very portable shapes, can be bought at all military outfitters'; but for the bush, and travelling roughly, nothing is better than a light roomy iron pot and a large strong tin kettle. It is disagreeable to make tea in the same pot that meat is boiled in; besides, if you have only one vessel, it takes a longer time to prepare meals. If possible, take a second small tin kettle, both as a reserve against accidents and for the convenience of the thing. ”

“ If it is chilled too slowly a strong “hoggy” flavor is developed, which it is impossible to eradicate from the fresh product. The leaf lard should be chilled for twenty-four hours in a temperature of 32° to 34° F.
Melting. —It is put through a hasher of the Enterprise type to an open top water jacketed kettle, similar in type to an oleo [342] kettle. Frequently the melting kettle is a wooden vat with a galvanized iron kettle inside, the space between the wooden vat and the galvanized kettle being filled with water which is heated to the desired temperature for melting the product. ”

“ There was no pride or ceremony then, and neighbors lived as if they were one family. One of them who had a potash kettle lent it to us, and it was fetched on a float or sort of raft, which was pushed up the creek as far as it would go. Then the kettle was lifted out and carried by main strength, suspended on a pole. We had thought the chopping, the logging, and the burning bad enough, (the carrying of water to the leaches and the boiling of the lye was child’s play) but the melting of the salts was awful. ”

“ The most common practice is to place the kettle or frying pan on top of the fuel, shifting the wood about until the utensils set level. It is about the most unsatisfactory method, outside of holding them by hand, and many a meal has been upset into the fire simply because the cook would not take the trouble to provide a suitable place to prepare the meal. The simplest way of suspending a kettle over the fire is by hanging it from the end of a stick which has been thrust into the ground at an angle of about 20 degrees. ”

“ But it is just as good fun as the cynical O. W. can ask, to see a party of three or four enthusiastic youngsters organize the camp on the first day in, and proceed to cook the first meal. Of course, every man is boss, and every one is bound to build the fire, which every one proceeds to do. There are no back logs, no fore sticks, and no arrangement for level solid bases on which to place frying-pans, coffee pots, etc. But, there is a sufficiency of knots, dry sticks, bark and chunks, with some kindling at the bottom, and a heavy volume of smoke working its way through the awkward-looking pile. ”

“ GATHERING SAP IN THE SUGAR ORCHARD
The man kicks off his slippers and pulls on a pair of stiff, heavy boots. He takes his coat from a peg by the fireplace, puts it on and his cap, and goes out. Every footstep falls clear and distinct on the frozen ground. 23 The big arm of the well-sweep in the yard creaks as he lowers the bucket for water. Soon he returns with a brimming pail, fills the iron tea-kettle, then goes out again.
WAYSIDE BERRY-PICKERS
The kettle, suspended from the crane, seems quite shocked by this deluge of cold water. ”

“ The first advance on this primitive method was made by building a rough arch of stone around the kettle to retain the heat and economize fuel. Next a rectangular pan of sheet-iron was substituted for the kettle, and a shed or rude house was built around the arch. The process of improvement has continued, until to-day in most of the larger orchards can be found neat and convenient sugar-houses, with closely-built arches of brick; while in place of the ancient caldron kettle, or the still much-used sap-pan, it is common to find the modern evaporator. ”

“ It swings out when the housewife wants to hang on the tea-kettle, and it is strong enough to support a row of pots, or a mammoth caldron kettle on occasion. What a jolly sight is this fireplace when the pots and kettles in a row are all boiling and bubbling over the flame, and a roasting spit is turning in front! It makes a person as hungry as one of Scott's novels. ”

“ Cleaning Kettles Cooking tanks and kettles should be cleaned thoroughly after every batch. If the steam trap is working properly the burning on the coils and sides of the kettle will be so slight that almost all of it can be washed off with the hose if the water pressure is strong and the hose is bushed down to one-eighth inch. The best things to use to take off the material which burns on hard and black is a pot chain for coils, and for the jacketed kettles a wire brush or very stiff fiber brush does very well. ”

“ If the kettle be allowed to boil a long while, so that a large quantity of steam is formed, it will collect on the walls and window-panes, where, becoming thoroughly chilled, it turns again to water, the same as it was when first poured into the kettle. So it is with the clouds out-of-doors; when the sun comes out bright and hot, it dries them up, as we say; that is, it heats them so much that they become invisible. ”

“ Gray, laughing, as every hand flew up. "We will have lunch at once, then; but I warn you that there is a good deal to be done first. There," pointing to a blackened spot against a rock, "is where we always boiled our kettle. If some of you will collect some dry sticks, we will see if the present generation is capable of making a fire. I meanwhile will fetch the water."
She took a bright little copper kettle from one of the baskets, and mounted the hill with elastic footsteps, calling out, as she went,—
"Make haste, and be sure that the sticks are dry." ”

“ One 12-inch frying pan, one coffee pot, one 6-quart pail, one can opener, six air-tight canisters for coffee, tea, sugar, salt, etc., a knife, fork, teaspoon, tablespoon, plate, bowl and cup for each person in the party. All of these may be nested in a 12-quart pail, which will be found useful in many ways about the camp. If only a short hike is to be taken, however, a much smaller kit may be taken. An ideal kit for this purpose is used by the United States Army and may be obtained from outfitters or army stores anywhere. ”

“ We had always, in the army, to carry our cooking utensils in our hands by turns, and at this time, as we were not overburthened with provisions, our mess had put ours into our kettle, it not being very heavy, as it was made of plated iron. Before noon, I had the carriage of the kettle and its contents, and thinking that I had carried it more than my turn, and the troops just then making a momentary halt, I put the kettle down in the road, telling my messmates that if they would not take their turns at carrying it I would carry it no further. ”

“ The vacuum pan is coming into use for concentrating pulp, but has been little used in making the finished ketchup. The jacketed-kettle is used by most manufacturers, though the tank and coil is being adopted by those who wish to make large batches, as it is the more economical. Agitators are no longer used, as by proper handling of the steam and automatic traps, little burning occurs on either kettles or coils. The efficiency of the open tank or kettle is increased by providing a strong exhaust or suction for the air at the back and just above the top of the kettle. ”