Cooker

“ Among the adaptations of the old ideas with new and modern improvements is the fireless cooker. Ages ago Norwegian and German peasant women, obliged to be away from the house all day working in the fields, knew the secret of bringing food to the boiling point and then continuing its cooking and keeping it hot by packing it in an improvised box of hay. ”

“ The length of time for cooking in the cooker depends upon several factors: (1) the kind of cooker, whether well or ill packed, and whether good or poor insulating material is used; (2) the skill of the cook in getting the kettle into the box quickly; (3) the amount, toughness, density, and size of the pieces; (4) whether hard or soft water is used. If hard water is used foods require more cooking to become tender than with soft water. Hard water may be softened, however, by the addition of a little baking soda. ”

“ Use saucepans with tightly fitting lids and short handles. Those made of aluminum or earthenware are preferable. [161] Jam jars or large tins tightly covered may be used.
Bring the food to boiling point on the gas cooker or kitchen range and while boiling place it at once in the box. Some foods require a certain amount of cooking previous to being placed in the Fireless Cooker. (See table below.)
Wrap the cooking utensil in newspaper, and place in the prepared nest in the Fireless Cooker. ”

“ The size of the cooker must depend upon the amount of cooking needed, but it is no economy to have a very small one, because when the oven is in use it should be employed for almost everything. The average cook bakes a milk pudding in the oven [156] and cooks vegetables and hashed mutton and stewed fruit each on a boiling tap, and probably uses the griller as well, and wonders why the gas bills are so high. ”

“ The ordinary cooker is generally fitted with one simmering burner and about three boiling burners, which is wrong, for to one dish which needs boiling for more than a few minutes, at all events, many need to simmer. [3] The great fault of English cooks is that they cook everything too fast, and the average gas stove does not discourage this naughty practice. ”

“ If the foods are small, as cereals, 5 minutes' boiling is usually sufficient cooking on the range; if large in size, as a piece of beef, 30 minutes is required to heat it through.
2. After heating, place the covered kettle containing the food into the cooker immediately. It is well to have the cooker near the range so as to waste but little heat while getting the food into the cooker.
3. The kettle should be well filled. A small quantity of food should not be placed in a large kettle. ”

“ For those who wish to try them without an initial outlay of much money the home-made cooker will be found in every way satisfactory. As an encouragement to those who wish to use them for such purposes, it may be said that there is less chance of failure in cooking large quantities of food than with small. ”

“ The action of foods upon tin cans bears a close relation to their action upon the utensils when used in fireless cookery, since there is time with the long cooking involved for similar reactions to take place in the cooker. ”

“ The idea of the fireless cooker is an old one, bringing things to a boil, placing into a box of hay and leaving for a few hours to cook—that method has been used by housewives in some European nations for a good many years. ”

“ The fireless cooker is a device containing cooking kettles which are surrounded by some poor conductor. When food is heated thoroughly, the heat can be retained for a number of hours by placing the hot food in the fireless cooker. ”

“ When one understands the principles of cookery this richness of flavor of meats cooked by the fireless method is not surprising. Every one knows the proverbial deliciousness of French cookery. The special peculiarity of the French cuisine is the long, slow simmering of meats in closely covered earthen pots called casseroles. The principle is essentially that of the fireless cooker, but the casserole not being insulated, the French cook is obliged to keep on supplying a sufficient degree of heat to keep the casserole warm and its contents simmering. ”

“ I don't like a single dish or utensil in sight when the kitchen is in order. This roll of paper toweling here by the sink is very convenient for wiping off the table or taking grease off pans and dishes or even for drying glass and silver. A roll lasts a long time, and certainly does save dishcloths and towels.
"Do you use your fireless cooker often?"
"Every day of the year—I do believe. I cook breakfast food in it, and all kinds of meats except those that are boiled or fried. Then it is splendid for steaming brown bread and baking beans, and oh, so many other things! ”

“ In the cooker the heat is imparted to water in an attachment to a metal-lined wooden box corresponding to the water-back of the common range or stove, and the work is done by the contact of the hot water with the outside of the porcelain vessels in which the food is placed, or by the steam generated when the water is heated to the boiling-point. ”

“ In selecting a ready-made cooker certain points should be considered. See that the parts fit closely together, are simple and strong in construction; that there are no seams or pockets in the kettles which would be difficult, if not impossible, to get clean; that the kettles are a suitable size, namely, not too large, if they are to cook food for a small family, and not too small to ensure sufficient heat for proper cooking ”

“ Then I baked it for an hour in the cooker, having first trimmed it, and covered it with brown sugar and almost as many cloves as I could stick into it. It is very tender and good, I think—one of the best of my fireless cooker recipes."
"I am planning to have a fireless cooker when I keep house."
"That is fine, Ruth! You have no idea how they save both gas and worry. Some day I'll give you all of my best fireless recipes; I use my cooker a great deal. For instance, this brown bread was steamed in the cooker. A fireless is invaluable for steaming. ”

“ The Fireless Cooker is especially convenient for the preparation of cereals, meats, vegetables and other dishes that are ordinarily boiled or roasted. Remember that foods should be thoroughly heated before putting into cooker. ”

“ Wipe the beef with a wet cloth, cut off any tough ends and bone if it will not mar the appearance of the meat, as these parts will not become palatable in the length of time required for the remainder of the roast. They will be found useful for soups, stews, cannelon of beef, Hamburg steak, and such dishes. Roast the meat in a hot oven for half an hour, transfer it quickly to a cooker utensil, add enough boiling water to nearly cover it, let the whole become very hot in the oven, and place it quickly in the cooker. ”

“ Close the fireless cooker, and let it stand until ready for use.
Fig. 24. Gas cookers.
53. Time of Cooking Food. Six hours or over night should be allowed for the cooking of cereals. Stews should be given two to three hours' time for cooking.
Large roasts and hams require five to six hours. It is sometimes necessary, when they are large, to remove them and heat the food and the stones on the stove once during the process of cooking. Dumplings and angel cakes cook well in a fireless cooker. So do all dried peas and beans.
[55] ”

“ In paper-bag cookery, the most varied assortment of dishes will lie amicably side by side on the grid supplied with the gas-cookers, and no mingling of flavours or spoiling of one or the other will result. Cooking them thus altogether, an immense saving in time and in expense for heating is effected. Even the savoury onion will cook placidly by the side of a bag of gooseberries, without imparting its flavour to the fruit. ”

“ This simple experiment teaches a great deal of what is but little known concerning the philosophy of cookery. It shows in the first place that, so far as the coagulation of the albumen is concerned, the cooking temperature is not 212°, or that of boiling water, but 160°, i. e., 52° below it. Everybody knows the difference between a tender, juicy steak, rounded or plumped-out in the middle, and a tough, leathery abomination, that has been so cooked as to shrivel and curl up. ”

“ It is equally unpleasant to sit in the room in which one has just dined, or to take meals in the room where they have just been cooked. With a little contrivance and ingenuity, the kitchen may be transformed into a neat little dining-room, a gas stove erected in any convenient recess or in the bathroom, and with paper-bag cookery, nothing more elaborate will be needed. ”

“ A. Yes. It is economical for baking several potatoes, cup custards or baked apples. When the cooker well is used for baking the cooker utensil is removed and a rack placed in the well. The well is heated to proper baking temperature with the switch on “high” and baking is continued on “low” heat.
16. Q. How Can the Deep Well Cooker Be Used as a Warming Oven?
A. Remove the utensil. Place the rack in the well and cover with the lid of the cooker. “Low” heat provides sufficient heat for warming.
17. Q. Can the Deep Well Cooker Utensil Be Used on the Surface Unit? ”

“ Others ran in and out of the kitchen, bearing to the waiters, to be dispensed among the guests, interminable relays of the waffles of those times, golden brown, delicately rich, soft, yet crisp, of a peculiar lightness,—a kind that will be seen no more, despite the food inventions and dietetic improvements, for the artists of that choice cookery are all dead and their receipts only serve to mark the decadence of proficiency. ”

“ In a vast number of English kitchens the cookery fails from the hurried manner in which it is conducted, and from the excess of heat produced by the enormous coal-fires constantly kept burning there at all seasons, without which ignorant servants imagine no dinner can be properly cooked ”

“ Without doubt, the first step in gaining a mastery of cookery is to become familiar with the different methods and processes, the ways in which they are applied, and the reasons for applying them. There are numerous ways of cooking food, but the principal processes are boiling, stewing, steaming, dry steaming, braizing, fricasseeing, roasting, baking, broiling, pan broiling, frying, and sautéing. ”

“ Apart from the simple processes of roasting, baking, boiling, and stewing, nearly all our cookery has been introduced from foreign sources. The French methods of dressing fish and vegetables, are now largely introduced into English kitchens, and French borugeoise dishes have become quite popular. ”

“ The fact that almost all the recipes in this book tell the number of persons which they will serve will make the quantity to be cooked easy to ascertain. Where articles are to be cooked in moulds, as steamed breads, puddings, meat loaves, etc., one-half pound baking powder cans may be used. It will be safer to test them to see whether or not they leak. The only change in the method of cooking such dishes that will then be necessary is shortening the time of boiling previous to putting them into the cooker. ”

“ When the laws which govern the application of heat are once grasped, the fundamental difficulties of roasting, boiling, grilling and frying are overcome, but this by no means comprises the whole art of cookery. ”

“ The Casserole possesses many advantages over the ordinary iron and copper cooking utensils, for the pots always look clean; they will impart no disagreeable flavour to the most delicate foods; they will not rust or tarnish, and if properly kept will not stain; they cook the food evenly and slowly, and consequently less fuel is required and the contents are not liable to burn. Moreover, they are inexpensive, and with careful management will prove cheaper than metal pots.
Chafing Dish Cookery
3638.—BROILED OYSTERS. (Fr.—Huîtres frites.) ”

“ I am, in the matters of the kitchen, as will be learned from the previous chapter, no admirer of the wisdom of our ancestors. Cookery is eminently an experimental and a practical art. Each day, while it adds to our experience, should also increase our knowledge. And now that intercommunication between distant nations has become facile and frequent; now that we may make an early breakfast in London and a late dinner in Paris, it cannot be permitted that cookery should remain stationary. ”

“ Well-educated cooks understand this distinctly, and use a deeper vessel than our common frying-pan, charge this with a quantity of fat sufficient to cover the fish, which is simply laid upon a wire support, or frying-basket, and left in the hot fat until the browning of its surface, or of the flour or bread-crumbs with which it is coated, indicates the sufficiency of the cookery. ”

“ The result will be an ordinary domestic chop or steak. I apply this adjective, because in this particular effort of cookery, the grilling of chops and steaks, domestic cookery is commonly at fault. The majority of our City men find that while the joint cooked at home is better than that they usually get at restaurants and hotels, the chops and steaks are inferior. ”

“ Old cooks are as fond of spice, as children are of sugar, and season soup, which is intended to constitute a principal part of a meal, as highly as sauce, of which only a spoonful may be relish enough for a plate of insipid viands. (See obs. to No. 355.) However, we fancy these large quantities of wine, &c. are oftener ordered in cookery books than used in the kitchen: practical cooks have the health of their employers too much at heart, and love “sauce à la langue” too well to overwine their soup, &c. ”

“ Braising, in cookery, means to cook any thing with fire under and upon the pan, kettle, or other utensil.
A good oven is by far more easy, and answers perfectly the purpose. An oven not only warms the under and upper parts of the utensil, but all around it also.
BUNCH OF SEASONINGS.
It is composed of parsley, thyme, bay-leaf, and cloves, and sometimes a clove of garlic is added. Place the sprigs of parsley in the left hand, rather spread, lay the others on and in the middle of the parsley, and envelop them in it as well as possible, then tie the whole with twine. ”