Cookware

“ Rapidity is its chief attribute. By this rapidity in cooking there is a saving of fuel, and as the utensils are taken directly from the stove, as are the casseroles, and used on the tables, there is the same saving of service time. These glass utensils bring out the flavors in all kinds of foods; they do not absorb odors or greases; they are very easy to keep clean; there is never any burn to remove and one can always see inside the utensil to find out how the food is faring! ”

“ While such dishes as toast, pancakes, roast or broiled meats, baked bread and biscuits, are impossible to cook in the simpler form of hay-box, the insulated oven, the latest development of the fireless cooker, opens up possibilities that may lead to a much wider adaptation of home-made insulators to domestic purposes. Roast meats, however, may first be cooked in the oven and completed in the hay-box or cooker, or they may be cooked in the hay-box till nearly done and then roasted for a short time to obtain the crispness which can be given only by cooking with great heat. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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.) ”

“ Economy, however, is not everything, and paper-bag cookery appeals also to the epicure, who does not consider cost in ordering a meal to his taste.
Food cooked in a paper bag acquires a richness and a delicacy of flavour imparted by no other means of cooking. All the juices of the meat are preserved; there is no greasiness, no dryness, no risk of burning; even tough meat is made tender. Until a joint cooked by this method has been tasted, the epicure has no idea of the exquisite flavour and delicacy which await him. ”

“ It gives its best and almost exclusive service in the baking oven, for poultry done in pot roasting fashion or for stewing fruit, and other articles which require to be cooked slowly under close cover. There are few cooks who do not know that the application of a moderate, even heat for certain food materials produces far better results than if quick heat is applied. For such cases the use of earthenware cooking utensils is to be strongly recommended, because by their aid an application of heat, such as will insure gentle simmering, steaming, or baking, is assured. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the stove which has the oven heat-regulating device, there are many of the fireless cooker features with some of its drawbacks eliminated. For example, it has no thick walls which eventually become impregnated with odors of past meals; the time in pot watching is eliminated; you can do other work and yet be sure that your cooking is being done well. So much of the cooking can be done in the oven that fewer burners are necessary. ”

“ We lead here a strangely wild life. As we had no mules to bring our provisions, implements for cooking and labor, &c., we were obliged to bring them ourselves. We therefore left behind us every thing which could by any possibility be dispensed with. An iron pan, which we use for washing gold, serves also for boiling our coffee. A frying-pan is our only cooking utensil. In this one of the company—who leaves work before the others for the purpose—fries some pork, which is rancid, and then, in the fat, fries some flour batter. ”

“ The French vegetable scoop, costs about seventy-five cents, will cut potatoes and other vegetables in balls for frying or boiling. The largest size is the best.
The garnishing knife flutes vegetables, adding much to their appearance when they are used as a garnish.
The stamped tin-ware is made from a better quality of metal than the soldered; therefore, it comes higher, but it is in the end cheaper, and it is always safer. Bread, milk and dish pans should be made of stamped tin. The pans for roasting meat should be made of Russian iron. ”

“ Even in the fifteenth century the appliances for cookery were evidently far more numerous than they had been. An illustrated vocabulary portrays, among other items, the dressing-board, the dressing-knife, the roasting-iron, the frying-pan, the spit-turner (in lieu of the old turn-broach) , the andiron, the ladle, the slice, the skummer; and the assitabulum, or saucer, first presents itself. It seems as if the butler and the pantler had their own separate quarters ”

“ VIII. If a bag breaks in the cooking, as it sometimes will if the heat is too intense, do not try to remove the article being cooked from the bag, but slip the whole into a new well-greased bag. The use of two bags is better than one when things require long cooking or for meats with much fat or juicy dishes. While it may cost a bit more, it will save much anxiety lest the bag burst.
IX. To avoid having any chance drippings soil the oven floor, slip a thin tin baking sheet or shallow dripper under the broiler, letting it rest flat on the bottom of the oven. ”

“ A reasonable equipment of kitchen utensils and a convenient, systematic arrangement of them will save time and strength. Kitchen scales are almost indispensable, and a cooking thermometer eliminates guesswork, especially in boiling sugar and heating fat for frying. Pans, molds, and cutters of various shapes prevent monotony; suitable baking dishes and covered casserole dishes simplify both cooking and serving ”

“ The change in methods of cooking is plainly evinced in many of our common kitchen utensils. In olden times the pots and kettles always stood on legs, and all skillets and frying-pans and saucepans stood on slender legs, that, if desired, they might be placed with their contents over small beds of coals raked to one side of the hearth. A further convenience to assist this standing over coals was a little trivet, a tripod or three-footed stand, usually but a simple skeleton frame on which the skillet could be placed. ”

“ A pudding in a basin can be raised out of water by a meat stand placed at the bottom of an ordinary sauce-pan—and vegetables cooked in a perforated steam pan above.
Where possible arrange a meal to be cooked all on the top of the stove, or all in the oven.
Avoid heating the oven to cook a single dish.
Utilise all space when the oven is heated—food may be partly or wholly cooked for following day.
In a gas oven three or four small tins are better than one large tin which fills the shelf. By the former method free circulation of heat is not prevented, and cooking is more efficient. ”

“ Every kitchen can produce a stock made from odds and ends unsuitable for other purposes than the stock-pot, and this stock is most useful in preparing sauces, giving a flavor not obtained in specially prepared stock.
A French cook keeps at hand the different essences required to combine in sauces, such as a Mirepoix (vegetable flavor) , which is made by cutting into dice an onion, carrot, and turnip, celery, parsley, bay-leaf and bits of meat, frying them in fat pork or butter, then adding a little water, and simmering an hour, or until the flavor of the vegetables is extracted ”

“ The pail must always be filled with boiling water or food to touch the upper [41] pan, and if these conditions are fulfilled and the food is put quickly, and while boiling hard, into a cooker which stands close to the range, it will be found to cook as perfectly as larger amounts. Two kinds of food can thus be cooked at once, but, when only water is used in the lower pail, it can be kept in the cooker during the meal, and will be hot when the time comes for washing the dishes. ”

“ Of late years, great improvements have been made in the construction of ovens for baking of meat, called roasting ovens, which cause great economy in the expenditure of fuel; and, in large public establishments, where a number of the same kind of joints are required, it is the best plan of cooking. In the Receipts will be found the time required by each for baking, but, in a general way, for meat, hot ovens are the best; for poultry, not so hot as meat; and pastry, according to its kind. ”

“ Even if nothing more than a paraffin stove is to be had, still the paper-bag cook need not despair. Longer time will be needed to get the oven placed on top of a paraffin stove to the necessary degree of heat, but by remembering this, and maintaining the same steady heat, paper-bag cookery may be managed much more satisfactorily in such an oven than ordinary cooking could possibly be. ”

“ Butter must not be soft and oily.
The sharp edge of knives must be turned toward the plate. Bowls of spoons and tines of forks must be turned up.
Waiter or waitress is responsible for the heat of the dishes after they come from the kitchen, if not hot enough they must be sent back.
When serving fruit, use for each person a fruit plate, on which is a fruit doily, and finger bowl one-third full of warm water. On the plate at the right of the bowl lay a silver fruit knife, on the left of the plate a fruit spoon. ”

“ It is a good plan to keep a supply of panure or dried bread-crumbs always ready. Cut any slices of baker's bread, dry them in a cool oven so that they remain quite colorless, or they will not do for the purpose. When as dry as crackers, crush under a rolling-pin, and sift; keep in a jar for use.
In no branch of cooking is excellence more appreciated than in that of frying. A dish of filets de sole or cutlets, crisp and golden brown, is an ornament to any table, and is seldom disdained by any one. ”

“ 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. ”

“ UTENSILS REQUIRED.--Not many utensils are required for the open-kettle canning method. For cooking the food, a large enamel or metal vessel other than tin or iron should be provided. It should be broad and shallow, rather than deep, especially for fruit, as this food retains its shape better if it is cooked in a layer that is not deep. The other utensils for canning fruits and vegetables by this method are practically the same as those already discussed--measuring utensils, a knife, large spoons, pans for sterilizing jars or cans, covers, rubbers, and jars or cans into which to put the food. ”

“ COOKING FOR TWO While the fireless cooker is, perhaps, especially adapted to families of average size, or larger, there is no reason why small quantities of food cannot be equally well cooked, provided the cooker is properly made with that in view.
A large utensil will involve a great waste of gas and time, for in every case it will be necessary to heat a considerable quantity of water which is only required to fill the utensil. Select, instead, a two-quart pail, pack it very tightly in a moderately small box, allowing, however, the requisite thickness of insulation (see page 16) . ”

“ While success in cooking, as has been pointed out, depends to a considerable extent on the selection of materials and the proper cooking methods, as well as on an understanding of the stove and fuel employed, the importance of the utensils that are to be used must not be overlooked. As is well known, each cooking utensil is fitted to its particular use; in fact, the wrong kind of pan, dish, or other utensil will not bring about the same result as the right one. ”

“ Utensils for Gas Cookers.
It is most important when cooking by gas to choose the right kind of utensils. They should be thin and wide, rather than deep. A deep kettle takes longer to boil and therefore costs more to boil than a shallow one.
Block tin, enamel ware and earthenware casseroles and fireproof china should be used; the two latter whenever possible, because by cooking and serving in one dish you save labour in washing up and generally have the food served hotter. Also food cooked in earthenware tastes better than that cooked in metal pans. ”