Fireless cooker

“ It not only saves time and fuel but keeps the woman from standing over the hot fire, and there are many foods that are better when cooked at a lower temperature. The principle of the fireless cooker is to retain the heat by boiling the food in a vessel with a tight cover and placing it in the cooker in the same vessel, thus keeping the heat from escaping. An outside container may be made to accommodate one or more cooking vessels. A cheap but efficient fireless cooker may be made of a tightly built wooden box, a barrel, or a tin lard can as shown in the illustration. ”

“ Every thrifty housekeeper should possess and use a fireless cooker. As has been mentioned, it saves fuel, prevents the strong odor of food permeating all parts of the house, lessens work and care in cooking, prevents burning and scorching, and provides workers and picnickers with warm lunches. A fireless cooker can be made satisfactorily at home with little expenditure of effort and money. ”

“ In the ordinary fireless cooker it is possible to cook all foods that can be cooked in water at a temperature below the boiling point of water, i. e. simmering temperature. Another type of fireless cooker has a metallic or an enamel lining and is provided with movable stone disks. Both the stones and food are heated on a range and then introduced into the cooker in such a way that the stones are under and over the kettle of food. By this arrangement, foods can be cooked at a higher temperature than in the ordinary fireless cooker (see Figures 26 and 27) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ No one wants to rise two hours before breakfast to cook a cereal which is advertised on the package to cook in ten minutes or less, and those who do not have coal fires burning through the night are somewhat at a loss to know how to keep cereals cooking over night. The fireless cooker seems to fill a long-felt want in this direction. At the cost of a fraction of a cent for fuel it accomplishes an all-night cooking without danger of scorching, boiling dry, or needing to be stirred. ”

“ By the fireless cooker you save nine-tenths of the fuel, and ninety-nine hundredths of your temper, your time, and your labor. You do not become perspiring and cross in a hot kitchen. You do not have scorched pots and kettles to scrape and scour and wash.
Another point in favor of fireless cooking is that it is attended by absolutely no odors. ”

“ The one here illustrated is placed over a fire; water in the copper tank below is turned to steam, which circulates about the food and condenses on the conical top, from which it runs toward the sides of the cooker, instead of dripping into the food, and returns to the tank. When the water falls below a certain level, a whistle blows vigorously to call for “more water.”
About six years ago, the “fireless” cooker made its appearance. It does not cook without fire, but it does retain the cooking heat. Many models are now obtainable, some in box form with several deep cooking compartments. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In some of them, no heating-plates are used, but the food to be cooked is allowed to boil for a few minutes, and then, set into the cooker and tightly covered, the cooking process continues, until the food is ready for the table. A “home-made” fireless cooker was exhibited recently at the International Hygienic Congress at Washington. It was made by placing a large pail in a box of tightly packed hay, and is said to have cost only one dollar.
Our street-cars have for some time been heated by electricity. ”

“ So besides your 4 pounds and 14 ounces of meat you have over 4 pints of rich soup stock which has cost you absolutely nothing, as it is a by-product of the system of fireless cooking.
"But," objects some one, "the meat cooked in such wise will have lost all its juice and flavor." On the contrary, there is a distinct gain in the matter of flavor in fireless cookery. We absolutely know this to be so, for we have had various cuts of meat, especially the cheaper cuts, cooked in a fireless cooker and the dishes so prepared have been submitted to competent judges ”

“ In their present form they are not, perhaps, adapted to very large institutions, where many hundreds of persons are fed, since there is a limit to the size of utensils which can be lifted in and out of the insulating box. But for small institutions, hotels, boarding-houses, restaurants, and lunch rooms the fireless cooker will, inevitably, become indispensable as soon as it is understood. ”

“ A coal stove is an enormous consumer of time and energy. An alcohol stove furnishes the cleanest method of cooking, quite practicable, with a fireless cooker and steam cooker, for a small family. Next in convenience, and more economical, are the gas or oil vapor stoves. A good fireless cooker vastly reduces the time required in the kitchen, and cuts the fuel bill in half.
In serving meals, labor is saved by using a tray, or better still a wheeled tray with several shelves, which may be drawn up to the table to hold the additional courses and the soiled dishes as removed. ”

“ A vacuum will have the same effect as insulating materials. The “Thermos Bottle” and similar inventions, which are glass bottles surrounded by a vacuum and contained in metal cases, will keep foods hot or cold for many hours. If heated with a little boiling water before boiling food is poured in they will even cook some foods satisfactorily. A vacuum is expensive, as it is difficult to obtain, and therefore the ordinary fireless cooker is better suited to every-day use ”

“ 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. ”

“ In case a cooker-pail is to be utilized for baking it will be well to surround it, on top, bottom, and sides, with the heavy sheet asbestos described for insulating the oven. A wire rack will be needed for separating the food from too direct contact with the hot stones, and some device, such, perhaps, as an inverted wire frying-basket for supporting the upper stone. ”

“ It is no doubt true that tough cuts of meat are better cooked by the long process of retained heat; it is no doubt true that cereals are much more wholesome with the process of retained heat, yet it is doubtful whether the fireless cooker is ever bought for these reasons. ”

“ Mix and roll into small balls; then cover with sugar. Lay on plate to dry.
Salted Almonds
Blanch almonds by putting into boiling water for a few minutes. Remove skins, dry well and brown in heated olive oil or butter in pan on top of stove stirring continually. Take from fire when very light brown, as they continue to color after removing from pan. Drain well on brown paper and sprinkle with salt.
Fireless Cookery
The Fireless Cooker has become an important factor in the home. The principle employed is the preservation of heat by the use of non-conducting materials. ”

“ On the hottest summer days a cooker will not increase the heat of the room, while even in a living-room, onions, turnips, cabbage, and such ill-smelling foods could be cooked with no suspicion of the fact on the part of the family or visitors. The fact that a cooker can also be made attractive in appearance, and used in rooms not ordinarily used for cooking, is of interest to some people who are not able to command even the ordinary amenities of housekeeping life. ”

“ Economize gas by using the minimum amount necessary to keep food cooking at the desired temperature. When the boiling point is reached a small supply of gas will maintain the temperature.
Fireless cookers save much fuel and unnecessary heat, and are especially useful for any food which requires long, slow cooking, or for those foods of strong odor which so often scent up the whole house. ”

“ For children over three, dates and figs may be served uncooked, after thorough washing, or sterilizing for ten minutes in a colander over steam and then drying.
Cereals. Cereals require a high degree of heat for the first five or ten minutes, to burst the covering of the tiny starch cells, then long cooking at a moderate temperature. This applies to oatmeal, barley, wheat cereals, corn meal, samp, rice, tapioca, sago. A double boiler should be used and, unless a coal fire is available for a long period, a fireless cooker. ”

“ The object of the following article is to present in simple and convenient form the history of the growth of fireless cooking and its advantages over the ordinary methods, so that those women who have had no experience in the management of fireless cookers may be encouraged to try them, and those adventurous women who experimented with the earlier cookers and met with disappointment may be induced to try again. ”

“ Something, no doubt, has been done in the direction of economy by the invention of new and improved forms of stoves, but a great preponderance of the heat generated in the fire of even the best stove goes up the chimney. The electric oven, as already invented, is perhaps the nearest approach to a really economical "cooker" that has yet been proposed; but even before the general adoption of such an apparatus there will be ample room for improvement in the cooking stove, first as regards insulation, and secondly in the distribution of the fuel around the objects to be heated. ”

“ Thus a coffeepot will rest snugly over the smaller end, while the big frying pan cozily covers the larger.
The fire need only be small, but when the cooking commences, there should be for the most part red embers in the fireplace, capable of sending up great heat, with but a minimum of blaze. And there a cook can work in comfort, without dodging back every time a fierce blaze darts toward him, threatening to singe his eyebrows, and shorten his crop of hair. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As a rule a cooking fire is built differently from one that is designed merely to give warmth. But we must always take into consideration the strength of the wind, whether the fire is for boiling, baking or frying food, and whether a quick or slow heat is wanted, for each and all call for a different kind of fire. The variety of wood and its condition must also be considered.
For most kinds of cooking only a small fire is required, in fact we get better results from a small flame. But it is essential that we have some arrangement whereby the cooking utensils will be held steadily and securely. ”