The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-10-31
Automatic CONkery.
""H""tEV ~VVNSHy'
From the Pail Mall Gazette. October IL.

FROM All MAIL baIettt, oStope' -
In the Paris Exhibition is shown, IN
actual operation, an invention of particu-
lar interest Just now. La cuisine dWo'na-
GQue .NorrGyi0,nc is an apparatus com.
poscd of a wooden box lined and stuffed
with non conducting material and con-
tanning q tin cooking vessel which exactly
fits into the stuffed aperture OF the box.
The principle of the invention lies in the
Dower of the stuffed lining to act as a non
conductor of heat or cold so that the tenn
Deratnrc at which substances are placed
in the box shall he retained for long
time. Thus, if the cooking vessel be filed
with water nj the boiling point ESQ de-
grceS Cent and shut up in the box, ii is
found by experiment that in seventeen
hours the temperature of the water will
be reduced only to about liO degrees Cent.
How long block OF ice might be thus
conserved has not yet been ascertained
One who has had an opportunity Of
assisting" at trial of this automatic
cookery thus describes the mOdus opndndi:
\ piece Of beef weighing about four
pounds was put into the cooking vessel
with the necessary quantity OF cold water !;
the vessel was then set on an ordinary open
lire until the water boiled and had con-
tnued boiling for five minutes after these
had expired the vessel was removed from
The fire, and quickly placed in the isolating
box, where it was closely shut down. The
box was then removed as far from the fire
as possible, aud left alone for about three
hours. 1t was then opened, and the beef
was found to be thoroughly cooked, with
flavor superior TO what is secured by the
common process Of cooking. DR.. Parkes,
in his work On hygiene, says that to retain
the maximum nu,ritivc qualities OF meat 1t
should be first subjected TO an intense heat,
so as to retain the juices, and afterwards
cooked slowly at a low temperature; then,
whether in boiling, stewing, or roasting,
the loss of weight in cooking will consist OF
little more than water. But keep the pot
as NJ. Soyer found was the rule, especially
among the poor" boiling like the very
dcucc all the time,'' or let the roasting be
done almost at white heat las it too com
monty isl and the result is that the muscular
tissues of the meat shrink and become hard
and indigestible, while large proportion
of It's nutritve products are volatillzed and
escape into tho kitchen or up the chimney,
the deterioration Of the meat.
1t appears, then, that by employing this
apparatus the essentials Of good boiling
and stewing are secured, and the wastetul-
ness and ignorance OF incompetent cooks
countcractcd.
In using the apparatus care must be
taken that after the contents OF the cook
ing vessel have been brought to the boil
ing point and shut up in the box it be not
opened during the time required for cook
ing the food. The length of time which
different meats or vegetables should re-
main in the apparatus varies, according to
their nature, from one 10 three, four, or
five hours; but after they have been in
long enough 20 be thoroughly cooked they
NAV be left shut up 1--WE are told) twelve
or eighteen hours without losing heat,
flavor, or quality. Then the economy in
fuel appears to be very considerable and
also the economy in labor. The food has
to boil on the fire no longer than five
minutes; when it is placed in the isola-
ting apparatus the cooking will complete
itself: so matertamiiias, meditatlng a
sayory stew of JoWN for dinner, may en-
plov the same fire used fer breakfast to
prepare the next meal, and may then be
at liberty to attend to other domestic al
fairs, leaving the cooking to take care Of
itself. The apparatus is very simple, and
the smaller ones may be carried from place
to place like hat-boX or portmanteau.
They arc made Of different dimensions 10
suit various purposes; the one seen by
our correspondent was about eighteen
inches square, the tin cooking case being
about the size of an ordinary hat. The
patentce had all the materials for a pot al
tcu prepared and shut up i'll the apparatus
at Paris ut ) O'Clock p. NJ, and he brought
ii with him rid Dover to London, where it
was opened, and furnished smoking hot
breakfast at . O'clock on the following
morning