Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-09-27
The NorMcRiam Cooking Fox.

The Norwegian Cooking BON.
have recently received from England cook
ing apparatus of simple construction, whose
operation has been so satisfactory, and alto
gether so surprising that think many of your
readers will like to hear about it. The Nor
wegian cooking boxes are made of various
sizes, but the one in question is III outward APP
pearauce a wooden box, sixteen inches high,
fourteen and half wide, and fourteen aud u
half deep, with lid at the top fitting closely
with Il hasp and paddock. Raising the lid, you
find the interior neatly packed with hair-iclting
incloscd in Il lining of cloth; the object being
to make the box us complete non-conductor
of heat as possible. 1t is in fact mass of felt
ing except that in the middle is a cylindrical
cavity, ike birds nest, ten inches in diameter
and ten inches deep, fitted to receive various
cooking utensils These vessels are made Of
block tin, and are intended to hold the food to
be cooked, which is either immersed in water or
retained by strainer ust above its surface. Ii
is only necessary TO bring the contents of the
tin vessels to the boiling point, which may be
done in any convenient way,-that u.s. by a
range, or n cooking stove, ora gas stove, or
over single gas JET with Bunsen burner, and
then place the tins in the cavity before de-
scribed and shut the box up tight, and the heat
is retained in such degree and for such length
of time that the cooking process goes on with
out any further application Of fire.
My first trial Of the box was made by filling
the large cylinder which occupies the whole cav
point over a gas stove. In seventeen hours
found the temperature reduced from 212 to 40
degrees. | next tried an "lrish stew Of five
pounds of mutton, with potatoes, carrots and
onions. 1t was made to boil by a single small
gas-jet with BunSen burner, aud Immediately
placed in the box In three hours ii was served
up smoking hot, perfectly cooked, and seeming
to retain all the flavor, a part of which, by the
ordinary process, would have gone up the chin
ney or into the house. The box emitted no per-
tha
My next trial was with the most refractory kind
of meat | could think Of A piece of corned
beef weighing 81 pounds was placed in cold
water in the largest cylinder, raised to the boil.
inc point on the cooking range, the liquor then
skinned the cover replaced, and the tin imme-
diatelv put in the box, which was locked up for
the night. Twenty hours later the box was
opened, and the temperature of the water found
to be 1873 degrees. The beef was perfectly
cooked. Some days after this another trial was
made with larger piece of corned beef, and
with an equally good result. In both cases the
cook remarked with surprise that she took out
OF the cylinder as large piece of meat as she
had put in. | can answer for its excellent
flavor, and for the thoroughness of the cooking
A soup was made with shin of beef and vege-
tables, by boiling for ten minutes on the range
in a somewhat less amount of water than is gen.
orally used, skmming, and then leaving it in
the box for twenty-five hours. No odor was per-
ceived while it was cooking, it made as stiff
Jelly when cold as 1t prepared 10 the usual way
and the soup proved TO he excellent Tomatoes
have several times been Stewed in one of the
smaller tins, the other vessels above and below
being filled with boiling water A sailed beel's
tongue, weighing five pounds, was next tried,
the box being locked up for twenty-five hours
At the end of that time the water had u temper
allure of $40 degrees, and the tongue was thor
oughly cooked.
Reversing the action of the non-conducting
box, have tried it as a refrigerator. piece
of ice Weighing about eight pounds was placed
in the large cylinder, and the box containing it
left in room which is exposed to the sun, on
the first floor of my house, from Saturday after
noon till Monday morning, in hot weather. On
examination, at the end of forty hours, the re-
suit was found TO be two quarts of water and
very nearly four pounds of ice. single quart
Of ice cream (confectioneTs measure) was
placed in the box one hot day without any ice,
although, as the box had been recently used
for cooking, it was first cooled by putting ice in
the tin cylinder for half an hour. Five and a
half hours later the ice cream was found to
be soft throughout, but still retaining the solid
form.
These trials are enough to show that the box
will cook as thoroughly as can be desired, and
that it will keep hot things hot and cold things
cold for long periods AS Il cooking box, it has
its limitations. 1t will neither boil nor fry, nor
roast although the larger sizes are said to bake
by means Of a double cylinder, or outer jacket,
ing, the cylinder cannot be opened for the add-
ton of anything without spelling the process
this, however, may not be so great disadvan-
tage if it tends to simplify the preparations.
For keeping things hot or cold, constant closure
of the box would probably not be necessary.
1t would be used in this respect like our refrig-
orators,
But the positive advantages of the apparatus
are very marked. 1t is econOmicalj in every
way. 1t saves food, fuel, and, most important
of all, labor. Physicians know well enough the
injury TO health which has been caused by over
work and inappropriate nourishment-thel latter,
at least, leading directly to impaired digestion.
For such reasons believe that the practicable
ty of cooking simple and nutritious dishes by
retained heat, which is made apparent by this
simple contrvance of shutting them up in a
non-conducting box, is of real importance AT
least two-thirdS Of the people Of Massachusetts,
above the age of infancy fluid their chief
nutTiment on one day in seven in baked beans,
a dish which, when thoroughly cooked may do
very well for adults in perfect health, but
think all physicians will agree that children,
and men and women whose digestive powers are
in any degree impaired had better eat some
thing else. A family dinner of meat and vege-
tables and pudding can, by means of this box,
be prepared on Saturday in a very few minutes,
put away for "a hours, and then served hot
without additional labor. A small cylindrical
form of the non-conducting box might be used
by workmen to carry their dinner-pail, thus CIV
ing the advantages of hot dinuer at noon
cooked by the breakfast fire. Its uses to the
sick will be found to be many. Beef tea may be
made in the very best way. Drinks may be
kept hot, or ice may be preserved through the
night by the bed side. The cost of the box with
the cooking utensils was 83 sterling in London.
Dr. Geng Derby in Medical and Surgical
Journal