Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-10-31
GET HAY BOX AND
THUS SAVE FUEL
AN EASY WAY TO COOK WITH
OUT FIRE.
SORT OF STORED HEAT
Once Heated Articles viii Continue
to Stay Hot in the New Device
and Keep on Cooking Till Done
A Fuel Saver.

The hay Jox and cooking without
fire" is a fad which is sweeping over
the central west, and may even soon
be taken up here.
The hay box is an ordinary heavy
wooden box so by 80 inches and about
20 inches deep. or it can be made
much larger if need be. The box is
lined with heavy asbestos paper,
either tackled or pasted on. 1t would
be well to cover the outside also, for
the whole system is one of insulation.
The box well lined and cover pro
vided of large thin pillow stuffed
with hay, that win fit inside the box
and a second one of wood, also COW
cred with asbestos, and the box filled
with sweet hay, and the hay box is
ready.
The principle is this: The pot of
food is heated over the stove and put
tightly covered, into a nest followed
out in the hay Hay is stuffed around
the pot, the covers put on and the
food left for varying times till cooked.
The heat generated will escape but
slowly and the food will be thor
oughly cooked. 1t is quite incredible
how short the heating time need be
to cook the food thoroughly, if it is
kept well insulated in the hay box.
The advantages are several The
amount of fuel is wonderfully re-
duced to a fifth or even a tenth of
the usual cost. A stove serves mere
y to keep foot at a Ger lain tempera-
ture. If the food be heated to that
degree and kept so, 1t does not mat
ter whether it be by the continuous
application of flame or by the re-
tention of the heat already generated
in the preliminary cooking. So much
or the fuel and it's cost
The large articles of dinner, re-
quiring much time and correspond
ing care may be heated quickly and
then put in the hay box out of the
way, safe from burning. requiring no
attention till dinner time. The con-
,sequent saving in time and constant
worry is alone sufficient reason for
the hay box.
The pots are not rendered impos-
sibly dirty by continuous exposure to
blackening flames. They are not
stuck" at the bottom, for during the
heating attention is given to every
thing and afierward the sticking
would be impossible
1t is quite convenient for whoever
cooks to leave the kitchen for any
length of time, for nothing can burn
or spoil in her absence The woman
without servants can do her shopping
or finish the homework while the
dinner cooks.
But the chief reasons of all, at this
season of the year, are the absence
of heat after the first heating and the
unusual possibilities in the way of
quality.
There are many foods that must be
cooked slowly. There are very few
staples that need to be cooked rapid
ly. The frills and fancies of cookery
need a fash of heat. Potatoes should
be boiled rapidly; steaks must be
sauteed over brisk fire, but of the
staples. the common things, the sub
stantial dishes of the bourgeois home,
there are not great number that re.
quire fast cooking.
But it is not proposed to eliminate
! cooking on range. For many of the
little things of the menu the range
is much better.
But what relief to be able to dis
pose ofssthe boils and roasts at 3
O'Clock in the morning. The cook
then may devote her time and skill
lin the hay box is iuicier, more tender
things that are nothing without that