The Washington herald., 1912-11-03
FEW COOKS MASTER
THEIR GAS RANGES
Women Are Not Keen on Mechan.
ical Side of Housekeeping.

Few housekeepers or cooks yet have
mastered all the details of management
Of the gas range. though the results
generally obtained with 1t are perhaps
better than with the coal range. Often
We are too busy doing other things in
the kitchen to notice what Is happening
in the oven. Here is where the cooking
schools give their pupils an opportunity
| seldom found at home. The girls are
expected to time all processes: to see
how long it takes the oven to heat for
different purposes: to notice the effects
of two much or too little heat; to I'm"
that many articles continue cooking after
the gas is turned off. &c.
1t would pay any woman using gas Tor
cooking to take time for some such ex-
perimental work at home. One difficulty
In the management OF a gas stove lies
in the fact that the pressure and supply
of gas are not always uniform. Occa-
sionally the supply pipe is insufficient for
the size of the range or too many are
using the gas at one time. This is fire.
quently noticed in city apartments be-
tween and : p. n.- when SO many din
ners are being prepared all over the
city. thus testing the full capacity OF
each stove and OF the general supply.
In some kitchens. where light and
heat come from the same pipe. it is
| wiser at times to light the room by
other means. that the full force OF the
gas may be given to the cooking OF the
| dinner. Women are not keen on the
! mechanical side OF housekeeping.
Thought II Magic.
At lecture on foods and cookery
some years ago. when gas was a less
common fuel. the teacher turned out the
light above her head that the full supply
OF gas might come to the kettle OF fat
in which she was about TO cook cro-
Quettes. One spectator turned to her
neighbor with stage whisper, why
must she fry them in the dark There
is more than one woman to-day to whom
processes Of cookery with the gas stove
or other agencies seem invested with
magic or under control of the powers OF
CGrkness.
The usual gas range has these parts
which may be used together or sepa-
rately: The top burners the baking and
broiling ovens. BY judicious planning it
is seldom necessary to use more than
two OF the upper burners. and one may
often do the work of two. The milk
for a soup or pudding may be scalded
over the kettle where potatoes are boil
ing. The kettle made so two can fit
over one burner may be helpful, but
those OF three divisions are less desir-
able.
When a kettle represents the third of
circle II brings a point directly over
the hottest part of the flame. and this
tends toward inequalities in cooking. IL
not toward burning. on the kettle. For
family of six or more a good steam
cooker will save gas enough to pay for
its cost inside Of a year. BY forethought
parts of two dinners may be prepared al
once in the cooker.
a portable oven. like those provided
for kerosene stoves. may be used on the
top burner of a gas range. Here potatoes
and a pie or pudding may be baked at
one time. instead of heating the larger
oven. which would require much more
fuel.
Greater Convenience.
The older ranges had the baking oven
heated by the same burner which pro-
vided means for broiling. Now they are
often separate, which may mean greater
convenience, but more gas. Where one
burner heats both ovens 1t is not ditfi-
cult to plan for something. perhaps for
a future meal, to Use the heat accumu
lating in the upper oven while broiling
below. thin roast or thick steak. the
bugbears before gas stoves were COM
the upper oven to the point Of baking
custard or a thin cake.
The broiler pan provided in the aver
age gas range Is a delusion for the small
family. 1t Is too large and clumsy to
handle and difficult to wash. 1t may
serve as a rack on which to set a smaller
pan. however.
A long. narrow tin. which holds the
required number of chops or sections of
fish or beefsteak. not a full porterhouse.
may be used under one row of burners
and the broiling thus be accomplished
twice as well with half the gas. Have
the iron above well heated at first and
place any meat as close to the fame as
il safe. scar ii thoroughly and turn and
scar the other side. then move farther
away from the fame or turn 1t low.
Thus the heat will penetrate and cook
the center without burning the outside.
Or heat will have accumulated In the
upper oven and the gas may be turned
out and the fish, flesh. or fowl placed In
that moderate temperature to finish.
Thus the gas stove becomes one type Of
. fireless cooker.