The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-02-23
PAPER BAG
COOKING
Great System Perfected by N.
Soyer, Famous London Chef.
INsUREs ECONOMY OF FUEL
BY Martha MccuIIoch William.

"eSu"och williams.
Paper bag cooking economics
fuel-the fact Is demonstrable. be-.
yond doubt. Particularly II the
fuel Is gas. The figures to follow are
given for gas, but are easy of trans.
iation into coal heat or even oil.
The oven Of a gas range turned IN
full. burns twenty feet of gas an
hour for each fiame-bar. Commonly
there are two bars-thus, the hourly
consumption at full head is forty feet
The giant burner on top likewise.
at full head, consumes twenty feet an
hour, the small burners, each ten
feet. Thus a stove In full commits
sion for pot and pan cooking consumes
ninety feet an hour.
Now, for paper bag cooking the
oven must be lighted and turned ON
full for eight minutes before any
thing goes into It; It must also burn
full strength forseven minutes longer.
Thus, 1t consumes ten feet of gas at
the outset. Turning out one burner to
reduce the heat one-half at the end
OF the seven minute period reduces
consumption to fifteen feet for the
rest of the hour. making a total of
twenty-five feet against forty. But
roasting does not demand that bur-
ner goes full-turning 1t down might
save five feet in the hour. phus the
net hour-saving of gas on the oven
account Is ten feet.
But there are other accounts. By
help of paper bags, you can not mere
iy roast in the oven, but cook at the
same time couple of vegetables and
bake a pie or pudding. With a small
roast you may even cook three veg
etables, thereby leaving unlighted
three upper jets, which would mean
a saving Of thirty feet of gas an hour.
Cooking thus solely in the oven
means saving of fifty feet of gas
an hour.
Nor Is this even all the story. Mys-
teriously, things cook more quickly
in bags than out of them. The saw
ing in time is one-fifth to one-sixth.
Putting this at the lowest, and esti-
mating the whole range consumption
of gas at ninety feet, there is a saw
ing of fifteen feet. Add them to the
city feet already in credit, ard the
sum is fiattering, indeed, to the paper
bag.
A Little Story of Pie Baking.
I had baked a pie a la Soyer and
found it good. Notwithstanding, re-
solved to show myself exactly the
worth of the bag-cooking.
/ made up puff paste enough for
three pies, rolled out the crusts and
filled pan, using cooked fresh
peaches for filling. I put 1t on to
cook, In It's naked majesty, noting the
time accurately. 1t took ten min
utes to roll crusts, fill, and put in a
creased bag the second pie. The
oven was so hot by that time that
Stacked the heat a minute after, put
ting In pie number two. After twenty
minutes-thirty minutes from putting
In the first pie-I looked In the oven.
The naked pie was cooking creditably
enough, yet was pale-faced, and the
crust still ,dentable to the touch. Fur
Their. there we're bubbles of syrup
along sundry spaces Of the edge.
I turned on a little more heat and
left the two pies to cook fifteen min
utes longer. The naked one was then
pale, delicate brown on top. with
rather hard undercrust. The bag
was brown all over and so crisp the
corners crumbled at the touch. But
from 1t came a pie beautiful to be-
hold-light, not pale brown crisp and
faky as to crust. ready to leave the
pan at the first tilt, for plate.
Copyright, 1911, by the Associated
Literary Press)