Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-02-22
The Progress Of Fireless Cooking.
principle of operation of fire

"IE principle oil operation OF HTe-
less cookers is an old one. 1t
is simply to retain the heat in
the food itself and in the water OBJ
tanned by the preliminary boiling.
Cooking operations use little or no
heat in the sense that heat is used in
raising tic temperature of water or IN
keeping ii boiling. so that if the heat
can be prevented from escaping the
chances oY cooking will take place
without the addition Of more heat
Nearly all cooking may be done at a
lower temperature than the boiling
point of water.
Not everything can be cooked salts
factorily in the old style fireless COOK
ers ONLY the things that are usually
cooked in water. 1t requires the high
temperature of the oven or griddle 10
produce the flavor and brown crust OF
bread cake and meat, but all manu-
facturers now furnish their cookers
with metal or soapstone plates. which
NAV be heated to a hlgh temperature
so that baking and browning of meats,
bread and cake can be done salts
factorily.
II is especially important that the
vessels used be tightly covered, for
d
quantity OF heat. Naturally the great
| more heat there is to be retained and
| the longer the heat will be kept up to
| the cooking temperature. The pre-
! liminary boiling must be continued
sufficiently long for the food to b.
heated through, otherwise the cooler
| interior of the food will reduce the
| temperature Of the water below the
| cooking point The time required
varies from five minutes for small
| vegetables and grains TO half an hoGi
| or longer for a ham or large piece Of
meat 1t is sometimes advisable to re
heat to the boiling temperature three
! or four hours after the first heating
| when very long cooking is required
| If there is considerable water present
foods will remain sufficiently hot fol
serving in five to eight hours. Whei
food is left in the cooker over night
i il is usually necessary to reheat befor'
serving. When using hot plates 70
baking or roasting il takes from tei
, to twenty minutes 10 heat the pate:
TO the required temperature. Inis !!
about half the amount required 70
similar baking in small portabi'
oven, and one-fourtn or one-ntth o
that required for the large oven of al
ordinary gas range.
The great advantages Of freless cook
| ing are the saving of time and attenueh
better results prevention of overcooklnt
and burning and hot foods ready whef
wanted. There are a great many OF these
| cookers now on the market, and one o
| the most popular of the low-priced one
is the bench type. having two or thre,
| conpa rtments. Only one cooking utensi
| is placed in each compartment SO ina
| il is easy to get at them. The deep type
of fire!ess cooker. either cylindrical OF
!, square. in which one utensil is placed
| on top OF another. maintains the heat a.
cooking temperature "a little longer, pro
yided it is completely filed, but it is moi
| quite so convenient to use.
| very great advance has been made
| in fireless cooking by the introductloI
! Of gas and electric stoves with insulated
ovens, SO that after the preliminary heat
ing with gas or electricity the source
of heat is cut off and the oven closed
IN. leaving the food to finish cooking
1 with the stored heat. In this way
regular stove and freless cooker are com
bined resulting in great economy OF fuei