Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 138, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1918 — Fireless Cooker and How to Get Best Results From Use of This Convenience [ARTICLE]

Fireless Cooker and How to Get Best Results From Use of This Convenience

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) The time which each kind of food should stay in the tireless cooker depends both on the nature of the food and on the temperature at which it remains inside the cooker, and before recipes for use with the fireless cooker can be prepared one must have some means of knowing how temperatures are preserved In it. Jn experiments made In the office of Home Economics a 6-quart kettle was filled with boiling water and put Into the cooker, the packing of which happened to be newspaper. The temperature of the water, which was 212 degrees F. when put into the cooker, was found to beC 172 degrees F. after four hours had elapsed and 155 degrees F. after eight hours had elapsed. This shows the advisability of the common custom of allowing food to remain undisturbed In the cooker for at least six or eight hours, or in some cases overnight. If a soapstone, hot brick, or other extra source of heat is used, less tigie win be required. Materials which are denser than water (sugar sirup as used in cooking dried fruit), and therefore can be heated to a higher degree, will keep up the temperature longer when put Into the cooker. Thus the density of the food material, as well as the amount and the length of time that the apparatus retains the heat, must be taken into consideration in determining how long different materials must be cooked In the cooker. The recipes for dishes to be prepared in the fireless cooker differ somewhat from those for foods cooked in the ordinary way, chiefly In the amount of water or other liquids called for. Less liquid should be put. Into the food to be prepared in an ordinary tireless cooker, since there is no chance for water to evaporate. The cook must be guided largely by experience In deciding how long food should be heated before being put into the cooker and how long it should be allowed to remain there.