FoodNetArchive

The new home cook book

1896

Page 9

Presented as published in 1896. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
one's personal longings would probably never be entirely satisfied, for the fever of the collector " grows by what it feeds upon." Juliet Corson. I OIL AND GAS STOVE COOKING. When one becomes accustomed to a particular ma- chine, implement, or utensil, and grows familiar with the methods of operating or handling it, one is apt to fancy that particular kind the best that has been in- vented for the purpose for which it is designed. But as improvements are being made every year in nearly all articles that are worth improving, it is a very difficult and delicate matter for any one to unqualifiedly assert, that, of a dozen different articles designed for the same use, all excellent in the main, any special one is the best. This is notably the case in regard to stoves ; and in selecting a stove, whether designed for coal, wood, gas, gasoline, or oil, there is no safer rule to fol- low than this: — Examine the newest patterns in the market ; obtain the opinions of reliable dealers concern- ing them ; consult your own taste in regard to minor details ; then make your purchase. If you exercise or- ^ dinary judgment in your choice, and afterward use ordi- nary common sense in the management of the stove selected, you will probably have the one best adapted to your needs. The printed directions for the management of gas, gasoline, and oil stoves, which always accompany them, should be studied till thoroughly understood, and should (22) on. AND GAS STOVE COOKING. 23 be implicitly followed if you wish to obtain the most satisfactory results. The inventors of stoves are likely to understand the principles governing their invention, and unless you know^ from practical experience, that the directions are incorrect, it is safe to be guided by them in every particular. Objections are made by a good many people ^o vapor or gasoline stoves on account of danger from their use ; but the character of gasoline is so well known to almost every one, and such care is exercised in handling it, that as few accidents occur from its use as from that of any other heating or lighting material. And it is so much cleaner and more convenient than oil, that many prefer gasoline to oil stoves. The latter are, however, so low- priced, and oil is so readily obtainable everywhere, that they will probably always be in much more general use than gasoline stoves. A stove of any kind, to do satisfactory work, must be kept clean and in order. But this is more especially true in the case of an oil stove than that of any other kind. I once lent mine to a lady who had used these stoves for years, and who, I imagined, understood their management thoroughly. A few months afterward when I needed the stove again, she informed me that she had been having the greater part of her cooking done with it for quite a while, but that it frequently dis- appointed her " by acting queerly." The stove was sent home the next day ; but on attempting to use it I found one burner entirely disabled and the other badly demor- alized, while the stove was in such a foul condition gen- erally, that it was unfit for service until thoroughly cleaned and repaired. Since then I have discovered, by 24 THE HOME COOK BOOK. personal inspection, that many of these stoves are han- dled in such a slovenly, shiftless manner that they often act queerly," and seldom do satisfactory work.