Elements of the theory and practice of cookery

By closing the oven damper, the air heated in the fire-box is made to flow around the oven before enter- ing the chimney. By this means the oven is heated, and the force of the draft at the same time lessened by its having to make its way around corners. (Fig. 2, B.) Observe carefully the mechanism of the chimney dampers. In some ranges they are opened hy pulling the handles out ; in others hy pushiyig them in. The range in your home may differ in this respect from the one at school. 18. The check damper is in front of the fire-box. Opening it sends a stream of cold air across the top of the fire. Air admitted below the fire-box feeds the fire by parting with its oxygen as it passes through the fuel. Air admitted above the fire-box merely flows over the burning fuel and goes up the chimney before it has time to part with its oxygen. Its effect is to check the fire by cooling it. 14 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY EiG. 2. Diagrams of range : A, with oven damper open ; B, with oven damper closed ; F = fire- box ; A = ash-pan ; 0 = oven ; P = stove-pipe. Arrows show direction of air- currents. PREPARATORY LESSONS 15 HOAV TO MAKE A FiKE 19. Cleaning the fire-box. — 1. Close all the dampers except the oven dampers. 2. Brush the ashes from the edge of the fire-box into the fire-box, and put the lid on. 3. Turn the grate over, so as to dump the ashes into the ash-pan. (If there is an ash-sifter in the range, the ashes will fall upon this, and must afterward be sifted through it into the pan.) 20. Laying the fire. — 4. Lay the fire : — a. Fill the fire-box one-third full of shavings, or wisps of paper twisted in the middle so as to expose a large surface to the air. h. On these lay small sticks of soft wood crosswise, or one bundle of such kindling as is sold by grocers in New York City. c. Put two shovelfuls of coal on top of the wood. The fuel should be arranged loosely in order that the air may have free passage through it. (See Fig. 2.) 5. Cover the top of the range. Open all the dampers except the oven dampers. 21. Starting the fire. — 6. Light the fire by applying a lighted match between the bars of the grate to the paper or shavings inside. (If the stove is to be black- ened, do it now.) 7. When the wood is all ablaze, add coal until the fire-box is level full. (As the wood burns away the 16 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY coal will settle. The fire-box should never be kept more than three-fourths full.) 22. What to do when the fire is well started. — 8. When the blue flame disappears, close the oven dampers, and half close the lower damper. When the coal is burning well, close the lower damper entirely, and half close the chimney damper. How TO MANAGE A FlRE 23. For a steady hot fire, rake out the ashes with a poker from beneath the grate ; or, if the grate is a revolving one, give it one turn. Fill the fire-box three- fourths full of coal. Open the lower front and chimney dampers. See that oven and check dampers are closed. When the coal in the lower part of the fire-box is glow- ing red, the top layer still black, and the flames yellow, close the dampers. When the top layer begins to glow, add more coal, so that there will always be black coals on top. To heat the oven. — Open the oven and chimney dampers, keeping all others closed.