FoodNet

Elements of the theory and practice of cookery

1901

Page 9

Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
14. In order to manage a kitchen fire successfully, we must understand the construction and purpose of every part of the range. Much fuel is wasted, food spoiled, and time lost because women do not take the trouble to do this. THE COAL RANGE 15. The range and its parts. — A range or a cooking- stove is an iron box. It should stand upon a brick hearth, or a sheet of zinc, and the wall near it should be of brick or tiling, or else protected by zinc. A range has the following parts : — 1. Fire-box, to contain fuel. 2. Grate, which forms the floor of the fire-box. ^ a. Creative 1 n - n p. 6. Check j to regulate draft. c. Oven ] ^ V , - P 1 ^ • d C\\' \ direct current oi hot air. 4. Ash-pan, to receive ashes, cinders, and clinkers (incom- bustible waste material and solid products of com- bustion). 5. Stove-pipe, to carry off smoke (unburnt carbon) and gaseous products of combustion. 6. Oven, for food. 3. Dampers 12 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY Some ranges have other parts, — an oven for warm- ing dishes, a water-front, more dampers, etc., — but the parts named above are all that are essential. Distinction between a stove and a range. — A stove is movable, and usually has one oven with two doors. A range may either be built into the wall (seQ, or stand out in the room {portable). 16. The range in detail. — When the fire is out take off all the lids and as much of the top of the stove as is removable. Look first at the fire-box. The fire-box is a rectangular space open at the top, lined on the sides with a fireproof material {fire -bricks)^ and having a movable grate for a floor. Underneath the fire-box is the ash-pan. It should be emptied once a day, and the space around it brushed out. The stove-pipe connects the range with the chimney. The oven in a stove or a portable range is back of the fire-box. In a set range there are generally two ovens, one on each side of the fire-box. An oven should con- tain a rack. Between the oven and the top, sides, and bottom of the range there is a space for the passage of air from the fire-box. This space must be cleaned occa- sionally to keep it from becoming choked with soot and ashes. The dampers are slides or doors fitted to openings in the range. Below the fire-box is the front damper. In the stove-pipe is the chimney damper. At the back of the oven is the oven damper, usually moved by a rod extending to the front of the range. PREPARATORY LESSONS 13 17. Management of the dampers. — By opening the front, chimney, and oven dampers a direct draft is pro- duced, the air passing from below the grate, up through the fuel in the fire-box, and out into the chimney. This arrangement of dampers is used to start the fire, or to increase the heat of a fire already burning. (Fig. 2, A.) If the front damper be opened, and the chimney damper closed, when a fire is starting, the smoke will come into the room. Why ? The chimney damper should be so arranged that the opening in the stove-pipe is never wholly closed.