Food and health

tween the trunk and the inner box was filled with paper, pressed in firmly. She pleased her mother by having a stew for dinner one day. First she browned the meat and vegetables in a frying pan on the kerosene stove, put them in a hot earthenware jar with the seasonings, covered them with boiling hot water, covered the jar closely, set it in the cooker on a brick heated on the other burner of the oil stove, and closed the cooker. This was done by half past seven, and at twelve o'clock the stew was ready. There was room for another kettle in the cooker, and in that Agnes put peas shelled the evening before. Agnes also tried cooking cereal overnight, but she was careful to let the cereal boil on the oil stove long enough to thicken before it went into the cooker, and then the kettle of cereal was placed in a larger kettle of hot water, like a double boiler. She thought the cereal was better when the hot brick was used. Agnes and Marjorie used to compare the " fireless '* and the Atkinson cooker, and they decided that the Atkinson can do more kinds of work than the fireless. Courtesy of the Caloric Co. Fig. 112. — One fireless cooker on the market. although the Atkinson uses more fuel. The Atkinson cooker is sometimes called the Aladdin oven. Can you tell why ? Did you ever hear of Aladdin and his wonderful lamp .? Steam cookers. Barbara Oakes reported at school that her mother has no patience with either of those contrivances, but that she likes a steam cooker in hot weather, and can get a whole dinner over one burner of the kerosene stove. On page 98 is a picture (Fig. 48) of a steam cooker like Mrs. Oakes. Some people like one kind of machine and some another ; but we may all help ourselves greatly if we try some experiments, and do not expect too much from any one contrivance. 1. Can you explain why the fireless cooker will not "brown" food ? Can you ever " brown " anything in water ? 2. Why does a hole in the Atkinson cooker at the top help the browning process ? 3. Make a sketch showing a cross section of the cooker made at the Pleasant Valley School. 4. Make a list of nonconducting materials; of good conductors. 5. Which is a better conductor of heat, air or water ? 6. Will a kettle of hot food cool faster in the air or in running cold water ? Why ? 7. Bake one potato, and boil another of the same size. Which cooks faster ? Why ? 8. How much oil does your illuminating lamp hold ? How long will it burn ? Find the cost of kerosene, and then you can tell how much it costs to run the Atkinson cooker per hour. 9. How much does it cost per hour to run a blue-flame oil stove ? 10. Can you find out how much it costs per hour for coal or wood ? Lesson 27 the care of food How shall we care for food after dinner ? This is a question after every meal ; but there is usually more food to put away after dinner, and more careful planning is needed then. When MoUie and Marjorie cooked the dinner we studied in Lesson 22, they began to plan for the care of food afterward, at the very beginning of operations, by seeing that there were no flies to light on any food placed on the kitchen table. The home-making class had discussed the care of food in the home, and MoUie and Marjorie found that they could apply it all to this particular dinner. How shall we take care of our food } Here is a simple rule. Keep food clean; keep food cool; keep food dry; keep out insects, mice, and rats.