Food and freedom

For the country home, an out-of-door camp stove, or an old-fashioned stone fireplace in which surplus wood may be burned, may give much pleasure and be most profitable at the same time. The advantages of fireless cooking must be neither undervalued nor overestimated. While the fireless cooker is a most useful device, and, in- telligently handled, can accomplish much — con- serving time, fuel, food — it should be used, more particularly, for those foods that would normally require long, slow cooking in covered containers, 122 FOOD AND FREEDOM and for other methods of cooking where conven- ience or necessity demands. Fireless cooking is reallyamethod in itself, just as baking and broiling are methods. The principle of successful fireless cooking lies in the fact that sufficient heat, both in quantity and in degree, must be introduced, and retained until the food is thoroughly cooked. A small quantity of food only partially heated through, and placed in a large container in a cooker, will not hold sufficient heat to accomplish satisfactory cooking. The all-metal box, aluminum lined, with alum- inum containers, and insulated with mineral wool, is the most durable, and if properly handled should not rust, warp, or absorb odors. Very satisfactory small cookers may also be made at home.i Any reliable fireless cooker should give good service if the following points are observed: Read carefully the descriptive circular and direc- tions which accompany every good cooker. Spend at least a week in learning how to use it. A certain amount of experimenting must be done before the best results can be obtained; reserve judgment until a cooker has been fairly tested. Do not force its use, nor expect it to accomplish the impossible. ^ Directions may be obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture. See, also, Scott, Home Labor-saving Devices, p. 39. COOKING THE MEALS 123 Keep it scrupulously clean and dry at all times, and well aired when not in use. If the aluminum becomes discolored, clean with steel wool and a neu- tral soap. While table cooking is always delightful, since the advent of electricity it is now also recognized as a thoroughly practical convenience for the woman who does her own work. It is of special advan- tage, perhaps, for the small family, for the house- keeper who is also a business woman outside the home, and for use on the eating-porch during hot weather. But here again, as in the case of the fireless cooker, this method of cooking should not be forced, and only quick-cooking foods at- tempted— such as eggs, cheese, fish, etc. For the summer evening dinner, a chafing-dish or small table-stove is also sometimes practical for re- heating a stew or chowder that has been pre- viously prepared early in the day. Definite choice of any stove is controlled first of all, of course, by the kind of fuel that repre- sents the greatest economy in the locality, and, second, by the number in family to be provided for. In addition to this, other considerations must be taken into account, and certain practical details checked before the wisest decision can always be made. There is, for example, the kitchen floor and wall space to be considered, the method of cooking preferred or most con- 124 FOOD AND FREEDOM