Foods and home making

1. Convenient cooking surface. Formerly it was thought that a gas stove with the oven on the side, i.e ., a cabinet range, was most convenient. On such a range it was unnecessary to stoop when placing pans in the oven. Later it was found highly desirable to have on top of the stove not only surface burners, but a working space on which cooking utensils and pans removed from the oven could be placed. Stoves are now built with this arrangement. Both the baking and broiling ovens are placed underneath the working surface. This is not a great inconvenience ; since the oven is heat regulated, very little oven inspection is necessary. On some stoves, covers for the top burners make a working space over the entire top of the stove when the burners are not in use. 2. Cooking surface of proper height. On page 149, the dis- advantage of stooping when working was mentioned. 3. Little or no nickel. The nickeled parts are iron plated with nickel. The nickel wears off in time. 4. Plain, smooth surfaces. Scrolls and grooves are dust catchers. 5. Surface burners close to cooking surface. (See Figure 58.) 6. Oven lined with enamel or rust-resisting steel. The former is preferable. 7. Heat-regidated oven. Custards should not be baked at the same temperature as potatoes. Different foods require different baking temperatures. At a food show over nine hundred women guessed the temperature of an oven by inserting their Refrigerators — Stoves and Firebuilding 177 hands in it. Only three women out of this large number guessed the correct temperature — 370° F. Temperatures varying from 40° F. to 1060° F. were guessed. An oven can be heated to a certain temperature if it is equipped with a heat-regulator. Moreover, the temperature will remain constant. Without a heat-regulator, the temperature of the oven changes so that MEAT CE/WERATEO /N TH/S PART OEPEAME CAT/ CO OUT HOR/ZO/W 7AL L Y A /WO OOW/WV/ARD BUT /WOT UP //WTO coottz/wg vessel as //wd/cateo sy arrows /, z.a/wd 3 Bureau of Mines Figure 58. Right and Wrong Positions of a Gas Burner Study this diagram carefully to see why a gas burner should be placed close to the cooking surface. Note which part of the flame is the hottest. foods in the oven must be watched. Most foods can be more easily and successfully baked if the temperature of the oven is constant. A stove with a heat-regulator costs more than one without, but the greater ease in operating and more uniform results are well worth the extra cost. Every heat-regulated oven needs to he tested after the stove is installed in the kitchen to determine whether the regulator is 1 78 Modern Housewifery registering accurately. The test can be made easily. Adjust- ment is simple. Reputable stove dealers are willing to make the test and adjustment. Do not neglect having this done. 8. Insulated oven. A refrigerator needs its walls insulated to keep the heat of the room from passing through the walls. An oven needs its walls insulated to keep the heat from passing out into the room. Insulated ovens save fuel. How should a gas burner be lighted ? It is dangerous to allow gas to escape unburned. Be ready to light the gas when it flows from the burner. Hence strike the match first, then turn on the gas and apply the match. The gas should burn with a blue, not yellow, flame. By turning the gas up or down you may be able to get a blue flame.