The cooker is equally suitable for keeping food cold. After ice cream has been frozen the can may be set in the cooker closely covered, and the cream will keep frozen for some time without ice. The great merit of the fireless cooker is that it retains heat without any fire, just where it is needed and for a long time, with no attention, leaving the housekeeper free to attend to other occupations. Where a cooking fire is not needed for warmth it is a great saving of fuel. Special directions for use will be found in each cooker. When once the principle is understood, ways of adapting it will suggest themselves even if you have no patent cooker. The steam radiator in winter, if you are sure of a steady heat THE FIRELESS COOKER 53 all day, may be utilized for baked beans, stews, baked apple sauce, rice pudding, and the like. Start them on the stove, after breakfast, cover tightly, set the pan on the radiator' stuff papers all round and cover the whole with blankets, and at supper time you will find the food well cooked. CHAPTER XIV OIL STOVES, LAMPS, CHAFING DISHES, AND ELECTRICITY Kerosene Oil Stoves. Kerosene stoves are comparatively cheap and the oil is not an expensive fuel, but the heat is less intense than that of other fuels and more time is needed for cooking. They are invaluable for summer use where gas or wood is not obtainable. They are heat savers but not labor savers, for they must be watched when in use to prevent smoking and be cleaned thoroughly daily ; otherwise the odor will not only be disagreeable, but will vitiate the air. Their great merit is that being portable they may be used wherever it is most convenient and comfortable to work. The cleaning of an oil stove is not hard, if done regularly and in the most effective way. The new blue-flame stoves are more easily regulated than those of older design, but even these must be kept clean. The oil is fed from a tank outside of the stove into a hollow ring below the burner, and becomes heated sufficiently to vaporize it. This vapor unites with the air and burns with a blue flame. In the older stoves the oil is below the burners and is absorbed by the wick. The following directions will apply to the cleaning of any stove and also to lamps. See that the wicks fit well and turn easily. After trimming, light them and trim again if there are any points of flame ; round off the corners slightly. When they are once made even, the daily rubbing off of the charred wick will be sufficient. The burner and cylinder must be kept clean and bright ; turn the wick down half an inch, rub sand soap on a bit of soft, firmly-woven cloth and scour off the brown deposit on 54 OIL STOVES, LAMPS, CHAFING DISHES, ELECTRICITY 55 the top edge of the burner ; use a small flat-edged skewer under the cloth to clean inside the wick tube. Wipe off the smoke and soot on the mica, the inside of the cylinder and the perforated plate under the burners. Turn up the wick and wipe off any sand adhering and wipe the whole again with a dry cloth kept for this purpose only.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The cooker is equally suitable for keeping food cold. After ice cream has been frozen the can may be set in the cooker closely covered, and the cream will keep frozen for some time without ice. The great merit of the fireless cooker is that it retains heat without any fire, just where it is needed and for a long time, with no attention, leaving the housekeeper free to attend to other occupations. Where a cooking fire is not needed for warmth it is a great saving of fuel. Special directions for use will be found in each cooker. When once the principle is understood, ways of adapting it will suggest themselves even if you have no patent cooker. The steam radiator in winter, if you are sure of a steady heat THE FIRELESS COOKER 53 all day, may be utilized for baked beans, stews, baked apple sauce, rice pudding, and the like. Start them on the stove, after breakfast, cover tightly, set the pan on the radiator, stuff papers all round and cover the whole with blankets, and at supper time you will find the food well cooked. CHAPTER XIV OIL STOVES, LAMPS, CHAFING DISHES, AND ELECTRICITY Kerosene Oil Stoves. Kerosene stoves are comparatively cheap and the oil is not an expensive fuel, but the heat is less intense than that of other fuels and more time is needed for cooking. They are invaluable for summer use where gas or wood is not obtainable. They are heat savers but not labor savers, for they must be watched when in use to prevent smoking and be cleaned thoroughly daily ; otherwise the odor will not only be disagreeable, but will vitiate the air. Their great merit is that being portable they may be used wherever it is most convenient and comfortable to work. The cleaning of an oil stove is not hard, if done regularly and in the most effective way. The new blue-flame stoves are more easily regulated than those of older design, but even these must be kept clean. The oil is fed from a tank outside of the stove into a hollow ring below the burner, and becomes heated sufficiently to vaporize it. This vapor unites with the air and burns with a blue flame. In the older stoves the oil is below the burners and is absorbed by the wick. The following directions will apply to the cleaning of any stove and also to lamps. See that the wicks fit well and turn easily. After trimming, light them and trim again if there are any points of flame ; round off the corners slightly. When they are once made even, the daily rubbing off of the charred wick will be sufficient. The burner and cylinder must be kept clean and bright ; turn the wick down half an inch, rub sand soap on a bit of soft, firmly-woven cloth and scour off the brown deposit on OIL STOVES, LAMPS, CHAFING DISHES, ELECTRICITY 55 the top edge of the burner ; use a small flat-edged skewer under the cloth to clean inside the wick tube. Wipe off the smoke and soot on the mica, the inside of the cylinder and the perforated plate under the burners. Turn up the wick and wipe off any sand adhering and wipe the whole again with a dry cloth kept for this purpose only.

The school kitchen textbook