The interior of the fireless cooker should be kept absolutely clean. It should be washed, dried, and sunned, if possible, each time after being used. It should remain open for several hours after use, and it should never be tightly closed when not in use. The observance of these precautions prevents the food from acquiring an unpleasant taste from odors or remnants of food previously cooked.

For convenience, all equipment to be used in connection with the cooker, such as hot plates, hooks, racks, and cooking utensils, should be kept near the cooker. A shelf, a cupboard, or an improvised cabinet made from a box may serve as a convenient storage place.

The cooker itself should be placed near the stove, both to prevent unnecessary loss of heat in transferring the food from the stove to the cooker and to save labor on the part of the worker.

The soapstone radiators, when not in use, may be kept warm on the back of the stove or in the sun in order to reduce the length of time required to bring them to the desired temperature when they are needed.

The fireless cooker, like any other piece of equipment, should be used intelligently in order that the best results may be obtained. As previously stated, for certain cooking processes and under certain conditions, it may be no more economical in fuel, time, or labor, than is the ordinary range; therefore, fireless cookery should be studied carefully by the housewife in order that she may discover its best applications. A few experiments with various kinds of foods, based on recipes adapted to the use of a fireless cooker, are necessary in order to give one the desired mastery.

The efficiency of insulation, the quantity of food, and the rapidity of the transfer from the stove to the cooker, influence the length of time required for the cooking. The temperature to which the radiator is heated also determines to a certain extent the length of time the food should remain in the cooker. The period that gives the best results is more or less definite for each food. However, since individual tastes differ, definite statements in regard to the required time should be verified for each household.

Care should be given to correct proportions, because there is no opportunity for the evaporation of excess moisture in the cooker.

Foods, such as pancakes, that require rapid cooking over a hot fire, are not well suited to the fireless-cooker method. Biscuits may be baked successfully in the cooker, but since the heat required to raise the radiators to the proper temperature will bake the biscuits in an ordinary oven, there seems to be no justification for its use in this case. However, for foods that require long cooking in order to be made more palatable and digestible, the fireless cooker is admirably suited. Cereals such as rolled oats, cracked wheat, and hominy, give excellent results when cooked in a sufficient quantity of water in a fireless cooker (page 506). The tough cuts of meat, which require long cooking at a low temperature in order to be made palatable are good when properly cooked in a fireless cooker. Steamed breads and puddings are well adapted to this method.

Hot beverages and sauces may be set aside in the cooker to be kept hot for serving.

The use of the fireless cooker for canning fruits is recommended by some. The juices of fruits may be satisfactorily extracted for jelly-making. Various conditions, however, determine the practicability of its use for this purpose.

As a means of enabling one to have warm water at hand without keeping a fire, the fireless cooker is of use in homes where there is no boiler connected with the range, and especially when the fuel used is coal or wood, which necessitates building a fire.

Tables of proportions and time of cooking foods in a fireless cooker are given in Table XIV on page 219.

Table XIV. - Time-Table for Use with a Fireless Cooker

Food

Proportion of food to water

Minutes for boiling on the stove

Hours in the cooker

Cereals:

Corn-meal..............

1 to 6

10

6 or all night

Cracked wheat...........

1to5

25

8 or all night

Cream-of-wheat..........

lto6

5

2 or all night

Farina..................

lto7

5

2 or all night

Hominy grits............

lto5

15

8 or all night

Macaroni...............

lto4

5

2

Rice....................

lto4

5

2

Rolled oats..............

1 to 3

5

3 or all night

Vegetables:

Beans, dried (soaked and

cooked in the same water)

l to 4

5

6 or mora

Beans, string.............

l to l

2

2

Cabbage.................

l to l

2

1 1/2

Carrots..................

l to l

2

2

Onions................

l to l

2

2

Potatoes................

l to 1

2

2

Dried fruits:

Apples..................

1 to 2

5

4 or all night

Apricots................

l to 2

2

4 or all night

Peaches.................

1 to 2

2

4 or all night

Prunes (soaked and cooked

in the same water)......

1 to 2

5

4 or all night

Meats:

Beef, boiled..............

15

3

Beef, pot roast...........

30

5

Chicken, stewed.........

30

3

Ham, boiled.............

20

7

Mutton, leg or shoulder,

boiled.................

20

6

Mutton stew.............

10

4

Breads and puddings:

Brown bread............

30

5

Cup custard, steamed.....

..

1

Suet pudding............

30

5

Thermos Bottles

Thermos bottles may be used as miniature fireless cookers for a small amount of cereal or other food requiring long, slow cooking.