The methods of steaming and boiling by the plans which have been given, are so efficient that it would seem that no more could be desired. But there are some foods that can never be acceptable unless they are baked. The golden brown color produced by dry heat is gratifying to the eye. A crispy crust, too, is desirable. Certainly an oven is necessary to completely satisfy us.

It proves to be perfectly feasible to insulate an oven, and heat it by means of soapstone griddles and fire brick. The size of the oven, the quality of its insulation, the force of the fire, and the position of the stone slabs in relation to the flame, are all factors to be considered in heating the oven. A bit of paper to test the heat of the stone slabs, a glance at the clock, and some innate good sense, will combine in determining to a nicety just how much heat is being transferred from the flame to the oven. The merchants supply soap-stone griddles with good handles; and it is easy to have suitable and convenient handles put on other soapstone slabs by which to lift them. When attention to all these details has produced an oven which will remain heated for an entire day, with no more fire and a cool kitchen, no one can question the value of an insulated oven. The moment the hot stones enter the oven the heat begins to distribute itself evenly throughout the enclosure, and the consequence is that the baking is uniform, and a loaf of bread, for instance, will have an evenly browned crust over the entire surface.

Breads, meats, apples, potatoes, cookies, cakes, custards, anything, may be baked in an insulated oven, and more certainly just right than in an oven with a fluctuating temperature. Perhaps the greatest advantage is in baking foods which require a long time, because the oven will hold its heat all day or all night. Repeated opening, of course, cools it. But even so, baking day is divested of that constant care of a big fire, and you may cool the air of the room to your liking. The baking of many pies, cakes, cookies, etc., in close succession requires the reheating of a partially cooled slab only a few times.

Suppose an oven to be heated for gems or biscuits for breakfast. At ten o'clock bread may be baked by putting in with it one freshly heated slab. An hour later take out the bread and put in a cake with one opening of the oven and no additional heat. Some thoroughly heated vegetables and meat for dinner may be put in with the cake. A shortcake may follow; and when it is taken out put in beans, already very hot from the cooker kettle to remain several hours.

The time required for baking food is necessarily determined by the size of the oven and the amount of heat you can put into it and keep there. It will be an easy task to learn the secrets of your own stove. Suppose you try something that your family likes and that you make frequently for your first effort. Your knowledge of cooking and cookery by old methods will avail to supply the lack where these suggestions are faulty. A long acquaintance with an oven of this kind will justify a close attachment to it.

You can bake in your stew kettles. It is easier and takes less fuel to heat the stones for a single kettle than to heat the larger stones for an entire oven. The kettle affords room for one deep dish of food and one hot stone below and one above it. Two shallow pans of biscuits, or two layers of cake may be put in at the same time. Put the hot kettle, filled with its food and the hot stones, in the pocket in the box. The things will bake in about the time that they will in an oven. A wide kettle and two soapstone griddles are needed for this work. We used hot stove lids for our first experiments. Use wire teastands to separate the dish containing the food from direct contact with a too hot stone.