FIRELESS COOKERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 290, 7 December 1943, Page 5

FIRELESS COOKERS

NOW IMPORTANT AGAIN Shortage of fuels f<?r cooking and low pressure of gas is causing considerable inconvenience to housewives in the cooking of meals, which are often delayed. The fireless cooker—all the vogue several years ago—is becoming important again. It is especially useful during the summer months and is a saving 01 time and fuel. With the fireless method the full value of the food is retained. Take, for instance, the breakfast oatmeal. Any Scotsman will tell you that oatmeal, or rolled oats needs long, slow cooking to be really fully flavoured and palatable. A fireless cooker is fine for the breakfast porridge. It makes rice tender, and meats for stews are better flavoured when cooked this way, as also are vegetables, which retain a better shape and do not lose their mineral salts. Food to go Into the cooker must be first made as hot as possible on the stove. The time required varies from a few minutes for small vegetables and grains to lialf an hour or longer for a large piece of meat, a tongue or ham. Then it is immediately put into the cooker. Once there it stays hot and keeps on cooking. Five to eight hours is required for foods where the utensil is full of food. Small quantities of food must be put in small utensils, then put in a regular cooking pot and surrounded with hot water. Reheat the food that requires long cooking if it cools before it is finished. You can make the fireless cooker yourself with a good-sized box or a garbage tin with a tight cover. The packing material may be sawdust, tightly crumpled newspapers, or any other good non-conducting material that can be packed closely. If asbestos paper is available, hn| the tin with this and pack several layers of newspapers around the sides and at the bottom. Use one large, tightlycovered utensil or three small ones to hold the food. Cover the top with a circle of asbestos paper and several layers of newspapers, and make a round, thick cushion to just over the outside cover of the utensil containing the food, then put the cover "of the outer can on tightly. This makes a practical cooker at Sll Crowd St the packing material in tichtly to prevent the heat trom escaping from your hot food. In this cooker you can do every kind of cooking except baking and frying.