THE FIRELESS COOKER.
The idea of the fireless cooker is an old one, bringing things to a boil, placing into a box of hay and leaving for a few hours to cook—that method has been used by housewives in some European nations for a good many years.
The cooker is, of course, made upon the same principle as that almost indispensable article, the refrigerator. Instead of retaining the cold and keeping out the heat, the fireless cooker does the opposite by keeping food which has been brought to a boiling point at a temperature high enough to continue the process of cooking for many hours.
Every one has wrapped up ice in a newspaper or carpet to keep it from melting. In making the fireless cooker the material used for packing around the boiling food is paper, hay, wool or cork, because any one of these things is a poor conductor of heat—that is, the heat can not go through them easily. Though there are many makes of fireless cookers on the market, a home-made one will serve the purpose just as well, and for the convenience afforded requires a comparatively small amount of time and material.