A cushion should be made to cover the kettle. If more than one kettle is used a cushion should be made for each. The cushion must be thick enough to fill the box when the kettle is in place. Cut two pieces of muslin or denim the sizes of top of box and join with a strip which is four or five inches wide; fill with same material used in packing the box. There should always be a slight pressure when the lid is closed.
The box is now ready for cooking. If the whole space is not firmly filled after considerable use, more stuffing should be added. If a covering is wanted for the stuffing, the simplest thing to use is a sheet of very heavy paper, at least one inch larger than the top of box; draw a circle in center of it the size of the pail. From center of circle cut with sharp scissors to edge, to strike it at intervals of about 1½ inch. Fit paper over top of packing so that circle will come just over nest for pail. Place pail in nest and it will crease the paper down at exactly the right place.
Since it is very important for the food to be placed into the cooker while it is still boiling, the box should be placed as near to the stove as possible. Everything should be ready before the food is taken from the fire; the cooker open and the cushion removed. The box must be kept tightly closed from the time the food is put in until it is entirely done. If it is necessary to open the box before appointed time, the contents must be reheated to the boiling point before it is replaced. Though the time necessary to cook the foods on the stove is very short, they must be boiled until heated to the center. Thus the denser and larger the food, the longer it will take to heat.
THE ADVANTAGES OF THE FIRELESS COOKER.
One of the advantages of the fireless cooker has been mentioned—the small amount of cooking over a fire, which means a great saving of fuel and attention. The housekeeper may put the food into the cooker and forget about it until meal time comes, busying herself in the meantime with other things, or perhaps leaving home. She knows that the food is not being ruined by burning, and that it will come to the table with its full flavor unimpaired.
The pails used in a fireless cooker are easier to clean than pans which have had the food burned into them, and the kitchen is never made a degree warmer by use of the cooker, which is certainly agreeable during the hot summer weather, and even onions may be cooked without the odor pervading the house.
Nearly all foods may be cooked in the fireless cooker except those which have to be crisp or brown, though roast meat may be browned either before placing in the cooker or when the process of cooking is nearly finished. Cereals, one of the most wholesome foods known, are greatly improved by use of the fireless cooker. The long cooking makes them more digestible and gives them a flavor which they lack when cooked only fifteen or twenty minutes.
Any person having a fair idea of the general principles of cooking will need very little instruction for the successful use of the fireless cooker. The following recipes do not pretend to cover the wide variety of food possible to fireless cookery, but only give an idea in the preparation of a few simple dishes that might be used for most any meal.
BEEF BROTH.
Wash one pound of lean beef from the shoulder or round. Chop the meat fine and remove pieces of fat; put meat into a pint of cold water with one-fourth teaspoon of salt and let it soak in a cold place for an hour. Place meat in a small cooker pan set over a large cooker pail of hot (but not boiling) water; heat the broth until it registers 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Slip pails into cooker for half an hour. Strain through coarse wire strainer, remove fat and serve at once in a heated cup. It may be chilled or frozen to the consistency of mush.