By the adoption of one of the plans outlined, or such modifications of them as the peculiar requirements of the district may demand, every rural school may do something, not only toward giving a real knowledge of some phases of Household Science, but also toward developing the community spirit and arousing an interest in the school, which will benefit all concerned.
At the present time there is urgent need for thrift and economy in all that pertains to the management of the household—particularly in food and fuel. In the average home much fuel could be saved by the proper use of what is known as the fireless cooker. The scientific principle applied has long been known and is, briefly, as follows: If a hot body is protected by a suitable covering, the heat in it will be retained for a long time, instead of being lost by radiation or conduction. This is why a cosy is placed over a tea-pot.
In using a fireless cooker, the food is first heated on the stove until the cooking has begun, and then it is placed in the fireless cooker—a tight receptacle in which the food is completely surrounded by some insulating substance to prevent the rapid escape of the heat, which in this way is retained in the food in sufficient quantity to complete the cooking. Sometimes, when a higher cooking temperature is desired, an additional source of heat, in the form of a hot soapstone or brick or an iron plate such as a stove lid, is put into the cooker with the food.
The same principle is also employed in cookery in other ways. For example, in camp life beans are often baked by burying the pots overnight in hot stones and ashes, the whole being covered with earth; and in the "clam bakes" on the Atlantic Coast, the damp seaweed spread over the embers on the clams prevents the escape of the heat during cooking. The peasants in some parts of Europe are said to begin the cooking of their dinners and then to put them into hay boxes or between feather beds, so that the cooking may be completed while the family is absent in the fields.
The chief advantages in the use of the fireless cooker are these:
1. It saves fuel, especially where gas, oil, or electric stoves are used. Where coal or wood is the fuel, the fire in the range is often kept up most of the day, and the saving of fuel is not so great. In summer, or when the kitchen fire is not needed for heating purposes, the dinner can be started in the stove early in the morning, and then placed in the fireless cooker, the fire in the range being allowed to go out. During the hot weather, the use of a kerosene or other liquid-fuel stove and a fireless cooker is a great convenience, since it not only accomplishes a saving in fuel, but helps to keep the kitchen cooler. The saving in fuel resulting from the use of a fireless cooker is greatest in the preparation of foods such as stews, which require long and slow cooking.
2. It saves time. Foods cooked in this way do not require watching, and may be left, without danger from fires or of over-cooking, while other duties are being performed or the family is away from home.
3. It conserves the flavour of the food and makes it easier to utilize the cheaper cuts of meat which, although not having so fine a texture or flavour, are fully as nutritious, pound for pound, as the more expensive cuts. Long cooking at a relatively low temperature, such as is given to foods in the fireless cooker, improves the flavour and texture of these tougher cuts of meat. Most people do not cook cereals long enough. By this method, the cereal may be prepared at night, cooked on the stove for about fifteen minutes, and then put in the fireless cooker. In the morning it will be cooked and ready to be served.