Fig. 82 is the “Metropolitan gas kitchener” (H. and C. Davis & Co., 198 and 200, Camberwell Road, London). This is constructed of wrought iron, the whole of the top, sides, door, and back being jacketed with a non-conductor. The outer casing is of galvanized iron, the inner casing is not galvanized, but is treated with a preparation to prevent rust. These are made in all sizes.
The ovens of gas ranges are ventilated upon the same principle as the ovens of other ranges, but as there are no flues to discharge the steam and smell into, a hood, as just spoken of, must be provided, otherwise the smell may pervade the house.
These are but a few of the many makes of gas stoves.
In addition to ranges many other forms of gas apparatus adapted for cooking are made, such as hot-closets, hot-plates, salamanders, grills, coffee roasters, &c., &c. Gas ranges can now be obtained upon hire from nearly all gas companies at very low charges, in fact, the charges can but barely cover first cost, but the reason for this low charge is obvious. See also p. [1004].
Oil.—Oil cooking stoves are to be recommended for their convenience where gas and the more bulky fuel, coal, are not attainable. They are especially well adapted for camping out, picnics, &c., and in many instances they can be recommended for domestic use. With ordinary care, they may be said to be odourless and smokeless, very cleanly, and the makers assert that they are very economical. They are so constructed that neither the oil nor products of combustion in any way come in contact with whatever is being cooked, and consequently there is no faint or objectionable flavour. They can be stood upon a table or in almost any position with perfect safety, and as will be seen from the illustration (Fig. 83), every part is easily accessible.
83. Rippingille’s A B C Oil Kitchener.
Fig. 83 is Rippingille’s “A B C Oil Kitchener” (Holborn Lamp and Stove Company, 118 Holborn, London), with oven, boiler, and hot-plate, price 3l. 18s. 6d. These stoves are made in sizes from the breakfast-cooker (15s.) to those with 2 ovens, and suitable for a family, costing about 5l. They are also made for boiling only, in different sizes, and even fitted with a small hot-water circulating apparatus for heating.
Pots and Pans.—Iron is cheap, and lasts. It is all very well so long as it is kept clean; but that seldom happens. Buy a saucepan brush and silver sand, and see that it is used. See that your iron saucepans are lined with tin, and not with brown rust and dirt, and know once for all that an iron saucepan 6 months old should be as bright inside as it was on the day when it was bought. Understand yourself, and then try to explain to others, that a saucepan, whether of tin, iron, or anything else, must be scrubbed both outside and in. How common it is to see a saucepan crusted outside with soot, which no one has ever attempted to remove. It gets red hot, and burns the saucepan as well as its contents, and the bill of the ironmonger grows apace, and the soup is burnt and spoilt, and every one blames the cook, while no one thinks of the scrubber. There are not a few cooks, old enough to know better, who direct that the scrubbing of saucepans should be done by the hand. Why the hand is to be hardened and the nails to be ground down to the quick, in order to do slowly what a 6d. saucepan-brush would do quickly, is hard to say. Another excellent saucepan scrubber, though not so common or so cheap as the brush, is a small square piece of steel chainwork—a piece of chain armour, in fact. A bunch of twigs or a wisp of straw, though better than nothing generally, leaves something to be desired in the way of brightness. When the soot disappears from the outside, and the dirt from inside, half the faults of iron saucepans disappear also. For beef tea, however, some recommend glass or earthenware—a soda-water bottle or a jampot, if there is nothing better—to be set inside the saucepan of boiling water, however bright it may be; for invalids are fastidious, and beef tea always tastes of the saucepan if possible. Tin saucepans, especially the low-priced ones, are by no means cheap. They are often met with in the homes of the poor, and in poor localities in towns ironmongers underbid each other until the cost of a saucepan only reaches a few pence. How dear these saucepans are in the long run, no one knows who has not used them on the open fireplace, upon which in these poor homes they are generally placed. It is impossible to fry in them without risk of losing the bottom; it is difficult to stew, because the heat passes through very rapidly. Tin is little trouble to clean, so there is no excuse for dirt or dulness, outside or in. The fault often lies in leaving the lid on after cleaning is done, and the result is damp and rust. All saucepans should be kept in a dry place, bottom upwards, and without their lids; if they are dried before the fire so much the better. A clean tin saucepan may be used for many purposes where iron is inadmissible; but “clean” is not to be interpreted as meaning a saucepan carelessly wiped out with a greasy cloth, and left to dry or to rust as chance may befall. Rust and dirt are not flavourless articles of cookery. Suppose clear soup or jelly is to be made. In an iron pan it will be not clear, but thick; in a clean tin pan or even a fish-kettle it will be not the fault of the pan, but of the cook, if the jelly be not as clear as glass. The least speck of rust, the smallest remainder of yesterday’s cooking will spoil either jelly or soup. Why, indeed, should not tin serve all purposes, since it is with tin that all copper pans are (or should be) lined? And copper pans are the ne plus ultra of culinary furniture. The grand difference lies in the fact that tin pans are thin, the heat penetrates them quickly, and therefore they are apt to burn, while copper is thick and a slow conductor of heat. Perhaps something may also be said on the score of shape. There is an ugly seam round the bottom of tin pans, where rust is likely to collect; and the best block-tin saucepans are generally made with sides sloping in towards the top, as if for the express purpose of producing lumps in all gravies and rust in all weathers. Why this form ever was or continues to be fashionable, it is not easy to say. There is, however, another argument in favour of copper stewpans, namely this—that cooks will take the trouble to clean them, while they think half the time and labour wasted on tin, which can be replaced at small cost. Let us grant, as readily as you please, that copper is the best material; still it is certain that its cost will always place it out of reach of modest housewives; therefore the first substitute is plenty of soap, sand, and labour expended on iron or tin. The next substitute and a more common one, is enamel-lined iron. The difficulties here are two. First, the enamel is apt to chip, when all the defects of the native iron appear; secondly, the heat quickly penetrates, and is not quickly evaporated. An enamelled pan keeps its contents at boiling heat for some time after it is removed from the fire. It very often boils over, and it needs careful watching to prevent burning. An enamelled pan is not one to be selected for slow stewing. The substitute in many ways best of all is but little used in England. Earthenware pots have the many advantages of being cheap to buy, easy to clean, slow to burn, giving no unpleasant flavour to anything cooked. Perhaps the reason of their unpopularity is to be sought in the prevalence of open fires, and the fact that not all earthenware will stand any closer proximity to the fire than the top of an iron stove. Those delicate brown porcelain cooking utensils lined with white are excellent for delicate cookery on a close stove, but they are not suited to the rough wear and tear of an every-day kitchen, and considering their fragility, one cannot call them cheap. What we want is good strong brown earthenware, glazed inside, hardy enough to be set on an open fire, strong enough to withstand a few taps, and withal cheap enough to be readily replaced. That such a thing may be had, every one knows who has travelled out of England and kept their eyes open. They are common enough in Switzerland, in many parts of Germany, and our grandmothers would have said they were common in this country, as indeed they were 50 years ago. Though not common now, they are still to be bought, in price ranging from a few pence to 2s. One purpose for which they are particularly suited is the making of broth or stock out of odds and ends. Earthenware may be kept on the fire day after day, and finally lifted off the fire to grow cold with its contents; no draining or trouble is necessary, and no sour or metallic flavour will remain to shock the most fastidious palate. You may make by turns jelly and oatmeal porridge, and the same pot serves equally well for both—good for slow stewing on the hob, but perfectly serviceable on an open fire. There is perhaps no cooking material for common use to equal earthenware.