Part 12

Cook the macaroni as directed in the recipe for macaroni. Make white sauce of the milk, butter, flour, and seasoning, add the onion, ham, and macaroni. Put it into a buttered baking-dish, cover the top with the crumbs, and bake it until the crumbs are brown, heating the stones until the paper test shows a golden brown.

Serves six or eight persons.

Scalloped Oysters

1 pt. or 30 oysters 3 cups buttered crumbs ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt ¹⁄₄ cup oyster juice 1 tablespoon finely chopped celery leaves Few grains pepper

Wash the oysters, strain the juice through cheese-cloth. Put one-fourth of the crumbs in the bottom of a baking dish, add half the oysters, half the salt and pepper and celery leaves; repeat these layers, pour over it the oyster juice, and put the remaining crumbs on top. Bake it in an insulated oven till brown, as directed for scalloped dishes, page 225. If double this recipe is used allow three-quarters of an hour for the baking, and do not heat the stones quite so hot.

Macaroni and Cheese

1 cup macaroni in one-inch pieces 1 cup grated or shaved cheese ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt ¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper 2 cups buttered crumbs

Cook the macaroni in salted water as directed in the recipe for macaroni. When tender, drain it and add the salt, pepper, and cheese. Turn it into a buttered baking-dish and cover the top with the crumbs. Bake it until the crumbs are brown, heating the stones until the paper test shows a golden brown.

Serves six or seven persons.

Scalloped Chicken and Mushrooms

2 cups buttered crumbs 1¹⁄₂ cups cold, cooked chicken or fowl 1 cup White Sauce ¹⁄₆ teaspoon celery salt ¹⁄₂ cup mushrooms

Cut the chicken in small pieces, slice or cut the mushrooms small. Put one-fourth of the crumbs into a buttered baking-dish. Mix the other ingredients and pour them into the dish. Spread the remaining crumbs on top and bake it in an insulated oven till brown, as directed for scalloped dishes, page 225.

Scalloped Tomatoes

1 can of whole tomatoes, or 8 good-sized raw tomatoes 3 cups soft breadcrumbs 3 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon salt ¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper 1 small onion

If canned tomatoes are used, drain away the liquid from them, using only the solid tomatoes. If raw tomatoes are used, scald them in boiling water and remove the skins and hard core. Melt the butter, add the crumbs, and stir them lightly until they are evenly buttered. Put one cupful in the bottom of a baking dish, lay the tomatoes over them, sprinkle the salt, pepper and grated onion over these and cover the top with the remaining crumbs. Bake them for one hour in an insulated oven, heating the stones until the paper test, given on page 225, shows a light brown colour.

Serves six or eight persons.

Scalloped Apples (Brown Betty)

3 cups chopped sour apples 2 cups soft breadcrumbs 4 tablespoons butter ¹⁄₂ cup brown sugar ¹⁄₄ teaspoon cinnamon ¹⁄₄ teaspoon nutmeg ¹⁄₂ lemon, juice and rind ¹⁄₄ cup water

Melt the butter, add the crumbs, and stir them till they are evenly buttered. Mix the spice and grated rind with the sugar. Divide the buttered crumbs in quarters. Into a buttered baking dish put one-fourth of the crumbs. On this layer spread one-half the apples, then one-half the sugar. Sprinkle half of the lemon juice and water over this. Repeat these layers with one-fourth the crumbs and the remaining apple, sugar, etc. Cover the top with the crumbs that are left. Bake it for one hour and a half in an insulated oven. The stones should be heated till the test given on page 225 will show the papers a delicate brown colour. Look at the apples at the end of one hour, closing the oven after a quick glance, and alter the heat of the oven, if necessary. Serve it with Hard Sauce.

Serves five or six persons.

Rice Pudding

1 qt. milk ¹⁄₄ cup rice ¹⁄₂ cup sugar ¹⁄₈ teaspoon salt ¹⁄₈ teaspoon nutmeg

Put all the ingredients together in a baking-dish. Bake it for three hours in an insulated oven. The stones should be heated until the paper test, given on page 225, will show a light brown shade. The pudding, if correctly baked, will be creamy, with a golden brown, soft crust on top.

Serves five or six persons.

Pastry for Two Crusts

1¹⁄₄ cups pastry flour ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking-powder ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt ¹⁄₃ or ¹⁄₂ cup butter or lard Water

Mix and sift the dry ingredients together; cut the butter or lard in with a fork. Add enough water to make a paste barely moist enough to hold together, using a knife and cutting through the dough to mix it. Roll half of it with as little pressure of the rolling-pin as possible, until it is about one-eighth of an inch thick. If a two-crust pie is to be made, lay this crust on the inside of an unbuttered pie plate, trim the edge, and put the trimmings with the remaining paste and roll it out for the upper crust. If a single under crust is to be used, as for lemon pie, lay the paste on the outside of a pie plate, trim the edge and prick through the crust in several places. Bake it for about fifteen minutes in a moderate insulated oven, with the pie plate upside down in the oven. Remove the baked crust and fill it.

Apple Pie

Sour apples ¹⁄₂ cup sugar 1 lemon, juice and rind ¹⁄₂ tablespoon butter ¹⁄₈ teaspoon cinnamon

Make pie crust by the preceding recipe, put half of it in the bottom of the plate. Pare enough apples to fill the pie heaping full, when cored and cut into eighths. Fill the pie with the apples, spread the sugar and cinnamon and grated rind over them. Roll out the upper crust, cut several gashes in it to allow steam to escape; lay it over the pie, trim the edges and press them together with a fork. Bind the edge of the pie by laying around it a wet strip of cloth about one inch wide. Bake it for one-half hour in an insulated oven with the stones heated until the paper test shows a golden brown colour.

Apple and berry pies are better made without an under crust in an extra deep pie plate.

Berry Pie

Pick over the berries. Line a deep plate with crust, or omit the lower crust; fill the pie heaping full of berries, cover them with one-half cupful or more of sugar mixed with one-fourth cupful of flour. Add the upper crust, bind it, and bake it as apple pie. The amount of sugar will depend upon the acidity of the fruit.

Cherry or Plum Pie

Wash the fruit, remove the stones, and make the pie in the same manner as berry pie.

Pumpkin Pie

1¹⁄₂ cups cooked pumpkin 1 cup boiling milk 1 egg ¹⁄₂ cup sugar ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt ¹⁄₃ teaspoon cinnamon

Cook the pumpkin as directed on page 152. Put it into a cloth and press it with the back of a strong spoon to squeeze out the water. Mix all the ingredients, put it into a pan set over a cooker-pail of boiling water; stir it until it is 165 degrees Fahrenheit, then put the whole into a cooker for one hour. Fill the baked crust with the mixture. Cover the top thickly with whipped cream.

Lemon Pie

¹⁄₂ cup flour 1 cup sugar, granulated 1 cup boiling water 3 tablespoons lemon juice Rind of one lemon 4 teaspoons butter ¹⁄₄ cup powdered sugar 2 eggs

Mix the sugar and flour together, add the boiling water slowly, stirring it all the time. Boil it gently for twenty minutes, stirring it frequently. Mix the lemon with the yolks, pour the hot mixture slowly on the yolks, return it to the fire and cook it below boiling point until the eggs have thickened; then add the butter. Cool the filling a little before putting it into a baked crust. Beat the whites of eggs until very stiff, add the sugar, and when barely mixed with the whites, spread it over the pie for a meringue; bake it till a delicate brown in a very hot oven, or put it for a few minutes into an insulated oven with one very hot stone close over the pie. Serve it warm, but not hot.

Serves five or six persons.

Baked Apples

Wash and core sour apples of uniform size. Put them into a pudding dish, fill the cores with sugar, and if more is desired put it into the bottom of the dish, not over the apples. Pour in enough boiling water to fill the dish one-fourth full. Bake them in an insulated oven for one-half to three-quarters of an hour, depending upon the size and ripeness of the apples. The stones should be heated until the paper test shows a golden brown colour.

Baked Spiced Apples

6 apples 30 cloves 2 cups water ²⁄₃ cup sugar 6 slices lemon

Pare the apples, remove the cores and stick five whole cloves into each apple. Make a syrup of the water and sugar. Put the apples into a pudding dish, pour the syrup over them, and place a slice of lemon over the top of each. Bake them in a slow insulated oven for one hour with the stones heated until the paper test shows a light brown.

Baked Pears

Prepare and cook the pears as directed for baked sweet apples. If desired, a bit of butter the size of a bean may be put on each pear before baking.

Baked Quinces

Prepare and cook the quinces as directed in the recipe for baked sweet apples. Twice as much sugar and water will be required for quinces, and, perhaps, more time for baking. This will depend upon the size and ripeness of the fruit. It is usually cut in halves before baking.

Baked Sweet Apples

8 sweet apples ¹⁄₃ cup sugar 1 cup boiling water

Prepare the apples as for baked apples. Cook them in a slow insulated oven, for about three hours. The stones should be heated until the paper barely changes colour, as explained in the test given on page 225.

Bread

1 pt. water or milk 1 tablespoon butter or lard 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons sugar ¹⁄₄ cake compressed or ¹⁄₂ cake dry yeast and ¹⁄₂ cup warm water, or ¹⁄₂ cup liquid yeast Flour to make a dough

Soak the yeast for a few minutes in the half cupful of warm water. Scald the milk or boil the water, add the fat, let it cool till lukewarm, then add the remaining ingredients, except the flour. If compressed yeast is used, add as much flour as is needed to make a dough that may be kneaded. If dry yeast or liquid yeast is used, add only one and one-half pints of flour; beat the mixture well, and let it rise till full of bubbles, usually over night; then add the remaining flour. The rest of the process is the same, no matter what yeast is used. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, return it to the bowl, set it in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size. Knead it again until all large bubbles are pressed out, mould it into two loaves, put it into greased pans and let it again rise until it has doubled in size. Heat the insulated oven stones until the paper test, given on page 225, shows a golden brown. Put the bread in and bake it from fifty minutes to one hour. If two stones will not make a hot oven for a large amount of bread to be baked, use hot flatirons or stove lids to supplement them.

Rolls

Add one tablespoon of butter to the recipe for bread, or knead the butter into the dough just before moulding it. Shape it into rolls, put them into a buttered pan, and when risen to a little more than double their size, bake them for twenty minutes in an insulated oven with stones that will turn the paper a rich brown, as explained in the test on page 225.

Baking Powder Biscuits

4 teaspoons baking-powder, or 1 teaspoon soda and two teaspoons cream of tartar 1 pt. flour ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons butter or lard ³⁄₄ to 1 cup milk or water

Mix and sift the dry ingredients, work in the fat with the fingers, or mash it in with a fork. Add the liquid, one-third at a time, mixing the dough in three separate portions in the bowl. Cut through these three masses until they are barely mixed, then roll the dough to about one-half inch thickness; cut it into biscuits, lay them on a greased pan, brush the tops with milk or melted butter, and bake them for fifteen or twenty minutes in an insulated oven with stones heated so as to turn the paper a rich, dark brown, as explained in the test on page 225.

Cup Cake

¹⁄₂ cup butter 1 cup sugar 1¹⁄₂ cups flour 2 eggs ¹⁄₂ cup milk ¹⁄₂ teaspoon nutmeg, or 1 teaspoon vanilla 1¹⁄₂ teaspoons baking-powder ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt

Cream the butter, add the sugar, then the beaten yolks of eggs. Mix and sift the dry ingredients, add them, one-third at a time, to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk. Beat the whites till stiff, add them and the vanilla, beat the dough till barely mixed, and pour it into a greased pan. The dough should not much more than half fill the pan. Bake it for forty minutes in an insulated oven, tested as explained on page 225, for loaves of cake.

This recipe may be varied by adding one-half cupful of raisins, currants, chopped citron or nuts. Or two ounces of chocolate may be melted and added to the dough.

If baked in layers or in gem pans the stones must be heated somewhat hotter than for a loaf cake. Allow fifteen or twenty minutes in the oven.

Sour Cream Cake

3 large eggs 1 cup sugar ³⁄₄ cup thick sour cream ¹⁄₂ teaspoon soda ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking powder 1¹⁄₂ cups flour ¹⁄₄ teaspoon nutmeg 1 cup raisins

Beat the yolks of the eggs, add the sugar, then the cream. Mix and sift the dry ingredients, add them to the liquid mixture, then add the raisins, which have been floured with a little of the measured flour, and, lastly, the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Put it into a greased pan and bake it for forty minutes in an insulated oven, heated for loaf cake, as explained in the test on page 225.

Apple Sauce Cake

(Made without butter, milk or eggs)

¹⁄₂ cup white veal or beef drippings 1 cup sugar 1 cup sour apple sauce 1¹⁄₂ teaspoons cinnamon ¹⁄₄ teaspoon cloves 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 cup raisins 1 teaspoon soda 2 cups flour

Mix the ingredients in the order given, beat the dough well, put it into a greased pan, and bake it for forty minutes in an insulated oven, heated for loaf cakes, as explained on page 225.

This cake seems, when baked, very much like any spice cake.

Sponge Cake

6 eggs 1 cup sugar Juice and rind of ¹⁄₂ lemon 1 cup flour ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt

Beat the yolks of the eggs, add the sugar and lemon; beat the whites of eggs till stiff, add them to the mixture, and when barely mixed add the flour and salt, folding them in lightly. Put it into a bright, ungreased tin, and bake it fifty minutes or an hour in an oven heated not quite so hot as for butter cakes. The paper should turn light brown when tested as explained on page 225.

Let the cake stand five minutes before removing it from the pan.

Plum Cake

¹⁄₂ cup butter 2 cups sugar 4 eggs ¹⁄₄ cup chopped nuts ¹⁄₄ cup candied orange peel 1 cup raisins 1 cup currants ⁵⁄₈ cup pickled fruit syrup or molasses 2 cups flour ¹⁄₂ teaspoon soda ¹⁄₂ teaspoon cream of tartar 2 teaspoons mixed spices

Mix and sift the flour, soda, cream of tartar, and spices. Put all the ingredients together in the order given, flouring the fruit with a little of the measured flour. Put it into a greased pan and bake it for one and one-quarter hours in an insulated oven, with stones heated as explained on page 225, till the paper is a light brown.

Rich Fruit Cake

¹⁄₂ lb. butter (1 cup) ¹⁄₂ lb. sugar (1 cup) 6 eggs ¹⁄₄ cup brandy ¹⁄₄ cup lemon juice Rind of 1 lemon, grated 2 cups blanched, chopped almonds ¹⁄₂ lb. citron ¹⁄₄ lb. candied orange peel 1 teaspoon nutmeg ¹⁄₂ teaspoon cloves 1 teaspoon cinnamon ¹⁄₂ teaspoon allspice 1 lb. raisins 1 lb. currants ¹⁄₂ lb. flour (1³⁄₄ cups)

Line the pan with three thicknesses of paper, buttering the top layer. Mix the flour and spices. Flour all the fruit except the citron. Mix the ingredients in the order in which they are given. The pan may be filled nearly full, as this cake rises but little. Bake it for three hours or more in a very moderate insulated oven. Test the stones as explained on page 225, until the paper will barely change colour. If, at the end of two hours, the cake is not browned at all, take out one or both of the stones very quickly and heat them again till they will slightly brown the tissue paper. The oven must be promptly closed when the stones are removed, or the cake will be injured. Test it with a steel knitting needle or straw. The needle will come out only a little greasy when the cake is done.

Let the cake stand at least five minutes after removing it from the oven before taking out of the pans, or it is likely to break. Fruit cake should be kept for at least a week in a tightly covered tin box or a crock, before it is ready for use. It will keep for months, and improves with time.

XXIV

MENUS

The planning of a menu is an art in itself. Only a knowledge of the food value of different dishes, combined with a good sense of taste and fitness, and some idea of the comparative wholesomeness of different methods of cooking, can produce a meal that is scientifically correct as well as pleasing to the palate. And now the conditions under which menus must be planned will be further modified in order to obtain the freedom from the kitchen that fireless cookery makes possible. It is thought that a classified time-table of the various dishes given in the book, giving the length of time which they require or may be allowed to cook, will be of assistance in grouping dishes that can be started at one time, put on to cook, perhaps, in one cooker, and left for the same period of time.

The illustration at the head of this chapter, shows a cooker-pail so arranged as to cook more than one article at once. With this arrangement a cooker with several compartments would accommodate a number of different foods at one time.

The fireless cooker makes it possible to plan a breakfast which would be ready to serve at once, or would take only a few minutes to prepare. If started in the evening, cereals may cook all night, and be entirely ready in the morning; some meat dishes may cook all night. Coffee, although better when made fresh, may be put into the cooker over night, cereal coffees being at their best after all-night cooking. With these for a basis, the menu may be varied by dishes which would cook quickly, such as eggs; or which might cook through the night and be completed in a few minutes in the morning, such as creamed codfish; or which might be cooked the day before, if served cold, such as stewed fruits; or by fresh fruits. But little of the precious early morning time would thus be required.

BREAKFASTS

No. 1

All dishes cooked over night, or served cold. Ready to serve at once.

Apple Sauce Oatmeal Beef or mutton stew Postum

No. 2

Ready to serve in fifteen minutes.

Stewed rhubarb (served cold) Cream of Wheat (cooked all night) Soft-cooked eggs (cooked in the morning in the already warm water over which the cereal was cooked) Coffee (cooked in the morning or over night)

No. 3

Ready to serve in ten minutes.

Stewed prunes (served cold) Cornmeal mush (cooked all night) Stewed kidney (cooked all night, finished in the morning) Cocoa (cooked in the morning or all night)

For a midday dinner the cooker may often be filled in the morning, after breakfast, with foods requiring about three or four hours to cook, such as vegetable soup, beef stew, spinach, etc. Where a late dinner is served, it may be filled in the morning and allowed to stand all day, provided foods are chosen that need or will not be harmed by the long cooking; or it may be partly filled after breakfast and other dishes be added after lunch. Even where the entire meal is not cooked in a fireless cooker, it may be convenient to have one or two dishes so prepared, and the remainder served cold or cooked on the stove.

DINNERS

No. 1

To be left in the cooker three or four hours.

Creole soup Veal cutlets Mashed potatoes Carrots Stewed celery Rice pudding

No. 2

Put into the cooker in the morning and cooked all day.

Cream of celery soup Pot roast Beets Dried lima beans Tapioca fruit pudding (previously cooked and served cold)

No. 3

Put into the cooker in the morning and cooked all day.

Mutton broth Stuffed heart Cabbage String beans Compote of rice and fruit (previously cooked and served cold)

No. 4

Part cooked all day, and part cooked through the afternoon.

Consommé Fricasseed chicken Samp Winter squash Creamed turnips Stewed figs with cream

SUPPERS OR LUNCHES

No. 1

Hot dishes in the cooker two hours.

Breaded veal cutlets Creamy potatoes Stewed apricots Cookies Cocoa

No. 2

Hot dishes requiring only one hour to cook.

Turkish pilaf Salmon loaf Lettuce salad Canned quinces Cake Tea

MIDNIGHT SUPPERS

Served after theatre or entertainment, the hot dish to be put into the cooker before going out. Ready to serve at once.

No. 1

Stewed oysters Saltines Celery Bonbons

No. 2

Cocoa Salad Bread and butter sandwiches Olives

APPENDIX

Reading references and experiments illustrating the principles upon which fireless cookery is based.

_1. A test of the insulating powers of different materials._

_Apparatus:_

One or more boxes and fittings, described on pages 9 to 11.

One or more pails of the same size, shape and material, preferably of from two to four quarts’ capacity, with close fitting covers.

Cooking thermometer Wool Mineral wool Cotton batting or waste Excelsior Hay Sawdust Newspapers Ground cork Southern moss Pencil Notebook

Pack the box successively with as many of the different packing materials given above as are to be tested, following the directions given on page 15; or have several exactly similar boxes packed at the same time. For all tests fill the cooker-pail with water, bring it to the boiling point, let it boil one minute, to permit all parts of the utensil and its contents to reach the same temperature; then put it at once into the cooker-box and leave it for an equal length of time, not less than one hour. Record the temperature of the contents of the pail at the expiration of this period. In order to get a full record and a fair comparison it would be well to repeat this experiment with varying periods of time, taking the temperature, for instance, at the end of one, three, six, nine, and twelve hours. In taking temperatures do not wholly remove the cushion and cover of the pail, but slip them to one side, enough to insert the thermometer. This is, of course, a crude method of taking temperatures, but answers for purposes of comparison. If it is desired to make more accurate records this can be done by boring the cover of the box, the cushion and the pail cover, and inserting a thermometer through corks which are used to close the bored holes. The temperature can then be read while the apparatus is closed. However, the first method, if carefully done, will give probably within one degree of the correct temperature. Record the results in tabular form.

Which material do you find gives the best insulation?

Winkelmann,[4] Duff,[5] and other writers on physics give tables of the conductivity of felt, asbestos paper, paper, cotton, flannel, and other materials; but as different figures are shown, from different sources, for the same material, it is likely that the insulating power of any material used for packing a cooker will depend as much or more upon the way it is packed as upon the material used.

[4] “Handbuch der Physik.”

[5] “Textbook of Physics.”

_Experiment: Conductivity of different materials._

Take a piece of copper wire about six inches long in one hand, and a piece of steel wire of the same length and thickness in the other. Put one end of each piece in a flame, holding the wire by the extreme end. Notice which first becomes too hot to hold at the end farthest from the flame. This illustrates the different conductivity of the two materials, steel and copper. There is not a great deal of difference in the conductivity of different materials, but metals are relatively good conductors, and air is a very poor conductor.