The Fireless Cooker and Its Uses 



1735 



very hot radiators are used. Since thermometers are not used in the 

 average home, and the radiators may be heated to an unnecessarily high 

 temperature, it seems safest to advise against the use of radiators unless 

 the insulator is not inflammable. Under no conditions can a very hot 

 radiator above the food be safe, because it is too near the muslin of 

 the cushion. While baking is impossible without the use of radiators, 

 there are sufficient other processes for which the homemade cooker may 

 be used to warrant the trouble and the small cost of making one. 



The cost of a homemade fireless cooker may range from about one dollar 

 and a half to eight dollars or more, depending on the materials used. 

 If several sizes of aluminum pails with clamps and covers are bought 

 for food containers, the cost may equal that of a small commercial cooker. 



Fig. 66. a homemade and a commercial fireless cooker 



These are slightly more than one foot high, which is the smallest size practicable 



The insulated oven, or automatic cookstove, has the advantage over 

 che ordinary fireless cooker of being still more economical in regard to 

 heat and labor and of eliminating an additional piece of equipment in 

 the kitchen, because, as ordinarily made, it has top burners also, and 

 hence takes the place of the usual range. In the insulated oven both 

 the preliminarv^ heating of the food and the complete cooking process 

 are accomplished; consequently, both the loss of heat occasioned by 

 transferring the food container from the stove to the cooker and the labor 

 of this motion are eliminated. Moreover, the walls of the oven itself 

 are heated and do not draw the heat from the food. There are now 

 on the market insulated ovens, adapted to the use of gas, electricity, and 



