360 On the Construction of Kitchen 



of what has been called a FAMILY BOILER : many of 

 them have already been sold, and have been found very 

 useful. Hints to Cooks concerning the Means that 

 may be used for improving some popular Dishes. 



AS the art of cooking with steam is well known, 

 and has long been successfully practised in this 

 country, it would be a waste of time to attempt to prove 

 what is universally acknowledged ; namely, that almost 

 every kind of food usually prepared for the table in 

 boiling water may be as well cooked, and in many 

 cases better, by means of boiling-hot steam. I shall 

 therefore confine my present inquiries to the investi- 

 gation of the best methods of confining and directing 

 steam, and employing it usefully with the most simple 

 and least expensive apparatus. 



Steam-kitchens, as they are called, consist of very 

 expensive machinery, and I have been informed, by 

 several persons who have used them, that they do not 

 produce any considerable saving of fuel. Bare inspec- 

 tion is, indeed, sufficient to show that they cannot be 

 economical in that respect ; for the surface of the tin 

 steam-vessel filled with hot steam that is exposed quite 

 naked to the cold air of the atmosphere is so great, that 

 it must necessarily occasion a very considerable loss of 

 heat. 



A primary object in contriving a steam apparatus for 

 cooking should be to prevent the loss of heat through 

 the sides of the containing vessels ; and this is to be 

 done, first, by exposing as small a surface as possible 

 to the atmosphere ; and, secondly, by covering up that 

 surface with the warmest covering that can conven- 

 iently be used, to defend it from the cold air. 



