362 On the Construction of Kitchen 



should be thought necessary, be defended from the cold 

 air by warm rugs thrown over them. 



The smoke which passes under the second boiler not 

 only prevents the approach of the cold air to the under 

 surface of its bottom, but, acting on the small quantity 

 of water that is contained in it, actually assists in 

 the generation of steam. It even happens sometimes 

 (namely, when there is but a small quantity of water 

 in the second boiler, and the first is nearly filled with 

 cold water) that the water in the second boiler actually 

 , boils and fills the boiler with steam, before the water 

 in the first boiler is heated boiling-hot. 



This appears to me to be one of the most economical 

 methods that can be used for cooking, and that it is 

 well adapted for hospitals and also for large private 

 families. If it should be necessary to make provision 

 for cooking a great number of different dishes in steam 

 at the same time, either the steam-boiler may be made 

 sufficiently large to receive them, or, instead of it, two 

 or more steam-boilers of a moderate size may be put 

 up ; and, if the different kinds of food that are cooked 

 at the same time in the same steam-boiler be placed 

 each in a separate dish and covered over with some 

 proper vessel in the form of a bell (a common earthen 

 pot, for instance, turned upside down), the exhalations 

 from the different kinds of food will be prevented from 

 so mixing together as to give an improper taste or 

 flavour to any of the victuals. 



These covers to the different dishes will likewise be 

 useful on another account. When the cover of the 

 steam-boiler is opened for the purpose of examining or 

 of introducing or removing any dish, the process of 

 cooking going on in the other dishes will not be in- 



