Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 371 



may be placed one above another over the same boiler, 

 that which is uppermost being covered with the cover 

 of the boiler. 



A very complete apparatus of this kind may be seen 

 in the kitchen of Mr. Summers, of New Bond Street, 

 ironmonger, who makes and sells these articles, and 

 who has sold no less than 225 sets of these family 

 boilers, as they are called, since he first began to manu- 

 facture them ; and Mr. Feetham, of Oxford Street, has 

 sold 1 10 sets of them. A cooking apparatus of this 

 kind may likewise be seen at the Royal Institution ; 

 and at Heriot's Hospital, at Edinburgh; and in the 

 houses of many private families in England and Scot- 

 land. There are several tradesmen who now manu- 

 facture them ; and all persons desirous of making and 

 selling them are at full liberty to do so. 



When different kinds of food, placed one above the 

 other, are cooked in steam, the drippings of those above 

 might, in some cases, be apt to spoil those below if 

 means were not used to prevent it. This inconven- 

 ience may be avoided in the apparatus I am describing 

 by introducing the food into the steam-dishes, placed 

 in deep plates or in shallow basins, sufficiently capa- 

 cious, however, to contain as much water as will be 

 generated in consequence of the condensation of the 

 steam on the surface of the food in heating it boiling- 

 hot. I say " in heating it boiling-hot ; " for, after it is 

 once heated to that temperature, no more steam will 

 be condensed upon it, however long the process of 

 cooking may be continued.* 



* It is not difficult to determine with great precision what the size or con- 

 tents of the dish must be, in order that it may contain all the water that can 

 possibly be produced by the condensation of the steam, in heating the victuals 



