1187 
A Homemade Firetess Cooker 
Someone recently suggested that any 
information on making and using a tire¬ 
less cooker would be of use to many read¬ 
ers of The R. N.-Y. Since I have made 
several, the following may be of use to 
some of my good friends; for I confess 
to the fact that my most friendly feeling 
goes to the good men and women who 
are engaged in the world’s basic industry, 
the people “with the hoe.’’ The most in¬ 
dependent and richest man I ever knew 
was an uncle of mine, who owned but 40 
acres of Iowa land; he owed no man 
anything; he knew the dignity of honest 
toil; he did not shirk the responsibilities 
of “father” or “husband”; he lived at 
peace with his neighbors, co-operated 
with them; he was ever ready to help his 
community boost; he was thrifty, honest, 
well read. All honor to the willing, hon¬ 
est toiler, wherever he may be. 
My wife would scarcely know how to 
get along without a lireless cooker. It is 
no longer necessary to watch the pot or 
pan to see that the roast does not burn, 
that the water does not evaporate or boil 
over. She can put the meat to roast, the 
beets to cook, the New England dinner 
to boil, the Boston brown bread to bake, 
the vegetable soup to be made, the pies— 
four pies in a frame—in fact, anything 
except white potatoes to boil, and go her 
Q—Wood top of cooker. 
1— Metal sides of top 1 inch wide with gal¬ 
vanized bottom. 
2— Space between wood top and metal bottom 
packed with asbestos. 
ltound hole in center of top Is steam vent. 
A—Tive metal top of cooker. 
B—Chamber cut in two vertically. 
R—The wood case. 
H—Three inches liay or excelsior packing. 
K—One and one-half inches mineral wool 
packing. 
N—One-half inch dead air space between sides 
and bottom of chamber. 
way to church, or shopping, knowing 
that the “fireless” will continue on the 
job, doing its honest bit, with ^o waste of 
meat juices or of fuel. 
I have built several cookers, but the 
last one is far superior to the others; we 
have been using this one about eight 
years. 
The material used for this cooker were: 
A good quality of galvanized sheet iron 
for the three compartments, the top, and 
the covers;’mineral wool—asbestos—was 
used for the .first packing layer around 
the metal chambers; hay and excelsior 
were used to complete the packing. Min¬ 
eral wool might have been used exclu¬ 
sively. but the hay aud excelsior were 
used because otherwise they would have 
been thrown away. 
This cooker was built with three cham¬ 
bers of uniform size of in. diameter 
and 13 V*, in. deep. It was built so that 
large aluminum ket.rlos might be used; 
the largest kettle is 10x11, and will take 
care of a very large roast. I first bought 
the kettles and then built the cooker to 
fit. 
The galvanized walls of the chambers 
are double with a % in. dead air space 
between the walls and bottoms. There 
are two layers of packing around these 
chambers—first. 1 in. of mineral wool, 
packed as firmly as possible, and an outer 
layer of 3 in. of hay and excelsior, and 
lastly the wood case. 
The compartment lids are packed with 
about 1 iu. of the mineral wool packed 
firmly between the wood top and the gal¬ 
vanized base. The covers should be a 
tight fit when fastened down to clbse the 
chamber. 
We use soapstone radiators; one is put 
in the bottom of the chamber, under¬ 
neath the kettle contining the food to be 
cooked; one is put on top of the kettle 
cover. It takes but little more fire to 
begin when the radiators are used, but 
with them a much more successful result 
is obtained. 
The rough sketch showing the compart¬ 
ment cut in two* vertically indicates the 
parts in the construction. 
A small cooker may he made with a 
large galvanized pail—straight sides—in¬ 
side of which is placed another similar 
pail, 0 iu. smaller in diameter. Pack mm- 
eral wool firmly between the two pails, 
see that both covers fit snugly. 
E. WILLIAMS. 
Drying and Salting Beans 
Will you give me a good recipe for dry¬ 
ing green string beans, and also green 
Lima beans? Will you also give me a 
good recipe for salting .strung beans? 
8. H. C. 
Strung beans may be dried in a dehy¬ 
drator, or in trays over the kitchen stove. 
Only young tender pods should be used. 
Ihe RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Snip off cuds, wash, in cold water* and 
drain. Shred or cut diagonally in pieces 
to 1 in. long, spread Va to 1 in. deep 
on trays, and expose to a temperature of 
110° to 100° until dry. A rising tem¬ 
perature with no* check gives best results. 
Other directions issued by the National. 
War Garden Commission say that string 
beans and! green Lima beans should be 
blanched in boiling water for six to 10 
minutes before drying, but this year 
Lima beans so treated became “slippery” 
and soured before they dried, so we shall 
omit the blanching process iu future. 
Green Lima beans dry on trays over the 
kitchen range in the same manner as the 
string beans. When drying appears com¬ 
plete, we give a final hour or more in a 
moderate oven, as an extra precaution, 
and then hang in paper bags iu the kitch¬ 
en for a few days, shaking about, occa¬ 
sionally, before finally storing in tins or 
cartons. 
To salt string beans, wash, snip off the 
ends, and pack iu an earthen jar with al¬ 
ternate layers of salt, using one part salt 
to 10 parts beans, by weight. Weight 
the beans down, and two days later add 
enough 10 per cent salt, solution to fill the 
jar. For a 10 per cent brine add 12/3 
cups of salt to* one gallon of water. 
Brine for Pork; Sausage; Head Cheese 
Would you tell me hoVv to care for and 
make brine for pork, hams and bacon; 
how to make sausage and head cheese, 
and if prepared smoke is satisfactory for 
hams and bacon? MBS. H. F. 
The following is an excellent brine for 
what is known as sugar cure: For 100 
lbs. meat use 12 lbs. common salt. 3 lbs. 
brown sugar, 3 oz. saltpeter, G gals, wa¬ 
ter. In Summer the brine should be 
boiled aud cooled thoroughly before pour¬ 
ing over the meat, but this is not neces¬ 
sary in Winter*. Pack the meat iu a clean 
large crock or* hardwood barrel, putting 
the larger pieces irr the bottom, skin side 
down. Fill in with the pieces of bacon. 
A board or small barrel head should be 
placed on top of the meat, and weighted 
down, so that the meat is all kept under 
the brine. Bacon and small hams should 
remain in the brine four or* five weeks, 
large hams six or seven weeks. Brine 
should Ire examined every few* days, as it 
sometimes becomes “ropy” during a warm 
spell. If this occrrrs, remove the meat 
and stir a small amount of baking soda 
into the brine. If the condition continues, 
new brine should Ire made, and a different 
container used*. Plain salt pork is pickled 
in a brine made ■with 10 lbs. salt, 2 oz. 
saltpeter and 4 gals, boiling water to each 
100 lbs. of pork. When cold, pour over* 
the pork and weight down. The pork is 
kept in the brine until used. Many rrso 
the prepared liquid smoke with entire sat¬ 
isfaction. 
Sausage.—Use* three parts of lean meat 
to one part of fat. Run through the 
grinder, spread out in layers, and use, to 
each 10 lbs. of meat, 3 oz. salt, 1 oz. of 
black pepper and l* oz. of dry sage, rub¬ 
bed fine. Sprinkle this seasoning over 
the meat as evenly as possible, then run 
through the grinder* a second time to mix 
the seasoning thoroughly. 
Head Cheese.—Cut the head iu four 
pieces, remove eyes, ears, brain, skin and 
snout. Reserve the fattest part for lard. 
Leave the meat to soak over night in cold 
water, then clean thoroughly. Put the 
meat on the fire with plenty of water, 
and boil till the meat separates from the 
bones. Remove from fire and pick out all 
flic bones. Draw off the liquid and save 
for future use. Chop the meat with a 
chopping knife; return to the kettle aud 
pour* on enough liquid to cover the meat. 
Boil gently for nearly half an hour. Sea¬ 
son to taste with pepper and salt just be¬ 
fore removing from the fire. Turn into* a 
shallow pan, cover* it. with cheesecloth, 
and then put on top a board with a weight 
to make it solid. 
Ripe Tomatoes in Brine 
As T have just finished clearing out the 
garden this verse which I saw lately is 
brought to my mind: 
“ ’Tis the last rose of Summer, left bloom¬ 
ing alone, 
By gentle breezes ’tis fanned ; 
The only thing in the garden 
That Susan hasn’t canned.” 
But I didn’t can anything that I could 
keep fresh, as I already had my cans, 
whole ones and cracked ones, packed full. 
The cracked ones I use to store dried 
plums, berries, raisins, candied peel, etc., 
for* steamed puddings. I much prefer 
dried fruits to canned or even fresh, be¬ 
cause they are not so juicy and don’t 
make the pudding so messy looking. I 
had a neighbor who, when a can was 
cracked, no matter how badly, immediate¬ 
ly filled the crack with white lead paint, 
a can of which she kept for* such pur¬ 
poses, and set it away, in a warm place, 
and next year* used it as though it had 
not been broken, and her* fruit kept well, 
too, all kinds. I have never tried it “for 
fear.” 
I put my extra ripe tomatoes in a tub 
of brine, as* one does cucumbers, etc., for 
pickles, and when I want fresh tomatoes 
I take out as many as I -want, cover* with 
boiling water, let stand until skin splits, 
as when fresh from the vines, and no one 
knows them from freshly picked ones un¬ 
less told. I do this at any season or time 
when I have a surplus of ripe tomatoes. 
They keep indefinitely, and I prefer it to 
canning. jessie. 
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