M ECHANICS, 
put- in motion by the agency of (learn, or any firft mover ; 
D D, the carriage-wheels; EE, conneCling-rods ; FF, 
fleam-cylinders ; G, (moke-chimney ; H, lleam or dif- 
charging pipe; I, Fire-place; KK, coal-waggons, or 
carriages of any defcription. Monthly Mag. June 1814. 
III. Cooking by Steam. —Ever (ince Dr. Papin contrived 
his digefter (about the year 1690), fchemes have been pro- 
pofed tor dreffmg victuals by the (team of boiling water. 
A philofophical club ufed to dine at Don Saltero’s coffee- 
houfe, Chelfea, about forty years ago, and had their vic¬ 
tuals drefTed by hanging them in the boiler of the (team- 
engine which raifed water for the fupply of Piccadilly and 
its neighbourhood. They were completely dreffed, both 
expeditioudy and with high flavour. 
A patent was obtained for an apparatus for this purpofe 
by a tinman in London ; w'e think of the name of Tate. 
They were afterwards made on a much more effective plan 
by Mr. Gregory, an ingenious tradefman in Edinburgh ; 
and are coming into very general ufe. 
It is well-known to the philofopher, that the fleam of 
boiling water contains a prodigious quantity of heat, 
which it retains in a latent (late ready to be faithfully ac¬ 
counted for, and communicated to any colder body. 
Every cook knows the great fcalding power of fleam, and 
is difpofed to think that it is much hotter than boiling 
water. This, however, is a miftake ; for it will raife the 
thermometer no higher than the water from which it comes. 
But we can allure the cook, that, if he make the fleam 
from the fpout of a tea-kettle pafs through a great body 
of cold water, it will be condenfed or changed into water ; 
and, when one pound of water has in this manner been 
boiled off, it will have heated the mafs of cold u'ater as 
much as if he had thrown into it feven or eight hundred 
pounds of boiling hot water. If, therefore, a boiler be 
properly fitted up in a furnace, and if the fleam of the water 
boiling in it be conveyed by a pipe into a pan containing 
victuals to be drefied, every thing can be cooked that re¬ 
quires no higher degree of heat than that of boiling water ; 
and this will be done without any ri(k of fcorching, or any 
kind of overheating, which frequently fpoils our di(hes, 
and proceeds from the burning heat of air coming to thofe 
parts of the pot or pan which is not filled with liquor, and 
is covered only with a film, which quickly burns and 
taints the whole dilh. Nor will the cook be fcorched by 
the great heat of the open fire that is necefiary for dreding 
at once a number of dilhes, nor have his perfon and clothes 
foiled by the fmoke and foot unavoidable in the cooking 
on an open fire. Indeed the whole procefs is fo neat, lo 
manageable, fo open to infpeclion, and fo cleanly, that it 
need neither fatigue nor offend the delicacy of the niceft 
lady. 
We had great doubts, when we firfi heard of this as a 
general mode of cookery, as to its economy 5 we had none 
as to its efficacy. We thought that the (team, and con- 
fequently the fuel expended, muft be vaftly greater than 
by the immediate ufe of an open fire; but we have feen a 
large tavern-dinner expeditioudy dreffed in this manner, 
feemingly with much lefs fuel than in the common me¬ 
thod. Indeed, when we reflect ferioufly on the fubjeCl, 
■we fee that this method has immenfe advantages confi- 
dered merely as a mode of applying heat. The fleam may 
be applied to the vcffel containing the victuals in every 
part of its furface; it may even be made to enter the vef¬ 
fel, and apply itfelf immediately to the piece of meat that 
is to be dreffed, and this without any rilk of fcorching or 
overdoing. And it will give out about of the heat 
it contains, and will do this only if it be wanted ; fo 
that no heat whatever is wafted except what is required 
for heating the apparatus. Experience (hows that this is 
a mere trifle in comparifon of what was fuppofed necef- 
fary. But with an open fire we only apply the flame and 
hot air to the bottom and part of the fides of our boiling 
veffels; and this application is hurried in the extreme 5 
for, to make a great heat, we muft have a great fire, which 
requires a prodigious and mod; rapid current of air. This 
71)1 
air touches our pans but for a moment, imparts to them- 
but a fmall portion of its heat; and vve are perfuaded that 
three-fourths of the heat is carried up the chimney, and 
efcapes in mere wade, while another great portion beams 
out into the kitchen, to the great annoyance of the fcorched 
cook. We think, therefore, that a page or two of this 
work will not be thrown away in the defcription of a con¬ 
trivance by which a faving may be made to the entertainer, 
and the providing the pleafures of his table prove a lels 
fatiguing talk to this valuable corps of practical chemifts. 
Let A (fig. 131.) reprefent a kitchen-boiler, either pro¬ 
perly fitted up in a furnace, with its proper fire-place, alls- 
pit, and flue, or fet Qn a tripod on the open fire, or built 
up in the general fire-place. The fleam-pipe BC rifes 
from the cover of this boiler, and then is led away with 
a gentle afcent in any convenient direction. C reprefents 
the feCtion of this conducting fleam-pipe. Branches are 
taken off from the fide at proper diftances. One of thefe 
is reprelented at C D E, furnifned with a cock D, arid hav¬ 
ing a taper nozzle E, fitted by grinding into a conical 
piece F, which communicates with an upright pipe GH, 
which is foldered to the fide of the ftewing-veffel PQRS, 
communicating with it by the (hort pipe I. The veflel is 
fitted with a cover O T, having a ftaple-handle V. The 
piece of meat M is laid on a tin-plate grate K L, pierced 
with holes like a colander, and handing on three (hort 
feet n n n. 
The fleam from the boiler comes in by the pipe I, and 
is condenfed by the meat and by the fides of the veffel, 
communicating to them all its heat. What is not fo con¬ 
denfed efcapes between the veffel and its cover. The con¬ 
denfed water lies on the bottom of the veffel, mixed with 
a very fmall quantity of gravy and fatty matter from the 
victuals. Frequently, inftead of a cover, another (lew- 
veffel with a colander-bottom is fet on this one, the bot¬ 
tom of the one fitting the mouth of the other; and it is 
obferved, that, when this is done, the dilh in the under 
veflel is more expeditioudy and better drefied, and the 
upper difh is more (lowly, but as completely, Hewed. 
This defcription of one ftewing-veffel may ferve to give 
a notion of the whole; only we muft obferve, that when 
broths, foups, and difhes with made fauces or containing 
liquids, are to be dreffed, they mull be put into a fmaller 
veffel, which is fet into the veflel PQRS, and is fup- 
ported on three fhort feet, fo that there may be a fpace all 
round it of about an inch or three quarters of an inch. 
It is obferved, that difhes of this kind are not fo expedi- 
tioufly cooked as on an open fire, but as completely in the 
end, only requiring to be turned up now and then to mix 
the ingredients ; becaufe as the liquids in the inner veffel 
can never come into ebullition, unlefs the fleam from the 
boiler be made of a dangerous heat, and every thing be 
clofe confined, there cannot be any of that tumbling mo¬ 
tion that we obferve in a boiling-pot. 
The performance of this apparatus is far beyond any 
expectation we had formed of it. In one which we exa¬ 
mined, fix pans were (tewing together by means of a boiler 
10J inches in diameter, (landing on a brifk open fire. It 
boiled very bri(kly,and the fleam puffed frequently through 
the chinks between the itew-pans and their covers. In 
one of them was a piece of meat confiderably above thirty 
pounds weight. This required above four hours (tewing, 
and was then very thoroughly and equally cooked ; the 
outfide being no more done than the heart, and it was 
near two pounds heavier than when put in, and greatly 
fwelled. In the mean time, leveral difhes had been drefied 
in the other pans. As far as we could judge, this cook¬ 
ing did not confume one-third part of the fuel which an 
open fire would have required for the fame effeCi. 
When we confider this apparatus with a little more 
knowledge of the mode of operation of fire than falls to 
t,he (hare of cooks (we fpeak with deference), arid confider 
the very injudicious manner in which the fleam is applied, 
we think that it may be improved lb as to furpafs any 
thing that the cook can have a notion of. When the 
fleam 
