While the fireless cooker is, perhaps, especially adapted to families of
average size, or larger, there is no reason why small quantities of food
cannot be equally well cooked, provided the cooker is properly made with
that in view.
A large utensil will involve a great waste of gas and time, for in every
case it will be necessary to heat a considerable quantity of water which
is only required to fill the utensil. Select, instead, a two-quart pail,
pack it very tightly in a moderately small box, allowing, however, the
requisite thickness of insulation (see page 16). This will be suitable
for much of the cooking to be done, such as vegetables, steamed breads,
etc., that are cooked in much water; but for such articles as oatmeal,
stews, puddings, and some vegetables, use a small pudding pan, just
fitting into the pail and resting on its rim, with a cover that will
closely fit the pan. The pail must always be filled with boiling water
or food to touch the upper pan, and if these conditions are fulfilled
and the food is put quickly, and while boiling hard, into a cooker which
stands close to the range, it will be found to cook as perfectly as
larger amounts. Two kinds of food can thus be cooked at once, but, when
only water is used in the lower pail, it can be kept in the cooker
during the meal, and will be hot when the time comes for washing the
dishes.
The fact that almost all the recipes in this book tell the number of
persons which they will serve will make the quantity to be cooked easy
to ascertain. Where articles are to be cooked in moulds, as steamed
breads, puddings, meat loaves, etc., one-half pound baking powder cans
may be used. It will be safer to test them to see whether or not they
leak. The only change in the method of cooking such dishes that will
then be necessary is shortening the time of boiling previous to putting
them into the cooker. Small cuts of meat will also require shorter
preliminary boiling. One-half the time given will be found sufficient.
The great majority of dishes may be cooked as directed in the full-sized
recipes, without any change on account of the small quantity.
For such purposes as preserving and baking (see page 228), a large pail
will be needed, even by a family of two, and it is suggested that the
cooker be packed first to accommodate such a pail, and the box then be
made to receive also the two-quart pail by means of the space-adjuster
described on page 22.
V