Oils. — There are two kinds of liquid fuels used for cooking, viz.
oils and alcohols. Coal oil and petroleum are obtained from the
COOKING-STOVES
49
earth and refined (purified) ; they have the same fuel value, and are
both hydrocarbons.
The names of the various kinds of oil used as fuel are : — Kerosene,
Naphtha and Gasoline. Of the three, kerosene is known as the most
satisfactory, being more powerful, reliable, and safer to use than the
others.
Alcohol. — Common alcohol and methylated spirits are the only
kinds of alcohol used for fuel. They burn with a strong flame (clear),
are colourless, give no smoke, very little light, but a fairly high
temperature. Both these alcohols, being very volatile, must be
kept in stoppered bottles, and away from heat. Alcohol as a fuel is
used mainly for the sick-room, for keeping food warm, and for so-
called chafing-dishes. Pure wood alcohol is poisonous, and though
equally as suitable as methylated spirits, cannot for this reason be
recommended as cooking fuel.
COOKING-STOVES
When considering the choice of stoves, the economy of fuel forms
an item of great importance. There are numerous cooking appli-
ances on the market, more especially coal ranges, many of which,
although capable of fulfilling the duties of what may be expected of
an average cooking range, are so constructed as to consume far more
fuel than is necessary. Cooking performed on such stoves must
necessarily be extravagant. Economy in cooking, as well as in other
branches of household management, should ever be considered by all
classes : one would think that economy in fuel for cooking was too
apparent to need any special comment, but it is often overlooked.
Good as well as economical cooking depends, next to culinary skill,
almost entirely on the way in which the selected materials used are
treated, mixed, or blended, and on the apparatus by whose means they
are cooked. Faultiness in any one of these particulars can utterly
spoil an entire meal, even if the other features should be perfect.
There are some persons in the cookery world still living who can
remember the time when they had to bend over a cooking fire,
consisting of burning logs laid in the rear of a wide-mouthed fire-
place ; when bread and cakes were cooked in a common skillet ; and
who had to fry or broil over a heap of burning coals, and at the same
time watch the coffee-pot or tea-kettle to see that it did not fall over.
This primitive mode of cooking dates back to the earliest period
on record, when boiling and baking had to be performed in vessels
suspended over a fire, and roasting on a spit was effected in a similar
rudimentary manner.
The earliest records of cooking fires show that they were usually
made on a hearth of stones, with other suitable stones built up, as
a support to the cooking vessels. The fuel then used was wood and
charcoal.
50
THE NEW CENTURY COOKERY BOOK
Page 28
Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Oils. — There are two kinds of liquid fuels used for cooking, viz. oils and alcohols. Coal oil and petroleum are obtained from the
earth and refined (purified) ; they have the same fuel value, and are both hydrocarbons.
The names of the various kinds of oil used as fuel are : — Kerosene, Naphtha and Gasoline. Of the three, kerosene is known as the most satisfactory, being more powerful, reliable, and safer to use than the others.
Alcohol. — Common alcohol and methylated spirits are the only kinds of alcohol used for fuel. They burn with a strong flame (clear), are colourless, give no smoke, very little light, but a fairly high temperature. Both these alcohols, being very volatile, must be kept in stoppered bottles, and away from heat. Alcohol as a fuel is used mainly for the sick-room, for keeping food warm, and for socalled chafing-dishes. Pure wood alcohol is poisonous, and though equally as suitable as methylated spirits, cannot for this reason be recommended as cooking fuel.
When considering the choice of stoves, the economy of fuel forms an item of great importance. There are numerous cooking appliances on the market, more especially coal ranges, many of which, although capable of fulfilling the duties of what may be expected of an average cooking range, are so constructed as to consume far more fuel than is necessary. Cooking performed on such stoves must necessarily be extravagant. Economy in cooking, as well as in other branches of household management, should ever be considered by all classes : one would think that economy in fuel for cooking was too apparent to need any special comment, but it is often overlooked. Good as well as economical cooking depends, next to culinary skill, almost entirely on the way in which the selected materials used are treated, mixed, or blended, and on the apparatus by whose means they are cooked. Faultiness in any one of these particulars can utterly spoil an entire meal, even if the other features should be perfect.
There are some persons in the cookery world still living who can remember the time when they had to bend over a cooking fire, consisting of burning logs laid in the rear of a wide-mouthed fireplace ; when bread and cakes were cooked in a common skillet ; and who had to fry or broil over a heap of burning coals, and at the same time watch the coffee-pot or tea-kettle to see that it did not fall over.
This primitive mode of cooking dates back to the earliest period on record, when boiling and baking had to be performed in vessels suspended over a fire, and roasting on a spit was effected in a similar rudimentary manner.
The earliest records of cooking fires show that they were usually made on a hearth of stones, with other suitable stones built up, as a support to the cooking vessels. The fuel then used was wood and charcoal.