The Fireless Cooker Recipe

The idea of the fireless cooker is an old one, bringing things to a

boil, placing into a box of hay and leaving for a few hours to

cook--that method has been used by housewives in some European nations

for a good many years.

The cooker is, of course, made upon the same principle as that almost

indispensable article, the refrigerator. Instead of retaining the cold

and keeping out the heat, the fireless cooker does the opposite by

keeping food which has been brought to a boiling point at a temperature

high enough to continue the process of cooking for many hours.

Every one has wrapped up ice in a newspaper or carpet to keep it from

melting. In making the fireless cooker the material used for packing

around the boiling food is paper, hay, wool or cork, because any one of

these things is a poor conductor of heat--that is, the heat can not go

through them easily. Though there are many makes of fireless cookers on

the market, a home-made one will serve the purpose just as well, and for

the convenience afforded requires a comparatively small amount of time

and material.