The judicious use and proper application of fuel are objects of particular moment in domestic economy, especially in the culinary art. Coal is an article of primary necessity among all ranks of people, and as it cannot be procured without great expense, the consumption of it in cookery with the smallest possible waste is an object deserving the attention of every family. So numerous are the varieties of kitchen fire-places which have been invented to save fuel, that there is hardly an ironmonger in this metropolis who does not claim the merit of possessing a patent for an apparatus of this description. The pretended improvements of a great many patent kitchen fire-places for cooking, unfortunately consist in increasing the quantity of iron work, to their evident defect. The bare inspection of others again, will at once convince the impartial observer, that they cannot answer the intended purpose; most of them are furnished with numerous doors and apertures, solely introduced to facilitate the cleaning of the flues; and the reader may rest assured, that whenever recourse is had to such expedients, it is a sure sign that the construction of the fire-place or apparatus is extremely defective. When the combustion of the fuel is perfect, there is little soot produced—for a rapid accumulation of it, indicates an imperfect combustion, and consequently a waste of fuel. The evil in the cases which we have observed, originates in the circuitous direction and awkward angular distortions of the flues for heating the baking closets, or the vessels for boiling. The fire grate is indeed comparatively small in all of them, and this their apparent recommendation is what misleads the purchaser, who on inspecting the apparatus is told, that he will be enabled to roast, bake, boil or stew, with a small quantity of fuel. But if we consider the mass of iron-work requiring to be heated by the small fire-place, the saving of coals will prove wholly imaginary, and the purchaser (we speak from experience) will soon become convinced that the simplest and most economical employment of fuel, for the purpose of cooking in a family not exceeding eight or ten persons, unquestionably consists of a common fire-grate fitted with a boiler placed either at the back or at one side of the grate, for supplying hot water, or for generating steam, having at the other side a hollow chest or oven, (forming the other hob of the grate,) to be heated by the ignited coals lying laterally against it, in the grate; such an apparatus appears to be one of the most eligible contrivances of a cooking grate for a moderate sized family, where economy of coal is an object. Kitchen ranges of this kind may be seen in most of the ironmongers shops of this metropolis.

The figure on the title page exhibits a kitchen grate of this kind. The fire-place for roasting is, as usual, in the middle of the grate. At the right side of it, is a boiler, furnished with a cock; on the left hand side, is the baking closet, as shewn in the design. The cast-iron hearth, upon which the stew-pans and kettles are put, is furnished with a moveable plate, directly over the fire-place. This contrivance is convenient for causing (when the plate is removed) the fire to act in a direct manner upon a vessel placed over the opening as occasion may require. The small door in front, above the fire bars, serves for throwing on the fuel. The door shown under the bars of the fire-place is furnished with a register, for regulating the heat. The door under the boiler, on the right hand side, and that under the baking closet, on the left hand, serve to keep in the heat. For cleaning the flues, a moveable cast iron slider is fitted in front, below the boiler, and another below the baking closet, as shown in the design.—The upper part of the flues are cleaned in the usual manner, above the iron hearth. where a small door is provided for that purpose to get admission to the flues.

For larger families, where the operations of cooking are multifarious, an horizontal iron plate or hearth, (See fig. 2, plate facing the title page,) at one end heated by a fire-place, so that the flame may traverse in a serpentine direction underneath the hearth, before it reaches the throat of the chimney, is very convenient and economical. Upon this hearth or iron plate, which is provided with holes, fitted with stoppers, (and which in fact resembles the sand bath of the chemists), the cooking utensils for boiling and stewing are placed; and as the different parts of the plate become unequally heated, the hottest part being of course over the fire-grate, and the least heated at the farthest extremity of the flue, near its communication with the chimney, the cook has the advantage of placing the pans and kettles, which require a strong and lasting heat, at the precise spot where they will be soonest heated; and those farthest from the source of heat, which require only a moderate degree of warmth.

To economise the heat of the iron plate, a small oven is sometimes placed at the extremity of the flue of the fire-place, which heats the plate. It is convenient for a variety of culinary purposes requiring a very gentle heat, or if it be wanted for baking meat, or bread, a small fire-grate fixed underneath it, will render it extremely fit for those purposes.

The front wall which supports the iron plate or hearth, should be constructed of brick-work, not of iron, as the former retains the heat very effectually, whereas the latter enables it to pass into the kitchen, to the great annoyance of the cook.

The open fire-place, connected with this cooking hearth, is furnished at the left hand side with a baking closet, and at the right hand side is a steam boiler for heating the vessels a a. Underneath of these is another hot closet, likewise heated by steam.

Mr. Marriott, an ingenious ironmonger in Fleet-street, has greatly improved the construction of kitchen ranges; the design exhibited, on the title page of this Treatise, is copied from an apparatus of his construction.

Fig. 1, is a Dutch oven; a description of it has been given, page 88.

STEWPANS AND SAUCEPANS

Should not be made with flat bottoms, but rounded a little at the edges—they must by no means be made with corners that are square like tin vessels, for such can never be completely cleaned, and do not wear near so long—that is the sides should not be soldered to the bottom with a square joint, as sand and grease that lodge there can never be completely got out.

These utensils should be scoured on the outside round the rim, and a little way down the sides, but not low on the sides or on the bottom, as that only wears them without any sort of advantage. For small families, we recommend tin saucepans, as being lightest and safest; and if proper care is taken of them, and they are well dried after they are cleaned, are by far the cheapest, for the cost of a new tin saucepan is little more than the expense of tinning a copper one. The covers of the boiling pots should fit close, not only to prevent unnecessary evaporation of the water, but to guard against the smoke of the fire insinuating itself under the edge of the lid.

PRESERVING PANS.

The best sort are those which are heated by means of steam, the temperature of which can never be such as to burn, or cause adherence to the bottom of the pan.—Fig. 3, exhibits a steam preserving-pan; the steam enters from a common steam-boiler, at the extremity a, and passes between the pan, which is double, as shown in the design. The condensed water may, from time to time, be drawn off by the cock and pipe b.

COPPER COOKING UTENSILS.

Copper cooking utensils are attended with so much danger, that the use of them ought to be laid entirely aside. They have not only occasioned many fatal accidents, (which have been made public), but they have injured the health of great numbers, where the slower, but not less dangerous effect has not been observed. If not kept very clean and bright, they become covered with verdigris, for all fat, oily, or buttery substances corrode copper; and if they are kept clean and bright, the rubbing or scraping that takes place when making stews, or cooking dishes that require stirring, and remaining a considerable time on the fire, always wears off some of the metal which impregnates the food, and has a deleterious effect.

The inexcusable negligence of persons who make use of copper vessels has been productive of mortality, so much more terrible, as they have exerted their action on a great number of persons at once.

Though, after all, a single dose be not mortal, yet a quantity of poison, however small, when taken at every meal, must produce more fatal effects than are generally apprehended; and different constitutions are differently affected by minute quantities of substances that act powerfully on the system.

Some years ago, the death of several persons was occasioned, at Salt-hill, by the cook sending a ragout to the table which she had kept from the preceding day in a copper vessel, badly tinned. Another instance of death occasioned by the eating of pickles, prepared in copper vessels, is mentioned by Dr. Percival.[41]

Dr. Johnson gives an account of the melancholy catastrophe of three men being poisoned, after excruciating sufferings, in consequence of eating food cooked in an unclean copper vessel, on board the Cyclops frigate; and, besides these, thirty-three men became ill from the same cause.

If, however, copper utensils are to be used, they should be employed with the precautions as used in France, where the tinning of the vessels on the inside is done as regularly as the shoeing of horses in a farm-yard.—If the least occasion is thought to exist, the vessel is immediately tinned; but to prevent all risk, it is generally done once a month with stew-pans that are in daily use. Moreover, the victuals are never stirred with any thing of metal, but with a wooden spoon, or flat stick made for the purpose.

The following wholesome advice on this subject is given to cooks by Dr. Kitchiner.

“Stewpans and soup-kettles should be examined every time they are used; these, and their covers, must be kept perfectly clean and well tinned, not only on the inside, but about a couple of inches on the outside; so much mischief arises from their getting out of repair; and, if not kept nicely tinned, all your work will be in vain; the broths and soups will look green and dirty, and taste bitter and poisonous, and will be spoiled both for the eye and palate, and your credit will be lost; and, as the health, and even the life, of the family depends upon this, the cook may be sure her employer had rather pay the tinman’s bill than the doctor’s.”

Various kinds of food used in domestic economy are liable to become impregnated with lead.

The glazing of the common cream-coloured earthen ware, which is composed of an oxyd of lead, readily yields to the action of vinegar and saline compounds; and therefore the jars and pots of this kind of stoneware, should not be used for marmalades and other conserves. Pickles should in no case be deposited in cream-coloured glazed earthenware pots.

The baking of fruit tarts in cream-coloured earthenware is no less objectionable All kinds of food which contain free vegetable acids, or saline preparations, attack utensils covered with a glaze, in the composition of which lead enters as a component part.

Wooden Tubs lined with lead, should not, as they often are, be used for salting meat, as the salt brine corrodes the lead, and all compounds of this metal are dangerous to health.

FINIS.

C. GREEN, 15, LEICESTER STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE.