The Wonderful Wood-burning Cookstove

“I’ll eat it!” exclaims the delighted lover.

But the lady, with an eye to the future, recovers the pie
and persuades the youth to prove his valor in less
hazardous ways.

Baking a crisp, juicy pie or a deftly browned loaf of
bread, or managing a Thanksgiving dinner is a worthwhile
accomplishment. The kitchen range is close to the center of
the home. It provides not only the main sustenance of life,
but also needed warmth for winter’s cold and plentiful hot
water to encourage the highly regarded virtue of
cleanliness.

Hundreds of cookbooks and collections of recipes by famous
chefs witness the desire for variety in palatable and
wholesome dishes. The implements of cooking have made
equally rapid strides until they approach perfection. But a
recipe book and the finest-equipped kitchen in the world do
not make a cook. A good cook has learned how to handle her
range so that it does her bidding without effort or “off
days.” And the cookbooks do not tell her. There seems to be
very little help for those who are making their first
acquaintance with a modern range. This booklet is an
introduction to your stove — just a few hints to make
the acquaintance ripen more rapidly and to help you to a
fuller enjoyment of the hours spent in the kitchen.

Building a Fire in Your Wood-burning Cookstove

No other article in the home means so much to the entire
family as the kitchen range. Health and comfort are
dependent upon it. No wonder a good housekeeper takes pride
in the contentment of her family over the good things for
the table that she provides: the extra heat in cold
weather, the abundance of hot water on tap all the time and many other things for which the modern range is
equipped.

A good modern range is designed to get the greatest cooking
and heating value out of the fuel used. When the range and
chimney draft are right, a properly controlled fire will do
all the work required, without wasting fuel.

It is therefore necessary to bear in mind that the first
problem of better baking is an understanding of the fire.
If a match is lighted, the flame shoots upward. The hot
blaze causes a draft, drawing fresh air from below and
supplying the oxygen necessary for combustion. The range
simply makes use of this basic principle on a large scale.

To start the fire, then, have on hand plenty of
free-burning fuel — dry paper and wood-cut small. A
folded newspaper will not burn freely, but a few sheets,
lightly twisted, make a good first layer. Then add a
moderate supply of kindling wood, laid in loosely.

Before lighting, open the door or vent under the
fire, the direct draft to the chimney (over the
oven), the check slide at the base of the smoke pipe and
the damper in the smoke pipe. The purpose is to promote a
free passage of air up through the firebox to the chimney
by the most direct route.

Remember that no stove has a draft of itself. The draft is
furnished by the chimney through the stovepipe, which
obviously must be tight in all its joints.

Light the fire from below and allow it to get a good start.
If it burns too slowly, it needs more oxygen, which can be
supplied by opening the door wide under the fire. If it
burns too fast, it will produce more smoke than the chimney
can draw off, and the excess will be thrown out into the
room. Partly closing the door under the fire will retard
it. (The first fire in a new range usually causes a little
surface smoke and oily odor. This is harmless and soon
passes off.)

Before applying larger pieces of wood or coal, add a little
more kindling. The grate should be well-covered with a
brisk fire, both to support and ignite the larger fuel
evenly and to prevent waste through the grate.

Never use kerosene to quicken a slow fire.

When the bigger fire has a good start, the oven damper may
be closed.

The process of keeping up a good fire is merely one of
adding more fuel, and occasionally “shaking down” to remove
the ashes under the fire.

Do not allow ashes to collect close up under the grate.
They will kill the fire and cause the hot coals above to
burn out the grate. In fact, this is about the only way a
grate is damaged in ordinary use.

Some housekeepers who depend upon the kitchen range for
heating adjoining rooms or for continuous hot water
maintain the same fire for months at a time. When not in
use for cooking, the oven door may be left open to help
heat the adjoining rooms.

Checking the Fire

If the draft of air through the firebox continues
unchecked, the fuel soon burns out, and the top of the
range gets red-hot — a bad thing for the stove.
Frequent overheating causes warping and expanding and
sometimes cracking of the cover. The fire needs to be
curbed. This may be accomplished in various ways: by
closing tight the door and slide under the fire, by
partially closing the damper in the stovepipe or pushing in
the slide near the stovepipe collar on top of the range, by
opening the slide in the broiler door at the end of the
range over the fire or by tipping the lids or
covers over the fire. The chimney keeps pulling for air,
and the fire is checked by reducing the amount of chimney
suction or by allowing the air to rush in over the
fire, instead of through it. Closing the damper over
the oven also checks the fire, but the real purpose of this
damper is to send the heat around the oven on its way to
the chimney.

Advantage of a Large Firebox

The range should have a firebox large enough to keep a fire
overnight. Under proper damper control, it will smolder all
night and have sufficient life to rekindle quickly in the
morning. Then too, it requires far more fuel to start new
fires frequently than to keep an old fire. If it is found
that the fire does not keep overnight, the trouble is due
to one of two things: Either the draft is too strong,
causing the fire to burn out, or too weak, causing the fire
to die for lack of air.

No directions can be given in advance to cover every case,
because chimney drafts vary so much, but there is a happy
medium that can be determined by a little experimenting.

Generally speaking, the slide in the broiler door should be
open at night, and the slide under the smoke collar should
be pushed to the left to some extent.

In any case, it is essential in the morning to get rid of
quite a large body of ashes which has accumulated in the
firebox. At least half, and perhaps two-thirds, of the
contents of the firebox usually consists of ashes and
coals, which give no heat and must be removed every morning
to reestablish a good fire for baking. A half revolution of
the dock-ash grate will usually do this very nicely, and in
fact this grate is designed for this particular purpose. If
a stove is equipped with a plain grate, considerable
shaking is necessary. The triangular grate may be handled
similarly to the dock-ash grate, turning one-third or
two-thirds or sometimes even a full revolution.

The ashes should be removed from the ashpit or -pan, both
to improve the draft and to prevent injury to the grate.

It would be difficult to overemphasize the trouble that can
be avoided by a regular and systematic cleaning out of
ashes and dying embers under the fire. A fire may look
bright on top and yet be almost out. Its body of clinkers
and ashes has little heating value, and unless there are
enough live coals on top to rekindle easily, it is better
judgment to dump the fire and start anew.

Naturally, a deep fire will do more work than a shallow
fire. Once well built-up, a deep fire can be maintained
more easily and with less fuel than a fire that half fills
the firebox. However, the box should not be filled above
the top of the bricks, as there is danger of overheating
and warping the lids.

Using the Cookstove Range

The first question that enters the mind in regard to any
range is “How well does it bake?” For that reason, this
book is called The Secret of Better Baking.

But the range does many equally important things…all at
the same time. Broiling may be going on at the firebox end,
boiling or frying in the center, simmering along the
outskirts, baking in the oven, keeping dishes hot in the
warming oven, heating adjoining rooms and supplying a
tankful of hot water. So long as there is a fire going, it
should be cooking something or keeping cooked food warm.
The old-fashioned siockpot is an example. It remained on
top of the stove all the time, taking anything that would
contribute to wholesome soups and stews. The stockpot can
be used to advantage where canned soups are not easily
obtained. Hot breakfast cereal, cooked the night before,
will be improved if kept warm on the back of the stove.

Cooking on Top of the Stove

Fill the teakettle before lighting the fire to get all the
advantage of the first flames. When a new fire is built,
the strong, direct draft up the chimney tends to draw the
hot flames close under the center of the stove. Over a
fresh wood fire the breakfast coffee sometimes boils
quicker in the center of the stove than on the less-heated
lids directly over the firebox. Perhaps the dish of water
for the four-minute egg refuses to come to a boil. Why?
Because the cook has not learned that water will boil
quicker if a cover is put on the dish. A cover on the
spider has the same effect and also keeps the stove
cleaner. A little later, when the fire is going well, the
whole top of the range is hot enough for boiling liquids in
large kettles or heating the flats for ironing when
electric ironing is not practicable.

Broiling should be prepared for in advance. The fire should
be built up high and show an even surface of clear, red-hot
coals. Good broiling requires intense heat for a short
time, over coals that are past the flaming and
gas-producing stage.

Open the oven damper so the smoke will go directly up the
chimney. Also give the fire some draft underneath. Take off
the two lids over the fire and sear over your sirloin,
chop or fish as quickly as possible, with frequent
turning. This quick searing of the surface tends to prevent
the escape of the juices and rewards the cook with a
toothsome article of food impossible to produce in any
other way. (A little olive oil on the steak before or after
broiling gives a wonderful flavor.)

A coal or charcoal fire is the selection of the world’s
finest chefs for broiling.

Anything broiled should be served as soon as it comes off
the fire. If that is impracticable, put it on a platter and
keep it hot in the oven.

Use of the Cookstove Oven

The real test of the range is in the baking. Nothing but
individual experience is a safe guide in handling any
particular range, but the general principle is the same.

When the fire is first started, the flames rush over the
top of the oven and thence directly to the chimney. This
heats the top of the oven, while the bottom remains
comparatively cool. The entire oven must be healed and the
body of fire must be sufficient to maintain an even heat
for a considerable length of time. The oven becomes evenly
heated by closing the oven damper, forcing the flames and
smoke down one side and under the oven, entirely around and
up again to reach the chimney.

Foods prepared for baking or roasting differ widely in the
time and temperature required for cooking. A little
practice will determine the correct temperature and best
location in the oven for different bakes.

In a wood or coal range, baking is done directly on the
bottom of the oven or on the raised rack. Never attempt to
bake with the rack placed on the bottom of the oven.

Use of the Warming Oven

Plates may be kept warm in the warming oven, but this is
not all that may be done in it. Dried fruit, such as
prunes, figs and raisins, may be put to soak in water in
the warming oven and left there for hours and hours,
developing a richness and sweetness that cannot be
otherwise produced.

One of the attributes of a good cook is a knack for serving
hot dishes hot. This is not always easy when there
is considerable variety in the menu. Here is where the
warming oven may play an important part and cause the
guests to wonder “how she does it.”

For example, take a thick sirloin: If properly timed, it
may be broiled just short of completion. Then, while the
accompanying dishes are made ready to serve, put the steak
on a platter, with plenty of butter, and place it in the
warming oven. The heat contained in the meat combined with
the heat contributed by the warming oven completes the
cooking, and your steak is done to a turn, juicy and
delicious, on a platter that will keep it hot. This is one
of the secrets of the expert broiler of steaks.

Puddings, such as creamy rice pudding, Indian pudding,
apple tapioca, steamed fruit pudding and others, may be
much improved by placing in the warming oven for an hour
after baking or steaming.

Stale bread may be dried out in the warming oven for
rolling and sifting, and if pulled bread and croutons for
soups are put into the warming oven, they will cook of
their own accord, without being looked after.

Jelly that has not jelled will sometimes jell after a day
or half a day in the warming oven, and even fruit that is
only half-ripe will ripen after a time in this convenient
place, if a dish of water is set beside the fruit to keep
it from drying out.

Use of the Baking Oven

We all know the New England boiled dinner. Not everyone
knows the “Atlantic” baked dinner. About an hour and a half
before dinnertime, put into the oven, heated as for bread
baking, a 4-to-5-pound chicken or a cut from a leg of
veal or lamb, and a dish of scalloped potatoes. Keep the
temperature even. Three-quarters of an hour later, add
three large carrots, scraped and cut in halves lengthwise,
placing them on the rack of the pan that holds the meat. In
another 15 minutes, put in six tomatoes, in an earthen
baking dish. By the time the tomatoes are
done — 15 or 20 minutes — a baked dinner
for six persons will be ready to serve. After removing the
meat and vegetables from the oven, if you place in it six
fruit patties, or six cup-custards in a pan with an inch or
more of water, these will be ready to serve for dessert.

Popovers, cream puffs and éclairs, angel cake and
sponge cakes are easier to bake successfully if put into a
cool oven and the temperature gradually increased.

Flour mixtures that are of a special shape which should be
preserved, like the fancy braided loaves and Parker House
rolls, ought to go into a very hot oven so that a crust
will immediately form to preserve the shape, and then the
baking may proceed at a low temperature.

All meats, fish and poultry are also better cooked at a
high temperature to begin with to hold in the
juices — then a gradual reduction of heat. Baste
frequently.

Bread, cakes, pies and vegetables may be baked at uniform
temperature, or with a slight gradual increase or decrease.

In many cases, cooking started at a low temperature,
gradually increasing, will develop a different taste from
the same food started at high heat. Boiled custards, if
made with cold milk, are more delicate than if the milk is
added very hot.

Scrambled eggs or omelets cooked on a fiercely hot pan from
the start take on a richer flavor than when started on a
rather cool pan. It is necessary to work fast, however, as
overcooking on a very hot pan produces a result that
resembles rubber in texture.

Those who enjoy a really good cup of coffee will agree that
there is a surprising difference in taste. A cup of real
coffee has much more to it than hot water and dark brown
color. It should be good if you start with a good blend
(ground at home just before using) and are not too
economical of the quantity used. For some reason, coffee
made in one-cup portions lacks the character of the larger
brew. Adding the shells of fresh eggs or a raw egg beaten
up with the coffee before boiling both enriches the flavor
and produces a much clearer beverage.

Coffee tastes quite different when started with cold or hot
water. It is the general opinion that a better result is
obtained by mixing with a little cold water and bringing to
a boil — then adding boiling water and setting back a
few minutes to settle.

Cereals take on a different flavor, depending on whether
they are started in cold or hot water. Which is the
better flavor is a matter of taste.

All good cooks know the most important secret of all: While
the bake is on, make a job of it.

No two conditions of range and draft are exactly
alike  –in fact, they will differ in your own home,
depending on the weather or the direction of the wind. A
set of exact rules for one situation would not fit another.
In any case, there must be a good body of fire to hold the
oven at a cooking temperature. The articles that are being
baked or roasted may do better on the rack than on the
bottom of the oven, or vice versa.

But no definite rules made for one situation would be at
all valuable when compared with the stored-up knowledge
gained from your own experience — remembering
how the oven acted before under similar conditions, and
making it serve you better and better with every day’s
acquaintance.

The foregoing hints are confined very largely to the
mechanical operation and care of the range. So much depends
upon the preparation of foods for cooking that the
temptation to add several pages of palatable recipes is
very strong. Recipes are easily obtained, however, and the
real purpose of this booklet is to suggest ways of getting
consistently better results with the range and draft as
they are. If the range works well all the time, both the
stove and the draft are all right. If the range has off
days, the chimney draft needs attention. A cleaning out may
help, or perhaps an extension of the chimney to a point
where the air currents will improve the draft.

If you are getting good results only part of the time, you
should get much better results the rest of the
time by making a study of the conditions of fire and draft
when the stove is at its best.

If the range fails to give satisfaction the greater part of
the time, look for serious defects in the range itself or
in the conditions of its installation or operation. If it
is cracked or broken, it is past its usefulness. Its
operation becomes rapidly more wasteful and irritating, and
the early installation of a new range will be good economy
and good sense.

The kitchen range usually does its work so well that its
virtues are taken for granted. When it breaks down from old
age, the whole family realizes what an advance has been
made since the days of kettles hung in fireplaces and cuts
of meat slowly roasted on wooden spits.