CALM COOKING DESPITE POWER-CUTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 419, 4 July 1947, Page 22

CALM COOKING DESPITE POWER-CUTS

Use a hay. box intelligently, and the power-cuts need not affect your cooking -except roasts or cakes. The use of the hay box or fireless cooker was revived in Britain during the war, when gas, electricity and other fuel were often so terribly scarce. It is a very simple affair, and simply acts on the principle of the thermos flask. The essential feature is that the food must have started cooking before being put into the haybox, where it will remain at the temperature already attained, for several hours-just like the tea in your thermos, How to Make Get a box, or boxes, or perhaps a trunk with a well-fitting lid. Line it with several thicknesses Of newspaper, which are bad conductors of heat. Then fill the box with hay, packing it in very tightly, especially the corners. Then make "nests" for the saucepans you are using -perhaps a big one containing corned beef or ham, or ‘a shoulder piece of bacon; or a pot or stew with vegetables; or soup; or even a pot-roast. Haricot beans are often done this way-and porridge may be cooked overnight and put into the hay-box ready for early breakfast. After putting in your pots, cover them with a thick cushion of hay, tuck in with an old rug or blanket, and close the box-lid, which is also thickly lined with newspaper... When mealtime comes, the saucepan of food must be taken out and put on the stove to re-heat, and for the stew to be thickened. Experience will give you the knack of using the hay-box. As an extra precaution, wrap the saucepan round with newspaper when taking it off the stove, to put into the hay-box. s What-No Hay? f People living in a city may wonder how to get the hay. They might be interested to know that in France hay is never used for this purpose, but is replaced by sawdust. The results are wonderful. Sawdust is a very good insulating agent, and is used in the tropics mixed (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) with powdered coal in ice-boxes, which" are built om the same principle as hayboxes. Timetable Porridge: Boil 5 minutes on stove; ve all night in the hay-box. , Stews: Boil 20 to 30 minutes; leave 4 or more in the box. Ham, Corned Beet: Boil 40 minutes on stove; 6 hours or more in box. Haricot Beans: Boil 20 minutes on stove; 4 to 6 hours in box. Potatoes: Boil 5 minutes on stove; 142 to 2 hours in box. Milk Puddings: Boil 5 to 10 minutes on stove; 3 to 4 hours in box, Steamed Puddings: Boil 45 to 60 minutes on stove; 2 to 3 hours in box.