The Fireless Cook Book

The Fireless Cook Book is a manual of the construction and use of appliances for cooking by retained heat, with 250 recipes, by Margaret J. Mitchell. The text says that when cooking no longer ties one to the kitchen and is no longer a labour that monopolizes one’s time, dishevels one’s person, and exasperates the temper, the cook may go. The directions for making a hay-box or fireless cooker say that the box may be a handsome hardwood chest, or even an old trunk.

A barrel makes an excellent hay-box, especially for very large kettles, but the cover cannot easily be hinged and must be weighted to hold it down tight. The water in the pail should come to two-thirds of the height of the mould, and the mould should be not less than half-full of dough and generally not more than two-thirds full. If a bread mould is not available, an empty baking-powder can, coffee can, or any tin can or box with straight sides which has a tight-fitting cover may be used, providing it is found by trial to be water-tight.