FIRELESS cookers are specially adapted to use on a large scale, as it is in cases where cooking is done on a business basis that economy in fuel, range space, and labour form such an important factor, and because there some intelligent person will generally oversee the work of the ignorant and careless. In their present form they are not, perhaps, adapted to very large institutions, where many hundreds of persons are fed, since there is a limit to the size of utensils which can be lifted in and out of the insulating box. But for small institutions, hotels, boarding-houses, restaurants, and lunch rooms the fireless cooker will, inevitably, become indispensable as soon as it is understood.

The United States Army has used the fireless cooker and, owing partly to its demand, some of the manufacturers of commercial cookers make them in sizes appropriate for use on a large scale. For those who wish to try them without an initial outlay of much money the home-made cooker will be found in every way satisfactory. As an encouragement to those who wish to use them for such purposes, it may be said that there is less chance of failure in cooking large quantities of food than with small.

In the main, the directions for making and using cookers are the same no matter what the size, but a few points may be suggested as more necessary for large than small cookers.

In many kitchens there will be no space near the range for a cooker or a number of cookers, and it will be a matter of necessity to have one which can easily be moved. Instead of ordinary castors, use, for these, such small iron wheels as are put on hand trucks. They will be found to run more easily and to injure a floor much less. Select a box which will fit under a table, when loaded, and then it will not seem to make the kitchen any fuller than before. Fit it with two strong handles, preferably on the front of the box, so that it may be guided when pulled out from under the table.

The portable insulating pail may be found useful for transporting hot food from a central kitchen to outlying dining-rooms, as is so often done in large institutions, aluminum utensils and the lightest packing material that is practicable being advisable for these.

The temperature maintained by a large mass of food in a well-made box, will result in more rapid cooking than with small quantities, and this must be taken into account with foods, such as potatoes, which are easily overcooked.

There is always a difficulty in stating the number of persons that may be served by any recipe, since the amount served to each varies to such an extent with circumstances. The number indicated in this book is a mean between the small table d'hote and the large a la carte portions, and is based upon the amount served at an ordinary family table. Three-quarters of a cupful is allowed for each portion of soup.

Rolled Oats

7 1/2 qts. water

4 tablespoons salt

3 qts. rolled oats

Boil the water, add the salt and sprinkle in the oats gradually. When boiling put it into a cooker for two hours or more. It is improved by twelve hours' cooking.

Serves forty or fifty persons.

Cornmeal Mush

8 qts. water

2 1/2 tablespoons salt

7 cups cornmeal

Mix the meal with one quart of the water, bring the remainder to a boil, add the salt and stir in the meal paste. Let it boil four minutes and put it into the cooker for five hours or more.

Serves thirty-five or forty persons.

Hominy Grits

7 1/2 qts. water

3 tablespoons salt

1 1/2 qts. hominy grits

Add the hominy to the boiling, salted water; let it boil for ten minutes and put it into the cooker for eight hours or more.

Serves forty or fifty persons.

Samp

1 qt. samp

2 qts. cold water

3 tablespoons salt 6 qts. boiling water

Soak the samp in the cold water for eight hours or more. Add it to the boiling water and salt, let it boil uncovered for one hour and put it into a cooker for six hours or more. A little butter added before serving improves it, if it is used as a vegetable.

Serves forty or fifty persons.

Cracked Wheat

5 cups wheat

2 1/2 qts. cold water

2 1/2 tablespoons salt 5 qts. boiling water

Soak the cracked wheat in the cold water for nine hours or more. Add it to the boiling water and salt, let it boil for ten minutes and put it into a cooker for at least nine hours; reheat it to the boiling point and cook it again for nine hours or more.

Serves forty or fifty persons.

Steel-Cut Oatmeal

5 cups oats

2 1/2 qts. cold water

2 1/2 tablespoons salt 5 qts. boiling water

Cook it in the same manner as cracked wheat. Serves forty or fifty persons.