The Rev. Canon Moore Ede, of Gateshead, was attracted by Mr. Smith's successful use of Becker's apparatus, and visited Stockholm for the purpose of testing its value. He embodied his observations, which were in the highest degree favourable, in an admirable lecture on cheap food and cooking at Sunderland in 1884, which has since been cheaply printed, and had a deservedly large sale.* He employed for his cheap dinners for children a large box of sheet-iron, felted throughout inside, two and a half inches thick, and lined with tin-plate. Two gas jets will raise the contents (thirty gallons) to the boiling point, and a very small amount of flame suffices to maintain the lower temperatures preferred for as many hours as are required.

Some twelve years or more ago, a very complete and efficient apparatus, adapted for all the uses of a small or large family, was designed and thoroughly tested in America by Mr. Edw. Atkinson, of Brookline, Mass. He first introduced the apparatus to the public as the "Aladdin Cooker," for boiling, stewing, etc., and has rendered it more useful and efficient for all methods of cooking, except broiling and frying, under the name of the "Aladdin Oven."

* "Cheap Food and Cheap Cooking." London: W. Scott, 14, Paternoster Square. Price id. 1884. There are excellent hints on the management of penny dinners for school children. See also "Children's Dinner Tables," in the Appendix.

Rev. Moore Ede's experience.

Mr. E. Atkinson's "Aladdin Oven."

Much is often said of the economy effected by all these methods of slow cookery, on the ground of the smaller loss in weight produced by them, as compared with roasted meats. This is much less than would appear at first sight to be the case. It is quite true that a joint weighing fourteen pounds when roasted or baked may weigh only eleven, and if cooked in the low-temperature chamber may be finished at twelve pounds and a half. The difference in weight is due to loss of water only; the far-reaching cooking odours amount to nothing. These are produced by slight scorching of the surface, one result of which is a highly appreciated and appetizing flavour in a very thin superficial layer, giving character to roasted and broiled meats, which cannot be obtained by any slow or closed-chamber process. Mr. Atkinson cleverly imitates the appearance of a roast in colour and dryness of surface by slightly buttering the outside of the joint to be "roasted," and covering it with fine crumbs, or better still, the raspings of a French roll, which will give a browner and a crisper covering. But a true roast which "tastes of the fire" can only be really produced in front of a well - prepared open range.

The principle on which all of them act is to prevent the escape of heat by constructing the oven of materials which are thoroughly non-conducting, and therefore do not consist of metal, invariably employed for kitchen ranges. Metal conducts heat away rapidly, and requires constant supplies of fresh heat, a process which renders difficult the maintenance of an equable temperature, besides being costly through wasteful consumption of fuel. The thick sides of the Aladdin oven are made of indurated and incombustible papier mache, or of a wood pulp, desiccated, which is practically almost the same thing, one of the best non-conductors of heat known, with a thin metallic lining; the interior cavity available for cooking, which is divided by movable horizontal partitions for different dishes, measuring from a foot to a foot and a half in every direction, in the sizes at present mostly used. The heat is supplied to the oven by means of an oil lamp below, or by gas; in either case the amount supplied being always under the control of the cook. The whole of this heat, or nearly so, is conveyed into the interior of the chamber - no admission of the products of combustion from the lamp or of gas with the air there being possible - to be utilized for culinary purposes. A chimney is unnecessary, as the waste products of the small flame required are inconsiderable, and may escape into the apartment. There being so little loss of heat, the plan is admirably adapted for hot summer weather, since the stove radiates no perceptible warmth into the surrounding air. It is not intended for cooking rapidly, but at a rate during the day requiring fully double the time consumed by the common kitchen range, while for soup-making, stews, or any other procedure which it is desired to accomplish at a low temperature, and by which the best results are attained, it should be left at work all night with a small jet of gas beneath as the only source of heat. Bread may be made in it very successfully when the boiling and baking processes necessary for a meal have been completed, and much heat remains still to be utilized.*

Question of economy considered.

Various Modes: Atkinson's.

Construction.

Mode of using.

(b) Roasting, or the cooking of meat by heat through radiation, and by heated dry air in front of a clear, bright fire; the heat radiating from which into the "roaster," a metallic enclosure open towards the fire only, and containing the joint, turned therein by means of a bottle-jack. The fire, being at its best, the joint, poultry, or game, is placed very near at first - an analogous proceeding to the initial step in boiling - in order to seal the entire surface by coagulating its albumen at the outset, and so enclose the fluids securely within (see p. 95). This is accomplished in about eight to ten minutes for a large joint, or in four or five for a piece of poultry. The roaster is then drawn half a foot to a foot further back, so as to diminish the heat thenceforward. The opportunity of basting the joint, which, especially towards the close of the process, should be frequently done with dripping from the pan below, is one of the advantages of this mode of cooking, which cannot be secured by any process of baking in an oven. The surface would become over-dried by the heat, cracked, thus permitting vapours to escape, and even charred, were it not for the basting, which preserves it moist and flexible, and ensures only that precise degree of browning, with its agreeable aroma, which is found by a connoisseur so precious for its peculiar flavour and scent. Want of diligence in using the ladle, and of care in regulating the fire, occasions the fat to be decomposed and burnt with much evil odour and savour. Certainly the proper roasting of poultry and game is quite unattainable by any other method.

* "The Art of Cooking," by E. Atkinson, Ll.D. New York : Appleton. 1889. A paper reprinted from the Science Monthly for November, 1889, and other reports and papers subsequently.