In the chapters on gas and electric stoves, you will find there mentioned the fact that there are some stoves so built that they have fireless ovens. That simply means that they are so insulated and constructed that when the cooking has reached a certain point, the current of electricity or the gas can be turned off (in some cases turning itself off automatically) and the rest of the cooking can be done by the fireless process or on retained heat. This, of course, is the ideal way, because then there is no extra paraphernalia in the house and the stove is built so that the back is not bent in stooping to the low fireless cooker. For this reason, we would suggest that if you have a fireless, it is best to have it on a shelf built for it or keep it on a table. Save your back or your kitchen aid where you can, as we have but one back for every process in life! The electric fireless cooker is one which has its own connection with the electric light circuit. It is not a stove or part of a stove--it is merely a most convenient cooker for which you are not forced to heat extra stoves or plates. It’s a two-in-one combination. According to directions you turn on and off the circuit. COOKING After you become accustomed to the fireless, you will find that cooking in it is quite definite and the time and the schedule can be heeded like clock-work. Do not let the food cool in the cooker, or you will have the cooker odor to battle with and you will always have olfactory souvenirs. The cooling and steaming in the box will do this only too well. Air your utensils and cooker after each usage or your food will have a uniform flavor which to say the least is most unpleasant. Remember that it takes longer to cook like this and that you will only save time by being able to do something else without fear that your food is boiling over or burning or what not. This cookery takes a little practice, it is like everything else, a case where practise makes perfect and where the good utensil and a good understanding work together for good, while a poor utensil and a slovenly understanding work together for a little hell on earth, and this is putting it not one whit too strong. It is no doubt true that tough cuts of meat are better cooked by the long process of retained heat; it is no doubt true that cereals are much more wholesome with the process of retained heat, yet it is doubtful whether the fireless cooker is ever bought for these reasons. It is bought, however, to economize time, service and food. There is less waste of food by the fireless process. You can buy cheap cuts of food if you have a fireless cooker and enjoy them. So, the fireless cooker is not an embroidery it is the “bib and tucker” of culinary labor. CHAPTER X QUESTIONS FROM THE LEAGUE OF RATIONS (_A very possible conversation, but invented by the author to bring out some points that the reader will readily see._)