Fireless cookers were very popular in the early 1900s as a way to save labor and fuel in cooking. A fireless cooker consists of a “kettle or other vessel that can be heated, enclosed in a box or other outer shape, with enough insulating material between them to prevent the heat in the kettle from escaping.” Food brought to a boiling point and then enclosed in the cooker would continue to cook slowly over several hours. Similar to modern crock pots or slow cookers, fireless cookers were labor saving devices: “Busy women, mothers, teachers, students, and all those who have to work outside as well as in the home, may prepare wholesome, nutritious, economical, and attractive dishes, with very little time spent over the kitchen fire.”
Illustration and quotations from The Fireless Cooker: How to Make It, How to Use It, What to Cook, by Caroline B. Lovewell, Frances D. Whittemore, Hannah W. Lyon (Topeka, Kansas: The Home Publishing Co., 1908.)
