II THE LOG-HUT OR CAMP KITCHEN

Some men possess considerable natural aptitude in cooking, and any skill of this kind will serve them in good stead when they become colonists, and where there is not natural aptitude it is well worth while acquiring a little knowledge by dint of study. Supposing all other kinds of employment fail, a cook’s job is generally to be got and no one grudges his wages. A little story may be cited which bears out the truth of this. The son of an army chaplain and a public school-boy, decided to go out to the Colonies, and before doing so took a course of lessons in land surveying. He went out to a large farm and at first did fairly well, but then he fell on evil times, and having no capital was soon on his beam ends. A chum of his who came across him remembered certain school study feasts, and as he was himself a kind of sub-contractor in a lumber camp, offered his friend the post of camp cook for a hundred or more men, at good wages. The offer was promptly accepted. The new cook, who was a smart lad, soon had everything well organized and in apple-pie order. He pleased the men mightily and could always rely on their help for the harder tasks of chopping firewood, washing-up, and so on. Soon he acquired a real liking for his job and got through his work quickly and easily. When the second season came round he again enlisted as camp cook, but this time, having some capital, he went into partnership with his friend the sub-contractor. The two prospered. They sub-contracted for the woodwork to be done on one of the railways then being built, and the “cook’s” knowledge of mathematics and surveying then came in useful. In a few years’ time he blossomed out as a railway engineer with an important post, big salary, house, servants and horses. Of course he had his mathematics and his land surveying to help him. Still it was his wage-commanding knowledge of cookery that had set him on his feet, and on the road to fortune.

Most open-air cooks have to make the best they can out of the situation, for the site of a camp is not usually settled with much regard for their convenience. If there is good water within reasonable distance that is much to be thankful for. The planning out of the kitchen will depend chiefly upon circumstances; where there are only two or three to be catered for it is not a difficult matter, but where a dozen or more men want at least two meals a day, it is a matter requiring some contrivance and organization.

Choose a position as much protected from wind as possible for the camp kitchen, and have it separate from the rest of the camp. Where rocks or boulders can be made use of take them into service, but build a furnace, (one or more), with stones, of a size convenient to hold pans and cauldrons, and make a table also.

If a circular form is taken for the furnace it can be partly domed over, which enables more draught and a greater degree of heat to be obtained. Where a good deal has to be turned out of the kitchen it is a good plan to have a row of furnaces and build a chimney to connect with them, making the walls thick at bottom and narrow at the top. The chimney should come immediately behind the furnaces with a hollow base three feet square, gradually narrowing up to a height of six feet or more. A hole or flue of stones welded together with clay should connect each furnace with the chimney. If the whole battery is built in one block flues are easy to shape, and a splendid heat should be obtained from the stoves.

Where a log cabin or stone hut is being built the greatest care should be given to the erection of the fireplaces for cooking purposes, as the comfort and likewise the safety of the whole construction will depend on this part being secure and sound. The more good masonry work is put into the fireplaces the greater and more economical will be the amount of heat obtained from the fuel that is consumed. Thick, well-made walls prevent the escape of heat.

For the hearth and base of furnaces and chimney use as large stones as can possibly be found, the flatter the better. If the large stones require much levelling take smaller ones in preference and fit them together as evenly as can be with sand and clay. Excellent fireplaces can be built with stones and mud, but a little cement is of course much better for binding together the stones. Build the fireplace in the middle of the wall at the end of the hut, or across one corner. Make the hearth a little higher than the floor level. Sacrifice a little space, if need be, to have the fireplace inside the hut, and not, as is too often done, outside as a separate projection. Level the hearth, cover with a thin bed of cement or mortar or wet clay, and place thereon the largest and flattest stones, making the level as straight as you can. Now build round this hearth thick walls, starting them in a trench dug at least eighteen inches below the level of the ground. The walls should surround the hearth on three sides, leaving a part of the side facing into the hut open. Carry them up to about two or three feet high and gradually narrow them to bring the top nearer towards a dome shape. A good builder will then carry his furnace up in chimney shape right out through the roof of the hut, but if stones fail then the rest of the chimney can be a zinc or tin pipe. Experts, who are able to use mortar, will give the chimney a bend to right or left which prevents too strong a downward draught, or the fire from being put out by rain.

With a hearth such as this it is well to place upstanding supports about the middle, such as a pan or kettle could be rested upon; this helps in the cooking very much, and prevents any spilling when the fire burns down. With an open hearth with thick-walled sides, such as this, much can be done, but it is well worth while going to the trouble of building a furnace oven, as before described, in addition.

Additional Portable Appliances

Only in very remote districts indeed would any one be limited to such rough fireplaces as these. Fuel of some other kind, such as oil, would assuredly be procurable to some extent, and a portable oil stove would take the place of the gas ring and gas appliances in town houses. The outgoing colonist would not be ill-advised to take with him a portable oil stove of some make, and when doing so he might as well choose one that will do more than merely boil a kettle. A small-sized Rippingill, with one tank can, when required, cook a full-sized dinner and will burn no more oil than a simple boiling stove. When buying such a stove buy a can for holding oil, a filler, and an extra wick or two, and carry something wherewith to clean the stove and keep it in good condition, then wherever oil is procurable the little stove can be brought into use and prove of endless comfort. There may be occasions when the stove must be packed away and resort be had to the rougher and more primitive methods of the clay fireplace or the tripod in the open, but the stove would in that case take no harm and come out smiling when opportunity favours it again.

The same remark applies to the spirit lamp or traveller’s Etna; though methylated spirit is more difficult to procure than is kerosene or paraffin oil. Still there are occasions when travelling or when camping in a tent, or making a journey by boat, when a portable spirit stove or lamp is of great service, or in sickness.

Electric Cooking Apparatus

One must bear in mind that all Colonists are not going out as pioneers, but that many will be setting up new homes in districts where in certain matters conditions of living will be even more advanced than they are in the old country. For instance, in parts of South Africa, the Transvaal, and the Cape, electric power is fast coming into common use, while gas is not used at all and coal is scarce and expensive. In such cases, electric lighting will be found general in quite small townships and in quite small houses, and therefore the electric cooking stove will become, not a luxury such as we in England would deem it, but a necessity.

Having ascertained how far electric power is in use in the district to which the colonist is going, and also how it is supplied and how available, it is possible then to consider the advisability of taking out a portable electric stove, such, for instance, as can be connected up with an ordinary light in any room. A portable stove of this kind, about twelve inches square, which is a combined Grill and Water Boiler, can be had for 35s. complete, with flexible wiring for connecting up. Its consumption is about 750 watts of electric energy per hour or about three-fourths of a unit—the cost of course depending on the price charged per unit in the district. In any case, this is a little stove that at a cost of approximately a penny will produce a full meal with tea, coffee or soup, a grilled steak or chop and toast in something less than half an hour. It is so small and so capable, that, whether sure of finding electric power or not, the outgoing colonist would add little to his expenses and less to his luggage by taking one on the chance of finding it useful.

But when certain of electric power and when going out to establish a home forthwith, in a district where electricity is in common use, certain fittings and assuredly a cooking stove, should be taken without hesitation. There are some to be got out there no doubt, but they are cheaper here, and also there is more variety to choose from. Several types of electric ovens are now on the market; the price of them varies according to size and capacity. One that is strongly to be recommended for wear and capability, for family use in a small kitchen, is the “X.L.” It stands 36 inches high; it is 24 inches in width, and weighs 130 pounds. It is a thoroughly good and strong stove and can be installed wherever electric current is obtainable. One of its commendable points is its perfect freedom from dust or smoke, another is that each of its compartments can be used independently of the others, being controlled by separate switches. There is also a minimum and a medium switch, and when both are put on together the maximum degree of heat is obtained. The oven is large enough to hold a joint and pastry or bread, while the grill, the hot-plate and plate-warmer can be used or shut off, as desired. The price of this complete is £18 10s. f.o.b. at any English port. These “X.L.” stoves are manufactured by O. G. Hawkes, Ltd., at Globe Works, Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham.

Smaller and less expensive is the “Tricity” range and outfit supplied by the Berry Construction Company, 29a, Charing Cross Road, whose wholesale agents are Messrs. Gillespie & Beales, Amberley House, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C. The Tricity Cookers are listed for Direct or Alternating Current Circuits of not less than 100 voltage. In addition to the oven and hot-plate, either of which can be used independently of the other, the outfit comprises an extension cooker which gives another boiling ring, and the whole equipment of utensils consists of thirteen articles, comprising a complete apparatus. The full list with stove and extension cooker costs £12 10s., but the oven and hot-plate alone is four guineas. Ordinary tin kettles and saucepans will answer, but the outfit is purchasable in parts and may consist of as few articles as any one wishes to take.

That fine explorer, Boyd Alexander Smith, and in fact all experienced travellers, speak of the value of having a mincing machine at hand. It comes in useful for so many purposes, making tender and digestible meat that is often too tough to use in any other way. It assists in making savoury dishes out of remnants, will grind down the stale crusts, and save much trouble in many ways. A good mincing machine can be got for 12s. 6d., but one that has adjustable parts, making it useful for cutting up vegetables and beans, is a little more in price.