CHAPTER XLI
TAKING THE KITCHEN ALONG
It is no longer necessary for motorists to trust to luck and the roadhouse restaurant for lunch. They can take their own kitchen along and loiter down the highways and byways and eat where and when they will. Manufacturers who have studied the requirements of motorists provide the neatest imaginable bits of equipment for use on the road. With them you can be as comfortable in the Gobi Desert as at home.
The best known of these pieces is what is called the “Restaurant,” a ship-shaped glazed duck or sole leather case equipped with knives, forks, spoons, cups, saucers, butter jars, sandwich boxes, vacuum bottles, salt and pepper shakers and napkins, for from two to eight persons. They can be strapped on the running board or back rack of the car or slid unobstructively into the tonneau. They are shaped usually like suit cases, although one firm makes them in a flat, square shape of sole leather, black grain leather or glazed duck (patent leather).
There is a case of this kind on the market that carries a cooking apparatus, a long fork and a folding gasoline cook stove with two burners. This burns ordinary gasoline, which the motorist always has with him. There are no loose parts to assemble or become lost. When it is folded all parts are enclosed easily and rapidly and the case fastens securely and simply. It can be bought separately or in combination with the above case. These cases are built on a basis of bass or some other strong wood and are practically unbreakable.
If you prefer a wood fire to the gasoline stove, there are small grates to be had which aid greatly in the building of it. These are light in weight and can be carried easily.
Long ago the vacuum bottle solved the problem of carrying cold and hot food. It is made in many shapes, styles and forms. It insures comfort for the long or short tour, and if a little care is taken in the handling there is no danger of breakage.
The best of these bottles are made of glass well annealed, insuring elasticity. The outer walls are generally of steel and relieve the jarring. The inner wall is also of steel, and between these walls is the vacuum, impenetrative to heat and cold.
These jars and bottles hold from one pint to one gallon, so the range of choice is vast enough for utility. The stoppers are so made and fitted, plus their caps, to prevent leakage of wind or advent of outside air, that the temperature probably never changes more than a few degrees in twenty-four hours.
Cases for these bottles in various sizes are made of leather, duck and wicker. They are convenient and absolutely necessary to the longevity of the bottle as it is so adjusted in the casing that it rests and vibrates enough to ease strain which might overcome the elasticity of the glass and cause breakage.
The bottles themselves are finished in leather over metal or in metal containers, and some come equipped with handles and also with convenient cups.
Another invaluable aid in an automobile trip is the fireless cooker, which makes a hot meal at any time a reality. Start it before the trip begins and by meal time you’ll have a real dinner, not a pseudo-feast. These fireless cookers can be had, so don’t forget them in planning a trans-desert tour amid sands and dry winds.
REFRIGERATORS
There are on the market admirable ice-boxes for the motorist. These come with partitions for ice and partitions for food. Some have racks in which bottles and other things are held firmly. The wicker basket lined with metal is a useful one and has a convenient carrying handle. It is of the finest workmanship of imported reed, with hardwood bottom covered with two coats of mineral paint. The covers are of three-ply basswood finished in dark forest green. There are straps to fasten the cover, and the hinges, buckles and nickel-plated fixings are of perfect workmanship. The lining is nickel-plated zinc and especially insulated against aggressive, unwanted, outside air.
The iceless refrigerator is an ice saving and remarkable device which “works” on the old evaporation cooling principle. The two earthenware crocks, which fasten together, are submerged before filling in clear water. When kept in a draught or in a moving vehicle or in a window, the evaporation process cools the food within. This device saves ice, the cool air doing the work.
The other refrigerator boxes are excellent, too, with their fine installations and vents for melted ice. These are generally leather covered and zinc lined.
COOKING OUTFITS
Campers use cooking outfits that motorists do well to copy. For example, the cooking outfits made of hard seamless aluminum, for from two to six persons, include, in the smallest set, one frying pan, two cooking pots, one coffee pot, two plates, two cups, two soup bowls, two knives, two forks, two dessert spoons and two teaspoons, all nested together in the big cooking pot, and weighing six pounds six ounces. The outfit measures 9¹⁄₂″ × 8³⁄₄″, all wrapped in a canvas case.
The nest for eight includes: three cooking pots, one E cooking pot, one large coffee pot, two frying pans, eight dessert and eight teaspoons. It is only 11″ × 12⁷⁄₈″ nested, and weighs 18³⁄₄ pounds. It can be attached in canvas case to rear or side of running board racks, or carried in the car.
If aluminum is too expensive, there is always the very same kit in steel, heavier, of course, but just as compact in size. All are seamless and best quality.
There are also pocket kits which weigh about 31 ounces and measure 2″ × 3¹⁄₈″ × 8¹⁄₂″ and include a folding broiler, racks which thrust into the ground, two frying pans with detachable handles and which when fitted together make a perfect roaster. All fold neatly together and there is room for knives, forks, etc.
If this list of accessible accessories does not fire your desire to take to the open road, nothing will.
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