Any cooker can be made more efficient by following some simple principles:
- Always use a lid when boiling.
- Use a larger cooking pot (when it is appropriate to cook a larger amount). Cooking in Larger amounts is more energy efficient than cooking in a smaller amount.
- A wide shallow pot is better at capturing the heat than a tall narrow one.
- For a wood stove, having more than one pot on the stove at one time makes better use of the fire, i.e. more efficient. Of course, this assumes the stove is designed for more than one pot - trying to balance more than one pot on a one-pot stove is to be avoided, as it could lead to spills and possible injury.
For more detail, see Wikipedia:Cook stove#Standard approaches to conserving cooking fuel
Cook stoves
Template:Wikipedia p Cook stove is a general term for stoves used in developing countries, often of a very simple designs. Efforts have been made in recent years to design and promote more efficient stoves that don't fill the home with harmful smoke, and which use less fuel.
- In high-mortality developing countries, indoor smoke is the most lethal killer after malnutrition, unsafe sex and lack of safe water and sanitation. - AIDG blog
See for example the Rocket Lorena Stove.
Groups including the Legacy Foundation and EWB San Francisco Professionals Chapter are doing research into optimizing such stoves, including using briquettes made from waste biomass (e.g. agricultural waste) with a simple [[briquette press]
External links about cook stoves
- EWB-SFP Appropriate Technology Design Team - blog with a strong focus on improved stoves. A project of Engineers Without Borders, San Francisco Professionals Chapter.
Food safety
Care must be taken when using a W, fireless cooker (i.e. insulated boxes for maintaining a pot at high temperature) or solar cooker:
- If meat is used, an adequate temperature must be used to ensure the safety of the meat. {Please link to suitable Wikipedia article or other resource describing the temperatures and times needed.[verification needed])
- If legumes are used, especially kidney beans or chick peas, they must be cooked at a high enough temperature for sufficient time (e.g. at 100 deg C for 20 minutes) to destroy toxic substances, and avoid food poisoning. Cooking at a lower temperature (e.g. 80 deg C) can actually increase toxicity. See Wikipedia:Bean#Toxins. This might also be an issue when cooking legumes at high altitudes, e.g. in Bolivia. (What is the boiling temperature of water in Bolivia, and is it high enough to safely cook legumes?[expansion needed] Chriswaterguy · talk comments: a friend who cooked legumes in Bolivia said they did not cook properly, and he would need a pressure cooker in order to do it properly.)
Subcategories
This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
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Pages in category "Cookers"
The following 56 pages are in this category, out of 56 total.