To many people， the use of a wood or coal burning stove
may be a questionable step backwards. But when the wood
cookstove was first marketed in America， somewhere around
1830， it appeared as the \"first major revolution in cooking
since the discovery of fire.\"* Before then， women had cooked
in big open hearths and built-in brick ovens. Cooking was
often a smoky affair， the kitchen drafty， and there was
always the hazard of dragging your skirt through the flames.
And so it seems odd that not everybody greeted this revolu-
tionizing wonder with enthusiasm. Harriet Beecher Stowe
asked:
Would our Revolutionary fathers have gone barefooted and
bleeding over snow to defend airtight stoves and cooking
ranges? I trow not. It was the memory of the great open kitchen
fire， its roaring， hilarious voice of invitation， its dancing tongue
of flames， that called them through the snows of that dreadful
winter.
But many others， however， must have been grateful， for by
1847， the cookstove was in full commercial production.
In the past century， technology has accelerated at a dizzy-
ing rate. Scores of machines have replaced the working and
thinking of people--and do them better. These advances have
freed us from countless laborsome tasks， creating time for
more satisfying jobs. But some tasks， though they take more
effort， offer greater rewards when done the old-fashioned way.
That s how an increasing number of cooks view the wood
cookstove. Compared to the operation of its successors， some
of which are programmed to de-frost， simmer， broil， and
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