Part 2

¾ pound chopped raw beef ¾ cup chopped or coarsely grated raw potato ¼ cup chopped or grated onion 2 tablespoons chopped green pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1 egg Drippings or other fat or oil 1 cup tomato juice or puree 1 tablespoon flour

Mix all ingredients except fat, tomato juice, and flour. Form into 4 or 5 flat cakes.

Brown the cakes on both sides in fat or oil in a fry pan. Add tomato juice, cover, and simmer slowly until done, about 25 minutes.

Remove cakes and keep them hot. Mix flour with a little water and stir slowly into the liquid in the pan. Cook until thickened, stirring occasionally. Serve this sauce with the cakes.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with mashed or buttered squash and apple-celery-raisin salad. Add protein to the meal with peanut butter cookies or cheese and crackers for dessert.

With Cooked Meat and Potatoes

_Meat and Potato Cakes._—Combine 1½ cups diced or chopped cooked meat, 2 cups mashed potatoes, 1 egg, and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Mold into flat cakes, flour lightly, and brown in a little hot fat or oil.

Ham and scalloped potatoes

4 medium-sized potatoes, sliced 1 tablespoon grated onion 2 cups hot milk ½ pound thinly sliced ham, cut in serving pieces Salt, pepper

Put half of the potatoes into a greased baking dish. Sprinkle with half the onion, a little salt, and pepper. Use salt sparingly.

Add ham. Cover with rest of potatoes, seasonings, and onion.

Add milk until it barely shows between the potato slices on top. Save rest of milk to add during cooking if needed.

Cover dish and bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) about 1 hour. Remove cover last 15 or 20 minutes to allow potatoes to brown on top.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with tomato juice, snap beans, and cabbage salad. Choose a fruit dessert such as dried-fruit whip.

Other Potato-Meat Dishes

Use ham trimmings, cheese, roast meat, chipped dried beef, frankfurters, or corned beef in place of ham in the recipe above.

_Mashed Potato-Meat Pie._—Moisten leftover mashed potatoes with hot milk and beat until fluffy. Put a meat stew in a baking dish, top with the potatoes, and brown lightly at 400° F. (hot oven).

Liver loaf

1½ pounds liver 2 tablespoons fat or meat drippings ¼ cup chopped onion ¼ cup chopped celery ¼ pound pork sausage 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup soft breadcrumbs, mashed potatoes, or cooked rice 1 egg, beaten About ⅔ cup milk or canned tomatoes

Brown the liver lightly in the fat. Chop fine.

Brown the onion and celery in the fat and add to the liver.

Add the rest of the ingredients, using just enough milk or tomatoes to moisten the mixture well.

Pack firmly into a loaf pan to shape. Bake in the pan or turn out on a rack in a shallow pan for baking. Bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) 1½ to 2 hours.

Menu Suggestion

Serve the loaf with spanish sauce (see recipe), buttered carrots, tossed green salad, and ice cream or fruit gelatin.

Spanish sauce

2 tablespoons chopped onion 2 tablespoons fat or meat drippings 1 tablespoon flour 2 cups cooked tomatoes ½ cup chopped celery ½ cup chopped green pepper Salt and pepper

Brown the onion in the fat and blend in the flour. Add the other ingredients and cook about 20 minutes, or until rather thick.

Tongue-and-corn casserole

3 tablespoons butter or margarine 1 teaspoon finely chopped onion 2 tablespoons finely chopped pimiento 3½ tablespoons flour 1¼ cups milk, broth from tongue, or water with 2 beef bouillon cubes ¼ teaspoon salt 1½ cups chopped cooked tongue 1⅓ cups whole-grain corn, drained ⅓ cup grated cheese ¼ cup fine dry breadcrumbs mixed with butter or margarine

Melt butter or margarine and blend in flour and salt. Stir in the liquid, and cook and stir over low heat until thick and smooth.

Add rest of ingredients except breadcrumbs, and mix well.

Turn the mixture into a greased shallow baking dish and sprinkle top with crumbs.

Bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) 20 to 30 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly and crumbs are brown.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with raw cranberry relish and Swiss chard or kale, with pumpkin custard for dessert.

For Variety

In place of tongue use 1½ cups of chopped cooked meat such as chicken, turkey, or rabbit—or 4 frankfurters cut in thin crosswise slices. Brown the meat lightly in the butter or margarine before adding the flour, salt, and pepper.

Poultry ...

Like other meats, poultry has protein of high quality and is a good source of iron and the B vitamin niacin.

In retail markets poultry is usually sold “ready-to-cook”; occasionally, “dressed” or live. Ready-to-cook style comes either whole or cut up, and either freshly eviscerated or frozen; some is labeled to show government inspection and grading, some inspection only.

“Dressed” means that only blood and feathers have been removed. “Ready-to-cook” means that blood, feathers, head, feet, and viscera have been removed, and the bird has been thoroughly cleaned inside and out.

Price per pound of a dressed bird includes weight of head, feet, and viscera. A ready-to-cook bird is weighed and priced after this waste is removed. Therefore, though the price per pound is lower for the dressed bird, the cost per pound of actual poultry meat is about the same in the two styles.

Most chickens are sold in the following classes at these ages and weights:

Class Age Ready-to-cook weight

_Pounds_ Broilers or fryers 8 to 10 weeks 1½ to 2½. Roasters 3 to 5 months 2½ to 4½. Stewing chickens over 10 months 2 to 5½.

Stewing chickens—sometimes called “fowl” or “hens”—are hens old enough so that the tip of the breastbone has hardened. They need long slow cooking with steam or water to make the meat tender. They are often a good buy because they tend to have a higher proportion of meat to bone than younger chickens. A 5-pound dressed hen (3¾ pounds ready-to-cook) will give about 4 cups cooked meat coarsely cut, enough for at least two meals for a family of four if extended dishes are used—10 to 11 servings each containing 2 ounces of chicken.

Turkeys are sold in three classes based on weight and age: (1) Fryers or roasters, (2) young hens and young toms, (3) hens and toms. A fryer-roaster turkey, or a quarter or half of a larger turkey is often an economical roast, and can be made as attractive as the traditional big bird.

Stewed or steamed whole chicken

Prepare a fully drawn stewing chicken for cooking: Pull out pin-feathers and singe bird over flame; wash well, rinse, and dry. Clean giblets.

_Stewed Whole Chicken._—Place the bird on a rack in a kettle and add water to half cover bird. Salt water lightly. Cover kettle and simmer until chicken is tender, turning occasionally for even cooking. Three to 4 hours will probably be needed.

Cook giblets with the chicken, removing them as soon as done.

Cool chicken in broth, breast down, an hour or more.

The cooked whole bird may be browned with or without stuffing. Coat it with fat, place it breast up on a rack in a shallow open pan, and brown at about 350° F. (moderate oven).

_Steamed Whole Chicken._—Follow the same general directions as for stewing, but add water only to the level of the rack in the kettle and keep the bird breast up all the time. As the water boils away, add more. Steaming time will be 2 to 3 hours.

Stewed or Steamed Chicken, in Pieces

Cut a stewing chicken into pieces suitable for serving. Simmer in water to cover, or steam. Pieces take about as long to cook as a whole bird.

Chicken with dumplings

1 stewing chicken cut in pieces and stewed 3 to 4 cups broth 6 tablespoons chicken fat 3 to 6 tablespoons flour Salt and pepper

Remove pieces of chicken from the broth and keep them hot. Skim fat from broth.

Blend fat and flour, stir in several spoonfuls of the broth, and pour the mixture into the rest of the broth, stirring constantly.

Cook this gravy until it is slightly thickened. Season to taste.

Dumplings

¾ cup sifted flour 2½ teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 egg ⅓ cup milk

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together.

Beat egg, add milk, and mix with the dry ingredients.

Drop by small spoonfuls on boiling chicken gravy, cover tightly, and cook 15 minutes. The cover must not be removed while the dumplings are cooking, for if the steam escapes they will not be light.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with broccoli or other green vegetable, gelatin vegetable salad, date-and-nut pudding.

Curried chicken with carrots

1 stewing chicken cut in pieces and stewed or steamed 3 tablespoons chicken fat 1 pint chicken broth ½ cup sliced onion 3 tablespoons flour ¼ teaspoon curry powder 2 cups cooked shredded carrots Salt

Take cooked chicken from the broth. Skim off fat and measure quantities of fat and broth needed.

Make sauce: Cook onion in fat for a few minutes. Blend in flour and curry powder. Add broth, and cook until smooth and thickened, stirring constantly.

Mix chicken and carrots with sauce. Add salt to taste.

Leftover cooked lamb, pork, or veal may be used instead of chicken.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with a border of flaky rice and a green vegetable. Start the meal with tomato juice and have fruit sundae for dessert.

For a company meal pass a relish dish of several of the following: Chopped hard-cooked eggs, chopped peanuts, sweet pickle relish, finely diced celery, chopped raw onion. Include shredded fresh coconut, too, if you live where it is available and inexpensive. Guests can sprinkle these tidbits over the rice and chicken as desired.

Roast turkey quarter or half

You can roast turkey quarters or halves stuffed or unstuffed.

Rub inside of cleaned turkey part with salt. To keep meat from drying, fasten skin with skewers over meat at bone edge all around cavity. Or with big needle and heavy cord, lace across cavity, catching the skin with each stitch.

On a front quarter or half, sew wing tightly to body or fasten with skewers put in firmly at an angle. On a rear quarter or half, sew drumstick to tail.

Stuffing may be baked separately while the turkey cooks or, if preferred, quarters or halves may be stuffed and then roasted. Use heavy paper to hold stuffing in place and lace cord across paper from side to side, catching skin with each stitch.

Place turkey part, skin side up, on a rack in roasting pan. Cover with thin greased cloth or brush skin with fat. Do not add water. Do not cover pan. Roast at 325° F. (slow oven), basting several times with drippings.

Quarters weighing 3½ to 5 pounds require 3 to 3½ hours to roast; those weighing 5 to 8 pounds, 3½ to 4 hours. A half turkey weighing 7 to 9 pounds ready-to-cook takes 3¾ to 4½ hours. A larger half-bird takes longer.

_Serve with_ mashed potatoes or turnips, snap beans, cranberry relish, and fruit or fruit pie.

Cooked and canned meats and poultry ...

You can often save time and money by purchasing meat that will serve for two or more meals. Buy a smoked pork shoulder, a pot roast, or a stewing hen and plan your menus for several days around it.

Since meat is one of our more expensive foods, you may want to economize by reducing the size of meat servings. But meat is one of our best-liked foods. We want to keep the savory meat flavor in main dishes and provide enough protein in the family diet, too. Fortunately, both economy and sturdy meat servings can be achieved by wise use of meat-extending main dishes, using cooked and canned meats.

Least expensive of the meat extenders are the cereal foods—breadcrumbs in meat loaf, biscuit topping on a chicken pie, macaroni with meat in Italian-style dishes, rice cooked in chicken stock as in chicken risotto. The meat protein supplements the protein in the cereals and the result is a nutritious main dish.

Or you may want to extend a comparatively small amount of cooked meat with other high-protein foods such as milk, eggs, or cheese. These are the makings of such main dishes as creamed lamb, ham and egg scramble, or a beef and vegetable casserole with grated cheese on top.

When there is too little meat left for the basis of a main dish, use these small amounts for flavor and whatever protein they give. Try bits of cooked meats or poultry to season scalloped potatoes, macaroni, soups, salads, or sandwich spreads. Chop crusty brown chicken or turkey skin and add to gravy or a casserole mixture.

Some of the cooked luncheon meats are relatively low-priced and are as protein-rich as many of the more expensive meats. For example, a pound of bologna has as much protein as a pound of smoked ham and even a little more than a pound of beef with a moderate amount of bone and fat. Some of the canned meats provide economical main dishes, too, especially when extended with other foods.

Cool quickly any leftover meat, broth, or gravy (set pan in iced or very cold water); refrigerate at once. Store in the coldest part of the refrigerator. Cooked meat loses flavor quickly; cover or wrap loosely and plan to use within 1 or 2 days. Broth, gravy, and sauce made with meat are highly perishable. Store these covered and use within 1 or 2 days.

On the following pages are suggestions for extended dishes using cooked and canned meat and poultry. Other recipes will be found in the section on cereal foods.

Browned hash

1½ cups chopped cooked meat 3 cups chopped cooked potatoes 1 onion, finely chopped Broth or milk Seasoning to taste

The meat, potatoes, and onion may be chopped by hand or put through the food chopper, depending on the texture desired. Mix meat, potatoes, and onion thoroughly. Moisten with a little broth or milk, if desired, and season to taste. Spread mixture in an even layer in a lightly greased fry pan.

Cook slowly until browned on the bottom. If desired, turn and brown on the other side.

Turn hash out on a platter and garnish with parsley.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with cream of tomato soup, cooked green cabbage with grated cheese, and baked apple.

For Variety

_Hash Cakes._—Make the meat and vegetable mixture into flat cakes and fry slowly on both sides until crusty.

_Pork and Potato Fry._—Chop 1½ cups canned cured pork loaf and brown it lightly in a fry pan. Add 3 cups sliced or diced cooked potatoes and cook until brown on one side. Turn and brown on the other side.

Chop suey

1 medium-sized onion, sliced thin 1 green pepper, cut in slivers 1½ tablespoons cooking fat or oil 1½ cups celery, cut in slivers 2 hard tart apples 1 cup thin gravy or broth 1½ cups cooked and diced lean pork Soy sauce and salt

Brown onion and green pepper in fat or oil.

Mix in the celery and the apple cut into small thin slices.

Add gravy or meat broth. Cover and cook 5 minutes.

Add meat and season to taste with soy sauce and salt. If desired, thicken with a little cornstarch mixed with water.

Heat thoroughly.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with flaky cooked rice, beets, lettuce salad, almond or oatmeal cookies.

For Variety

_Cooked chicken, turkey, or beef_ may be used in the chop suey instead of pork.

_Other vegetables_ may be used—carrots, radishes, Jerusalem artichokes, bean sprouts. Brazil nuts, thinly sliced, are also good.

_Fried noodles_ may also be served with the chop suey mixture to add crispness.

Chicken a la king

3 tablespoons chicken fat or butter or margarine 2 tablespoons flour ½ cup milk 1 cup chicken broth Salt and pepper ½ green pepper, diced ½ cup mushrooms, cut in pieces 1 egg yolk 1½ cups diced cooked chicken 1 pimiento, chopped

Make white sauce: Melt 2 tablespoons of the fat and stir in the flour. Add milk and broth and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper.

Melt the remaining tablespoon of fat, add green pepper and mushrooms and cook a few minutes over low heat.

Beat egg yolk, stir in a little of the sauce, and add to rest of sauce. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until mixture is hot.

Serve in patty shells or on crisp toast, mashed potatoes, or waffles.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with green peas, carrot and raisin salad, and lemon chiffon pie.

For Variety

_Cooked turkey, giblets, ham, veal, pork, or tuna fish_ may be used instead of chicken.

_Cooked rabbit meat_ may be used. Add ½ teaspoon grated onion and ½ tablespoon lemon juice to the recipe for chicken a la king.

Chicken timbales

1½ cups cooked rice 1½ cups diced cooked chicken 1 tablespoon finely diced onion 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup milk ⅓ cup chicken broth or milk ½ teaspoon salt Pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Divide mixture among custard cups or individual baking dishes.

Place cups in pan of very hot water and bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) about 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of timbale comes out clean.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with glazed carrots, spinach with lemon, pear salad with cream or cottage cheese and nuts, and gingerbread for dessert.

For Variety

_Cooked ham, pork, turkey, fish, or rabbit_ may be used in place of the chicken.

If you have less than the 1½ cups of chicken (or other meat) the recipe calls for, stretch the meat with sliced hard-cooked eggs and cooked peas. For a company meal, add mushrooms, fresh or canned.

Mushroom sauce may be served on the timbales.

Cooked macaroni, spaghetti, or noodles may be substituted for the cooked rice.

Luncheon-meat cups

2 tablespoons butter or margarine 2 tablespoons flour 1 cup milk Salt and pepper 2 cups cooked peas, seasoned 1 tablespoon cooking oil or fat 8 thin slices luncheon meat

Make white sauce: Melt the butter or margarine, blend in the flour, and add milk slowly. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add peas to sauce and heat.

Heat fat or oil and brown luncheon meat, allowing edges to curl to form cups. Put 2 cups together for each serving and fill with the hot creamed peas.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with hash browned potatoes and a mixed fruit salad, with baked custard or whipped gelatin dessert.

Other Ways to Use Luncheon Meat

_Broiled._—Brush luncheon-meat slices with fat. Broil lightly. Serve with broiled tomato slices sprinkled with grated cheese.

“_Birds._”—Place stuffing on thin slices of luncheon meat, roll, and fasten with skewers or toothpicks. Brown lightly and cover the pan until the birds heat through.

_Salad._—Mix diced luncheon meat with chopped pickles, celery, and carrots. Add salad dressing.

Curried lamb

1 cup diced celery with tops 1 small onion, diced 3 tablespoons cooking fat or oil 2 cups diced cooked lean lamb ¾ cup brown gravy Curry powder 2 drops tabasco sauce Salt

Brown celery and onion slowly in the fat or oil.

Add meat, gravy, and seasonings. Use ⅛ to 1 teaspoon curry powder, as desired.

Stir over low heat until well mixed and hot. If too dry, add boiling water.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with flaky cooked rice, snap beans, coleslaw, and for dessert sweetpotato pie or pineapple chiffon pie.

For Variety

To make a savory meat pie: Omit the curry powder and tabasco sauce. Pour heated meat, vegetables, and gravy into a casserole and top with crisp, golden-brown baking-powder biscuits just before serving.

Green peas and small potatoes may be added to or used in place of the onions and celery in the meat pie.

Serve crisp tossed lettuce salad with the meat pie, and for dessert have a pineapple and orange fruit cup and oatmeal cookies made with raisins and peanuts.

Frankfurter and potato soup

2 cups diced potatoes 1 small onion, sliced 1½ cups boiling water 4 frankfurters 1¾ teaspoons salt Pepper 2 cups milk 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Cook potatoes and onion in boiling water until soft. Put through a ricer or mash slightly.

Cut frankfurters into ¼-inch slices.

Add frankfurters, seasonings, and milk to potato mixture.

Heat thoroughly, add parsley, and serve.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with a salad of chopped lettuce, tomato, and celery. Have dried-fruit upside-down cake for dessert. Cooked apricots and prunes make a colorful cake.

For Variety

_Salami or other luncheon meat_, cut in pieces, may be used instead of frankfurters. Allow one slice per person. Or sprinkle the soup with chopped cooked ham before serving.

_Fresh sausage_ also may be used. Dice or crumble the meat and fry until crisp before adding it to the soup.

Pork souffle

2½ tablespoons butter or margarine 2½ tablespoons flour 1 cup milk 3 eggs, separated 1⅓ cups finely chopped cooked or canned pork 1 teaspoon finely chopped onion, or onion juice 2 teaspoons finely chopped green pepper ½ teaspoon salt

Make a thick white sauce: Melt the butter or margarine, blend in the flour, and add the milk. Stir and cook over low heat or hot water until thickened. Cook a little longer, and cool slightly.

Beat the egg yolks and blend into the cooled sauce. Stir in the meat, onion, and green pepper.

Add the salt to the egg whites and beat until stiff but not dry. Blend the meat mixture into the egg whites.

Turn into a shallow greased baking dish set in a pan of hot water.

Bake at 325° F. (slow oven) about 50 minutes, or until set and lightly browned. Serve at once.

Menu Suggestion

Serve with brussels sprouts or panned cabbage, lettuce salad, and hot apple cobbler for dessert.

For Variety

_Stuffed Green Peppers._—Fill 4 parboiled peppers with chopped pork mixed with onion, salt, and enough gravy, broth, or cream to moisten. Set peppers in water in muffin cups and bake at 350° F. (moderate oven) 20 to 30 minutes.

Fish ...

Fish—fresh, frozen, canned, or salted—provides high-quality protein. And it lends interesting flavor and variety to meal planning.

Different kinds of fish vary greatly in price per pound. Some cost twice as much as others, depending on the season, local supply, and the preference of buyers.

Fresh fish may be whole, drawn, dressed, or in fillets or steaks. Whole fish are sold as they are caught. Drawn fish have only the viscera removed. Dressed fish have the viscera, head, tail, and usually the fins removed. Fillets are boneless slices of fish cut lengthwise away from the backbone. Steaks are crosswise slices, usually ¾ to 1 inch thick, still including bones.

There is no bone or waste in fish fillets, and very little in fish steaks—only about 9 percent. Dressed whole fish may be cheaper per pound but remember that they include considerable waste.

To provide the suggested 2 ounces of protein for 4 servings of a main dish, you will usually need to buy 2 pounds of whole fish. The exact amount needed depends on the kind of fish and the amount of waste in cleaning. It takes only 1 pound of boneless fillets or steaks to provide enough protein for 4 servings.

Some fish contain more fat than others. Fat fish are usually best for baking and broiling. And lean fish are better for cooking in water or steam or for making chowders, and for deep-fat or pan frying.

Frozen fish are a boon to inlanders. They give us the fish we want at any time of year. And the flavor is fresh. Before cooking a frozen fish, thaw it slowly if there is time—in a refrigerator or other cold place. If you are in a hurry, cook it slowly for a longer period. Never permit frozen fish to thaw and refreeze.

Canned fish is economical and convenient for family meals. It can be chilled and served in salads or on cold plate lunches with little further preparation. For cooked dishes, the brine or oil in which the fish is packed can often be used to add flavor and nutritive value to the sauce.