Chapter 6

It may be well to have a preliminary lesson devoted to simple experiments with flour, liquid, and fat, in order to determine the best method of combining the ingredients in the white sauce. However, if the lesson period is of sufficient length, a few of these experiments may be performed in connection with it.

There should be provided for the lesson some vegetable that is improved by serving with white sauce, and sufficient milk, butter or other fat, flour, and salt for the sauce and the experiments. Discuss with the pupils the fat that is used in their homes, in order to know what is available.

The recipes should be written on the black-board before the lesson hour.

RECIPES

_Stewed Onions_

1 qt. onions White pepper 2 tbsp. butter 1/4 tsp. salt

Peel the onions under cold water. Cover with boiling water, add salt, and simmer until tender. Drain and serve with one cup of white sauce; or omit the sauce and serve seasoned with butter and pepper. Serves six.

_Cabbage_

Cut the cabbage into quarters and soak one-half hour in cold salt water to draw out any insects. Chop or shred, cover with boiling water, add salt, and simmer until tender. Drain, and serve with butter, salt, and pepper, or with a sauce.

_Carrots_

Scrape the carrots and cut them into large dice or slices. Add boiling water and boil until tender (from 30 to 45 minutes). Drain, and season with butter, salt, and pepper, or serve with white sauce.

_String Beans_

String the beans, if necessary, and cut into pieces. Boil in salted water until tender. Season with butter, salt, and pepper, and serve hot.

Salt pork may be boiled with the beans, to give them an added flavour.

EXPERIMENTS IN USING STARCH FOR THICKENING

(Any powdered starch may be used)

1. Boil 1/4 cup of water in a small sauce-pan. While boiling, stir into it 1/2 tsp. of cornstarch and let it boil one minute. Observe the result. Break open a lump and examine it.

2. Mix 1 tsp. of cornstarch with 2 tsp. of cold water and stir into 1/4 cup of boiling water. Note the result.

3. Mix 1 tsp. of cornstarch with 2 tsp. of sugar and stir into 1/4 cup of boiling water. Note the result.

4. Mix 1 tsp. of cornstarch with 2 tsp. of melted fat in a small sauce-pan and stir into it 1/4 cup of boiling water. Note the result.

CONCLUSIONS BASED ON THE FOREGOING EXPERIMENTS

1. Starch granules must be separated before being used to thicken a liquid:

(1) By adding a double quantity of cold liquid, (2) By adding a double quantity of sugar, (3) By adding a double quantity of melted fat.

2. The liquid which is being thickened must be constantly stirred, to distribute evenly the starch grains until they are cooked.

_White Sauce_

2 tbsp. butter or other fat 2 tbsp. flour 1 c. milk 1/4 tsp. salt 1/8 tsp. pepper

(Sufficient for 1 pint vegetables)

Melt the butter, add the flour, and stir over the fire until frothy. Add the milk and stir constantly until it thickens. Stir in the seasonings.

_Note._--Vegetable water may be substituted for part of the milk.

METHOD OF WORK

Review the facts on boiling vegetables learned in the previous lesson. Let the pupils put water on to boil and prepare a vegetable for cooking. If experiments are to be made, they can be performed while the vegetable is cooking. If the experiments have been made previously, they can be reviewed in discussion at this time. Prepare a white sauce by demonstration, using the method which seems most practical. Have the vegetables drained, dried, and added to the white sauce. When well-heated, serve.

Questions Used to Develop the Lesson

What facts regarding the boiling of vegetables did we learn in the last lesson?

Does the vegetable that we are to cook to-day differ in any marked way from those we cooked before? Should we follow the same rule in cooking it?

Should we add the flour directly to the cold milk? To the hot milk?

How shall we combine the white sauce?

With what other vegetables can white sauce be used?

_Home assignment._--Each pupil should prepare some vegetable and serve it with white sauce, before the next lesson.

LESSON VI: CEREALS

_Kinds, composition, care, and general rules for cooking cereals. Oatmeal, cracked wheat, corn-meal porridge, rice. Fruits to serve with cereals--stewed prunes, stewed apples, or apple sauce._

SUBJECT-MATTER

The term "cereals" is applied to the cultivated grasses--rice, wheat, corn, rye, oats, and buckwheat. They are widely grown throughout the temperate zone and are prepared in various forms for use as food. Cereals contain a high percentage of starch and a low percentage of water, with varying proportions of mineral matter and fat. In addition to the four food-stuffs already studied, cereals contain a small amount of another food-stuff known as protein--a muscle-building material. For the most part, the cereals contain a large amount of cellulose, which is broken up during the process of preparation for market and requires long cooking before being ready for use by the body. The digestibility of the cereals depends upon the amount of cellulose which they contain and the thoroughness of the cooking. Cereals are palatable, and they are valuable, because in cooking they can be blended in various ways with other substances. They are beneficial also to the body, because their cellulose acts mechanically on the digestive organs by stimulating them to action. Cereals are made more attractive by serving with fresh or cooked fruit.

PRELIMINARY PLAN

The cereals should be discussed in a nature study or geography lesson, and two or three kinds that are in common use should be brought from home by the pupils. If cereals are not generally used as breakfast foods, the lesson may be a means of introducing them. Some pupils should bring a little milk and sugar, to serve with the cooked cereal. Apples or prunes should be brought, to cook and serve with the cereal.

RECIPES

_Oatmeal_

3 c. boiling water 3/4 c. oatmeal 3/4 tsp. salt

Add the oatmeal slowly to boiling salted water.

Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then cook slowly, preferably over water, at least one and one-half hours longer; the flavour is developed by longer cooking. Serves six.

_Cracked Wheat_

Follow the recipe for oatmeal, using 3/4 c. of cracked wheat.

_Corn-meal Porridge_

4 c. boiling water 3/4 c. corn-meal 1 tsp. salt

Add the corn-meal slowly to boiling salted water.

Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then cook slowly for three hours longer, preferably over water. Serves six to eight.

_Boiled Rice_

3 qt. boiling water 1 c. rice 2 tsp. salt

Pick the rice over carefully and wash thoroughly. Add it to the boiling salted water so gradually that it will not stop boiling. Partly cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until the grains are soft; turn into a colander, and pour cold water through it, drain, dry, and re-heat in a hot oven with door open. Serve hot as a vegetable or as a simple dessert with cream and sugar. Serves six to eight.

_Stewed Prunes_

1/2 lb. prunes 1 qt. cold water

Wash the prunes in two or three waters; then soak them in cold water for several hours. Heat them in the water in which they are soaked and simmer until tender (an hour or more). Serves six to eight.

_Stewed Apples_

10 small apples 1/2 c. sugar 3/4 c. water

Cook the sugar and water together until it boils.

Wash, pare, and cut the apples into quarters; core, and slice the quarters lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices; put the apple slices into boiling syrup and cook slowly until tender. Remove from the syrup at once and let the syrup boil down to thicken.

_Apple Sauce_

10 small apples 1/2 c. sugar 3/4 c. water

Wipe, quarter, core, and pare sour apples; add the water and cook until the apples begin to soften; add the sugar and flavouring, cook until the apples are very soft, then press through a strainer and beat well. Serves eight to ten.

METHOD OF WORK

As soon as the class meets, discuss the recipes briefly and put the cereals on to cook at once. Prepare the fruit. While the long cooking of the cereal is in progress, discuss the composition, food value, and methods of using cereals. Then go on with another lesson and call the class together, for serving, later in the day. Serve the fruit and the cereals together.

LESSON VII: CLASSIFICATION OF FOODS--Reviewed

SUBJECT-MATTER

Those foods which build up and repair the muscular tissues of the body are called protein foods, muscle builders, or flesh formers. Meat, fish, eggs, cheese, milk, cereals, legumes, and nuts are classed as protein foods.

Those foods which serve solely as fuel for the body--providing heat and energy--are classed under two groups: the carbohydrates (sugar and starches), which the body is able to use in relatively large quantities; and the fats, which the body cannot use in such large quantities, but which yield a large amount of heat and energy. Protein also serves as fuel, though tissue building is regarded as its special function. Sugars and starches are abundant in fruits and vegetables. Fats are found in meats, fish, milk, and in some vegetable foods. Heat-giving food may be stored in the body as fatty tissue.

Mineral compounds must be present in our food, to help in the regulation of the body processes and to enter into the composition of the structure and the fluids of the body. Mineral compounds are best supplied by fresh green vegetables, fruits, and milk.

Water is absolutely essential to the body, is present in large quantities in many foods, and is combined with many other foods during the processes of cooking.

One or more of the food-stuffs sometimes predominate in a single food. For example, rice is almost entirely carbohydrate, and butter is almost pure fat. Occasionally, we find a food that contains all the five groups of food principles. Milk is an example of such a food, containing all five food principles in such proportions as to supply all the nourishment which a baby needs during the early months of its life. As the child grows older, foods rich in both carbohydrates must be added to the diet. Wheat contains all that the body needs for nourishment except water, which is easily added in cooking.

_Protein foods_ _Carbohydrate foods_

Meats Sugar Fish Honey Poultry Syrup Eggs Vegetables: Cheese Potatoes Milk Parsnips Cereals: Peas Wheat Beets Oatmeal Carrots Rye Cereal preparations: Legumes: Meals Peas Flours, etc. Beans Fruits Lentils Prepared foods: Peanuts Bread Nuts Crackers Macaroni Jellies Dried fruits Candy Milk

_Fat foods_ _Mineral foods_

Cream Fruits Butter Vegetables: Lard Spinach Suet Tomatoes Fat meats Onions Fish Turnip tops Salad oil Cauliflower Nuts Cereals: Chocolate Grits and other coarse preparations Milk Eggs

_Choice of food._--The diet must be carefully chosen, to give a needed variety and to combine the foods properly so that one may have a right proportion of all the food-stuffs. Each meal should contain some protein food, some fats or carbohydrates, some mineral matter, and water. All five forms of food-stuffs should have a place in the day's diet. The greater part of the water which the body needs should be taken between meals.

METHOD OF WORK

Review the foods discussed in the previous lessons and sum up the classification of foods, being sure that the pupils can name common examples of each. Discuss simple combinations for the different meals, using dishes already prepared in the course and creating an interest in other recipes to be prepared in succeeding lessons.

BLACK-BOARD SUMMARY

There are five food principles:

1. _Water_--builds and repairs the tissues, regulates the system--

found in all food-stuffs.

2. _Mineral matter_--builds and repairs the tissues, regulates the system--

found in vegetables, fruits, cereal, and so on.

3. _Carbohydrates_--give heat and energy to the body--

found in sugar and starches.

4. _Fats_--give heat and energy to the body--

found in cream, nuts, pork, and so on.

5. Protein--builds and repairs the tissues--

found in meat, eggs, cheese, seeds.

Always choose a diet carefully:

1. To give variety.

2. To combine the foods properly, so that they will contain adequate proportions of each food-stuff at every meal.

LESSON VIII: THE PLANNING AND SERVING OF MEALS

SUBJECT-MATTER

Experience has shown that some foods are more acceptable at one time of day than other foods, and that certain combinations are more pleasing than others. The choice of foods will also depend upon the season of the year. For example, breakfast is, as a rule, made up of simple foods that are not highly seasoned nor subjected to elaborate methods of cooking. A fruit, a cereal, and bread, with, possibly, eggs or meat, are served at breakfast. A hot beverage is added by most people to this meal.

Fundamentally, dinner consists of a hot meat or other protein dish, with one or two vegetables. Soup, salad, and a sweet dessert are often served. The soup is served before the meat course, and the salad and dessert follow it. The dessert may be a fruit, a cookie or other pastry, a pudding, or a frozen dish.

Lunch or supper may be a very simple meal, consisting of a soup with crackers, one protein dish (eggs, milk, or meat) with bread and stewed fruit, or a salad, with a simple dessert.

EXAMPLES OF WELL-CHOSEN MENUS

_Breakfast_

No. I Apple sauce Sausage or bacon Oatmeal Toast

No. II Baked apples Eggs in the shell Cracked wheat Corn muffins

No. III Stewed figs or berries Poached eggs Corn-meal porridge Toast

Note.--Eggs should be omitted from the breakfast menu if they are not cheap and easily obtainable.

_Dinner_

No. I Pork chops Potatoes Fried apples Mashed turnips Bread Rice pudding

No. II Beef or mutton stew Biscuits Spinach or turnip tops Cornstarch pudding

No. III Baked beans Grape sauce Cabbage salad Bread or biscuits

_Supper_

No. I Stewed apricots or other fruit Whole wheat bread Buttermilk or sweet milk Peanut cookies

No. II Omelet Creamed potatoes Bread Fresh fruit

No. III Cream of carrot soup Biscuits Cottage cheese Syrup

The table should always be neatly set, with individual places arranged for each one who is to partake of the meal. Each place should be wide enough for a plate, with a knife and spoon at the right and a fork at the left side. A tumbler should be placed at the point of the knife and a napkin at the left of the fork. Everything on the table should be perfectly clean, the napkin should be neatly folded, and all the articles should be uniformly arranged, in order to give a neat appearance to the table. A flower or plant in the centre will add to its attractiveness. Salt, pepper, sugar, vinegar, and anything of the kind that may be needed with the meal should be arranged where it can be easily reached. Fresh water should be poured into the tumblers just before the meal is served. The bread, butter, and so on, may be put on the table several minutes before the meal is announced, but the hot dishes should be placed immediately before the family is seated.

PRELIMINARY PLAN

If Lesson VI, entitled "Setting and Clearing the Table" as outlined in the course on the Care of the Home has been given, this lesson may be devoted to what to serve and how to serve it, or it may precede the lesson on "Waiting on Table". The manner of serving may be demonstrated in the next lesson, in connection with the course on the Care of the Home.

Simple equipment for family service will be required, if the form of serving is to be taken up. For class practice, a table for four may be arranged. This will necessitate a table-cover, four dinner plates, four bread-and-butter plates, four tumblers, four cups and saucers, four knives, four forks, four teaspoons, four napkins, a platter, one serving spoon, and one serving fork.

METHOD OF WORK

Discuss meal service from the standpoint both of choice and combination of foods and of the method of service. Let the class plan a meal, then go through the form of serving that meal at table. In the absence of a table, the top of a desk may be used. Later in the course, the teacher should plan to combine this lesson with one on cooking and have the food served. In each cooking lesson, suggestions for serving the food should be made, and each dish cooked should be carefully served. Interest in this lesson may be increased by allowing the pupils to make original menus, and, if they are having some lessons in drawing, simple menu cards may be planned and executed.

LESSON IX: MILK

_Care, cost, and food value of milk. Value and use of sour milk--cottage cheese, curdled milk. Rice or cornstarch pudding (plain, caramel, or chocolate)._

SUBJECT-MATTER

Milk contains all the food-stuffs which the body requires, except starch, and, therefore, is capable of sustaining life for comparatively long periods. It is one of the most important protein foods; but it contains so small a percentage of carbohydrate (milk sugar) that for the adult it must be supplemented with carbohydrate foods. For the baby, milk is a perfect food, and it is a valuable adjunct to the diet of all children. One quart of milk should be allowed for the diet of each child daily, after the twelfth month; and the diet of the adult should be supplemented by the use of milk. The greatest care should be exercised in protecting milk from dust and dirt, for it is easily contaminated and may be the means of carrying disease germs to the body. The changes which milk undergoes when souring do not render it harmful. For many people buttermilk is more easy of digestion than sweet milk, because of the changes produced by souring, as well as the absence of fat. Sour milk is of value in cooking, producing a tender bread which can readily be made light by the addition of soda--one teaspoonful of soda to one pint of sour milk that has curdled.

In the preparation of cheese, the whey is separated from the curds, thus extracting most of the water, sugar, and mineral matter, and leaving a substance rich in protein and fat. Cheese is of value in cooking, for it increases the food value of those foods to which it is added.

PRELIMINARY PLAN

The teacher should make inquiries a few days in advance, to be sure that one quart of sour milk can be secured, and, when it is brought, she should examine it to see that it is in proper condition to make cottage cheese. She should arrange to have about one quart of sweet milk and such other supplies as are necessary for the pudding, brought by the pupils.

An opportunity may be afforded to discuss the use of left-over cereal by the preparation of a rice pudding, if the teacher provides some cold cooked rice for the lesson. In the absence of cold rice, the cornstarch pudding may be prepared.

RECIPES

_Cottage Cheese_

Heat sour milk slowly until the whey rises to the top, pour the whey off, put the curd in a bag, and let it drip for six hours without squeezing. Put the curd into a bowl and break into fine pieces with a wooden spoon; season with salt and mix into a paste with a little cream or butter. Mould into balls, if desired, and keep in a cold place. (It is best when fresh.)

_Rice Pudding_

1/2 c. rice 2 c. milk 2 eggs 1/3 c. sugar 1/8 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Scald the milk in a double boiler. Add the prepared rice and cook until soft. Beat the egg-yolks, sugar, and salt together until well mixed. Stir into the rice and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve cold. Serves eight.

_Cornstarch Pudding_

1/4 c. sugar 5 tbsp. cornstarch, or 1/2 c. flour 1 tsp. vanilla, or other flavouring 3 c. milk 1 egg

Mix the sugar and cornstarch thoroughly. Add one cup of cold milk and stir until smooth. Heat the remainder of the milk in a double boiler; add the cornstarch mixture slowly, stirring constantly until it begins to thicken. Continue cooking for 20 minutes. Beat the egg well, add the hot pudding slowly, strain, and cool. Serve with milk or cream and sugar. (The egg may be omitted, if desired.) Serves eight.

For chocolate cornstarch pudding, use 1/4 cup of sugar additional and two squares of chocolate. Melt the chocolate carefully, add the sugar, and add to the cornstarch mixture.

For caramel cornstarch pudding, use 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of boiling water. Heat the sugar until it becomes a light-brown liquid, add the boiling water, and stir until the sugar is all dissolved. Let it cool; then add to the cornstarch mixture.

METHOD OF WORK

As soon as the class meets, demonstrate the method of making cottage cheese. Show the separation of curd and whey, by adding vinegar or lemon juice to sweet milk. While the cheese is draining, make assignments of work and have the rice or cornstarch pudding made.

In this lesson and in those following emphasize the use of protein foods.

Discuss also the food value of skimmed milk and sour milk and the purposes for which these may be used in cooking.

Use the cottage cheese and the pudding for the school lunch.

LESSON X: SOUPS

_Cream soups. Cream of carrot, potato, or onion soup, green pea soup. Toast, croutons, or crisp crackers to serve with soup._

SUBJECT-MATTER

_Cream soups._--The strained pulp of cooked vegetables or legumes, with an equal portion of thin white sauce, is the basis for cream soups. The liquid for the soup may be all milk, part vegetable water and part milk, or all vegetable water.

A binding of flour is used to prevent a separation of the thicker and the thinner parts of the soup. This is combined as for white sauce and is stirred into the hot liquid just before the soup is to be served. The soup should be made in a double boiler and kept in this utensil until it is served.

Four tablespoons of flour to each quart of soup is a good proportion to use for thickening all vegetable soups that are not of a starchy nature; half that amount will be sufficient for soup prepared from a very starchy vegetable.

The value of the vegetable water should be impressed upon the pupils, and it should be pointed out that these soups are an excellent way of using the cooking water and any left-over vegetables. From these, attractive cream soups may be prepared, and a combination of flavours often gives good results.

_Accompaniments._--Crisp crackers, croutons, soup sticks, or bread sticks are served with cream soups, and are valuable because they necessitate thorough mastication, thus inducing the flow of saliva and aiding in the digestion of the starchy ingredients of the soups.

PRELIMINARY PLAN

As a basis for the soup, the teacher should secure a vegetable that the pupils use in their own homes, and crackers or bread to serve with the soup.

If dried peas are used, they should be allowed to soak overnight and be put on to cook early in the morning.

It will be well to have the cooking of the carrots begun before the lesson period. If the carrots are cut up in small pieces, they will cook more quickly.

RECIPES

_Cream of Carrot Soup_

1 c. cooked carrots 2 c. vegetable water 2 c. milk 4 tbsp. flour 2 tbsp. butter Salt and pepper to taste