Quantity Cookery: Menu Planning and Cooking for Large Numbers

CHAPTER III

Chapter 35,451 wordsPublic domain

TYPES OF MENUS

CAFETERIA MENUS

Though it may be necessary to offer slightly more choice in foods in the commercial cafeteria, some cafeterias offer such a wide variety of choice that the patron is confused and has difficulty in choosing his meal. Furthermore too much variety makes for sameness from day to day. In all cafeterias where the same group is served each day, and where there is little or no competition, a simpler menu may be used. The following menu outline is suggested for use in the average cafeteria.

A Standard Form for Cafeteria Menu

1 soup 2 meats (1 meat substitute) 1 kind of potatoes 2-3 vegetables 1-2 hot breads 1-2 sandwiches 2-3 salads 2-3 relishes 6-8 desserts 4 beverages

_Meats_

One inexpensive meat should be served in each meal.

Two made-over meats should not be served in the same meal.

Two kinds of beef or pork or two kinds of any other variety of meat should not be served in the same meal.

_Potatoes_

Creamed potatoes may be served with meat lacking gravy or sauce.

It is seldom advisable to serve mashed potatoes unless there is a meat gravy to offer with them.

_Vegetables_

When possible one vegetable should be starchy and one should be succulent.

Two creamed or two fried or two buttered vegetables should not be served in the same meal.

_Breads_

Raised breads and quick breads give a good variety.

_Salads_

There should be at least one inexpensive salad.

The variety in salads may consist of one fruit salad, one vegetable salad and one salad in which protein predominates, such as cottage cheese, meat or fish.

Head lettuce salad is universally popular and may appear at every meal.

In salad dressings, there should always be a cooked dressing, French dressing and mayonnaise. Other varieties may be added as desired.

_Desserts_

Variety in desserts includes:

Fruit in some form. A pudding with a dough or bread foundation. Two cold puddings. One kind of ice cream. One kind of cake. One kind of pie.

One-crust and two-crust pies should so far as possible be alternated in successive menus.

Two or more kinds of pie may be demanded, but when possible patrons should be educated to other choices in desserts.

_Beverages_

Milk should be served in bottles (with provision for opening).

Thirty Days' Menus for a Cafeteria

The careful manager spends a great deal of time in menu planning. If some systematic method of menu making can be adopted and used with a mind constantly alert to seasonal changes in foods, new and attractive dishes and variety in serving, the plan may result in saving much of this time.

A set of menus for thirty days has been worked out, with the idea that they may be repeated at the end of that time without too monotonous repetition. No Sunday meals are included since the majority of cafeterias are closed on that day. The Friday menus occur on the fifth day and every sixth day thereafter. No menu is shown for Saturday night when, if a meal is served, it may consist of popular dishes such as chicken in some form, waffles or steaks, along with such left-overs as it may be desirable to use.

The menus are intended to serve as a _foundation_ to which may be added new dishes and seasonable fruits and vegetables, a suggestive list of which is given elsewhere (see pages 57-59). From these foundation menus may be eliminated such dishes as are unpopular or out of season, or which for any reason it is impractical to serve. Commercial cafeterias may find it necessary to add other choices to these menus. Very small cafeterias may offer fewer choices. The majority of establishments, however, will find this variety ample, the idea being to serve the maximum variety within the week rather than within the day or meal.

A star has been used to indicate those dishes in which left-overs may be used to particular advantage.

CAFETERIA MENUS

**Indicates dishes in which left-overs may be used to advantage.

TEA-ROOM MENUS

The tea-room menu is characterized by daintiness and excellence in food, garnish and service. Large tea rooms serve a variety such as is found in large hotels, with practically no changes in their menus from day to day. They are open to the same criticism as are the cafeterias that serve everything in the market at every meal, and so make their menu monotonous. Smaller tea rooms offer limited choices,--soups, relishes, hot dishes, vegetables, salads, breads and beverages. To add choices to a menu beyond the number which will satisfy the patrons is not economy. The longer the menu list, the more labor, equipment, food wastage and spoilage. Therefore the tea-room menu list should be as simple as is consistent with the demands of those to be served. The menus shown below are of the type which are changed from day to day. The first is a very good example of this type, embodying a moderate degree of choice. It is suitable for a tea room serving perhaps six hundred or more people daily.

LUNCHEON[1]

Iced Fruit Cocktail Tuna Fish Cocktail Celery Hearts Iced Grape Fruit Oyster Cocktail Grape Fruit & Mint Cocktail Button Radishes Olives

SOUP

Vegetable Soup Lamb Broth & Rice Oyster Stew Cream of Corn Soup Chicken & Tomato Puree

MEATS, FISH, ETC.

_French Bread, Hot Rolls, or Bran Muffins Served with these Orders_

Roast Chicken, Dressing, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Creamed Sweetbreads on Toast with French Fried Potatoes Chicken Baked with Noodles in Casserole and Toasted Bran Muffins Fried Oysters with Chili Sauce and Baked Potato Broiled Tenderloin Steak with Sweet Potatoes Southern Style Breaded Veal with Browned Potatoes and Gravy Broiled White Fish with Lyonnaise Potatoes Cheese Omelet with Toasted Rolls and Preserves Rice and Salmon Box with Mexican Slaw Assorted Hot Vegetable Dinner

VEGETABLES

Apple Fritters Buttered Asparagus on Toast Fresh Spinach & Egg Candied Sweet Potatoes Baby Garden Beets Buttered or Creamed Peas Sautéd Egg Plant Home Baked Beans

BREADS

Hot Biscuits with Orange Marmalade Bran Muffins Toasted English Muffins Nut Bread Toasted Cheese Rolls Rye Bread & Swiss Cheese Sandwich French Bread Hot Home Made Rolls Hot Corn Bread

SALADS

Combination Salad Sweetbread Salad Shrimp Salad Club Salad Chicken Stuffed Paradise Peppers Tomato Stuffed with Cottage Cheese & Almonds Chicken Salad Tuna Fish Salad Sliced Tomato & Cheese Ball Salad Head Lettuce and Roquefort Cheese Dressing Pineapple, Prune and Neufchatel Cheese Salad Grape Fruit & Orange Salad Cream Slaw Waldorf Salad California Fruit and Nut Salad Fruit Salad Banana and Walnut Salad Shredded Lettuce and Egg Salad Head Lettuce with Thousand Island Dressing Stuffed Egg Salad with Thousand Island Dressing Lazarus Vegetable Salad

FROZEN DESSERTS, PASTRY, ETC.

Fresh Strawberries and Cream Black Walnut Loaf Cake Lemon Pie Red Raspberry Roll with Cream Almond Macaroons Apple Pie à la Mode Fresh Apple Pie with Cheese Coffee Parfait Chocolate Ice Cream Charlotte Russe Prune Whip with Cream Cherry Parfait Bittersweet Chocolate Parfait Chocolate Meringue with Vanilla Ice Cream Center Apricot & Almond Parfait Chocolate Almond Parfait Butter Scotch Meringue Hot Fudge Sundae Steamed Fruit Pudding with Hard Sauce Chocolate Mint Parfait Vanilla Ice Cream Black Walnut Frozen Cream French Cake Bittersweet Chocolate Meringue Chocolate Luxurro Dessert Vanilla Ice Cream with Swiss Chocolate Sauce Date & Nut Parfait Baked Apple & Whipped Cream Apricot à la Mode

[Footnote 1: Courtesy of The Lazarus Tea Room, Columbus, Ohio.]

Less choice is shown in the following menus which would be suitable to a tea room serving from two hundred to six hundred daily.

TEA-ROOM MENU[2]

Celery Olives Radishes Green onions Fruit cocktail Spiced figs

* * * * *

Tomato bouillon in cup Tureen For two Barley soup in cup Tureen For two

* * * * *

White fish broiled to order

* * * * *

Spring chicken, country style, jelly Broiled lamb chops, peas Roast leg of veal, dressing Fresh mushrooms on toast Boiled beef, horse radish sauce

* * * * *

Boiled rice and cream Asparagus on toast Candied sweet potatoes Buttered new beets

* * * * *

Head lettuce, vinaigrette dressing Waldorf salad Fresh fruit salad, mayonnaise dressing Combination vegetable salad, French dressing

* * * * *

Cinnamon rolls Parker House rolls Nut bread Corn bread Maple syrup

* * * * *

Vanilla ice cream Wintergreen sherbet Baked apples, whipped cream Apple pie Red raspberry pie Whipped cream Grapefruit half; whole Strawberry shortcake, whipped cream Ice cream sandwich, hot chocolate sauce Banana custard, whipped cream Fresh cake Whipped cream Pineapple Bavarian cream, whipped cream Coffee or tea

[Footnote 2: Courtesy of Glass Block Tea Room, Duluth, Minnesota.]

Still less choice is offered in the menus printed below, yet they are entirely satisfactory for a very small tea room serving not more than one hundred daily.

=Tea-Room Menus=

_Relishes_ Salted Almonds Celery Hearts

_Soup_ Bouillon with Wafers

_Ready to Serve_ Lambs Chops and Peas Creamed Fresh Mushrooms on Toast

_Vegetables_ French Fried Potatoes Scalloped Cauliflower

_Salads_ Tea-room Special Salad Head Lettuce Salad with Thousand Island Dressing Frozen Fruit Salad

_Sandwiches_ Club Sandwiches Olive Sandwiches

_Breads_ Hot Cinnamon Rolls Bread and Butter

_Desserts_ Baked Alaska Baked Apples Orange Bavarian Wellesley Fudge Cake

_Beverages_ Coffee: per cup for one per pot for one per pot for two Tea: per pot for one per pot for two Chocolate per cup

* * * * *

_Relishes_ Celery Hearts and Stuffed Olives Salted Almonds

_Cocktail_ Oyster Cocktail

_Ready to Serve_ Fillet of Sole, Tartare Sauce Omelet with Jelly

_Vegetables_ Potatoes in Half Shell Brussels Sprouts, Buttered

_Salads_ Chicken Salad Head Lettuce Salad with Thousand Island Dressing Fruit Salad

_Sandwiches_ Cream Cheese Sandwiches Ham and Olive Sandwiches

_Breads_ Hot Biscuits and Honey Assorted Breads and Butter

_Desserts_ Chocolate Meringue Pudding Maple Mousse Lady Baltimore Cake

_Beverages_ Coffee: per cup for one per pot for one per pot for two Tea: per pot for one per pot for two Chocolate per cup

* * * * *

_Relishes_ Stuffed Olives Fresh Shallots Raspberry Jam

_Soup_ Cream of Corn Soup

_Ready to Serve_ Broiled Tenderloin of Pork Corned Beef Hash with Poached Egg and Tartare Sauce

_Vegetables_ Sweet Potato Croquettes Artichokes with Drawn Butter Sauce Boston Baked Beans and Brown Bread

_Salads_ Stuffed Tomato Head Lettuce with Thousand Island Dressing Asparagus and Cold Chicken Mousse

_Sandwiches_ Date and Nut Sandwiches Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches

_Breads_ Cranberry Muffins Assorted Bread and Butter

_Desserts_ Banana Cream Cake Individual Pumpkin Pies Ice Cream with Hot Maple Fudge Pecan Sauce Baked Prune Whip

_Beverages_ Coffee: per cup for one per pot for one per pot for two Tea: per pot for one per pot for two Chocolate per cup

* * * * *

_Relishes_ Honey in Glasses Queen Olives Raspberry Jam

_Soup_ Consommé with Vegetables

_Ready to Serve_ Chicken à la King in Bread Cases Meat Rosettes

_Vegetables_ Scalloped Sweet Potatoes with Apples Fried Oyster Plant

_Salads_ Lobster Salad Head Lettuce Salad with Thousand Island Dressing Delicious Fruit Salad

_Sandwiches_ Toasted Cheese Sandwiches Cold Sliced Tongue Sandwiches

_Breads_ Date Muffins Assorted Breads and Butter Bread and Butter Folds

_Desserts_ Individual Orange Pies Baked Alaska Wellesley Fudge Cake Baked Custards with Maple Sauce

_Beverages_ Coffee: per cup for one per pot for one per pot for two Tea: per pot for one per pot for two Chocolate per cup