School and Home Cooking Part 44

What is the simplest way of thickening soup, if it is too thin? Too thick?

If a ham bone is cooked with split peas, what ingredient should be omitted in making the soup? Why?

How many persons will these recipes for soup serve?

How many cupfuls in a pound of split peas? What is the cost per pound of split peas? How much does one cupful of split peas increase in bulk by soaking? What quant.i.ty of split peas would be equal to a can of peas? What is the cost of a can of peas? How much is saved in making soup by using split peas rather than green peas?

LESSON LXXIV

LEGUMES (C)

BEAN ROAST

1 cupful white beans, cooked 1 cupful roasted peanuts 1/2 cupful bread crumbs 1 teaspoonful salt Speck pepper 1/2 cupful milk

Put the beans and peanuts through a food chopper, add the remaining ingredients. Mix and shape into a loaf. Place in an oiled dish and bake 30 minutes in a moderate oven. Serve hot with Tomato Sauce.

PEANUT b.u.t.tER SOUP

1 cupful peanut b.u.t.ter 1/2 cupful chopped celery 1 1/2 cupfuls water 3 cupfuls milk 2 teaspoonfuls salt 1/8 teaspoonful pepper 1 grated potato

Mix the peanut b.u.t.ter with I cupful of milk. Heat 2 cupfuls of milk in a double boiler. Cook the celery in the water until the vegetable is tender.

Add the grated potato, cook, and stir until the mixture is thickened. Then add it to the hot milk. Also add the peanut b.u.t.ter mixture and seasoning.

Heat until it is hot. Beat with a Dover egg beater. Serve hot.

Dried celery leaves may be used instead of fresh celery.

QUESTIONS

Mention the nutrients contained in the food materials of Bean Roast and Peanut b.u.t.ter Soup. Discuss the value of each nutrient.

Calculate the cost of Bean Roast. How many persons will it serve?

How many persons will one pound of chopped beef serve? Estimate the difference in cost of one serving of Bean Roast and of Chopped Steak.

What is the purpose of grated potato in Peanut b.u.t.ter Soup? What substance could be subst.i.tuted for the grated potato? State the method of mixing and cooking if the subst.i.tution were made.

RELATED WORK

LESSON LXXV

COST OF FOOD

FOODS DIFFER GREATLY IN COST.--One pound of rice costs much less than one pound of beefsteak. One cut of meat may cost less per pound than another.

Twenty-five cents buys much less in weight of sweetbreads than of beefsteak.

Many factors other than difference in cost must, however, be taken into consideration when determining the value of foods.

COST OF FOOD IN RELATION TO NUTRITIVE VALUE.--Foods differ in nutritive value per pound. One pound of dried split peas contains more than three times as much nutriment as one pound of fresh peas. The nutritive value of a pound of sweetbreads is much less than that of a pound of beefsteak.

COST OF FOOD IN RELATION TO REFUSE.--Although one cut of meat may sell for more than another, the higher priced one may be cheaper because there is less waste. In most localities flank steak costs more per pound than shoulder steak; yet flank steak is the cheaper meat because it is all edible, while there is about one fifth waste in most shoulder steak. One pays for some refuse even when purchasing eggs.

COST OF FOOD IN RELATION TO SEASON.--Most foods are higher in price when out of season. Strawberries may cost seventy-five cents per quart in February and twenty-five cents in the spring or summer months. An unseasonable food is invariably expensive.

COST OF FOOD IN RELATION TO WEIGHT.--Food labels often contain valuable information. The weight of the contents of a package, can, or bottle, and sometimes the composition of food appears on them.

Packages, bottles, and cans of equal size do not always contain the same quant.i.ty of foods. The shape or thickness of a container also affects the quant.i.ty of its contents. By examining labels and noting weight and composition, the price and quality of one brand of foods may be compared with another.

Household scales are useful in checking up the weight of foods, such as meats, fats, and vegetables. By weighing foods after they have been purchased, a housekeeper can determine if a dealer is giving her that for which she pays.

LESSENING THE COST OF FOODS.--There are many things, then, that the thrifty buyer should take into consideration when purchasing foods. It is one of the obligations of a woman who purchases and plans the foods for a family to be careful of expense. The following statement concerning thrift is both forceful and true:

"It is not beneath the dignity of any family to avoid useless expenditure no matter how generous its income, and the intelligent housekeeper should take as much pride in setting a good table, at a low price, as the manufacturer does in lessening the cost of production in his factory." [Footnote 56: _United States Department of Agriculture_, Farmers' Bulletin 391, "Economical Use of Meat in the Home," p. 43.]

CALCULATION OF THE COST OF FOOD.--In counting the cost of foods, it is necessary to know not only the price per pound, quart, dozen, or package, but the measurement in cupfuls of the given weight. Most of the data for the list given below can be obtained from labels on the containers and from the notes on the weights and measures of various foods prepared from the "Questions" of this text. The dashes indicate that data are not required. The cost should be calculated to four decimal places.

FOODS COST MEASURE COST PER COST PER COST PER PER IN CUPFUL TABLE- TEA- POUND, CUPFULS SPOONFUL SPOONFUL QUART, OF ETC. POUND, QUART, ETC.

Apricots (dried) ----- ----- Baking Powder ----- ----- Beans, dried ----- ----- b.u.t.ter b.u.t.ter Subst.i.tute Cheese ----- ----- Cocoa ----- ----- Coffee Heaping ----- Table- spoonful Corn-meal ----- ----- Corn-starch ----- Cream of Wheat ----- ----- Cream ----- Currants ----- ----- (dried) Eggs (see ----- One ----- Experiment 41 Flour, white ----- Flour, whole wheat ----- ----- Flour, graham ----- ----- Gelatine ----- Lard ----- Macaroni ----- ----- Meat, chopped ----- ----- Milk ----- ----- Potatoes ----- One ----- ----- potato Prunes (dried) ----- ----- Raisins (dried) ----- ----- Rice ----- ----- Rolled Oats ----- ----- Salt ----- Split Peas ----- ----- Sugar, brown ----- ----- Sugar, granulated ----- ----- Sugar, loaf One ----- ----- lump Sugar, powdered ----- ----- Tapioca ----- ----- Tea ----- Vanilla ----- ----- ----- Vegetable Oil ----- Wheatena ----- -----

LESSON LXXVI

COOKING AND SERVING A BREAKFAST

Cook and serve a breakfast. The following menu is suggested: Oranges or Baked Apples Goldenrod Eggs Baked Mush with Honey or Marmalade Cocoa

Follow the English or family style of serving. Serve the breakfast with or without a maid.

Calculate the cost of the meal. In determining the cost, use the data from the previous lesson for the staple materials. The cost of fresh foods such as oranges or apples may be secured from the one who did the marketing or from the grocer's statement.

LESSON LXXVII

REVIEW: MEAL COOKING