Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1910 — Home Course In Domestic Science [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Home Course In Domestic Science

V.—Some Breakfast Suggestions.

By EDITH G. CHARLTON.

la Chu|e of Domestic Economy. lowa State College. Copyright. 1910. by American Press Association. WHEN one has acquired some knowledge of food materials and what their function is in the body the question that naturally arises is what foods should be combined in order to have a well balanced meal. Without doubt every kind of food has some value in the diet and for some people is a good food. The question is who may eat it. bow much should be eaten and when. Personal peculiarities must be taken into consideration In the discussion of food and food values. A safe rule for any person to follow is to avoid any food which disagrees with him. There is always something else that will furnish an equal amount of nourishment and All all the requirements of food. If cabbage and radishes make you uncomfortable each time you partake of

them, why eat them at all? They are largely water, woody fiber, with some mineral matter and flavoring extracts, and any of these Ingredients can obtained from any other vegetable or fruit and possibly at less cost to the digestive organs. Then, .too, the matter of nourishment and cost should always be considered

when planning the meals for a day. When cucumbers, which are more than 90 per cent water, are selling for 25 cents apiece the housekeeper is hardly excusable if she provides them for her family at the expense of eggs, milk, bread or some other food from which nourishment is derived. ' Eggs contain about 14 per cent tissue building material. Dried beans have about 20 per cent of the same constituent When the former are selling for 40 cents a dozen and the latter for 5 cents a quart it is the part of wisdom and thrift to have baked, beans on the table more frequently than omelets or souffles. Tbe best all round dinner will include a clear soup to stimulate tbe digestive Juices, a properly cooked meat dish, a vegetable or two—one fresh It possible—bread and butter, to which a simple dessert, preferably fresb fruit, is added. Tea and coffee are not necessary for nourishment or for aids to digestiou. In fact, it Is better to omit them altogether. Ouce a day is often enough to serve meat to any family. Even the farmer who is engaged in active outdoor work will be Just as well fed and better uourlsbed if be eats flesb food only once a day and gets bis tissue building material from eggs, beaus, macaroni and cbeese or some other of tbe proteid foods. Sensible people are learning, even if slowly, that a large amount of meat Is not necessary in the diet of even hardworking people. What Is For Breakfast? Many housekeepers consider tbe bugaboo of their daily work is arranging the menus for the ever recurring breakfast, dinner aud supper. They hall with delight any suggestions for new dishes that will furnish variety .i any bill of fare. Hreakfust is generally a light meal It most homes, but Its simple menu should present some variety. and every dish included In it should be prepared with special care. In my opinion, meat dishes should appear but seldom ou the breakfast table, a little thinly sliced oacou or a piece of delicately browned fish being the exception. There Is generally quite enough starch, too. In tbe breakfast menu without serving potatoes. For your consideration let me suggest one or two breakfast menus that Will be not only apprizing, but furnish the required amount of nutrtment as well. Baked Apples. Cereal With Cream and Sugar. Bacon and Poached Eggs. Hot Muffins. Jam. Coffee. Sliced Orangea. Cereal With Cream and Sugar. Codfish Balls. ~ . Grlddlecakes With Sirup. Toast and Cocoa. Fruit of Any Kind. Bacon and Orlddlecakea. Toast Coffee. Any one of these menus affords enough variety to satisfy the most exacting appetite and can be served In quantity sufficient to appease any

hanger. The majority of people wfll not care for the entire bill of fare, which, however. Is varied enough to please any taste. Fruit should always form a part of every breakfast. Nothing else can take its place In spite of the waitress at a certain hotel insisting when I asked for fruit, “We haven’t any fruit, but we have several kinds of breakfast foods.” Uncooked fruit Is better for breakfast than preserves, though much less of the first is seen on the table In country homes. A little Jam or marmalade or a fruit butter is a delicious relish with the toast or hot bread at the end of the meal. ■ A dainty breakfast dish which I have enjoyed at homes where meat never appeared was designated by the simple name fruit toast. To make it toast slices of bread carefully and keep hot in the warming oven. To one cupful of strawberry or raspberry Juice heated to a boiling point add one-half tablespoonful of cornstarch diluted with a little cold water. Cook until boiling, stirring constantly until thickened. Pour this over the slices of toast and serve hot, with cream If desired. A cupful of the fruit sauce will be required for each three slices of bread.

Bacon as It Should Be. Bacon for breakfast is appetizing and if properly cooked is a dish so easy of digestion that it may be eaten by invalids, and young children may be given bacon gravy. But. like many of our staudard foods, it is so simple that its preparation is often neglected and it comes to the table grease soaked and unappetizing. In order to slice bacon properly It must be cold and firm. Cut off the rind and tough lower skin, then slice very thin. Heat a frying pan until it is very hot. place the bacon in it and turn constantly until it is crisp. Do not serve bacon that looks greasy and fat. It must be dry. and each slice as it is fried should be drained on brown paper before going to the table. After frying three or four slices or as many as can be done at one time in the skillet pour out all the fat and reheat the pan again. Precautions. * Bacon, being nearly all fat, is more digestible than pork, which is part lean and part fat, and therefore is better for persons of weak digestion. Beef and all dark meats are more stimulating than white meats and should be avoided by persons having a tendency to rheumatism. A Cup of Good Coffaa.

Though 1 have said that coffee itself is not nourishing, that it would better be avoided by persons of nervous tem perament or by those whose digestion is easily deranged, there are a sufficient number of persons to whom the cup of breakfast coffee is almost necessity to make it important that coffee should be properly made. There are physiological objections to even the perfectly made article, but these can be greatly increased if the beverage Is not prepared carefully. Occasionally it i difficult to procure cream for tbe morning cup of coffee, and when cold milkl is used the concoction is most unpalatable. The French and German books have a method by which they substitute hot milk for cream, giving most satisfactory results. Case an lalt, as tbe beverage is cuiled. is made after the following recipe: One cup of ground coffee, one egg. one capful of cold water, five cupfuls of boiling water aud one and one-half cupfuls of scalded milk. Wash the egg. break aud beat Add crushed shell and tbe cold water. Mix with the water and let stand about ten minutes. Add the boiling water and stir thoroughly. Place on the front of the range, bring slowly to the boiling point and boil three minutes, no longer. Add about one-half cupful of cold water after removing from the fire and do not allow the coffee to boil again. Strain into another coffeepot or pitcher containing the Rcalded milk. When serving add sugar and a little cream if necessary. When cream ts scarce this is a most satisfactory method of making coffee. Cooked cereal or one of the numerous prepared breakfast foods usually has a place ou most breakfast menus. If properly and sufficiently cooked nothing can surpass iu public favor and in nutriment the time douored dish of o&tmeal and cream. But unless It has been cooked a sufficient length of time to Insure tbe thorough cooking of the starch the prepared breakfast foods are preferable. Cereals sbould be thoroughly cooked because— First.—Starch is tbus made more accessible to digestive fluids when granules are broken open by beat. Second.—Heat softens woody fiber (cellulose). Third.—Cooking improves the flavor of cereals. Until the fireless cooker came into general use It was sometimes a difficult and expensive test to cook tbe cereal as long as required without keeping a fire in the kltcheu range all night (fir rising at an unreasonably early hour to start the breakfast. But these convenient tittle devices have very greatly reduced the time and cost of preparing foods which require long, slow cooking. A description and explanation of their use will be givf in a subsequent article. It has become the fashion in certain quarters to underestimate the food values of most of the cereal preparations now on the market. It has been asserted recently by a very high dietetic authority that ordinary whit* flour bread furnishes four times the nourishment contained in an equal weight of cereal. The fact remains that these preparations have Served and are still serving an admirable purpose in making popular the use of s very necessary form of food.

A DAIINY BREAKFAST