*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45838 *** THE A B C OF COOKING The A B C of Cooking For men with no experience of cooking on Small Boats, Patrol Boats, in Camps, on Marches, etc. NEW YORK MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1917 Copyright, 1917, by MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY TO "FRED" For the benefit of the Knitting Committee of THE AMERICAN DEFENSE SOCIETY, which is knitting for American Soldiers and Sailors, and it is hoped that both cook-book and knitted garments may help to make more comfortable the men who are only too ready to do their bit. New York, May 26th, 1917. CONTENTS PAGE Coffee 11 Tea 11 Cocoa 11 Oatmeal 13 Corn Meal 13 Hominy 13 Boiled Rice 13 Macaroni 15 Macaroni and Cheese 15 Fried Potatoes and Onions 15 Scrambled Eggs 17 Fried Eggs and Bacon 17 Boiled Eggs 17 Baking Powder Biscuit 19 Muffins 19 Fried Cracker or Hard Bread 21 Fried Rice 21 Rice Griddle Cakes 21 Fried Corn Meal Mush or Hominy 23 Flap Jacks 23 Hoe Cake 23 Creamed Cod Fish 25 Baked Canned Salmon 25 Fried Fish 25 Meat Stew 27 Canned Corned Beef Hash 27 How to Fry Meats 29 Beef Steak and Onions 29 How to Broil Meat 29 Apple Sauce 31 Prunes 31 To Boil Fresh Potatoes 33 To Boil Fresh String Beans 33 To Boil Fresh Sweet Corn 33 To Boil Fresh Peas 35 How to Cook Canned Tomatoes 35 How to Cook Canned Corn 35 Rice Pudding 35 Peach Pie 37 Pastry 37 Fudge 39 THE A B C OF COOKING "_Unless the kettle boiling be, filling the tea pot spoils the tea._" HOW TO MAKE COFFEE 1 tablespoonful of coffee for each person and 1 for the pot 1 cup of boiling water for each person and 1 for the pot Put the coffee into the coffee pot, mix with cold water into a wet paste. Pour on the boiling water and boil for five minutes slowly. To make COFFEE WITH AN EGG, break an egg and mix it, shell and all, with the paste, and make as above. TEA 1 teaspoonful of tea for a person, and 1 for the pot 1 cupful of boiling water, and 1 for the pot Let it steep for three minutes. COCOA About 4 cups Heat 1 quart of milk 2 teaspoonsful of cocoa Mix the cocoa and a little of the warm milk to let it melt, and then mix all together, keeping it on a slow fire. OATMEAL FOR THREE PERSONS[1] ½ cup of oatmeal (Quaker Oats) 1 quart of hot water. A pinch of salt Boil fifteen minutes. [1] Many of these recipes are given for three persons. For a smaller or larger number decrease or increase ingredients in proper proportion. CORN MEAL FOR THREE PERSONS ½ cup corn meal 1 quart hot water Pinch of salt Boil fifteen minutes. HOMINY FOR THREE PERSONS ¼ of a cup of hominy, steeped in cold water over night In the morning, boil fifteen or twenty minutes in a quart of hot water, and a pinch of salt. BOILED RICE FOR THREE PERSONS ½ cup of rice in two quarts of boiling water Boil for fifteen minutes. Wash rice first. MACARONI FOR THREE PERSONS Break into inch pieces a cup full of macaroni, and cover with boiling water in a saucepan. Add a little salt, and cook until soft (about an hour). Keep covered with water while boiling. MACARONI AND CHEESE If you have an oven, take a pan or dish that can be put into the oven. Put in a layer of boiled macaroni, some pieces of cheese, a little mustard and salt, and a little butter. Then more macaroni and the other things, until your dish is full. Fill the dish with milk, and bake in a slow oven for half an hour. Put cheese on the top before baking. FRIED POTATOES AND ONIONS Slice some cooked or uncooked potatoes and slice some onions. Put into a hot frying pan with fat, salt pork or bacon, and cook till soft and brown. SCRAMBLED EGGS 2 eggs to a person Put butter, or fat, or bacon or salt pork in the frying pan (about 1 teaspoonful of butter for 3 or 4 eggs, and other frying material in proportion). When hot, stir in the eggs, which have been broken into a bowl and beaten, adding a little milk (1 tablespoonful for 2 eggs), salt and pepper. FRIED EGGS AND BACON Put on the frying pan. When it is hot, put in the bacon. Cook for about 3 minutes, and put on a dish. Then break one egg at a time in a saucer and put into the hot frying pan, with the grease in it. You can put in as many eggs as there is room for. Cook for two or three minutes. BOILED EGGS Boil in boiling water for 3 minutes for soft boiled. Boil in boiling water for 5 minutes for hard boiled. BAKING POWDER BISCUIT 2 cups of flour 4 teaspoonsful of baking powder 1 teaspoonful of salt 1 tablespoonful of lard 1 tablespoonful of butter ¾ cup of milk and water in equal parts Mix the dry ingredients as well as you can with a spoon, then add the milk and water. Roll out and cut into biscuits, and bake about ten minutes in medium hot oven. MUFFINS 4 cups of flour 2 heaping teaspoonsful of baking powder 1 tablespoonful of melted butter 1½ cups of milk 1 heaping teaspoonful of salt 1 egg Mix and sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Beat the egg and add to milk. Then add the flour and melted butter. Bake in a moderate oven. FRIED CRACKER OR HARD BREAD Dip the hard bread into cold water for a minute or two, not to get too soft. Then fry in a hot frying pan in butter or bacon. FRIED RICE FOR THREE PERSONS Soak a cupful of rice over night. In the morning, put rice in the frying pan with some bacon and cook till soft. RICE GRIDDLE CAKES ½ cup boiled rice 1/4 cup of flour 1 egg A pinch of salt 1½ teaspoonsful of baking powder Enough milk to make a thin batter When the griddle or pan is hot, fry the cakes in salt pork dripping or lard, drop a spoonful at the time. These are good rice cakes. FRIED CORN MEAL MUSH OR HOMINY When corn meal or hominy has been boiled and cooled, cut into slices and fry in bacon, salt pork or lard. Only one of a kind is needed to fry with. FLAP JACKS 6 tablespoonsful of flour 1/3 tablespoonful of baking powder Mix this thoroughly Add enough water to make a batter that will drop freely from the spoon. Add a pinch of salt and two pinches of sugar. Cook in hot frying pan, well greased, for five or seven minutes and then turn with a quick toss and cook the other side. HOE CAKE can be made exactly the same as flap jacks by substituting corn meal for flour. CREAMED COD FISH FOR THREE PERSONS Soak the fish over night--about a pound. In the morning, boil for ten or fifteen minutes. Pour off the water and pick out the bones. Put on and stew in some milk, a little butter and a teaspoonful of flour, stirred in milk, and stir in the whole. BAKED CANNED SALMON Put a can of salmon in a dish to bake, a lump of butter the size of a walnut, pepper and salt, and fill up the dish with milk. Put some cracker crumbs and a little butter on the top, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. You can get cracker crumbs by rolling some hard tack with a rolling-pin. Or a bottle makes a pretty good roller on a clean board if you have no bread board. FRIED FISH Wash and clean the fish (split a whole fish), and cover with a little flour and a little salt and pepper. Put into a hot frying-pan, with some fat, salt pork or bacon, and cook one side till brown, and then the other side. MEAT STEW 6 onions 1 can tomatoes 1 can corn 1 dozen potatoes, washed and peeled and cut into pieces. Couple of pounds of any meat (either cooked or uncooked) Some salt and pepper, and then add 2 quarts of water. Let all this stew for an hour, slowly. CANNED CORNED BEEF HASH 1 cup of chopped or cut-fine corned beef, to 2 cups of chopped or cut-fine potatoes (either raw or cooked) with a little milk or water to moisten it, and some butter to make it taste good. Cook in a hot frying pan, with either bacon, or salt pork to keep from sticking. You can make hash of any kind of cold meat and potatoes and a little butter. If you have any fresh meat, chop or cut it up, add potatoes and some onions, and a can of tomatoes, salt and pepper, and it will be lovely mess. (Onions or not, as you like.) HOW TO FRY MEATS Put a small amount of grease in the frying pan, or salt pork, and when quite hot put in the steak. If the steak is about half inch thick, fry for about 1 minute before turning. Salt and pepper to taste. Beef, veal, pork and mutton can be done in the same way. BEEF STEAK AND ONIONS Follow the recipe for steak. Slice in some raw onions--about six to a pound of steak--and have enough grease to cook without burning. HOW TO BROIL MEAT Put the broiler on, and when hot put on the meat for about two or three minutes. Then turn and cook on the other side. Add a little salt, pepper and butter. APPLE SAUCE FOR THREE Pare and slice one quart of apples 2 tablespoonsful of sugar Cover all this with cold water, and boil for twenty minutes to a half hour. You can make nice apple sauce with evaporated apples, but they must be soaked over night. PRUNES Soak prunes over night. 2 cups of prunes 1½ tablespoonsful of sugar Boil till soft--about thirty minutes. TO BOIL FRESH POTATOES Either peeled or in their jackets Put into boiling water, with a little salt, and boil for 20 minutes to half an hour. TO BOIL FRESH STRING-BEANS Pull the strings off, and cut into pieces into a bowl of cold water. Drain water off, and cook in boiling water for 20 minutes. Pour off the water, and add pepper, salt and a little butter. TO BOIL FRESH SWEET CORN Husk and remove the corn silk. Cook in boiling water for fifteen minutes. Use the corn silk for cigarettes!! TO BOIL FRESH PEAS Shell the peas, and put them into boiling water--enough to cover them. Then cook for half an hour, or until soft. Drain off the water, and put on a little butter, pepper and salt. HOW TO COOK CANNED TOMATOES Stew for five to ten minutes. Put in some cracker crumbs (to thicken), a little butter, salt and pepper. HOW TO COOK CANNED CORN Stew for five or six minutes, and add a little salt, pepper and butter. RICE PUDDING FOR FOUR PEOPLE 1 quart of milk 2 heaping tablespoonsful of rice A little salt 1 tablespoonful of sugar A little nutmeg grated if you have it Mix this all together, and put in a slow oven. Give one stir after about ten minutes, and then cook in a slow oven ¾ of an hour. PEACH PIE FOR FOUR PEOPLE To make peach pie from evaporated peaches, soak one cup of evaporated peaches over night. In the morning, stew with 1½ tablespoonsful of sugar about twenty minutes. PASTRY 2 cups of flour--sifted 2 heaping tablespoonsful of lard (or half butter and half lard) A little salt Mix flour, lard and salt well together, and then add enough cold water to make the dough soft enough to roll out. If it sticks to the rolling pin, use a little flour. Then grease the pie plate, and take half of the dough, rolled out flat, and cover the pie plate. Cut off the edge with a knife. Then put in your fruit. Take the other half of your dough, rolled out for a top, and cut around the edge with a knife, and then press all around the edge with a fork, to make the edges stick together. Then you will have one grand pie. This pie crust recipe will do for any kind of pie. Evaporated apples should be cooked the same as peaches. All dry fruit should be soaked over night. IF STARVING FOR A TASTE OF CANDY MAKE FUDGE 1 cake unsweetened Baker's Chocolate 4 cups of sugar 2 cups of milk, piece of butter about the size of an egg (little generous) Boil for half to three-quarters of an hour, then take off the fire and beat till it gets a little thick, and pour into a buttered tin. You can tell if it is done by stirring a little in a saucer. TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES -Obvious print and punctuation errors fixed. -Cover image has been produced by transcriber and placed in public domain. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The ABC of Cooking, by Adelin Balch Coit *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45838 ***