SIMPLE MENUS FOR A MAN COOK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 59

SIMPLE MENUS FOR A MAN COOK.

This article was suggested by a university professor who had struggled through the preparation of meals during his wife’s absence (says Edith Perrigo Abell and Agnes Mary Galvin, of the Home Economics Department, University of South Dakota, in the Ladies’ Home Journal). He said that a man cannot find out how to cook from cookbooks. Planning the meals was even more difficult than cooking them. Here is a set of menus and recipes to help the man who does his own cooking while the women of the household are gone. These meals can be prepared in a minimum amount of time, keeping one healthy, ambitious, and good-natured. They are planned to give an adequate diet w'ith as little labour as possible. MONDAY. Breakfast.—Oranges, toast, oatmeal, country sausage, coffee. Oranges.— Serve whole, cut in half, in sections’, or as juice. Toast.—Made of white, wholewheat bread or rusks. It should be evenly browned on both sides, either in oven or on toaster. Oatmeal,—Directions for cooking are on the package. Onequarter of a cupful of dry oatmeal makes enough for one person. Do not forget the salt. Country sausage.—Shape into flat cakes and place in frying pan without fat. Cook slowly until brown on both sides and thoroughly done. Sausage is usually seasoned sufficiently when made. Coffee,—Place two tablespoonfuls of coffee mixed with broken eggshells and two cupfuls of boiling water in the coffeepot. Heat to the boiling point and keep hot for ten minutes. If a percolator is used, omit egg and percolate ten minutes.

Luncheon.—Vegetable soup, crackers, radishes, plum pudding with hard sauce, milk. Vegetable soup.—Various kinds may be purchased. Accurate directions are found on the can. Plum pudding.— Heat can half an hour in boiling water. Hard sauce.—Mix until well blended one part butter and three parts of brown or pulverised sugar. Flavour with a few drops of vanilla or lemon extract.

Dinner.—Broiled steak, baked potatoes, baked squash, rolls and butter, pineapple, coffee. Broiled steak.—Have the frying pan very hot. Place the suet from the steak in the pan and fry until enough fat to grease the pan has cooked out. Sear the steak on both sides, then cook slowly until done to individual taste, ten to fifteen minutes. Add salt and butter to taste when done. Baked potatoes. — Select potatoes of medium and uniform size. Wash and scrub thoroughly with a vegetable brush. Cut away imperfections. Bake one hour in a hot oven, or until soft when pricked with a fork. Serve at once, as they will become soggy if allowed to stand. Rolls.—Place in paper bag, heat in hot oven ten minutes. Baked squash.—lndividual squashes are easy so serve. Cut in half and remove the seeds. Season with salt and pepper and a sprinkle of sugar. Bake one hour in a hot oven and serve in the half shell. Add butter when done. Baked apples.— (Prepared for the next day.) Cut in halves, core and place in a baking dish with a tablespoonful of brown or granulated sugar in the cavity of each piece of apple. Season with cinnamon and bits of butter. Cover the bottom of dish with water half an inch deep and bake one hour in a slow oven. Apples should be soft and delicately brown. TUESDAY. . . Breakfast. —Bananas and cream, toast, ham and eggs, coffee. Ham and eggs.— Cook ham in a frying pan slowly for about half an hour, browning it first on both sides. Do not salt. Usually thcie is enough fat from the ham to cook the eggs. Remove ham from frying pan before putting in eggs. Break 'the eggs one at a time in saucer to make sure they are fresh. Cover the pan to steam tops of eggs or turn with pancake turner to

brown on both sides. Season. Cook slowly. Luncheon.—Corn chowder, bread, and butter, baked apples and cream, . Tea. Corn chowder.—Cook slowly one-quarter of a pound of bacon cut in small bits and one small white onion, minced, in a frying pan until a light brown. Both bacon and onion burn very easily. Add one can corn and one green pepper cut fine, removing seeds and white ribs from inside. Boil five minutes, season. Tea.— Scald an earthen or china teapot. Put in two level teaspoonfuls of tea and pour in two cupfuls of boiling water. Let stand in a warm place three minutes. Strain and serve immediately. Dinner.—Lamb chops, mashed potatoes, peas, jelly, rolls and butter, custard, coffee. Lamb chops.—Heat a frying pan and add the chops. Cook until well browned on both sides, about 20 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and butter. Select mint or gooseberry jelly to serve with the lamb. Mashed potatoes.—Wash, peel, and cook in boiling, salted water until easily pierced with fork. When soft, drain off the water and add about a tablespoonful of milk or cream for each potato. Leave over fire until milk is heated. Thoroughly mash and beat until fluffy. Season with salt, pepper and butter. Time required is 20 to 30 minutes. Peas.—Heat. Season. Add two tablespoonfuls of butter and cream as desired. Custard.—One cupful of milk, one egg, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful of vanilla or other flavouring. Beat egg slightly, add milk, sugar, and seasonings. Bake in oven one hour at 350 deg F. Custard cups should be placed in a pan of hot water while baking. WEDNESDAY. Breakfast.— Grapes, pancakes and syrup, coffee. Pancakes.—Use prepared pancaks flour, following directions on the package. L u n c h e o n.—Spaghetti Italieiine (canned), fruit salad (canned), cookies, milk. Dinner.—Liver and bacon, onions, rice, rolls and butter, lettuce, baked apples, coffee. Liver, bacon, and onions.—Cook bacon slowly, turning often. As fat accumulates, pour off and save to cook the liver. Scald liver in boiling water, drain and roll in flour. Cook slowly in bacon fat. Salt sparingly. After the liver is tender, fry the onions light brown in the bacon fat. Rice.—Wash carefully. For half a cupful of rice allow six cupfuls of water. Add the rice to the rapidly-boiling, salted water. Cook until soft, about half an hour. Drain in a sieve. Use half for next day’s luncheon. Prunes.— (Prepared for the next day.) Wash and soak the • prunes overnight. They are delicious eaten raw or cooked until soft without sugar in the water in which they were soaked. THURSDAY. Breakfast.—Prunes, toast, honey, prepared cereal, coffee. Luncheon.—Rice with cheese, celery, bread and butter, jam, milk. Rice with i cheese.—Cover the bottom of buttered baking dish with a layer of cooked rice. Dot over w’ith three-quarters of a tablespoonful of butter and a thin layer of grated cheese. Season with paprika. Continue alternative layers until rice and a quarter of a pound of cheese are used. Pour in milk to cover. Put buttered cracker crumbs over top and brown in a moderately hot oven. Dinner. —Swiss steak, browned potatoes, creamed cabbage, rolls and butter, ice cream, cakes, coffee. Swiss steak. — Select a cut two inches thick from the centre of the round. Take half a cupful of flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, and pound it well into the meat. Brown the meat in fat, add several slices of onion and minced green pepper and one cupful of water. Use a covered frying pan or Dutch oven. Bake until tender, about one and a-half hours. Browned potatoes. —Wash, peel, and place in roaster with the meat. Baste occasionally. Bake for one hour or until they become soft. Creamed cabbage.— Cook four cupfuls of coarsely shredded cabbage in one cupful of water for ten minutes. Add half a cupful of cream or two tablespoonfuls of_ evaporated milk and one tablespoonful of flour mixed with one tablespoonful of butter. Season.