LESSON XIII. BATTERS.

Corn Bread and Hoecake.

SUBJECT MATTER.

Batters.-Batters are mixtures of flour or meal and a liquid, with salt or sugar to give flavor, butter to make tender, and air or gas to make light.

One scant measure of liquid is used with one measure of flour for thin or pour batter. One measure of liquid is used with two measures of flour for a thick cake or drop batter. One measure of liquid is used with three measures of flour for a soft or bread dough. One measure of liquid is used with four measures of flour for a stiff or pastry dough.

Before mixing a batter the oven or griddle should be at the proper temperature, with the fire well regulated and in good condition. The oven should be tested by putting in a piece of white paper or two tablespoons flour which should brown in three minutes. The pans should be prepared by greasing with lard, salt pork, or beef dripping. All materials should be measured and ready before beginning to combine ingredients. When the batter has been combined and beaten until smooth, it should be baked at once.

PRELIMINARY PLAN.

The teacher will be better prepared to give the lessons on batters if she first acquaints herself with the kinds of breads that are used in the homes and the methods followed in their preparation. The simple general methods of preparing batters should be taught. The teacher should not attempt the preparation of more than one or two batters in the lesson. Corn bread and hoecake can be made in the same lesson, since the first is made in the oven and the second cooked on a griddle on top of the stove.

Add salt to corn meal and pour the milk on gradually. Turn into a well-greased shallow pan to the depth of one-fourth inch. Bake in a moderate oven until crisp.

1 cup white corn meal.

Hoecake.

Boiling milk or water enough to scald.

teaspoonful salt.

Make the batter thick enough not to spread when put on the griddle. Grease the griddle with salt pork, drop the mixture on with a large spoon. Pat the cakes out till about half an inch thick; cook them slowly, and when browned put a bit of butter on the top of each cake and turn it over. Long cooking is desirable, but be careful that they do not burn.

Discuss batters briefly.

METHOD OF WORK.

Have all measurements made, fire regulated, pans prepared, etc. Demonstrate combining of corn bread, put it in the oven, and while it is cooking demonstrate combining and cooking of hoecake. Serve the breads nicely after they are cooked.

LESSON XIV. BATTERS (continued).

Egg Corn Pone or Corn Muffins-Baking Powder Biscuits.

SUBJECT MATTER.

Methods of making batters light.—Batters are made light by beating air into them, by adding eggs into which air has been beaten, or by entangling gas in the batter. Gas is secured by using soda and sour milk in a batter (1 teaspoon of soda to 1 pint of sour milk), or soda with molasses (1 teaspoon of soda to 1 cup of molasses), or soda with cream of tartar (1 teaspoon of soda with 2 slightly rounding teaspoons of cream of tartar). The soda should be combined well with the other dry ingredients, then the sour milk or molasses added, the whole beaten up quickly and baked at once.

Baking powder is a preparation containing soda and cream of tartar, and can be used in place of soda if sweet milk is used. Two level teaspoons of baking powder should be used with one cup of flour.

PRELIMINARY PLAN.

This lesson is a continuation of the lesson on batters. Care should be taken not to undertake more than can be done nicely in time available.

1 cup white corn meal.

1 teaspoon salt.

1 teaspoon soda.

RECIPES.

Egg Corn Pone.

1 egg.

1 pint sour milk.

1 tablespoon melted butter, lard, or other fat.

If sweet milk is used, omit the soda and use 2 level teaspoons baking powder. Sift together corn meal, salt, and soda, add the egg well beaten, then the milk and melted butter. Beat thoroughly, put into a shallow, well greased dish, preferably earthen, granite, or iron, and bake 30 to 35 minutes in a hot oven.

1 cup flour.

cup corn meal.

3 teaspoons baking powder.

1 tablespoon sugar.

Corn Muffins.

teaspoon salt. 1 cup milk.

1 egg.

2 tablespoons butter.

Mix and sift dry ingredients. Add egg and milk beaten together. Add melted butter last. Bake in gem pans or muffin tins 25 to 30 minutes. Serves 12 to 16.

2 cups flour.

Baking-Powder Biscuits.

2 tablespoons fat.

4 teaspoons baking powder.

1 teaspoon salt.

to 1 cup milk or water.

Mix dry ingredients, chop fat into the flour with a knife, slowly add sufficient milk to make a dough not too soft to be handled. Toss and roll dough gently on a slightly floured board, and cut into small biscuits. Moisten tops with a little milk. Handle dough quickly, lightly, and as little as possible. Place on a buttered sheet. Bake in a hot oven till brown, from 12 to 15 minutes. Either white or whole wheat flour may be used for biscuit. Serves 6 to 8. Oven test-oven should be hot enough to color a piece of unglazed white paper to golden brown in one minute.

If the sour milk is not thich enough to clabber, it will not contain sufficient acid to neutralize the soda and the biscuits will be yellow and bitter. To avoid this, cream of tartar can be combined with the soda (1 teaspoonful). If there is no cream of tartar at hand, it will be wise to use the recipe for baking-powder biscuits.

METHOD OF WORK.

Have oven and pans prepared and all measurements made. Demonstrate the combining of the corn pone, and while that is baking, demonstrate the combining of the biscuits. Have one girl take charge of the baking of the corn pone and another girl take charge of the baking of the biscuits. When the breads are done, have the girls sit down and serve them to one another, or to all the pupils at the school lunch hour.

LESSON XV. MEAT.

Composition and food value. How to make tough cuts of meat palatable. Pork chops with fried apples. Beef or mutton stew with vegetables and dumplings. Rabbit stew. Bacon.

SUBJECT MATTER.

Meats are rich in protein and usually in fats, but are lacking in the carbohydrates. They build up the muscular tissue, furnish heat and energy, are more stimulating and strengthening than any other food, and satisfy hunger for a greater length of time. For the most part, meats are a very expensive food. One can not perform more labor by use of a meat diet than on a diet of vegetable foods. Those who use large quantities of meat in their diet suffer from many disturbances of the system. Hence, meats should form a very small part of the diet. The cuts of meat that come from those portions of the animal's body that are much exercised are tough, owing to the development of the fibers, but they contain a high per

centage of nutrition. The flesh of chickens, turkeys, and other fowls is very nutritious and is easily digested, if not too fat. In the older birds it may become very tough.

The flavor of meats is developed by cooking. Dry heat develops the best flavor, hence the tender cuts are cooked by the processes known as broiling and roasting. Tough cuts of meat require long, slow cooking in moist heat, hence they are prepared in the form of stews and pot roasts or used in meat soups.

PRELIMINARY LESSON.

After the teacher has found out what meats are used in the homes or what they can afford to use, she should determine upon a recipe that will help to make the meat palatable, digestible, and attractive. If it can be prepared as a stew, she should use a recipe in which vegetables are also used, and if possible have dumplings prepared to serve with the meat, as a review of the lesson on batters.

2 lbs. beef or mutton.

1 quart water.

Salt, pepper, flour to dredge. 1 onion, cut in slices.

cup turnip, cut in dice.

cup carrot, cut in dice.

RECIPES.

Beef or Mutton Stew.

4 potatoes, cut in 1-inch slices.
1 teaspoon salt.

teaspoon pepper.
cup flour.

cup cold water.

Remove fat and cut the meat into 1-inch pieces. Reserve half of the best pieces of meat, put the rest of the meat and the bone into cold water, soak for one hour, then heat until it bubbles. Season half the raw meat and roll it in the flour; melt the fat in a frying pan, remove the scraps, brown the sliced onion, and then the floured meat in the hot fat; add both to the stew and cook for two hours at a low temperature. To this add the vegetables and cook one-half hour, then add the flour and seasonings, which have been mixed with one-half cup cold water, and cook for one-half hour longer until the meat and vegetables are tender. Remove the bone from stew and serve.

Serves 6 to 8.

Rabbit.

If beef and mutton are not commonly used and are not readily obtainable, but rabbit can be secured, substitute rabbit for beef in the stew. After the rabbit has been thoroughly cleaned, cut up in eight pieces (four leg and four body pieces), season, and dredge with flour, brown in fat and proceed as with beef stew.

2 cups flour.

4 teaspoons baking powder. teaspoon salt.

Dumplings.

2 tablespoons fat (lard or butter).
cup milk or water (about).

Sift dry ingredients together, cut in the butter, and add milk gradually to make a soft dough. Roll out on a floured board, cut with a biscuit cutter, lay on top of meat in stew pan (they should not sink into the liquid), cover kettle closely, keep stew boiling, and cook dumplings 10 minutes without removing lid. (Do not put dumplings in to cook until meat is tender.)

To Cook Bacon.

Place thin slices of bacon (from which the rind has been removed) in a hot frying pan and pour off the fat as fast as it comes out. When the bacon is crisp, drain on paper. Keep hot. Or lay bacon on a rack in a baking pan and bake in a hot oven until crisp.

Pork Chops.

Wipe the chops with a damp cloth, sprinkle with salt and pepper, place in a hot frying pan, and cook slowly until tender and well browned on each side. Pour the fat out of the pan as fast as it is melted.

Fried Apples.

Wash apples and slice to the center, removing the core. Roll in flour if very juicy. After the chops have been removed from the pan, lay the apples in and cook till tender. Serve around the chops.

See Farmers' Bulletins No. 34, Meats: Composition and cooking; No. 391, Economical use of meat in the home.

METHOD OF WORK.

If the meat is to require two or three hours' cooking, arrange to have the lesson divided and given at two periods through the day. A half hour before opening the morning session or a portion of the morning or noon recess may be sufficient to put the meat on to cook and to prepare the vegetables. When the second class period is called, the vegetables should be added to the partially cooked meat and the dumplings made. It would be well to serve the completed dish at the lunch period. There should be as much discussion of the kinds of meat, their food value, and methods of cooking as time permits, but it may be necessary to complete these discussions at some other class periods.

Should it be possible for the teacher to give additional lessons on meat, it may be well to devote one lesson to the preparation and cooking of poultry, directions for which can be easily secured from reliable cookbooks.

LESSON XVI. BAKED PORK AND BEANS, OR BAKED COWPEAS-CORNDODGERS.

SUBJECT MATTER.

Peas, beans, and lentils which are dried for market contain a high percentage of protein, carbohydrate, and mineral matter. They form an excellent substitute for meat and are much cheaper in price. Their digestion proceeds slowly, involving a large amount of work; so they are not desirable food for the sick, but are satisfactory for those who are well and active. The dried legumes must be soaked overnight in water, when cooked for a long time, to soften the cellulose and develop flavor.