Foods That Will Win The War And How To Cook Them | Page 9

manifest duty
to learn how to make the best use of these foods in order to save beef,
pork and mutton, to be shipped across the sea. This means that the
housekeeper has before her the task of training the family palate to
accept new food preparations. Training the family palate is not easy,
because bodies that have grown accustomed to certain food
combinations find it difficult to get along without them, and rebel at a
change. If these habits of diet are suddenly disturbed we may upset
digestion, as well as create a feeling of dissatisfaction which is equally
harmful to physical well-being. The wise housekeeper will therefore
make her changes gradually.
In reducing meat in the diet of a family that has been used to having
meat twice a day, it will be well to start out with meat once a day and
keep up this régime for a couple of weeks. Then drop meat for a whole
day, supplying in its stead a meat substitute dish that will furnish the
same nutriment. After a while you can use meat substitutes at least
twice a week without disturbing the family's mental or physical
equilibrium. It would be well also to introduce dishes that extend the
meat flavor, such as stews combined with dumplings, hominy, or rice;
pot pies or short cakes with a dressing of meat and vegetables; meat
loaf, souffle or croquettes in which meat is combined with bread
crumbs, potato or rice.
Meat eating is largely a matter of flavor. If flavor is supplied, the
reduction of meat in the diet can be made with little annoyance.
Nutrition can always be supplied in the other dishes that accompany the
meal, as a certain proportion of protein is found in almost every food
product. The meat that we use to obtain flavor in sauces and gravies
need not be large in quantity, nor expensive in cut. The poor or cheap
cuts have generally more flavor than the expensive ones, the difference
being entirely in texture and tenderness, freedom from gristle and
inedible tissue. There are many cereals, such as rice, hominy, cornmeal,
samp and many vegetable dishes, especially dried beans of all kinds,
that are greatly improved by the addition of meat sauce and when
prepared in this way may be served as the main dish of a meal.

Dr. Harvey W. Wiley has stated that the meat eating of the future will
not be regarded as a necessity so much as it has been in the past, and
that meat will be used more as a condimental substance. Europe has for
years used meat for flavor rather than for nutriment. It would seem that
the time has come for Americans to learn the use of meat for flavor and
to utilize more skillfully the protein of other foods.
It may be difficult to convince the meat lover that he can radically
reduce the proportion of meat in his diet without detriment to health.
Many persons adhere to the notion that you are not nourished unless
you eat meat; that meat foods are absolutely necessary to maintain the
body strength. This idea is entirely without foundation, for the foods
mentioned as meat substitutes earlier in this chapter can be made to
feed the world, and feed it well--in fact, no nation uses so large a
proportion of meat as America.
The first step, therefore, in preparing ourselves to reduce meat
consumption is to recognize that only a small quantity of meat is
necessary to supply sufficient protein for adult life. The growing child
or the youth springing into manhood needs a larger percentage of meat
than the adult, and in apportioning the family's meat ration this fact
should not be overlooked.
The second step is to reduce the amount purchased, choosing cuts that
contain the least waste, and by utilizing with care that which we do
purchase. Fat, trimmings, and bones all have their uses and should be
saved from the garbage pail.
Careful buying, of course, depends on a knowledge of cuts, a study of
the percentage of waste in each cut, and the food value of the different
kinds of meat. Make a study of the different cuts, as shown in the charts
on pages 36, 37, and armed with this knowledge go forth to the butcher
for practical buying.
Then comes the cooking, which can only be properly done when the
fundamental principles of the cooking processes, such as boiling,
braising, broiling, stewing, roasting and frying are understood. Each cut
requires different handling to secure the maximum amount of nutriment

and flavor. The waste occasioned by improper cooking is a large factor
in both household and national economy.
It has been estimated that a waste of an ounce each day of edible meat
or fat in