Chapter 167
53. The most satisfactory way in which to arrange meals that are to be served to persons of different ages is to include several foods that may be fed to all members of the family and then to select certain others proper only for adults and still others suitable for the children. A sample of such a menu for supper is the one here given. It is a.s.sumed that the children that are to eat this meal are not infants.
SUPPER MENU
ADULTS Rice Croquettes with Cheese Sauce Lettuce Salad Bread, b.u.t.ter, Jelly Baked Apples Plain Cookies Tea
CHILDREN
Steamed Rice Bread, b.u.t.ter, Jelly Baked Apples Plain Cookies Milk
A menu of this kind is not difficult to prepare, and still it meets the needs of both the children and the adults of the family. The main dish for each has the same foundation--rice. Enough to serve the entire family may be steamed. Then some may be retained for the children and the rest made up into croquettes and served with cheese sauce to the adults. The remainder of the menu, bread, b.u.t.ter, jelly, baked apples, and plain cookies, may be eaten by every one. Tea will probably be preferred by the adults, but milk should be served to the children.
Other suitable menus may be planned without any extra trouble if just a little thought is given to the matter.
PROPORTION OF FOOD SUBSTANCES
54. The proportion of food substances necessary for building and repairing the body and for providing it with material necessary for its various functions is a matter to which much discussion has been given.
Formerly, it was not understood that the protein should be limited to exactly what the body needed and that its requirements were comparatively low regardless of conditions or exercise. The standard for diet very often allowed as much as 25 per cent. in protein. This percentage has been gradually reduced by the discovery of the actual body needs, so that now it is believed by the most dependable authorities that only about 10 per cent. of the entire day's rations for the adult should be protein. The growing child needs a greater proportion than this because he is building up muscle tissue. The adult whose muscles have been entirely constructed requires protein only for repair, and 10 per cent. of the day's food in protein is sufficient for this. This means that if the total calories for the day are 2,500, only 250 of them need be protein.
55. The remainder of the calories are largely made up by fat and carbohydrate. These, however, need not be in such exact proportion as the protein, for no real danger lies in having either one in a greater amount than the ideal proportion. This is usually three-tenths fat and six-tenths carbohydrate or in a diet of 2,500 calories, 750 fat and 1,500 carbohydrate. The carbohydrate is very much in preponderance because of its easy digestion and a.s.similation. As may be imagined, it is not a simple matter to figure a diet as closely and carefully as this, and it is only in extreme cases where such planning is necessary.
56. The required amount of protein for the ordinary daily diet can be had with about 3 ounces of meat, together with that which is found in the bread, vegetables, and cereals taken each day. At any rate, the menu should be planned so as to supply a protein dish for at least one meal in the day. The fat is supplied largely by the b.u.t.ter taken and the fat used in the cooking of foods. The carbohydrate is provided by the starch found in cereals, bread, and vegetables and by the sugar contained in fruits, as well as that used in the preparation of various foods and in the sweetening of beverages, cereals, and fruits.
In addition to providing these food substances, each meal should include at least one food, and for dinner preferably two foods, that will supply a large amount of mineral salts, cellulose, and vitamines. As will be remembered, fruits and vegetables are the foods to be used for this purpose.
57. This method of menu planning may seem somewhat difficult at first thought, but in reality it is not different from that which the intelligent housewife follows who attempts to provide her family with a variety of foods and who appreciates the value of that variety. If she plans her menu in this manner, prepares the food so that it will be wholesome, easily digested, and given in the proper proportion, and at the same time watches the weights of the members of the family in the manner suggested, she need have no fear about the general health of her family, for it will be well maintained.
MENU MAKING AND TABLE SERVICE
GENERAL RULES FOR MENU MAKING
58. Perhaps the greatest problem in the planning of menus for a family is that of securing sufficient variety. A housewife who uses the same recipes and the same combinations of food repeatedly is apt to get into a rut and the members of her family will undoubtedly lose interest in their meals. This condition results even with the dishes of which those of the family are extremely fond. However, they will not tire so quickly of the foods they care for if such foods are served to them less often.
Then, too, there is more chance to practice economy when a larger variety of food is used.
The importance of planning menus systematically should not be overlooked, either, no matter how simple they may be. Even if breakfast consists of only two or more dishes, luncheon of three or four, and dinner of no more than four or five, a certain amount of planning should be done in order that the meal may be properly balanced. If the suggestions for meal planning already given are applied to this work, very little difficulty will be
59. Unless the menu is planned for a special occasion, the cost of the various dishes should be made to balance. For instance, if an expensive meat is to be served, the vegetables and the salad selected to accompany it should be of moderate cost. On the other hand, if an expensive salad is to be served, a dessert of moderate cost, such as a simple rice pudding, should be used to offset the price of the other dish. Planning meals in this way is urged for the sake of economy, and if it is carefully followed, all the meals may be made to average about the same cost.
60. Another important point in successful meal planning is the avoidance of two dishes in the same meal made from the same food. For instance, tomato soup and tomato salad should not be served in the same meal, for the combination is undesirable. Corn soup contrasts much better with tomato salad than does the tomato soup, for it has the bland flavor that is needed to offset the acid salad. Some housewives, it is true, object to such planning on the ground that it does not give them opportunity to utilize all the materials they may have on hand at the same time. But in nearly every instance the materials can be used to excellent advantage in meals that are to follow and, in addition, the gain in variety is sufficient to warrant the adoption of such a method.
61. As there should be variety in the materials used to make up the dishes of a meal, so should there be variety in the flavor of the foods selected. Rice, macaroni, and potato, for instance, make an undesirable combination. They are too similar because they are all high in starch; besides, they resemble one another too closely in consistency and they are all bland in flavor. If a meal contains one or two bland dishes, a special effort should be made to supply some highly flavored dish in order to relieve the monotony. The same thing may be said of acid foods; that is, an oversupply of these is just as distasteful as too many bland foods.
62. To have fresh fruit for the daily breakfast would be very delightful, but such fruit cannot always be secured. When fresh fruit cannot be had every day, it is better to alternate it with canned fruit or stewed dried fruit than to have it for several days in succession and then have to serve the alternative for a number of days. The same is true of cereals. If use is to be made of both cooked and uncooked cereals, it is much better to alternate them than to serve the cooked ones for breakfast for an entire week and then uncooked ones the next week.
63. When two vegetables are used in the same meal, they should be different. Sweet potatoes and white potatoes, although often served together, do not belong in the same meal. In fact, for most seasons of the year, two vegetables dissimilar in consistency should be supplied.
For instance, if spinach is included in a meal, some contrasting vegetable, such as carrots, sh.e.l.l beans, etc., should be served with it.
Beets and carrots would not make a good combination, nor should cabbage be combined with spinach, especially if both vegetables are prepared with a sour dressing.
64. A bland food or one high in fat, such as roast pork, certain kinds of fish, etc., is much more palatable if a highly seasoned sauce or another highly seasoned food or, in fact, a food of an entirely different flavor is served with it. Apple sauce or baked apples are usually served with roast pork for this purpose, while sour sauces or pickles of some description are served with fish to relieve its blandness.
65. To secure the most successful meals, the main course should be decided upon first and the additional dishes, such as soup, salad, and dessert, should be the second consideration. In this method of planning meals, they can be properly balanced, for if the main course is heavy, the others can be made light or some of them omitted altogether, while if the main course is a light one, heavier dishes may be selected to accompany it.
Whenever it is possible to do so, the heavy meal of the day should be served at noon and the lighter one in the evening. This plan should always be followed for children, and it is preferable for adults.
However, having dinner at noon is often very inconvenient and sometimes impossible, because frequently one or more members of the family are at business some distance from home and their coming home at noon for dinner is impractical. In such an event, the evening meal should be the heavy one, but it should not be made too hearty and overeating should be avoided.
At all meals, tea and coffee should be used sparingly. Especially should this rule be followed by persons who are nervous, or high strung, or are troubled with indigestion and insomnia. At any rate, it is advisable not to drink either of these beverages at night.
METHODS OF SECURING VARIETY IN MEALS
CARD-FILE SYSTEM OF MENU MAKING
66. With the general rules for meal planning in mind, the housewife is well prepared to arrange menus that will be properly balanced, as well as varied and attractive. One means of securing variety in menus, and at the same time supplying oneself with a very convenient piece of kitchen equipment, consists in placing the recipes used on small cards and filing them in a card file under the headings to which they belong, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. For instance, a heading should be made for soups, one for potatoes, and so on. These cards may then be rotated in order to make up menus. When the first card of each group has been used, it should be placed at the back of the others in that group; then each one will come in the order in which it was originally placed in the file. Of course, when the cards are not filed alphabetically, it is a little more difficult to find the recipes one needs at a particular time, and so if desired other means of using the cards for menu making may be easily devised without changing their position.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7]
In addition to serving as a basis for menus, this arrangement takes the place of a cook book. In fact, it is much more convenient, for instead of a book containing recipes on the table where the work is being done, a small card, which takes up less s.p.a.ce and is much less likely to be in the way, may be subst.i.tuted.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8]
DINNER MENUS
67. To a.s.sist the housewife materially in planning dinners in great variety, Table VII, which contains suggestions for dinner menus, is given. As will be noted, it is intended that each dinner shall consist of a soup, a meat, potatoes in some form, another vegetable, a salad, and a dessert. It is not necessary, of course, to include all these dishes when a simpler meal is desired, but a number of suggestions are given in each group so that there may be a good selection. In order to use this table to advantage and to secure a large variety of menus, different combinations of the various foods may be made. Then, too, the combinations given may be rotated so that frequent repet.i.tion of the same combination will be avoided. This table therefore has the advantage over meals planned for 14 or even 21 days, for these must be repeated once in 2 or 3 weeks.
TABLE VII SUGGESTIONS FOR DINNER MENUS
SOUP 1. Tomato Bouillon 2. Rice 3. Cream of Corn 4. Noodle 5. Cream of Pea 6. Julienne 7. Clear Bouillon 8. Oxtail 9. Split-Pea Puree 10. Cream of Tomato 11. Celery 12. Cream of Onion 13. Barley Broth 14. Cream of Asparagus 15. Vegetable 16. Corn Chowder
MEAT 1. Roast Beef 2. Pork Chops 3. Macaroni and Cheese 4. Broiled Hamburg 5. Baked Fish 6. Broiled Steak 7. Kidney-Bean Loaf 8. Roast Pork 9. Lamb Chops 10. Roast Chicken 11. Baked Beans 12. Meat Loaf 13. Liver and Bacon 14. Roast Mutton 15. Broiled Ham 16. Scalloped Salmon 17. Roast Lamb 18. Lima-Bean Loaf 19. Veal Tongue 20. Fried Oysters
POTATOES 1. Boiled Potatoes with b.u.t.ter and Parsley 2. Scalloped Potatoes 3. Hashed-Brown Potatoes 4. Baked Potatoes 5. Potato Puff 6. French Fried Potatoes 7. Potato Patties 8. Roast Potatoes 9. Candied Sweet Potatoes 10. Mashed Potatoes 11. Creamed Potatoes 12. Stuffed Potatoes 13. Baked Sweet Potatoes 14. Potatoes au Gratin 15. Sauted Potatoes
VEGETABLES 1. Spinach 2. Green Peas 3. Breaded Tomatoes 4. Squash 5. Red Beets 6. Sweet Corn 7. b.u.t.tered Carrots 8. Mashed Turnips 9. Scalloped Eggplant 10. b.u.t.tered Cauliflower 11. Hot Slaw 12. Scalloped Tomatoes 13. Carrots and Peas 14. b.u.t.tered Kohlrabi 15. Baked Onions 16. Sauted Eggplant 17. Stuffed Peppers 18. Creamed Turnips 19. Browned Parsnips 20. Sauted Tomatoes 21. Escalloped Cabbage 22. Creamed Onions 23. String Beans 24. Asparagus 25. Succotash
SALADS 1. Apple and Celery 2. Lettuce 3. Banana 4. Orange and Coconut 5. Cabbage 6. Tomato 7. Peas and Celery 8. Apple, Date, and Orange 9. Asparagus 10. Pineapple and Nut 11. Green Pepper and Cheese 12. String Bean 13. Fruit 14. Combination 15. Cuc.u.mber 16. Waldorf 17. Cabbage and Celery 18. Pineapple and Cream Cheese 19. Humpty Dumpty
DESSERTS 1. Chocolate Blanc Mange 2. Brown Betty 3. Raisin Pie 4. Crackers and Cheese 5. Fruit Gelatine 6. Cake and Fruit 7. Apricot Fluff 8. Tapioca Pudding 9. Steamed Pudding 10. Short Cake 11. Prunes in Jelly 12. Rice Pudding 13. Custard Pie 14. Baked Apples 15. Peach Cobbler 16. Chocolate Bread Pudding 17. Pineapple Tapioca 18. Ice Cream 19. Jelly Tarts 20. Gingerbread and Whipped Cream 21. Indian Pudding, with Custard Sauce 22. Floating Island 23. Prune Fluff 24. Nuts and Raisins
68. In the application of Table VII, use should be made of the dishes numbered 1 in the various groups for the first day's menu. This dinner, then, will consist of tomato bouillon, roast beef, boiled potatoes with b.u.t.ter and parsley, spinach, apple-and-celery salad, and chocolate blanc mange. In this way, the menus should be made by going through the entire list and combining the dishes whose numbers correspond. Upon coming to the last of the soups, which is No. 16, and attempting to make up a menu, it will be discovered that there are only fifteen varieties of potato dishes. In order to obtain a menu, the rotation must be begun again, and so No. 1 of the potato dishes is used. This menu would therefore consist of corn chowder, scalloped salmon, boiled potatoes with b.u.t.ter and parsley, sauted eggplant, peach-and-cream-cheese salad, and chocolate bread pudding.
In planning menus with the aid of this table, the housewife may not be able to use a certain dish that is suggested because it is out of season, cannot be procured, or resembles too closely some of the other dishes in the menu. In such an event, she should select another dish to take the place of the one that spoils the combination. Likewise, she should not hesitate to make any change that will result in producing properly balanced meals.
LUNCHEON MENUS