TX 351 #53 Class Book Copyright^ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. The ABC of Winter Foods By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS Food Advisor of The People's Home Journal; Author of "Foods that Will Win the War" and "Making the Most of Our Meat Supply"; Food Economist of national reputation. £* ^Jp PRIVATELY PRINTED BY THE PEOPLE'S HOME JOURNAL NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1921 F. M. LUPTON, PUBLISHER NEW YORK MM 14 IS22 §)CI.A654928 imiiiihiiimim."fi..th^t7/1)iiim\\'| '11111 in.lllMILIIIirrTTTTl/^Tr rrA ViTliMl'lMl', I Mil! I! I mil >^&&O^P>*&jr^ii^gJ>*£*j&< T _X HIS friendly fact-talk on the food value of canned goods is prompted by a letter from a woman in far-away Alaska. "How can I give my family the food variety they crave and need for health?" she writes. "We are almost entirely dependent on canned goods, and much of what is available here is hardly worth eat- ing. I envy the women in towns and cities who have good markets. I wonder if they appreciate their good fortune. My immediate problem is how to make up for this lack of fruits and vegetables. What am I to do?" This call for help may serve as a key to unlock the door to information in one of the most important of all food fields — information needed by housewives everywhere. The first thing I want to say to the woman in Alaska is that the average city woman of today de- pends largely on canned goods for winter menus. Even when fresh vegetables can be had, they are very often so high in price that many housekeepers cannot afford them every day. If you will take the THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS trouble to make the comparison you will find that good grades of canned food are much less expensive than fresh foods in winter, especially if you are dis- tant from large markets. I say "good grades." Here is the secret of the whole matter. In canned goods as in everything else we find the good, medium and poor. The latter are not worth buying. The medium may serve a purpose, but the wise woman is willing to pay a few cents more for standard brands, and from these select the best in different lines. One packer puts out excellent peas, another fine pineapples, another splendid tomatoes. Just as the goodness of what you buy in fresh fruits and vegetables depends on careful selection, the goodness of canned goods depends on the brand you choose. The Best is Usually Cheapest First of all, buy high-grade products. This gives you a guarantee of quality and uniformity in every can. Then note the weight, which in many instances evens up the cost, making the higher priced goods as cheap as the lower priced. If your source of supply is the local grocery and the proprietor is not particular about the brands he carries, write me, care of The People's Home Journal, and I will gladly send you the names of good brands. If no grocer is conveniently near or if the one 4 THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS close at hand seems disinclined to put in the better lines, get a catalogue from your nearest wholesale grocer or jobber or write direct to the canners, ask- ing the address of their nearest distributor. Having found your favorite brand of peas, corn, tomatoes, peaches, plums, cherries or other fruits, vegetables or canned meats, buy by the case — not blindly, without making out a budget based on your probable needs for the season, but with the same care and foresight as that with which a manufacturer orders in advance stores of raw material. First count noses in your family. Second, take into consideration the tastes and food needs of those , who sit daily at your table. With these facts for a foundation, figure how many cans of each fruit and vegetable you will use in an average week. Multiply this by the number of weeks of winter in your sec- tion, and you will know your food needs in these lines and be able to buy sensibly and economically. Usually you can get a better price when you buy canned goods by the case, sometimes as much as three cents per can, which on a case would amount to $1.44. No need to fear an oversupply. Canned foods keep well in a cool dry place. Buy on a Budget I know the homes in which the food problem is most successfully and easily handled are those in which this system is regularly carried out. In such homes you will find the canned food needs largely stored away in pantry or cellar before the first snow. THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS This plan is wise. No last-minute rushes to get a can of this or that, only to find the grocer is out of your favorite brand. No need to change your menu on the spur of the moment because he hasn't the fruit or vegetable you had planned to have. In addition to these advantages you can count abso- lutely on the goodness of what you are to serve, and know you are saving money the while. These are some of the reasons why I urge home- makers everywhere to estimate their canned food needs in the early fall and lay . in the required amounts of brands they have found best fitted to their tastes. If women everywhere adopted this plan and insisted on the better brands, the poor ones soon would be driven off the market. These latter find a sale now only because some folk never take the trouble to look at a label. They don't know whether a can contains one pound two ounces, or one pound six ounces — yet if the first can be bought for twenty cents while the second costs twenty-two, they choose the first as "cheaper." Really, it is more expensive. Know Your Brands Again there are housekeepers who, having bought a can of particularly good pineapple, for instance, pay no attention to the brand or name of the packer on the label, and wonder why the next can they buy is not equally delicious. They foolishly assume that all canned pineapple is alike. They would not want anyone to think they regard all apples or potatoes THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS as alike, yet their attitude toward canned goods is tantamount to this. Now for a few straight-spoken words as to the use of canned goods in the home. In the first place — and I speak from the stand- point of food that is best to eat and best for us — the average housewife does not use as many good canned foods as she should. In the average Ameri- can home we make too little use of the better grade of such fruits, vegetables and meats. The first reason for this statement is the absolute cleanliness of canned foods bearing the name or brand of a reputable firm. Could you see, as I have, how carefully the material which goes into these cans is selected and prepared, and if you knew how much time, thought and money is spent to secure the high- est degree of scientific sanitation, not only as to ma- chinery and utensils, but also in the matter of sur- roundings and helpers, you would understand why it is absolutely safe to use reliable canned goods. In many instances the fruits and vegetables are grown to order, the canners even superintending selection of the seeds. In the matter of meats, high- grade packers pay enormous salaries to experts whose first duty is to make sure that only the choic- est material is selected. And in the best canneries constant sanitary supervision is exercised. Canned meats must be passed by government inspectors, and while the same system does not yet extend to fruit and vegetable canneries, the name of a reliable 7 THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS firm or a can insures a high standard and uniform quality. Five years ago the government made a careful estimate of the total number of cans of food put up in one season in this country, and the total was 3,500,000,000! Since then this has been greatly in- creased, for each year more persons are learning the goodness, convenience and economy of the can in the cupboard. The enormous growth of the industry alone should remove all unwarranted prejudice against canned foods. Is Canned Food Healthful? The housewife's first consideration is clean, pure food, and in this she is absolutely right, because it is the basis of health. After this she is concerned with the nutritional value of what she buys. Her menus must be not only palatable and healthful, but pro- ductive of heat and energy for the body machine; not only safe but strength-making. How do canned foods measure up in this regard ? One of the highest of scientific authorities — Dr. Milton Rosenau, of Harvard — has gone carefully into this subject, and after countless tests, he gave out the following statement : "Canned foods are sterile foods and therefore generally safer than fresh foods. * * * Canned goods are not only safe, but are quite as nutritious as the original articles. It is becoming convincingly clear to us that there is no such a thing as ptomaine poisoning and that canned goods have a clean bill of health. They are, in fact, the safest foods that come to our table." 8 THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS Dr. Rosenau's conclusion in this matter repre- sents the final word of authority. His position is supported by Dr. James Weinzirl of the University of Washington, who made a detailed scientific ex- amination of more than 1,000 cans of fruit, vege- tables, meat, fish, milk and other foodstuffs in his laboratory, and found none of them to be in any way unsafe ; that the germ of botulism, a dangerous food poison sometimes attributed to canned foods, was not present in a single can. Another scientific authority, E. V. McCollum, Professor of Chemical Hygiene of Johns Hopkins University, states: "Canned meats are probably safer in general than beef or fowl left over from a former repast and served when several days old as cold meat, or in the form of sandwiches. They are certainly much safer than sausages or Hamburg steaks or than lobster. The latter spoils so readily that it is customary to market them alive, to be killed at the time their preparation for the table is begun. Canned lob- ster is probably as safe as other canned meats, and the same may be said of other sea foods." There are common-sense considerations, however, which would weigh with any housewife if science never had set its seal on canned goods. For instance, fruits and vegetables for canning are ripened on vine, bush or tree to exactly the proper point for human consumption. As everyone knows, the full food value of anything is obtainable only when in such condition. Like a Year-Round Garden The only way to approximate the actual food THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS value of canned fruits and vegetables would be to have access the year round to fresh fruits and vege- tables matured to exactly the right point and brought direct from tree, vine or bush into your own kitchen. And canned foods are most economical, because they can be kept indefinitely and contain no waste. Their great value lies in the variety of food elements they supply at all seasons. The human body is like the house in which you live. It must have one sort of food-furnishing for this room and another sort for that; one food ele- ment to fit certain needs and others to fit other needs. These absolutely necessary substances abide in dif- fering quantities in fruits, vegetables, meats, milk and fish. To provide them in sufficient measure the diet must be varied — and it is even more necessary this should be done in winter than in summer. For in winter the average person does not have the help of outdoor exercise. Here it is canned goods have come to the rescue of the human family, virtually saying, "It always is summer where we are." We can feel assured that when we make full use of the best canned goods we endow ourselves, even in the coldest of winter weather, with the food ad- vantages and health helps Nature so bountifully stores in summer gardens. Thus the high present development of the canned food industry has equal- ized the year's food opportunities in such a way as to make summer and winter practically one food 10 THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS season, not only in the great cities but in the remot- est sections of our country. Already this new order is being reflected in the health of the people. And when every American housewife knows it is the part of good sense as well as economy and good health to lay in a supply of dependable canned goods in the autumn, we shall have taken a long step forward in the direction of national physical fitness. 11 RECIPES Peach Meringue Tarts Bake six tart shells in the usual way. Then drain one can of large peaches and place one piece, round side up, in each tart shell. Beat the whites of two eggs until stiff, add six tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar gradually and beat until thick and smooth. Heap this meringue on each tart, sprinkle with one-third cupful of chopped nuts and bake in a cool oven until just beginning to brown. Chill before serving. Squash Custards Mix two cupfuls of canned squash with one-half cupful of light brown sugar, one-half teaspoonful of cinnamon, one-fourth teaspoon- ful of nutmeg and one teaspoonful of salt. Beat two eggs, and two cupfuls of milk and stir in the squash mixture. Pour into buttered custard cups and bake in a moderate oven until firm. Beat the white of one egg until stiff, fold in three tablespoonfuls of sugar and beat until smooth. Remove custards from the oven, place a spoonful of meringue on each and serve warm or cold. Italian Salad In a bowl which has been rubbed with clove of garlic, mix together carefully two cupfuls of shredded cabbage, one-half cupful of sliced carrots, one green pepper shredded, and one cupful of canned kidney beans. Beat together one-half cupful of olive oil, three tablespoonfuls of cider vinegar and one tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar and salt and pepper to season. When thick, pour over the vegetables. Add one cupful of canned tongue, mix and let stand for thirty minutes. Ar- range in a mound on a bed of lettuce and surround with one can of sardines, split in half and free from skin and bone. Scalloped Corn and Potatoes Parboil four cupfuls of thinly sliced raw potatoes for eight minutes and drain. Put alternate layers of potatoes and two cupfuls of corn in the bottom of a greased baking dish, sprinkle each with two tea- spoonfuls of salt, one-eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper, and two tablespoonfuls of flour and dot with three tablespoonfuls of butter. Pour one-half cupful of milk over the top and bake in a moderate oven about forty-five minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Tuna Fish Supreme Make a sauce of four tablespoonfuls of butter, four tablespoonfuls of flour and two cupfuls of milk. When thick and boiling, stir in 12 THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS one-third of a cupful of evaporated milk and one teaspoonful of lemon juice. Drain one small can of mushrooms and break in pieces. Sepa- rate a one-pound can of tuna fish into flakes or, if very firm, cut in cubes. Stir the fish, mushrooms and one pimento cut in strips into the sauce and cook in a double boiler for ten minutes or until thoroughly- hot. Stir as little as possible to avoid mashing the fish. Shape three cupfuls of boiled rice into cones and stand in a circle on a hot platter. Surround with the fish mixture. Place a mushroom or a piece of pimento on top of each cone of rice. Serve very hot. Meat Loaf from Canned Beef Mix together thoroughly the following: One pound can of roast beef, chopped fine, one teaspoonful of salt, one-eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of minced onion, one tablespoonful of catsup, one cupful of bread crumbs, not too stale, th^ee tablespoon fuls of melted butter, one-half cupful of stock or hot water and one egg. Add more salt if necessary. Shape into a loaf or pack into a greased bread pan. Bake in a moderate oven about thirty minutes or until brown on top and firm to the touch. Asparagus Shortcake Drain a large can of asparagus and let stand in an uncovered dish for thirty minutes. Mix and sift two cupfuls of flour, one-half teaspoonful of salt and four teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Rub in four tablespoonfuls of fat and mix to a soft dought with one beaten egg and about one-half cupful of milk or water. Turn out on a floured board and roll to one-half inch thickness. Cut in pieces about two inches wide by three inches long and bake on a greased pan in a hot oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. Heat the asparagus in a steamer or colander placed over hot water. Make two cupfuls of well seasoned white sauce and flavor it with one tablespoonful of lemon juice. When the shortcake is done, split each piece, place six or eight stalks of asparagus between and pour white sauce over all. Serve very hot. Salmon Salad Open one pound can of salmon, remove skin and bones and sepa- rate fish into flakes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, paprika and one tablespoonful of lemon juice. Add one cupful of cold boiled rice or spaghetti and arrange in a mound on lettuce. Cut two hard- boiled eggs in slices and arrange around the base of the mound. One-half cupful of left-over canned peas, string beans or asparagus may be used for extra garnish. Cover the top of the mound with mayonnaise and sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and whole capers. Serve very cold. 13 THE A B C OF WINTER FOODS Celery a la Creole Drain one can of celery and let stand in an uncovered dish for about thirty minutes. Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter; add one onion cut very fine and two tablespoonfuls of chopped green pepper. Cook slowly for five minutes, then add one cup strained canned tomato and one-half cupful of boiling water. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the celery and pour into a casserole or covered baking dish. Cover and cook in a moderate oven about forty minutes. If necessary thicken the sauce with a little flour before serving. Squash Custards Two cupfuls of canned squash; one-half cupful of light brown sugar; one-half teaspoonful of cinnamon; one-quarter teaspoonful of nutmeg; one teaspoonful of salt; two eggs; two cupfuls of milk; one egg white; three tablespoonfuls of sugar. Mix the squash with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Beat eggs, add milk and stir in the squash mixture. Pour into buttered custard cups and bake in a moderate oven until firm. Beat egg white until stiff, fold in the sugar and beat until smooth. Remove custards from the oven, place a spoonful of meringue on each and serve warm or cold. Italian Salad One can of sardines, freed from skin and bones; one cupful of canned tongue, cut in cubes; two cupfuls of shredded cabbage; one- half cupful of sliced raw carrots; one green pepper shredded; one cupful of canned kidney beans; one-half cupful of olive oil; one tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar; three tablespoonfuls of cider vin- egar; clove of garlic; salt and pepper to season. Mix the vegetables together carefully in a bowl rubbed with the clove of garlic. Beat the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper together until thick and pour over the vegetables. Add the tongue, mix and let stand for thirty minutes. Arrange in a mound on a bed of lettuce and surround with the sardines, split in half and freed from skin and bone. , 14