(Sufficient for 1 pint vegetables)

Melt the b.u.t.ter, add the flour, and stir over the fire until frothy. Add the milk and stir constantly until it thickens. Stir in the seasonings.

_Note._--Vegetable water may be subst.i.tuted for part of the milk.

METHOD OF WORK

Review the facts on boiling vegetables learned in the previous lesson.

Let the pupils put water on to boil and prepare a vegetable for cooking.

If experiments are to be made, they can be performed while the vegetable is cooking. If the experiments have been made previously, they can be reviewed in discussion at this time. Prepare a white sauce by demonstration, using the method which seems most practical. Have the vegetables drained, dried, and added to the white sauce. When well-heated, serve.

Questions Used to Develop the Lesson

What facts regarding the boiling of vegetables did we learn in the last lesson?

Does the vegetable that we are to cook to-day differ in any marked way from those we cooked before? Should we follow the same rule in cooking it?

Should we add the flour directly to the cold milk? To the hot milk?

How shall we combine the white sauce?

With what other vegetables can white sauce be used?

_Home a.s.signment._--Each pupil should prepare some vegetable and serve it with white sauce, before the next lesson.

LESSON VI: CEREALS

_Kinds, composition, care, and general rules for cooking cereals.

Oatmeal, cracked wheat, corn-meal porridge, rice. Fruits to serve with cereals--stewed prunes, stewed apples, or apple sauce._

SUBJECT-MATTER

The term "cereals" is applied to the cultivated gra.s.ses--rice, wheat, corn, rye, oats, and buckwheat. They are widely grown throughout the temperate zone and are prepared in various forms for use as food.

Cereals contain a high percentage of starch and a low percentage of water, with varying proportions of mineral matter and fat. In addition to the four food-stuffs already studied, cereals contain a small amount of another food-stuff known as protein--a muscle-building material. For the most part, the cereals contain a large amount of cellulose, which is broken up during the process of preparation for market and requires long cooking before being ready for use by the body. The digestibility of the cereals depends upon the amount of cellulose which they contain and the thoroughness of the cooking. Cereals are palatable, and they are valuable, because in cooking they can be blended in various ways with other substances. They are beneficial also to the body, because their cellulose acts mechanically on the digestive organs by stimulating them to action. Cereals are made more attractive by serving with fresh or cooked fruit.

PRELIMINARY PLAN

The cereals should be discussed in a nature study or geography lesson, and two or three kinds that are in common use should be brought from home by the pupils. If cereals are not generally used as breakfast foods, the lesson may be a means of introducing them. Some pupils should bring a little milk and sugar, to serve with the cooked cereal. Apples or prunes should be brought, to cook and serve with the cereal.

RECIPES

_Oatmeal_

3 c. boiling water 3/4 c. oatmeal 3/4 tsp. salt

Add the oatmeal slowly to boiling salted water.

Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then cook slowly, preferably over water, at least one and one-half hours longer; the flavour is developed by longer cooking. Serves six.

_Cracked Wheat_

Follow the recipe for oatmeal, using 3/4 c. of cracked wheat.

_Corn-meal Porridge_

4 c. boiling water 3/4 c. corn-meal 1 tsp. salt

Add the corn-meal slowly to boiling salted water.

Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then cook slowly for three hours longer, preferably over water. Serves six to eight.

_Boiled Rice_

3 qt. boiling water 1 c. rice 2 tsp. salt

Pick the rice over carefully and wash thoroughly. Add it to the boiling salted water so gradually that it will not stop boiling. Partly cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until the grains are soft; turn into a colander, and pour cold water through it, drain, dry, and re-heat in a hot oven with door open. Serve hot as a vegetable or as a simple dessert with cream and sugar. Serves six to eight.

_Stewed Prunes_

1/2 lb. prunes 1 qt. cold water

Wash the prunes in two or three waters; then soak them in cold water for several hours. Heat them in the water in which they are soaked and simmer until tender (an hour or more). Serves six to eight.

_Stewed Apples_

10 small apples 1/2 c. sugar 3/4 c. water

Cook the sugar and water together until it boils.

Wash, pare, and cut the apples into quarters; core, and slice the quarters lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices; put the apple slices into boiling syrup and cook slowly until tender. Remove from the syrup at once and let the syrup boil down to thicken.

_Apple Sauce_

10 small apples 1/2 c. sugar 3/4 c. water