Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-13
Table and Kitchen.
The Modern Cereals and Their Prep
aration.

surely undermines the digestive powers
The relentless and sharp struggle for exist
ence demands every available amount OF
energy on the part of the Individual. thus
having less for the digestion of foods The
result is in many cases impaired action Of
the digestive organs.
While the digestive organs are intended
to do certain amounk,of work and are all
the better for a normal amount of activity,
as they would otherwise become weak II re-
fieved too much of their duties, their full
functional powers are more or less inter-
fered with under our present conditions of
life, and It Is imperative that in such cases
individuals be supplied with partially or at
least easily digested foods. But under no
circumstances must these be of such ma
ture as to usurp the natural digestive pro-
cess or interfere with the action of the d.
gestiye fluids other than to facilitate their
action when distinctly beneficial to the
body. Pre-eminently healthy individuals
who know how to maintain an even poise
under unfavorable conditions are better
without partially digested foods for reasons
already stated.
Most Important Of Our Vegetable
Foods.
OF the natural available foods for man.
there Is perhaps none that needs a more
imperative or closer study than the cereals.
Botanically. this class Of foods is grouped
together as certain members of the grass
tribe. More particularly speaking. however,
we allude only to the seeds or fruit of those
grasses, the part used as food by man. In
these seeds cultivated for food supply we
nave the different nutritiye ingredients
proteids, carbohydrates, fat and mineral
matters, along with a certain proportion of
water, which, however, does not amount to
over Il per cent In the ripe grain Although
the proteids vary considerably in the diff
ferent cereals, their nutrtive value is about
equal.
One great advantage the cereals have
over otner vegetable FOODS. when consider
ing their digestibility, Is that they are al
most free from cellulose, there being but
q small amount, which Is contained in the
outer, protective covering. The carbohy-
crates are present In the largest proportion,
the chief being starch. This makes up from
TO to 70 per cent of the whole grain
Sugar in small quantity is present; while
the tat varies very notably in the different
members of the group; the latitude in
which they are grown governing the GUAM
tlty; the fat being most abundant in those
grown in the cold atmosphere of the north.
The percentage of mineral matter is small:
out lime and phosphoric acid are more
abundantly represented.
In one respect cereals more closely re-
sembie animal than vegetable foods, this
is In regard to organic salts. which are
almost absent As a class OF foods the
cereals are extremely well absorbed and
rank in this respect equal to, If not above
the animal foods. Their compactness al
most absolute freedom from waste and
richness in nutrients, place them in the
highest scale Of human food.
Carbohydrates predominant in all cereals
and for this reason they do not form per-
fect diet when eaten alone, but require such
combinations as eggs. milk, butter, cheese,
etc. In order to make cereals perfectly
available as food, they midst be reduced to
form that may be made readily digestible
for all conditions.
First, they must be easily and perfectly
cooked; as time is Of greatest moment to
the modern wage Garner. and he scarcely
allows the expenditure Of even the necessary
energy required to digest the food by the
natural process, to tax his digestive powers
beyond this with imperfectly@cooked cereals
lmpa1rs his mental as well as physical ca
pacities The necessities Of modern condi-
lions among all classes have produced
great variety of patenF Preparations Of
wheat. as we'll as some1other well known
cooked or prepared b3 sseh manner THAT that
the shortest possible fine is reuuireT to
prepare them fer tlfe,5sable, while others
need only the addition of hot water or
are prepared in the form Of flakes, others
are granular preparations, or an ingenious
transportation of the whole wheat into
shreds. Many OF these are formed into
cakes or biscuit and are thoroughly cooked
and thus #present to the housewife the
whole wheat in an undoubtedly more d.
gestible form for human food than the
average cook will produce from less mod
ern wheat food preparations.
All modern inventions, whether applied, to
foods or elsewhere, are intended to save
time and labor
Baked Oatmeal.
Many find this cereal too cheating"
while others depend on it as Standby
for breakfast food This cereal must be
thoroughly cooked to be digestible One of
the best is as follows: The day before it
Is to be served. stir pint of oatmeal with
one teaspoonful of salt into two quarts of
Dollng water. Boil five minutes; then turn
into buttered earthen dish and cover.
Set the dish in pan Of boiling water,
place IN a moderate oven and bake for
two hours. Then in the morning again put
the olsh IN the oven, in pan of boiling
water and cook half an hour And it is
ready to serve.
Cereal Blanc Mango.
A nice change from the plain cereal mush
Make In the usual way, using milk instead
or water, and about four minutes before re-
moving from the fire stir in two wel-beaten
eggs. Serve with sugar and cream or with
stewed fruit. This is a very hearty dish
when one considers the combination.
Cereal Croquettes.
Warm a cup of cooked cereal mush with
d tablespoonful or milk; add one egg yOlk,
well beaten; season with pinch Of salt;
stir in two tablespoonful Of chopped dates
and as soon as the mixture is cool enough
form into small cylinders or oval-shaped
croquettes; dip in beaten egg. crumb and
fry. With a little crisp bacon these make
a nice breakfast dish or may be used with
fruit sauce for dessert.
Savory Cereal Outlets.
Put a seant half pint of milk in double
boiler with a tablespoonful of butter, and
when it is scalded add enough of some of
the patent cereal preparations to make a
thick paste, dredging In little -four. Turn
into saucepan and stir and cook until 1t
no longer adheres to the pan. Remove from
the fire. When cool add two eggs, beaten
smooth. salt to taste, a little onion juice
and third Of cup of finely ground nut
meats. Mix well, shape into small outlets,
egg and crumb and fry "a nice brown in
deep. hot fat. Serve aWitho walnut gravy or
as garnish around stewsd mushrooms or
drilled tomatoes. ;s,Elb
Cereal Griddle Cakes.
Cold cooked cereals make delicious griddle
cakes. Allow one egg sona cupful of the
cereal and milk. flour and baking powder to
make batter of usual consistency for grid
die cakes.