The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-01-05
Same Food in Field.

Same Food in Field.
It is rather heartening to think that
the men can have the same food in
the field as they do in barracks. This
is accomplished by the bakeries, which
are portable, easily taken down and
set up, and by the very remarkable
trolling Kitchens" which cook a meal
as the army marches, having lunch or
supper ready when the order comes to
pitch camp. There are several models
of this rolling kitchen, some more in
tricate than others and some very
much more substantial than others.
The government has ordered a large
number of a model which weighs 5000
pounds. All of these kitchens have
stoves for burning oil and also ar
rangements for the use of coal or
wood.
There is also an over where a roast
may be brought to a turn, and, as a
surprise to you, a big, smooth plate
where fapjacks come to life. One
kitchen will feed 200 men, a war
strength company, and it will need
three men to operate it at its maxi
mum capacity.
Trailing each kitchen is a f~ireless
cooker with four large compartments.
There are now four regular schools
for army cooks-at Fort Sam Houston,
Tex; Fort Riley, Kan; Monterey,
Cal; and Washington Barracks. The
new environments will increase these
schools MANIFOLD. 1t takes about four
months of rigorous instruction to make
a first-class army cook, but under the
intensive method the cantonment cooks
will be educated in half this time.
Oddly enough, the fact that a man
has had previous experience is lore
apt to be a hindrance than a help, and
there is a great deal in his natural
endowment. AS the sergeant in charge
of the cooking school at Washington
Parracks said, "You can do more with
some men in five minutes talk than
you can with another in a months
hard work." The work begins with a
talk on spices. which, to most of US,
seems the final touch rather than the
GuUlilItllS VI tOONlllS. out III Tic Ill
my they really begin with the first
principles. The desire for food, known
as appetite, and certainly spices do
much toward making simple dishes
tempting and palatable.
Take, for instance, the army Irish
stew. 1t is far removed from the dull
wash-day dish which answers to that
name in most households. The vege-
tables are tender and 1avorous; the
meat Ground steak) is very delicious,
because it is properly cooked and the
gravy; it's thick, but not thickening,
and SO very good with the meat juices
and vegetable favorings skillfully ac-
cented with spices hat there is a
justifiable temptation to wipe the last
bit of it from the plate with a piece
of the excellent army bread.
Bread Without Milk.
To the average cook and housewife
this bread is remarkable, for it is
made without milk and without lard.
When you see it going into action in
the Toured hands of a squad of bakers
your comment is that the shortening is
"elbow grease" for it is worked until
the dough is perfectly smooth. They
"cut it over" five times, which takes
about 40 minutes of hard working, so
hard no mixing machine is strong
enough to do the work.
The most difficult thing to teach the
student bakers, or "slick ears" as
they are called, is the shaping of a
loaf. This must be uniform, as there
must always be IL pounds, divided into
six equal loaves, in a pan. The recipe
for a batch of bread calls for 200
pounds flour, 4 pounds sugar, A pounds
salt, IL pounds yeast, and 1874 gallons
of water. The bakery at Washington
Barracks turns out $500 pounds a day,
and every man gets his pound.
There are many very delicious and
exceedingly efficient recipes in the
manual for army cooks, and Uncle
Sam gives his boys all three of their
excellent meals for an average of 40
cents a day. If the economy of the
army kitchen could be brought into
all American homes we would hear lit
tie of food conservation, for the utiliza-
lion of every edible molecule Is moth
ing short of marvellous, as is the sys-
TEN of accounting for every ingredi-
ent that comes out of the storaroom.