Evening star., 1944-07-03
|Ft. Meade Produces Versatile Army CooksD. {, Enr
By LEWIS r. ATCHYsON.
star star Correspondsnt.

e1ten, Dut make I'll Jo06 1eel IKE
eating them. It's Q big job and
important to morale. A visitor gets
the impression that any graduate
Of the school could make q piece
OF old shoe leather edible.
Most Of the men here couldn't
tell = soup ladle from 4 potato
masher before entering cook school,
and the bakers thought dough was
something they got every pay day
but In very small quantities.
Sergt. Paul Goldsmith of Upper
Darby. Pa, . short-order cook be-
fore entering the service, was the
only experienced man We found In
that department. Capt. H. A. Cook
Of Pittsburgh, Pa, had 10 years
experience In business before he
joined up. 20, oddly enough, they
put him In charge Of the bakers.
MAJ. J. B. Kuhns, native Of Taney-
town, Nd, famous for its chicken
dinners, was an engineer building
. bridge when he got orders to
report here for . refresher course
and eventually to assume command
OF the school. He previously ran
. CCC mess.
Two-Month Course.
Before the war the bakery course
stretched out over four months. fol-
lowed by a special course in pastries,
but an accelerated program now
graduates = class every two months
and pastry-making rs included in
the cooking course. Graduate cooks
get . weeks training In the dehy-
drafted foods course that comes in
mighty handy overseas. Graduates
also become eligible for the mess
sergeants school.
Cooking school is = snap COM
pared with baking school, the men
told us. Cooks don't begin work
until 4 am. and usually are out of
the kitchen by pm, but bakers
begin two and three hours earlier
and spend all day mixing, punch
ing, rolling and baking bread. Grad.
uate cooks on the post are on duty
"a hours and Oh the next "A, but
students spend their OF time in
classrooms attending lectures and
conducting experiments.
The school turns out an average
OF $4,000 pounds Of bread and fancy
rolls daily. but one day . week IS
per cent Of the total is whole wheat
bread and another day. the same
quantity Of raisin bread Is baked.
Most OF the men prefer plain, white
bread.
Slabs Of Red, Juicy Beef.
Maj. Kuhns escorted US through
the kitchen-a civilians notion of
paradise, with slabs Of red, Juicy
beef hanging In the refrigerator and
regiments Of steaks sizzling on cook
ing ranges.
"All units have pretty much the
same menus" he said. I'VE get 4
master menu frem the quarter.
master generals ONCE in Washing
ton. then make minor adjustments
to suit prevailing local market con-
dttions. II 1t calls for peas, for ex-
ample, and they happen to be hard
to get and expensive, while string
beans are both plentiful and less
expensive, We substitute the beans.
Otherwise We follow 1t to the letter"
Commercial baking companies
send leaves Of their bread for COM
parison with the Army's, and in
variably the Army wins. The Army
is eternally conducting tests and
experiments to maintain the high
quality and improve it. If possible.
Z Per Cent Fails.
Not every student sent to the
school survives the course. Some
simply don't have the aptitude and
others fail to show sufncient in
terest in the work, 50 approximately
Z per cent are sent back to their
respective units for routine Army
work. But the others know their
stun when they receive certificates
with ratings Of first or second class
cooks. Last year the school turned
out some 1000 qualified men.
And they can work under all con-
ditions, come hell or high water. II
regiment Is on the march and
must be fed IS soon rs it halts, cooks
do their work on special gasoline
ranges fitted into trucks. Pvts.
Leonard Wojnowski of Detroit and
Emmett z. Carlisle of Stockton,
Calf. proudly. told US they got up
q. full course dinner while their
mobile stoves rocked over some of
the bumpiest roads they ever had
seen on maneuvers.
The schools program also is
aimed at conserving as much food
as possible. Adoption Of the Army
food conservation program last July
is expected to result by this month
in an annual saving on meals for
men stationed In this country Of
81, ,000, 900. Waste In the last 10
months has been cut from ~ per
cent to Z per cent.
Spuds Boiled in Skins.
One method which has resulted
In q great saving-much to the re-
lief OF participating KP's is the in
creasingly widespread practice of
boiling potatoes in their skins be-
fore preparing them for different
dishes. The old way, experiments
determined, resulted in unnecessary
waste Of vitamins and minerals that
lie just below the spud's skin and
tests further showed that out of
the 40 pounds OF potatoes issued for
100 men, 13 pounds, or a per cent,
was lost in the parings. Cooking
potatoes before pairing them results
in saving OF 8 pounds. At a
camp Of 10000 men the daily saw
ing when potatoes are served at
two meals Is 7,20o pounds, or about
SO, 40.
Meat cutting likewise has been
reduced to = science. Every scrap
|of meat on the carcasses Is used by
mess attendants. Bones are re-
moved for more eflicient serving and
the bones are used for soup stock,
while the fat Is saved for cooking
purposes and eventual sale to NUM-
tions plants. ,,
There Is no question that Army
cooks are taught the most advanced
ideas on food preparation, Maj.