More about Milk
Milk
Gravy
Milk gravy is the same as white sauce, except that
white sauce is usually made with butter or margarine, while gravy is made with
other fat. You can use the two
interchangeably as long as the fat is pure and flavor is mild. Use it as the base for cream soups and
casseroles, as well as gravy to top biscuits.
Add any meat bits to it for a main course.
2
teaspoons flour 1
cup reconstituted dry milk
2
tablespoons fat
Melt
fat over medium heat, sprinkle flour in, while stirring. Continue stirring until the mixture barely
starts to brown. Add milk all at
once. Stir briskly to avoid lumps. Return to boil and cook 1 – 2 minutes to
thicken. Makes 1 cup.
White
Sauce
3 cups warm water 1/2
teaspoon salt
3/4 –1 cup dry milk 3
– 4 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon shortening or oil
Reconstitute dry milk with water. Whisk in flour and salt until smooth. Cook over medium heat until mixture is
thickened. Add fat, if desired. Serve hot over rice, macaroni, or toast. Thin for use as chowder-type soup with beans,
rice and wheat.
Graveyard
Stew
Salt and pepper toasted and buttered bread. Pour hot milk over and eat. If no toaster is available spread shortening
on sliced bread and fry in skillet.
Cemetery
Stew
2 slices of bread, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 cup milk sprinkle
of sugar
Pour hot or cold milk over bread, sprinkle with
sugar, and eat like a bowl of cereal.
About Dietary Fats
Fat is an important energy-providing nutrient. A small amount of dietary fat is necessary
for our bodies to properly absorb fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K. Fat also assists in vitamin D absorption,
which helps calcium get into the body, especially to the bones and teeth.
Fat is an essential ingredient in almost all baking. The taste, texture and appearance of foods improve
even when it is only used in small amounts.
Food textures change with the use of different fats because of their
individual characteristics. Shortening
makes baked goods fluffier and flakier, while oils provide a denser, heavier
product. Fats in bread are
interchangeable, measure for measure, whether liquid or solid. One tablespoon fat to four cups flour is
sufficient for bread. Fat serves as a
preservative in bread and other foods.
Shortening does not contain water. To get the same results when substituting
shortening for butter or margarine, add 1 tablespoon water for each half cup of
shortening used. A cookie made with
shortening and no extra water added is higher and lighter, while a butter cookie
is flatter and crisper.
Storage conditions that affect the deterioration of
fats, oil and food in general are summarized in the acronym HALT: Humidity,
Air, Light, and Temperature. Reducing
exposure to humidity, air, light, and warm temperatures will prolong storage
life. Fats and oils vary in their
ability to store for prolonged periods.
Generally shortening can be stored for many years; cooking oil must be
rotated more frequently.
About Salt
A body may endure periods of lack of food, but without
salt and water, would quickly perish from dehydration. The average person contains about eight
ounces of salt. Salt is in every cell of
the body. It helps wounds to heal and
body fluids to be properly regulated.
Salt regulates electrical charges through the nervous system which helps
contractions of the heart and other muscles.
Salt is necessary for the digestion of food and flow of nutrients. As hunters, humans got all the sodium they
needed by eating meat, but with the switch to agriculture came the need to add
salt to a grain and vegetable diet.
Salt played an important part in the survival of the
human race long before recorded history.
Drying or curing with salt was virtually the only know ways of
preserving food. These practices helped
elimate dependency on the seasonal availability of food and made travel
possible over long distances because it inhibited the growth of bacteria. Thanks to canning, drying, freezing and
refrigeration, salt is no longer a primary means of preserving food.
Salt is mostly used in the kitchen and on the dining
table. Salt accents the flavor of meat,
brings out the individuality of vegetables, puts “oomph” into bland starches,
deepens the flavor of delicate desserts and develops the flavor of melons and
other fruits. No other seasoning has yet
been found to satisfactorily take the place of salt.
Iodized salt is standard table salt with iodine
added. Iodine is a component of the
thyroid hormone, which controls the rate of energy production in all
cells. It thereby influences the growth
and general activity of every organ.
Iodine reduces mental retardation.
Iodine deficiency causes a 10 to 15% reduction in a population’s IQ
capability. It was the first nutrient to
be added to foods as a supplement. Since
and adult only requires about one teaspoonful of iodine over a lifetime, eating
fish once a week is enough to fulfill the average iodine requirements.
A question frequently asked is: Does water boil
faster if you put salt in the water? Answer: when a small amount of salt is
added to water, such as when cooking pasta, the amount of time needed to come
to a boil is insignificant between plan water and salted water.
There are about 10,000,000 crystals in a pound of
salt.
Then how about vegetables?
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