STEWS
Stews made of meat and vegetables offer a great variety of dishes, good in themselves and good also because they encourage the eating of bread. The meat used should, of course, be in good condition, but need not be from a tender cut. The lower-priced cuts may be used with good results, provided they are made tender by long, slow cooking. Any vegetable may be added, including the tougher parts of lettuce and the leaves of celery. Rice, barley, macaroni, or even crusts of stale bread may be used in the stew to give variety. A stew containing a little meat, with one or more vegetables and a cereal, comes near to supplying all the needed foods other than milk.
MEAT STEW
2 lb of one of the cheaper cuts of beef, ⅔ c each of turnips and carrots, cut into ½″ cubes, 4 c of potatoes, cut into small pieces, ½ onion, chopped, ¼ c of flour, salt.
Cut the meat into small pieces, cover with boiling water, boil for 5 min, and then cook at a lower temp until the meat is tender. This will require about 3 hr on the stove or 5 hr in the fireless cooker; add the carrots, turnips and onions and salt during the last hour of cooking, and the potatoes 20 min before serving; thicken with the flour diluted with cold water. If the dish is made in the fireless cooker, the mixture must be reheated when the vegetables are put in. If foods depended on for vitamins are scarce, cook the vegetables separately from the meat so as to avoid the danger from overcooking them.
There is much to be said in favor
of keeping a soup pot on the stove
all the time, provided great care is
taken not to allow the contents to
grow stale. Into this pot can go
clean portions of uncooked food and
also clean foods left from the table,
such as meat, milk, mashed potatoes,
or other vegetables, crusts, cold cereal
mashes, and even fruits. Soups
made from such materials may not
have great nutritive value, but, like
those made out of materials bought
for the purpose, they encourage the
use of a large amount of bread, particularly
if carefully seasoned.
BROWN STEW
For this dish the cheaper and less tender cuts of beef, such as the rump and round can be used; remove the meat from the bone and cut it into small pieces; dredge with flour and cook in a small amount of fat until it is well browned; add hot water, about 1 qt to every pound of meat; season with salt, pepper and onion, and cook.
CARROT STEW
In these times of “high prices” perhaps the following will be found helpful in the list of cheap though nourishing dishes: Into 1 qt boiling water put 2 c grated carrot; add salt to taste and allow to cook for 15 or 20 min; add 1 qt milk, which has been warming, to which has been added a piece of butter and broken or rolled crackers; allow mixture to become very hot, when it is ready for serving. The flavor will be found delicious, reminding one of salmon. Of course, the more generous piece of butter the richer the stew.