Camp cookery (Kephart)

Polenta. — An Italian dish made from our native corn and decidedly superior to plain boiled mush. Cook mush as above for one hour. Partly fill the bake-pan with it, and pour over it either a good brown gravy, or the tomato sauce described under macaroni. Then sprinkle with grated cheese. Set the pan in the oven three minutes, or in the reflector five minutes, to bake a little. Oatmeal Porridge. — Rolled oats may be cooked much more quickly than the old-fashioned oatmeal; the latter is not fit for the human stomach until it has been boiled as long as corn mush. To two quarts boiling water add one teaspoonful of salt, stir in gradually a pint of rolled oats, and boil ten minutes, stirring constantly, unless you have a double boiler. The latter may be extemporized by setting a small kettle inside a larger one that contains some water. CEREALS. Rice, Boiled. — Good precedent to the contrary notwithstanding, I contend that there is but one way to boil rice, and that is this (which is described in the words of Captain Kenealy, whose Yachting Wrinkles is a book worth owning) : To cook rice so that each grain will be plump, dry, and separate, first, wash the measure of rice thoroughly in cold, salted water. Then put it in a pot of furiously boiling fresh water, no salt being added. Keep the jDot boiling hard for twenty minutes, but do not stir. Then strain off the water, pplace the rice over a very moderate fire (hang high over camp-fire)), and let it swell and dry for half an hour, in an uncovered vessel. Remember that rice swells enormously in cooking. Rice, Fried. — When boiled rice is left over, spread it in a dish. When cold, cut it into cakes and fry it, for a hasty meal. It is better, though, in muffins. Rice Muffins. — Mash very smooth half a pint boiled rice. Add slowly, stirring to a thinner paste, half a pint of milk, three beaten eggs, salt. Then make into a stiff batter with flour. Bake like dropped biscuits. Risotto. — Fry a sliced onion brown in a tablespoonful of butter. Add to this a pint of hot water and half a pint of washed rice. Boil until soft, adding more hot water if needed. Heat half a pint canned tomatoes, and stir into it a teaspoonful of sugar. When the rice is soft, salt it; add the tomato; turn into a dish and sprinkle over it a heaped tablespoonful of grated cheese. Rice, Curried. — Same as Risotto, but put a teaspoonful of curry powder in the tomatoes and omit cheese. Grits, Boiled. — Put in plenty of boiling unsalted water. Boil about thirty minutes ; then salt and drain. Grits, Fried. — Same as fried rice. ^'Breakfast Foods.'' — According to directions on packages. Left-over Cereals. — See Mixed Cakes, page 114. CHAPTER X. FRESH Vegetables. — Do not wash them until just before they are to be cooked or eaten. They lose flavor quickly after being washed. This is true even of potatoes.