Foods and home making

Put the chicken or fowl in boiling water. Let the water boil for 15 minutes. Then add (for an average-sized bird) 1 tablespoon of salt. Let the chicken continue to cook at a simmering temperature for to 2 hours, or until tender. Serve with gravy. (See page 367.) It was mentioned on page 393 that chicken meat could be ex- tended by adding other foods. One of the most popular chicken- extender dishes is chicken a la King. For this dish cooked chicken or fowl is taken from the bones and cut into bits. Other foods are added as well as a cream sauce or gravy. Chicken prepared in this way can be served in more portions than when served alone on the bones. The recipe follows : Chicken and Fish for Dinner 401 CHICKEN A LA KING \ cup fat — chicken fat or butter 1 tablespoon green pepper £ cup flour cups chicken broth 1 cup milk | teaspoon salt $. teaspoon pepper 2 cups stewed chicken, cut into pieces 1 tablespoon pimiento, cut into bits 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 1 egg or 2 egg yolks Heat the fat in a frying pan. Add the green pepper and flour. Stir and cook until the mixture is light brown. Then add the chicken broth, milk, and seasoning. Add these liquids as directed in making white sauce (see page 237), stirring while cooking the mixture. Add the chicken, pimiento, and parsley, and continue to cook until the chicken is heated thoroughly. Beat the egg in a bowl. Add a little of the hot chicken mixture. Mix well. Then pour the egg and chicken mixture into the rest of the chicken. Stir and cook until the egg is thickened — usually 3 to 5 minutes. Serve at once. Chicken a la King may be served on toast or in pastry, patty, or cream-puff shells (page 579). Yield : 8 to 10 servings. Why is fish eaten less often than meat? Fish, like meat, contains proteins. The proteins in fish are of excellent quality. Why is fish not eaten by most persons as often as meat ? There may be several reasons for this. Some of the reasons are : (1) Fish contains many bones. These make some kinds of fish difficult to eat. (2) It has an odor which often clings to the utensils in which it is cooked and to the dishes in which it is served. Special care must be taken in washing the utensils and dishes used with fish so as to remove the odor. (3) Fish does not keep so well as meat. Although it may have some drawbacks, fish is a wholesome and palatable food. Moreover, it may usually be cooked in a short time. In some places fish costs less than meat. Because improvements have been made in the shipping of foods which spoil readily, fresh fish may be obtained in most places even though they are near no bodies of water. Fish should be used more often than it is by most families. 402 Dinner In what kinds of water do fish live? If you live on or near the Great Lakes you may know the names of some fish. How- ever, you may not know the names of fish which the person living on or near the ocean knows. Although fish live in both fresh water and salt water, the kinds of fish living in the two kinds of water differ. For this reason fish are sometimes classed as fresh-water fish and salt-water fish. Redrawn from U. S. Department of Agriculture Chart Figure 123. Composition of Fresh Cod (a Dry or Lean Fish)