Foods, their selection and preparation

Hard-shelled crabs are cooked like lobster. Remove apron, gills, intestine, and sand bag. Break the body in half, crack the claws, and pick out the meat. Use as you would the crab meat on the market, in cocktails, salads, served hot with drawn butter, or in creamed and escalloped dishes. For scalloped crab use a rich white sauce made with cream or top milk, 1 cup to 1 cup of crab meat. Season to taste, using salt, pepper, tabasco, and capers as desired. Add \ cup buttered bread crumbs and place in oven to brown. Fresh shrimp are called raw or green shrimp. The little black line found in the back is harmless, but the shrimp is more appetizing and attractive when it is removed. It is removed most easily when the shrimp is uncooked. First remove the shell, or split it with a knife down the back, then cut the meat just below the surface of the back. The sand vein can be lifted out in one piece. Shrimps are best added uncooked to baked dishes and casseroles. Watch the clock when you cook shrimp, as shrimp toughen and shrink with overcooking. For use in cocktails, salads, and dishes re¬ quiring no cooking, shrimp are precooked. Cooking is desirable if raw shrimp must be held for any length of time. They are best if cooked in a flavored stock. Use 1 cup water for each pound of green shrimp, 2 pepper¬ corns, a piece of bay leaf, \ stalk celery, and 1 teaspoon salt. Simmer this stock for 5 minutes covered; then add the shrimp, shelled or unshelled. Cover tightly. Count the cooking time after the mixture returns to boiling. Boil for 5 minutes only, no longer. Remove the shrimp and save the stock. After cooling, the shrimp may be stored for a short time in the stock. Use shrimp prepared in this method as you would cooked, frozen, or canned shrimp. Canned Fish. Canned fish is a cooked fish. It may be used as it comes from the can in salads or in chowders, creamed dishes, or scalloped dishes. Dried and Salted Fish. Some forms of cured fish are used without cooking. If to be cooked they may require a short soaking to add water and remove excess of salt. Carson, Rachel L. Food from the Sea. U S. De¬ partment of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Conservation Bulletin No. 33. Carson, Rachel L. Fish and Shellfish of the Middle Atlantic Coast. Conservation Bulletin No. 38. Carson, Rachel L. Fish and Shellfish of South Atlantic and Gulf Coast. Conservation Bulletin No. 37. Carson, Rachel L. Fishes of the Middle West. Conservation Bulletin No. 34. Fish and Fishery Products. War Department, Technical Bulletin TB QM 31, Washington, D.C. (Decem¬ ber, 1944). Leaflets on Fish Cookery, Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of Interior, Washing¬ ton, D.C. XVIII • Dried L xgumes and Nuts Legumes and nuts are plant foods, char¬ acterized by their protein and energy con¬ tent. Because of the similarity in composi¬ tion and in the contribution which they make to the diet, they will be discussed together.