The rear end of this oven is closed in the same
way as that of the smaller oven, and the oven is set up
and operated in the same manner as the smaller size.
Cooking and Mess Furniture for Field Service (Plate 16).
J3 Meat Can. Closed
MANUAL FOR ARMY COOKS. 241
The device for cooking, as now fnrnislied by the
Ordnance Department, is one meat can and plate
combined, and consists of two oval dishes made of
block tin, one deeper than the other, which fit
together, forming a meat-ration can of the follow-
ing dimensions :
Length, 8 inches; width, 6^ inches; depth of
whole can, 1| inches when closed; the lower dish to
be 1 inch in depth ; the plate f inch in depth.
To the deeper dish or plate is attached a light
iron handle, which folds over and holds the two
together. The one with the handle may be nsed to
eat soup out of; as a frying pan; or to warm up
cold food, and many other purposes that will sug-
gest themselves when it is used.
These articles are, on the march, placed in the
haversack (the cup being attached to the strap),
which also contains the rations required to be car-
ried by the soldier and, with the canteen, which
holds three pints, constitute the cooking and eating
utensils that are deemed essential for use upon the
most active service.
HINTS REGARDING WATER AND WOOD.
Nothing is more certain to secure endurance and
capability of long-continued effort than the avoid-
ance of everything as a drink except cold water (and
coffee at breakfast). Drink as little as possible of
even cold water. Experience teaches old soldiers
that the less they drink on a march the better, and
that they suffer less in the end by controlling the
desire to drink, however urgent.
After any sort of exhausting effort a cup of coffee
or tea, hot or cold, is an admirable sustainer of the
strength until nature begins to recover herself.
Ofiicers in command of companies should impress
upon their men the danger to which they expose
9281 16
242 MANUAL FOR ARMY COOKS.
themselves in drinking bad water. Poisonous mat-
ter of many descriptions may be taken into the
stomach in it. (In Algeria, leeches have in this
manner been frequently taken into the body, caus-
ing dangerous internal bleeding. ) Dysentery and
diarrhea ensue and, in the opinion of the best
army surgeons, it is one of the chief causes of those
fearful diseases which have devastated armies in so
many wars. It has lately been jDroved, that if bad
water does not produce cholera, its use ^predisposes
the body to take it Avhen it is prevalent.
TO PURIFY WATER THAT IS MUDDY, PUTRID, OR SALT.
With muddy water, the remedy is to filter ; with
putrid, to boil, to mix with charcoal, or expose to
the sun and air ; or, what is best, to use all three
methods at the same time. With salt water noth-
ing avails but distillation.
TO FILTER MUDDY WATER.
Page 104
Presented as published in 1896. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The rear end of this oven is closed in the same way as that of the smaller oven, and the oven is set up and operated in the same manner as the smaller size.
Cooking and Mess Furniture for Field Service (Plate 16).
J3 Meat Can. Closed
The device for cooking, as now furnished by the Ordnance Department, is one meat can and plate combined, and consists of two oval dishes made of block tin, one deeper than the other, which fit together, forming a meat-ration can of the following dimensions :
Length, 8 inches; width, 6^ inches; depth of whole can, 1| inches when closed; the lower dish to be 1 inch in depth ; the plate f inch in depth.
To the deeper dish or plate is attached a light iron handle, which folds over and holds the two together. The one with the handle may be used to eat soup out of; as a frying pan; or to warm up cold food, and many other purposes that will suggest themselves when it is used.
These articles are, on the march, placed in the haversack (the cup being attached to the strap), which also contains the rations required to be carried by the soldier and, with the canteen, which holds three pints, constitute the cooking and eating utensils that are deemed essential for use upon the most active service.
HINTS REGARDING WATER AND WOOD.
Nothing is more certain to secure endurance and capability of long-continued effort than the avoidance of everything as a drink except cold water (and coffee at breakfast). Drink as little as possible of even cold water. Experience teaches old soldiers that the less they drink on a march the better, and that they suffer less in the end by controlling the desire to drink, however urgent.
After any sort of exhausting effort a cup of coffee or tea, hot or cold, is an admirable sustainer of the strength until nature begins to recover herself.
Ofiicers in command of companies should impress upon their men the danger to which they expose
9281 16
themselves in drinking bad water. Poisonous matter of many descriptions may be taken into the stomach in it. (In Algeria, leeches have in this manner been frequently taken into the body, causing dangerous internal bleeding. ) Dysentery and diarrhea ensue and, in the opinion of the best army surgeons, it is one of the chief causes of those fearful diseases which have devastated armies in so many wars. It has lately been jDroved, that if bad water does not produce cholera, its use ^predisposes the body to take it Avhen it is prevalent.
TO PURIFY WATER THAT IS MUDDY, PUTRID, OR SALT.
With muddy water, the remedy is to filter ; with putrid, to boil, to mix with charcoal, or expose to the sun and air ; or, what is best, to use all three methods at the same time. With salt water nothing avails but distillation.
TO FILTER MUDDY WATER.