Manual for army cooks

Rice. Salt. Dripping Black pepper Onions. Hot water. Garlic. Tomatoes. Wash the rice and brown it in hot dripping. Then add onions, tomatoes, and garlic. Cover the whole with, hot water. Season with salt and pepper. Let rice cook thoroughly, adding water as needed, but do not stir it. JAMBALAYA. (A Spanish Creole dish.) 1 lb. rice (wash and soak 1 lb. sausage (cut up). 1 hour) . 2 large tomatoes. 1 lb. ham (cut up). Small piece red pepper. 2 onions. A sprig of parsley. Fry these in a heaping spoonful of dripping or butter, then add about one pint of boiling water. Stir in the rice slowly, cover the pot and set it where it can cook slowly. Salt to taste and serve while hot. Jambalaya is nice made with oysters, shrimps, or chicken substituted for sausage. REMARKS ON COFFEE AND TEA. Rio coffee is generally provided for the use of troops at eastern stations, while on the Pacific coast Central American is preferred, both being good strong coffees. Coffee should be regular in grain (so as to roast evenly) and uniform in color. All coffee improves in flavor by age. The presence of wormholes in coffee should not occasion its rejection unless it is of inferior quality and strength, since they generally indicate age, weigh nothing, and disappear when the coffee is ground. All coffees should be well cleaned before being roasted. Mocha coffee has a small irregular grain and is quite strong. Java coffee is generally yellow or light brown in color and a large grain. It is the mildest coffee furnished by the Subsistence Department, and when strong coffee is wanted more than the usual quantity should be used, or it can be mixed with, sufficient Mocha, Kio, or other strong coffee well ground together. To insure the best results both in strength and flavor coffee should be ground fine. Tea. — The kinds of tea found to be most popular in the Army are Oolong and Souchong among the black teas, and of strictly green teas Hyson and Young Hyson are preferable to Gunpowder and Imperial, being generally cheaper for the same quality. Souchong is commonly known as English Breakfast Tea, although Congou is frequently sold under the same name. The leaves are dark brown, almost black. Great care is needed in selecting it, as a poor "English Breakfast" is a very poor tea. Oolong tea is coarse in the dried leaf, loosely wrapped, and of a dark brown color verging toward olive. The fragrance reminds one of new hay, but is stronger and spicier. It is generally the best tea, being stronger than ' ' English Breakfast " and less stimulating than green tea. Japan green tea is an excellent tea, and being generally of a natural color is less injurious than Hyson, Imperial, or Gunpowder, which are artificially colored. TO ROAST COFFEE. Pick over the coffee carefully ; wash it in clean, cold water; wash thoroughly and quickly; drain, and when dry put it into a coffee roaster or baking pan ; roast quickly to a light brown, stirring frequently. Coft'ee may be vastly improved before roasting by adding to every three pounds of coffee a piece of butter the size of a nut, and a dessert-spoonful of powdered sugar, and then roasting in the usual manner. Coffee should be evenly roasted; a few burned berries will impart a disagreeable flavor to the coffee when made.