Manual for army cooks

on the stove or before the fire for one minute in order to heat the pot. This is necessary, for if the pot is not heated it will chill the tea water. Having thoroughly heated the pot, pour off the water and put into the pot one teaspoonful of tea for every teacupful of tea that is to be drawn, and one for the pot ; then pour on the hoiling water and set the covered pot on the stove or near the fire to draw, but not to boil. It should draw long enough to liberate the essential oil, which constitutes its aroma, but not long enough to drive it off or to dissolve the tannin, which gives the tea an astringent and disagreeable taste. The time for drawing varies with the different teas, and may be stated generally as follows: Green tea, five minutes; Oolong tea, eight minutes; English breakfast, fifteen minutes. The faults commonly committed in making tea are as follows : The water is flat from having been long on the stove, or the tea not made from the water on its first boil ; the water is only hot and not boiling; the teapot is not heated before putting in the tea; the tea is boiled instead of drawn (no tea should be boiled) ; the tea is made too long before it is to be drunk. CHOCOLATE. Chocolate is produced chiefly from the seeds of the cocoa palm ground to a fine powder, mixed with sugar, and reduced by great pressure to thin cakes. Cocoa nibs are the seeds roughly broken, and may be boiled, but they are not as soluble as the prepared chocolate. Scrape fine an ounce of chocolate and add an ounce of sugar ; throw these into a pint of perfectly boiling milk and water, of each one half, and immediately mill and stir them well for two or three minutes until the chocolate and sugar are quite dissolved. Some think that ten or twelve minutes' boiling improves it. Chocolate should never be made unless to be used immediately. If suffered to become cold or boiled again the flavor is injured. COOKING CANNED GOODS. Before using canned goods, see that the ends of each can are sunk in. If such is the case, the contents are good and wholesome, and there need be no hesitation in using them. If the ends of the can are springy or bulged outward, look upon it with suspicion. A swelled or bulged can usually means fermented contents and spoiled goods. The general rule as to bulged ends does not apply to condensed milk, which is frequently put up in cans that have a convex end. After the can has been opened, pour contents immediately into a porcelain or glass dish ; never leave them in the can, as this act is often the innocent cause of sickness, owing to the natural chemical action of the air upon the tin. Always bear in mind that all canned goods have received a cooking, varying in length of time from five minutes to seven hours, according to the character of the goods, and that but little further cooking is necessary. Fruits. Canned fruits of all kinds should be emptied from the can several hours before being served, poured into an open porcelain or glass dish, and then chilled in a refrigerator. Served cold they are most delicious and refreshing, and taste totally different from what they did when first taken from the can. Vegetables. As a general rule peas, lima beans, and string beans prove unsatisfactory, owing to the fact that