While we don't take any stock in food fads, fanatically strict
vegetarianism, subsisting on raw turnips and rain-water, or any
advice that the poor should nibble grass so there'll be more wish-
bones for the rich, we do think that a lot of fine food is let go to
seed every year by needy families, especially in the suburbs, which
would furnish the vitamins and minerals we need at no cost at all.
So without going goofy on you, we'd like to point out the possibil-
ities of edible weeds, flowers and leaves and the fact that all of our
vegetables, fruits, spices and things grow wild in one part of the
world or another and are so common in their native habitat that
they're likely to be overlooked.
Here are notes we took while reading a book by Dr. George J.
Drews called Unfired Food:
For making a salubrious Spring Tonic Salad use any of these:
sour dock leaves, dandelion greens and the flowers cut fine, sour
knot weed, young woodbine shoots, young linden leaves (slippery
as slippery elm when chewed), shepherd's purse, nasturtium leaves
and flowers, sheep sorrel, wood sorrel, plantain and lamb's quarter.
For dressing such a salad use olive oil, peanut or corn oil, with
chopped peanuts, pinenuts, and other nuts and maybe a spoon of
honey or grated coconut. Simply toss together and serve. And
instead of lemon juice or vinegar you can get a good sour dressing
by grating rhubarb and squeezing out the juice. The juice of unripe
grapes is also good; it was called verjuice by our forefathers who
preferred it to vinegar.
The tuberous roots of nasturtiums can be eaten like radishes.
Pull the petals out of double marigold blossoms, chop them, mix
with nuts and sluice with salad dressing. Or you might like chrys-
anthemum petals in the same way — that's a great favorite in
Japan. Pansies, water lilies, double zinnias, stock and the Rose of
Sharon can all be used in the same way.
I
XXII
Handy Hints
\
DO NOT THROW AWAY
Bread. Quickly dip a stale loaf in cold water, crisp in oven and
it will be better than when fresh. Dry stale slices, crisp in oven, roll
and sift, store in a jar for crumbing fried dishes and for hasty pud-
dings. Make into toasts and croutons. Throw odd bits into the pot
when beginning to make soup, for additional thickening and
nourishment.
Pancakes. Reheat those left from breakfast, cut into ribbons
and put into the soup just before serving — better than noodles.
Bacon Fat, and Other Greases. Use for other frying. Or clarify
and remove odors by simmering with hot water; let cool and
harden, lift off the fat and store for deep-fat frying.
Trimmings and Peelings of Vegetables and Salads. Put in-
to the soup pot.
Green Pea Pods. Make into cream of pea soup.
Leftover Salads and Their Dressings. Into the soup pot.
Scraps of Cheese. Grate and store in ajar; use with spaghettis;
sprinkle over dishes for baking; mix with bread crumbs for frying.
Vegetable Broths. Make soup of them or put into gravies.
Bits of Cold Cuts and Store Sausage. Cut into small squares
and put into potato salad.
159.
l6o MOST-FOR-YOUR-MONEY COOK BOOK
Bits of Cooked Vegetables. Mix into omelet or egg scramble;
make baked vegetable hash of them, sprinkled with crumbs and
grated cheese.
Fish Heads and Bones. Set to simmer in cold water and use the
broth, after straining through cloth, for fish sauces, or soup, or
boil a whole fish in it.
Page 87
Presented as published in 1938. 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
While we don't take any stock in food fads, fanatically strict vegetarianism, subsisting on raw turnips and rain-water, or any advice that the poor should nibble grass so there'll be more wishbones for the rich, we do think that a lot of fine food is let go to seed every year by needy families, especially in the suburbs, which would furnish the vitamins and minerals we need at no cost at all. So without going goofy on you, we'd like to point out the possibilities of edible weeds, flowers and leaves and the fact that all of our vegetables, fruits, spices and things grow wild in one part of the world or another and are so common in their native habitat that they're likely to be overlooked.
Here are notes we took while reading a book by Dr. George J. Drews called Unfired Food:
For making a salubrious Spring Tonic Salad use any of these: sour dock leaves, dandelion greens and the flowers cut fine, sour knot weed, young woodbine shoots, young linden leaves (slippery as slippery elm when chewed), shepherd's purse, nasturtium leaves and flowers, sheep sorrel, wood sorrel, plantain and lamb's quarter. For dressing such a salad use olive oil, peanut or corn oil, with chopped peanuts, pinenuts, and other nuts and maybe a spoon of honey or grated coconut. Simply toss together and serve. And instead of lemon juice or vinegar you can get a good sour dressing by grating rhubarb and squeezing out the juice. The juice of unripe grapes is also good; it was called verjuice by our forefathers who preferred it to vinegar.
The tuberous roots of nasturtiums can be eaten like radishes.
Pull the petals out of double marigold blossoms, chop them, mix with nuts and sluice with salad dressing. Or you might like chrysanthemum petals in the same way — that's a great favorite in Japan. Pansies, water lilies, double zinnias, stock and the Rose of Sharon can all be used in the same way.
Handy Hints
\
DO NOT THROW AWAY
Bread. Quickly dip a stale loaf in cold water, crisp in oven and it will be better than when fresh. Dry stale slices, crisp in oven, roll and sift, store in a jar for crumbing fried dishes and for hasty puddings. Make into toasts and croutons. Throw odd bits into the pot when beginning to make soup, for additional thickening and nourishment.
Pancakes. Reheat those left from breakfast, cut into ribbons and put into the soup just before serving — better than noodles.
Bacon Fat, and Other Greases. Use for other frying. Or clarify and remove odors by simmering with hot water; let cool and harden, lift off the fat and store for deep-fat frying.
Trimmings and Peelings of Vegetables and Salads. Put into the soup pot.
Green Pea Pods. Make into cream of pea soup.
Leftover Salads and Their Dressings. Into the soup pot.
Scraps of Cheese. Grate and store in ajar; use with spaghettis; sprinkle over dishes for baking; mix with bread crumbs for frying.
Vegetable Broths. Make soup of them or put into gravies.
Bits of Cold Cuts and Store Sausage. Cut into small squares and put into potato salad.
Bits of Cooked Vegetables. Mix into omelet or egg scramble; make baked vegetable hash of them, sprinkled with crumbs and grated cheese.
Fish Heads and Bones. Set to simmer in cold water and use the broth, after straining through cloth, for fish sauces, or soup, or boil a whole fish in it.