Cereal Foods : Part 4

Maintaining Health
by R. L. Alsaker

(Page 17 of 33)

Another recipe for corn bread is: To one cup of wheat flour, add two cups of corn flour; two eggs; one heaping teaspoonful butter or cottolene; one heaping teaspoonful baking powder; one pinch soda, a scant fourth teaspoonful; one-half teaspoonful salt. Prepare and make into batter with milk and bake as directed in first recipe.

Corn mush: Cook corn meal in plain water until it is done. It may be cooked over the fire, in a fireless cooker or in a double boiler. Serve with rich milk; add a little salt if desired.

Oatmeal: Put into a double boiler and let it cook until it is very tender. It can also be cooked in a fireless cooker over night. It requires several hours cooking before it is fit to eat. All foods of this nature should be thoroughly cooked, and they may all be made into porridge, which is better.

The objection to all mushy foods is that they are hardly ever properly masticated. The result is that they ferment in the alimentary tract, especially when they are eaten with sugar, as they generally are. It is best to take the mushy foods with milk and a little salt or with butter. Eaten in this way there is not such tendency to overeat as when sugar is used. Children especially eat more of these foods than is good for them if they are allowed to take them with sweets. Porridge is more diluted than the mushes and hence the danger of overeating is not so great.

Boiled rice: The best way to cook it is in a double boiler or a fireless cooker. Every grain should be tender. Cook it in plan water. It is not necessary to stir, but if the rice becomes dry add some more water. If rice and milk are desired, warm the milk and add when the rice is done. Serve like oatmeal. Putting sugar on cereals is nonsense. They are very rich in starch and sugar is about the same as starch. Sugar stimulates the appetite, and consequently people who use it on cereals overeat of this concentrated food.

Rice and raisins: This is prepared the same as boiled rice, except that raisins are added to the rice and water when first put on to cook. With milk this makes a good breakfast or lunch.

Combinations

Starches of the cereal order may be eaten in combination with fats, such as cream, butter, olive oil and other vegetable oils.

They combine well with all the dairy products, such as milk and cheese.

Starches combine well with nuts. Take a piece of whole wheat zwieback and some pecans, chew both the bread and the nuts well and you will find this an excellent meal.

There is nothing incompatible about eating cereals with flesh, but it generally leads to trouble, for people eat enough meat for a meal, and then they eat enough starch for a full meal. This overeating is injurious. Besides, starch digestion and meat digestion are different and carried on in different parts of the alimentary tract, so it is best to eat starchy foods and meats at different meals. Those who eat in moderation may eat starch and flesh in the same meal without getting into trouble.

In winter it is all right to take starch with the sweet fruits.

It is best to avoid mixing acid fruits and cereals. Even healthy people find that a breakfast of oranges and bread does not agree as well as one of milk and bread. The saliva, which contains ptyalin, is secreted in the mouth. The ptyalin starts starch digestion, but it does not work in the presence of acid. Eating acid fruits makes the mouth acid temporarily, and consequently the starch does not receive the benefit it should from mouth digestion. The result is an increased liability to fermentation in the alimentary tract.

To get the best results it is absolutely necessary to masticate all starchy foods well. If this is not done it is merely a question of time until there is indigestion, generally accompanied by much acidity and gas production. This condition is a builder of many ills.

Recipes for pies and cakes are not given in this book. The less these compounds are used the better. They are very popular and can be made according to directions in conventional cook books. Pies should be made with thin crusts, which should be baked crisp both on bottom and top. The best cakes are the plain ones.

When desserts are eaten, less should be taken of other foods. Most people make the mistake of eating more than enough of staple foods and then they add insult to injury by partaking of dessert.