This receipt is more applicable to barrack and public institutions than a camp. Fresh meat of any kind may be done the same, and boiled with either salt pork or beef.
No. 8.—Turkish Pilaff for One Hundred Men.
Put in the caldron 2lbs. of fat, which you have saved from salt pork, add to it 4lbs. of peeled and sliced onions; let them fry in the fat for about ten minutes; add in then 12lbs. of rice, cover the rice over with water, the rice being submerged two inches, add to it 7 tablespoonfuls of salt, and 1 of pepper; let simmer gently for about an hour, stirring it with a spatula occasionally to prevent it burning, but when commencing to boil, a very little fire ought to be kept under. Each grain ought to be swollen to the full size of rice, and separate. In the other stove put fat and onions the same quantity with the same seasoning; cut the flesh of the mutton, veal, pork, or beef from the bone, cut in dice of about 2oz. each, put in the pan with the fat and onions, set it going with a very sharp fire, having put in 2 quarts of water: steam gently, stirring occasionally for about half an hour, till forming rather a rich thick gravy. When both the rice and meat are done, take half the rice and mix with the meat, and then the remainder of the meat and rice, and serve. Save the bones for soup for the following day. Salt pork or beef, well soaked, may be used—omitting the salt. Any kind of vegetables may be frizzled with the onions.
No. 9.—Baking and Roasting with the Field Stove.
By the removal of the caldron, and the application of a false bottom put over the fire, bread bakes extremely well in the oven, as well as meat, potatoes, puddings, &c. Bread might be baked in oven at every available opportunity, at a trifling cost of fuel. The last experiment I made with one was a piece of beef weighing about 25lbs., a large Yorkshire pudding, and about 10lbs. of potatoes, the whole doing at considerably under one pennyworth of fuel, being a mixture of coal and coke; the whole was done to perfection, and of a nice brown colour. Any kind of meat would, of course, roast the same.
Baking in fixed Oven.—In barracks, or large institutions, where an oven is handy, I would recommend that a long iron trough be made, four feet in length, with a two-story movable grating in it, the meat on the top of the upper one giving a nice elevation to get the heat from the roof, and the potatoes on the grating under, and a Yorkshire pudding, at the bottom. Four or five pieces of meat may be done on one trough. If no pudding is made, add a quart more water.
No. 10.—French Beef Soup, or Pot-au-feu, Camp Fashion. For the ordinary Canteen-Pan.
Put in the canteen saucepan 6lbs. of beef, cut in two or three pieces, bones included, ¾lb. of plain mixed vegetables, as onions, carrots, turnips, celery, leeks, or such of these as can be obtained, or 3oz. of preserved in cakes, as now given to the troops; 3 teaspoonfuls of salt, 1 ditto of pepper, 1 ditto of sugar, if handy; 8 pints of water, let it boil gently three hours, remove some of the fat, and serve.
The addition of 1½lb. of bread cut into slices or 1lb. of broken biscuits, well soaked, in the broth, will make a very nutritious soup; skimming is not required.
No. 11.—Semi-Frying, Camp Fashion, Chops, Steaks, and all Kinds Meat of.