The Cook
The cook is the keynote of happiness or unhappiness. Get a good cook, professionally and morally, one who understands that he is not in camp for a vacation. A capable cook will take care of fifty boys without any assistance, except what help the boys may render in the preparation of vegetables. For years two cooks have looked after the meals of 175 to 200 boys in the camps conducted each season by the writer. The wages of the head cook or chef range from two to three dollars and fifty cents a day. Some camps secure cooks from the hotels and restaurants, others from the lumber camps. No matter where he is secured, be sure that he is clean, in person, in habits, and in speech. Do not permit boys to loaf about the kitchen. In the planning of menus, food value and variety must be considered. The following represents the staple articles of food for a boys' camp.
[Illustration: COMMISSARY DEPARTMENT CAMP BECKET]
SUGGESTED LIST OF DISHES FOR BOYS' CAMPS
Breakfast
Fruit: Bananas, raspberries, blueberries, cantaloupes, apples, stewed prunes, applesauce, baked apples, stewed apples, stewed apricots, stewed figs.
Cereals: Oatmeal, Shredded Wheat, Cream of Wheat, Toasted
Corn Flakes; corn meal mush and milk, Hominy Grits, Puffed Rice,
Wheatlets.
Eggs: Fried, boiled, scrambled, omelette, poached on toast.
Meats and Fish: Bacon, meat hash, meat stew, chopped meat on toast, codfish cakes, creamed codfish, fried fresh fish, creamed dried beef, fresh sausage.
Vegetables: Potatoes-Baked, creamed, mashed, browned, German fried; baked beans.