If officers mess with their companies they will appreciate the attitude of the men and be able to judge the real situation. Officers will be well repaid for doing this, as it gives them an idea of the food that is being served their men.
In the mechanical details of preparing food, the fire is of first importance. A quick method of cooking is by laying a pair of large green logs on the surface of the ground just wide enough to place the pots between them, so that the bottom of the pots will be resting upon them. Build a fire between these logs, making sure to place the logs parallel to the direction of the wind.
A pit may be dug, with a sloping bottom, and across this may be placed the pots, and if iron rails are available, the utensils may be placed on these. For longer stays this pit may be lined with stone. Stones retain the heat and less wood is required. Four trenches radiating from a central chimney will give one flue whatever may be the direction of the wind. (For more specific data on the subject of fires and camp cooking, see Manual for Army Cooks—U.S.A.—also notes in i.d.r., pp. 154-155.)
Make a rule never to allow food to remain in tin cans after opening them. Remember to place kitchen near available water supply and furthest from latrines, horse picket lines, or dumps of any kind.
Sanitation comes last in the thoughts of the enlisted man, but it is no less important for that.
The first requisite is cleanliness. Food receptacles must be scoured and covers and cracks in tin ware scraped as well as scalding the tins themselves. Have boiling hot water in tanks (galvanized iron ash cans are good) for men to wash mess kits in after meals. One can should contain soapy water so as to cut the grease from the dishes, and the second tank should contain clean, boiling water for scalding the kits. Scraps of food should be scraped from the mess tins before immersing them in water, otherwise washing water becomes filled with small particles of food. Wiping cloths will greatly add to the convenience of the men and takes but a short time to make them clean and fit for use again.
Care must be exercised over three kinds of waste:
- Garbage.
- Kitchen slops.
- Excreta.
Garbage can be burned in the kitchen fires. It should never stand exposed to the air, but should be tightly covered in iron cans, and should be disposed of every twenty-four hours. Kitchen help have an aversion to prompt disposal of garbage and need watching. Fly traps should be made of muslin and used freely about the kitchen.
Kitchen slops, fats, greasy water, etc., must be drained into covered pits, never allowing them to be tossed on the ground around the cook tent. A hole dug and partially filled with stones with a barrel placed upside down on them, makes a very good receptacle for kitchen slops. The barrel should be placed so that the inverted top will be a little way beneath the surface of the ground. A hole should be bored in the bottom of the barrel and a funnel inserted, through which the slops may be poured. If the soil is porous, a trough may be dug and covered with mosquito netting or cheese cloth, and the water poured through this and allowed to drain off.