Discuss meal service from the standpoint both of choice and combination of foods and of the method of service. Let the class plan a meal, then go through the form of serving that meal at table. In the absence of a table, the top of a desk may be used. Later in the course, the teacher should plan to combine this lesson with one on cooking and have the food served. In each cooking lesson, suggestions for serving the food should be made, and each dish cooked should be carefully served. Interest in this lesson may be increased by allowing the pupils to make original menus, and, if they are having some lessons in drawing, simple menu cards may be planned and executed.
LESSON IX: MILK
Care, cost, and food value of milk. Value and use of sour milk—cottage cheese, curdled milk. Rice or cornstarch pudding (plain, caramel, or chocolate).
SUBJECT MATTER
Milk contains all the food-stuffs which the body requires, except starch, and, therefore, is capable of sustaining life for comparatively long periods. It is one of the most important protein foods; but it contains so small a percentage of carbohydrate (milk sugar) that for the adult it must be supplemented with carbohydrate foods. For the baby, milk is a perfect food, and it is a valuable adjunct to the diet of all children. One quart of milk should be allowed for the diet of each child daily, after the twelfth month; and the diet of the adult should be supplemented by the use of milk. The greatest care should be exercised in protecting milk from dust and dirt, for it is easily contaminated and may be the means of carrying disease germs to the body. The changes which milk undergoes when souring do not render it harmful. For many people buttermilk is more easy of digestion than sweet milk, because of the changes produced by souring, as well as the absence of fat. Sour milk is of value in cooking, producing a tender bread which can readily be made light by the addition of soda—one teaspoonful of soda to one pint of sour milk that has curdled.
In the preparation of cheese, the whey is separated from the curds, thus extracting most of the water, sugar, and mineral matter, and leaving a substance rich in protein and fat. Cheese is of value in cooking, for it increases the food value of those foods to which it is added.
PRELIMINARY PLAN
The teacher should make inquiries a few days in advance, to be sure that one quart of sour milk can be secured, and, when it is brought, she should examine it to see that it is in proper condition to make cottage cheese. She should arrange to have about one quart of sweet milk and such other supplies as are necessary for the pudding, brought by the pupils.
An opportunity may be afforded to discuss the use of left-over cereal by the preparation of a rice pudding, if the teacher provides some cold cooked rice for the lesson. In the absence of cold rice, the cornstarch pudding may be prepared.