The Project Gutenberg eBook ofMoney-Saving Main DishesThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Money-Saving Main DishesCreator: United States. Agricultural Research Service. Human Nutrition Research DivisionUnited States. Agricultural Research Service. Consumer and Food Economics Research DivisionRelease date: June 26, 2021 [eBook #65706]Most recently updated: October 18, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MONEY-SAVING MAIN DISHES ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Money-Saving Main DishesCreator: United States. Agricultural Research Service. Human Nutrition Research DivisionUnited States. Agricultural Research Service. Consumer and Food Economics Research DivisionRelease date: June 26, 2021 [eBook #65706]Most recently updated: October 18, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Title: Money-Saving Main Dishes
Creator: United States. Agricultural Research Service. Human Nutrition Research DivisionUnited States. Agricultural Research Service. Consumer and Food Economics Research Division
Creator: United States. Agricultural Research Service. Human Nutrition Research Division
United States. Agricultural Research Service. Consumer and Food Economics Research Division
Release date: June 26, 2021 [eBook #65706]Most recently updated: October 18, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MONEY-SAVING MAIN DISHES ***
money-savingMAIN DISHESUNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREHome and Garden Bulletin No. 43
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREHome and Garden Bulletin No. 43
Human Nutrition Research DivisionandConsumer and Food Economics Research DivisionAgricultural Research ServiceUS. Department of AgricultureWashington 25, DCFebruary 1955Slightly revised October 1962
This bulletin is a revision of and supersedes Leaflet No. 289.
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, US. Government Printing OfficeWashington 25, DC.—Price 20 cents
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This is easy to answer after you have decided on the main dish.
The main dish is especially important in meal planning. It is the hub around which the rest of the meal is built, and often it carries a large proportion of the cost of the meal. Usually the main dish is the main source of protein—so essential to building and repairing body tissues.
In this booklet are recipes and suggestions for about 150 main dishes—easy to make, hearty, and economical. Most of the dishes give four liberal servings; a few provide more.
Most of these main dishes furnish about a fourth of the day’s needs for protein. For those that provide less, additional protein foods are specified in the menu suggestion following the recipe. Or you may prefer to increase the amount of protein-rich food in the main dish—by adding more meat, for instance, to a main-dish soup, salad, or casserole. The rest of the day’s protein will come from milk used as a beverage, and from cereals, bread, and other foods eaten as part of the day’s meals.
You get top-rating proteins (as well as other important nutrients) in foods from animal sources, as in meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, cheese. Some of these protein foods are needed each day; and it is an advantage to include some in each meal.
Next best for proteins are soybeans and nuts and dry beans and peas. When these or grain products are featured in main dishes, try to combine them with a little top-rating protein food, if you can.
No one food is exactly like any other food and no food is complete in all nutrients. Milk products are high in calcium; meats are low. Meat, poultry, eggs, and beans are good sources of iron; milk is low in it. One kind of B vitamin abounds in meats, another in milk, and a third in whole grains. The best way to be sure of a good diet is to use a variety of main dishes and wide choices of other foods to complete the meal.
To supply a fourth of the day’s protein requirement, a main dish for a family of four must contain about 2 ounces of protein. Although this averages ½ ounce (15 grams) per person, it will not necessarily be divided equally among the family members—men and teen-age boys and girls will need somewhat more; women and younger children, somewhat less. There follows a list of foods commonly used in main dishes, together with the quantity needed to provide the ½ ounce of protein.
As you plan your main dishes, do your overall menu planning too, keeping in mind the different kinds of foods that are needed for an adequate diet. Plan to serve foods from each of these four groups every day:
• Milk group—milk in all forms (fluid whole or skim, evaporated, dry, buttermilk). For children, the equivalent of 3 or more cups of fluid milk daily; for teenagers, 4 or more cups; for adults, 2 or more cups.• Meat group—meat, poultry, fish, eggs; as alternates, dry beans, peas, and lentils; nuts, peanuts, peanut butter. Two or more servings daily.• Vegetable-fruit group—vegetables and fruits of all kinds. Four or more servings, including a citrus fruit or other fruit or vegetable important for vitamin C daily and a dark-green or deep-yellow vegetable for vitamin A at least every other day.• Bread-cereal group—all breads and cereals that are whole grain, enriched, or restored. Four or more servings daily.
• Milk group—milk in all forms (fluid whole or skim, evaporated, dry, buttermilk). For children, the equivalent of 3 or more cups of fluid milk daily; for teenagers, 4 or more cups; for adults, 2 or more cups.
• Meat group—meat, poultry, fish, eggs; as alternates, dry beans, peas, and lentils; nuts, peanuts, peanut butter. Two or more servings daily.
• Vegetable-fruit group—vegetables and fruits of all kinds. Four or more servings, including a citrus fruit or other fruit or vegetable important for vitamin C daily and a dark-green or deep-yellow vegetable for vitamin A at least every other day.
• Bread-cereal group—all breads and cereals that are whole grain, enriched, or restored. Four or more servings daily.
Other foods—the fats and oils, sugars, and unenriched cereal products used in cooking or added to foods at the table—will help to round out meals and satisfy appetites.
Looking at our national diet, we find that nearly half of our protein comes from the meat group. But about a fifth comes from bread and other cereal foods. And the milk group provides about a fourth.
We can then rely on these three food groups to provide the protein of our main dishes. We need not have protein-deficient diets even if we economize on meat. For we can get protein from other foods, using them as suggested in the money-saving recipes given in this booklet.
Foods to serve with the main dishes are suggested at the end of each recipe. Choices will depend on available supplies, cost, the season, and what the family likes. If the protein in the main dish is limited, care should be taken to include in the meal the other protein-rich foods suggested in the menu (such as salads or desserts containing egg or milk) or dishes equally high in protein, to raise the total protein for the meal.
In some homes, noon is the time for the big meal of the day. In others, only at night can the family gather around the dinner table. In still others, where everyone is physically active, a big meal is needed both noon and night, and perhaps also at breakfast. But whenever the meal, the hearty dishes described in this booklet will help you to use a variety of economical foods to supply the protein your family needs.
If you cannot use the recipe exactly as stated, perhaps one of the suggested variations will be suited to the foods you have at hand, your family preferences, or the facilities you have for cooking.
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Meat is too valuable, for its flavor and its protein, iron, and B vitamins, to waste any of it. Part of the cook’s skill is to make good use of every bit.
Cook meat bones with beans or soup to extract all possible flavor, and nutrients too.
Use rendered fats in gravies and sauces and ground cracklings in quick breads.
The following information on the yield from various cuts of meat will help you decide how much to buy to get enough lean meat for a main-dish serving. It will also help you figure the cost per serving.
Much bone or gristle—a pound yields 1 to 2 servings. Examples are shank, brisket, plate, short ribs, spareribs, breast of lamb or veal.
Medium amount of bone—a pound yields 2 to 3 servings. Examples are whole or end cuts of beef round, veal leg or shoulder, ham with bone in; also steaks, chops, or roasts from the loin, rump, rib sections, or chuck.
Little bone—a pound yields 3 to 4 servings. Examples are center cuts of beef round, or ham; also lamb or veal cutlets.
No bone—a pound yields 4 to 5 servings. Examples are ground meat, boneless stew meats, liver or other variety or boneless meats.
Homemakers who are after good buys at the meat counter will consider the grade and the cut.
Federal grades of beef usually found on the market are Prime, Choice, Good, Standard, and Commercial. Markets vary in the grades of beef carried and may offer only one or two, as for example, U. S. Choice and U. S. Good. The lower grades cost less per pound than similar cuts of higher grades and usually contain more lean. Beef is the meat most often sold with a U. S. Grade stamp, but lamb, mutton, veal, and calf are sometimes federally graded. Pork usually is not graded.
The cut refers to the part of the animal from which the meat comes. The buyer can usually save money by using the less tender cuts of beef and the less popular cuts of pork, lamb, and veal. These cuts cost less per pound but provide the same valuable protein as the more expensive cuts. Variety meats, such as liver, heart, and kidney, also provide high return in nutrition for money spent.
In comparing costs, consideration must be given to the amount of bone, fat, and gristle because they affect the cost of the lean edible portion.
It pays to buy the cuts best suited to the cooking methods you use. Do you know what to choose for pot roasts, stews, and soups? Here is a handy guide.
For pot roasts, Swiss steaks, smothered steaks, other braised meats.—Beef round, rump, sirloin tip, flank, chuck, short ribs, heart, and liver. Spareribs and ham hocks. Pork liver and heart. Thick pork chops or ham slices or shoulder steaks. Lamb shoulder, neck, breast, shanks, heart, and liver. Veal round, rump, shoulder, and heart.
For stews, soups, or to cook before creaming or frying.—Beef, lamb, or veal neck. Beef plate and brisket (fresh or corned). Tongue (fresh or smoked). Veal or lamb shanks, kidneys, brains. Pork kidneys and brains. Veal, lamb, or beef sweetbreads.
Good cooking can help make any cut of meat a favorite main dish with the family. Here are some of the methods that skillful cooks use for less tender cuts:
Long, slow cooking, as for braised meats and stews.—For extra flavor first brown meat in a little fat. To braise, use little or no liquid except the juices that cook from the meat. Cook, closely covered, with low heat. To stew, add water to partially cover meat, cover kettle, and simmer.
Chopping, pounding, scoring.—The foodchopper helps make meat tender. After chopping, any meat cooks as quickly as a tender cut. Pounding, or scoring with a knife, before cooking is similar in effect to chopping but tenderizes meat less.
Meat itself is usually flavoring enough for the main dish. It is often browned in a little fat to develop its flavor. In combination dishes, highly flavored or cured meats such as ham, dried beef, corned beef, and sausage may lend more flavor than fresh meat.
When the meat is limited, other foods will add zest and additional food values. Tomatoes, onions, parsley, chives, green peppers, celery, sour cream, lemon, nippy or smoked cheese—all contribute in both ways.
Other seasonings your family may enjoy with meat are bay leaf, catsup, chili, curry, garlic, marjoram, paprika, sage, soy sauce, sweet basil, tabasco sauce, thyme, worcestershire sauce. Since these are used in small quantities, they are not expensive in the long run.
Seasoning is especially important for meat-extending dishes. Meat loaves and other dishes which combine meat with bland foods such as macaroni, rice, or potatoes depend on skillful seasoning for their goodness.