1. Utensils for the school lunch. Polly sent me this answer, when I wrote to ask her for a list of utensils that they were using at the Big Tree School (see Fig. 6):

"With the money we gave and a part of our prize money from our school exhibit at the Erie County Fair, we bought the rest of our cooking equipment: 12 towels, 2 dish pans, 1 granite kettle (8 qt.), 1 granite saucepan (6 qt.), 1 basin, 1 dipper, 1 measuring cup, 2 toasters, 1 strainer or sieve, 2 large spoons, 1 paring knife. We bought large granite dishes so that we might cook enough food for lunch at noon. Soap, matches, holders, etc., were given by some of our Mothers. We also bought a small washboard which could be used in the dish pan to wash out the towels after using, and each week some one took the towels home to be washed there."

A friend of Miss James who teaches in the Extension Department of the Ohio State University sent this list:

Small covered cans or jars are useful for holding supplies, as flour, sugar, salt, etc. A Mason jar or tin lard pail can be used. A pail for water and one for garbage are necessary. All garbage should be burned or buried.

2. An easy way to write measures in our books: oz. = ounce lb. = pound ssp. = saltspoonful tsp. = teaspoonful tb. = tablespoonful cp. = cup pt. = pint qt. = quart gall. = gallon pk. = peck bu. = bushel

3. What food does for us. Food builds our bodies, and gives us fuel; and so gives us heat and power to work. It also helps to make the body run properly - "regulates the body," Miss James says. She explained this by saying that one thing that water does is to help keep our bodies at an even heat.

4. What do we mean by foodstuffs? There are many kinds of food materials, but they are all made of a few substances called foodstuffs.

Cellulose, or vegetable fiber, is not digested, and does not nourish us, but it helps to keep the digestive tract in order. It is a good plan to use some bran in cereals and muffins.

5. Some food materials have one foodstuff only, and others all of them. This list helps me to remember the foodstuffs in different food materials:

Foods largely protein : lean meat of all kinds, fish, shellfish, eggs, cheese.

Foods rich in protein but with more of other substances than the above : milk, cereals, bread, macaroni, nuts, dried peas, beans, and lentils.

Foods largely fat: butter, cream, olive oil, bacon, lard, oleomargarine, fat from meat or nuts.

Foods rich in fat but with more of other materials than the above: milk, egg yolk, nuts, fat meats.

Foods largely carbohydrate: sugars, starches, honey, molasses, sirups, tapioca, potatoes, bananas.

Foods rich in carbohydrate but with more of other materials than the above: bread, cereals, macaroni, milk, sweet fruits, carrots, parsnips, corn, dried peas and beans.

Foods rich in mineral matter : milk, egg yolks, cereals made from the whole grain, fruits, green vegetables, dried peas and beans.

6. Why do we cook, and how? We cook food sometimes to make it look good to eat; to change the flavor; to make it digest more readily; to kill yeast, bacteria, and molds. We can cook in all these ways :

Heat direct from coal, charcoal, wood, or gas:

Toasting: Surfaces of food exposed and turned for browning. Broiling: Thin portions of meat or fish exposed and turned for searing, browning, and short cooking of the interior. Roasting: Thicker cuts of meat exposed and turned frequently for searing, browning, and gradual cooking of the interior.

This is an ancient method. We use it in gas stoves when we cook directly under the gas.

Heat through some substance: Cooking in water:

Boiling: Cooking in boiling water, temperature, 212° F., or 100° C. Simmering, stewing, or "coddling." - Cooking in water below the boiling temperature, 1800 F. up to 2100 F. Steaming: Cooking in a receptacle into which steam passes, 212° F. - or in a closed receptacle with steam or boiling water around the inner vessel as in a double boiler, or a "steamer," temperature from 2000 F. to 2100 F. Cooking in fat:

Deep fat frying, temperature 350°- 400° F. Cooking by heated surfaces :

Pan broiling : Cooking of chops or steaks in a heated pan, without additional fat. Sauter: To cook in a heated pan with a small amount of fat, enough merely to prevent the food from sticking to the pan and to hasten the browning process. "Baking" cakes on a griddle is one form of this. Baking: Cooking in a heated oven, temperature from 3000 F. to 4500 F. or higher for rapid browning. Meat and poultry cooked in an oven are baked and not roasted, although we use the word "roast" for this method. Braising: Cooking meat in a heated oven in a closed vessel, with a supply of water to keep down the temperature. This might be called an "oven stew."

These methods are sometimes combined in one process. In a brown stew, the meat is first cooked in a pan with a little fat to brown it, and to sear the outside for keeping in the juices, before the stewing begins. A "pot roast" is an old-fashioned method of cooking a solid piece of meat with a little water in a pot on top of the stove. The water simmers out, and the meat is browned.

7. Something about baking. Miss James says that the only way to test an oven is by a thermometer with a bulb that is really in the oven. Mother says that she will have a hole bored into the oven when I have saved enough money to buy a long "chemical" thermometer that can be run in through the hole. The thermometers on oven doors are a help, but they are not exact. Miss James has a friend at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, who sent her a pamphlet, "Oven Temperature," by Professor May B. Van Arsdale. Here is one table that she gives. The arrow means high temperature at first and then low.