School and Home Cooking

Excerpt

PREFACE

School and Home Cooking is a text which can be placed in the hands of the pupils and used by them as a guide both in the school and home. Its use eliminates note-taking (which in reality is dictation) and thus saves much time.

The psychological method of education, which treats first of material within the experience of the beginner and with that as a basis develops new material to meet the needs of the pupil, was kept in mind in preparing this text. Although the grouping of foods rich in each foodstuff may be considered a logical arrangement, the method of arrangement of the content of each division and the method of approach of each lesson is psychological. The manipulative processes and kinds of dishes are sufficiently varied to arouse and sustain the interest of a pupil.

Experience with pupils in the classroom shows that their interest in any subject cannot be awakened by using a list or classification involving technical terms in introducing the subject. For this reason a classification of the foodstuffs is not placed at the beginning of the text; they are classified after each is considered.

At the close of each division of the text there is placed a group of lessons called Related Work, which includes table service lessons, home projects, and meal cooking. Table service lessons are introduced in this way to emphasize the fact that a complete meal should be prepared before all types of foods are studied and manipulative processes are performed. The cost and food value of meals are considered in conjunction with their preparation. Wise selection and thrifty buying of foods are also treated in these lessons.

Home projects which progressive teachers have found effective in making home economics function in the home—one of the goals to be attained in democratic education—contain suggestive material which may be adapted to the particular needs of the pupils in their homes.

An adaptation of the "meal method," i.e., meal cooking, is used both for the purpose of reviewing processes of cooking, and also for gaining skill and speed in the preparation of several foods at the same time.

Experiments regarding food preparation and composition and processes of digestion are found in this book. Special care has been taken to state these experiments in terms within the understanding of the pupil and to intersperse definite questions so that a pupil can follow directions, make observations, and draw helpful deductions.

The recipes have been adapted from various sources. Where it is possible, without a sacrifice of flavor or food value, the least expensive food materials are used. The more expensive materials are used as sparingly as possible. Definite and practical methods of preparing foods follow the list of ingredients. The recipes have proved satisfactory in the home kitchen.

Special thanks are due to Mrs. Mary Swartz Rose, Assistant Professor of Nutrition, Teachers College, Columbia University, for criticizing portions of the text regarding dietetics; to Miss S....