The ABCs of Cooking

"Not this trip, old pal," by Arthur Davenport Fuller

"For Men with no experience of cooking on Small Boats, Patrol Boats, in Camp, on Marches, etc. Moffat, Yard and Company. For the benefit of the Knitting Committee of the AMERICAN DEFENSE SOCIETY, which is knitting for American Soldiers and Sailors, and it is hoped that both cook-book and knitted garments may help to make more comfortable the men who are only too ready to do their bit.  New York, May 26th, 1917."

OATMEAL FOR THREE PERSONS

1/2 cup of oatmeal (Quaker Oats)
1 quart of hot water
A pinch of salt

Boil fifteen minutes.

BOILED RICE FOR THREE PERSONS

1/2 cup of rice in two quarts of boiling water.

Boil for fifteen minutes.  Wash rice first.

MACARONI FOR THREE PERSONS

Break into inch pieces a cup full of macaroni, and cover with boiling water in a saucepan.  Add a little salt, and cook until soft (about an hour).  Keep covered with water while boiling.

BAKING POWDER BISCUIT

2 cups of flour
4 teaspoonsful of baking powder
1 teaspoonful of salt
1 Tablespoonful of lard
1 Tablespoonful of butter
3/4 cup of milk and water in equal parts

Mix the dry ingredients as well as you can with a spoon, then add the milk and water.  Roll out and cut into biscuits, and bake about ten minutes in a medium hot oven.

FRIED CRACKER OR HARD BREAD

Dip the hard bread into cold water for a minute or two, not to get too soft.  Then fry in a hot frying pan in butter or bacon.

BAKED CANNED SALMON

Put a can of salmon in a dish to bake, a lump of butter the size of a walnut, pepper and salt, and fill up the dish with milk.  Put some cracker crumbs and a little butter on the top, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

(This little booklet, which can be found on the Internet Archive in various downloadable formats, was either the work of German saboteurs or some very well-meaning and terribly misguided American ladies.  Either way, of limited to no usefulness to its intended audience. I can only imagine what a young man with no previous cooking experience made of any of these recipes;  I have visions of the can winding up in that last dish.)