FOOD RATIONING AND FOOD HABITS
Sheridan, Mary
Sing a Sonq of Sixpence Food Rationing And Food Habits By MARY SHERIDAN JANE HOLT, food editor of the New York Times, has just made a survey among the paper's readers on food rationing. To the...
...for frying and general greasing purposes, straining isn't necessary...
...Fat drippings, for use in baking and sauces, need a straining through a fine sieve or cheesecloth before being stored in a small container in the refrigerator...
...That is the principal gripe I hear...
...A lot of people—who continue to hear stories of over-stocked supplies of butter going to waste—still question the prohibitive points on butter...
...Thus, when vegetable shortening piled up on grocery shelves while housewives bought point-free lard (plentiful because of the big hog kill), the OPA made shortening and salad oils point-free...
...Huge canned vegetable supplies and desired clearance of current stocks to make way for the new season's paek likewise have prompted removal of eight canned vegetables from the rationing list...
...Refrigerators probably won't be available for four to six months after the war ends, and the models for some time will be the same as pre-war models...
...He also frowns on sage for poultry dressing...
...Most people I know say they have green points to spare and can manage adequately on the reds by care-fuL planning and limited entertaining...
...The nutritionists emphasize the importance of using small jars or tins for storage so that the bottom will be used up before the fat becomes rancid...
...Almost all fat can be salvaged: bacon or fried meat drippings...
...60 per cent of those queried said it had worked out well...
...the ones for boiled chicken are especially noteworthy...
...Beard detests the applesauce and currant jelly school of thought...
...However, the fact remains that butter and meat points come from the same stamps, and in most families that means that meat needs are satisfied first...
...Department Of This And That I'm really enthusiastic about a new cookbook, Fowl and Game Cookery (Barrows, $2) by James Beard, who has a lusty appreciation of good food, an understanding of the limitations of rationing, and no uncertain opinions...
...His chicken recipes are varied and mouth-watering...
...Julia Kiene, director of the Wesf-inghouse Home Economics Institute, refrigerators will be different because "most of our foods will be delivered to the home in a frozen condition...
...Only occasionally, though...
...With whatever points are left, butter is bought—plus low-point margarine, canned fish, and cheese...
...skimmings from stews or soups...
...Eventually, predicts Mrs...
...To salvage meat trimmings from both uncooked and cooked meat—and this is what many of us don't take the time to do—the hunks of fat can be cut in small pieces and rendered in a double boiler or in a dripping pan in a slow oven...
...Slightly more than 55 per cent agreed that food rationing had changed family food habits...
...He includes recipes for goose, pheasant, venison, woodcock, squab, pigeon, quail, and squirrel, but the emphasis is on chicken and turkey...
...Incidentally, food rationing and price ceilings are explained very well in a current movie short starring Leon Errol as the butcher...
...People in general think that food rationing is the only fair solution to the complicated problem of dividing limited food supplies evenly among the nation's families...
...the meaning pen-"etrates without using the heavy-handed preachiness too common in official shorts...
...Increased seasonal output of butter and record warehouse stocks (and, I suspect, public criticism) have prompted OPA to reduce butter points...
...He thinks duck is at its best cooked with wine—Mr...
...As the months go by, I hear less griping about food rationing...
...the hard white fat cut from uncooked meat...
...Or the hard white uncooked pieces can be chopped or put through the meat grinder and using for greasing pans or basting...
...To the question, "How do you think the rationing program has worked out...
...as you would guess, the biggest change has been increased use of margarine for butter and, next, increased use of meat substitutes...
...All kinds of meat dripping—pork, lamb, and beef— can be stored in the same container...
...With the current reduction of butter from 16 to 12 points a pound, there will be less griping...
...Government response to market supplies and consumer protests have helped build public tolerance of necessary rationing...
...Refrigerators, she said, "will change from a large storage space for left-overs to larger space for frozen foods, adequate space for perishables such as milk, and fruits...
...most housewives who cook three meals a day and bake their own cookies, pies, and cakes have little if any fat to spare...
...That Problem Of Fats Occasionally I see a woman turn in a container of salvaged fat to a butcher, who pays four cents a pound plus two red points for it...
...One easy way to clarify fat—to remove particles of food or strong odors—is to melt down the fat, add a small sliced potato for each pound or pint of fat, heat gradually until the potato is brown, and then strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cheesecloth...
Vol. 8 • May 1944 • No. 19
