The proper cooking of cereals, or breakfast foods, is most important as they abound in tissue building proteid and other elements that are destroyed by boiling, as well as being rich in starch for energy that should be digested largely in the mouth during mastication. The usual soft mushes, being so hastily swallowed do not permit the necessary action of the saliva, hence must pass through the stomach largely unchanged and are not utilized until they reach the intestinal juices. Distress is often caused from overtaxing the glands that secrete the intestinal fluids. For this reason whole wheat and raw flaked grains that demand thorough mastication are often prescribed as remedies for indigestion, but by scientific cooking all the requirements of the different food elements are fulfilled with but little labor, and if eaten slowly are very serviceable.

Whole kernels of grain, wheat or corn should.be soaked over night or longer, then be slowly raised to a temperature of 200 degrees for three hours or longer if desired softer. The inside of the kernel cooks easily. The fibrous hull should not be too much softened, as it is intended for bulk.

As the gluten in broken, or ground kernels of grain escapes and dissolves in warm water, making a pasty condition that cannot be overcome later, it is necessary that the water be hot enough to coagulate it instantly to retain it in combination with other elements. The water into which the cereal is put should be boiling hard, as the cold grain lowers the temperature immediately. The stew pan must be over the blaze as water will not reach the boiling point in double boiler. The cereal should be sprinkled into the water gradually and as it slowly thickens it must simmer but not be allowed to boil; beat for a moment and put over hot water or in double boiler to cook for twenty minutes, or longer if desired, but it serves a better purpose if the fibrous part is not too much softened. If the cereal is boiled for a few minutes the cell wall contracts, rendering it tough and indigestible without long cooking. In its natural state the cell opens easily by the heat of the stomach and in less time when cooked at a temperature of 200 degrees. The cereal pudding should be light from the expansion of the cell by heat, but thick enough to be cut with a spoon, requiring thorough mastication. Cereals should be served with milk or butter, without sugar, as the combination of milk, sugar, and starch in the grain sometimes causes fermentation in the stomach, when the food is swallowed rapidly. Sugar is not desired in cereals unless it is cultivated from infancy. When the cereal is well masticated the starch is changed to a kind of sugar in the mouth and absorbed at once, hence no bad results may follow from the use of sugar, except the tendency to increase the amount of sugar and the liability to overeat sweet foods. A large amount of soft mush should not be indulged, two or three tablespoonful being plenty for one meal, with other food. Raw flaked wheat or oats with milk is more delicious than most people imagine.

Uncooked Cereal

Add flaked wheat or oats - two tablespoons - to half a cup of milk, and eat it while crisp.

Fruit And Uncooked Cereai

Mix chopped dates, raisins, or very ripe sliced bananas from which the pith against the skin has been scraped, with rolled cereal that has been soaked in milk, keeping the mixture thick, and serve with thin cream.

Fruit Pressed Cereal

Soak mixed cereals in milk. It should be just moist. In the bottom of a bowl put a layer of chopped dates, sprinkled with chopped almonds, then continue to fill the bowl with alternate layers of fruit, nuts and cereal. Let stand under a press until firm, draining off moisture. Turn on plate. Slice and serve with cream or milk. This will keep longer if prepared with water instead of milk, being ready for many breakfasts.