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The Seaforth News, 1961-05-25, Page 2When Breakfasts Were; Breakfasts The other night, from my ver- nal applications in the . sugar bush, I came into the kitchen prepared to make up for dinner and, supper, and as I washed at the sink I heard from the front room the soothing sounds of a professional. protagonist who was advocating breakfast, If you would sit clown and eat the breakfast he was presently ex- pounding o n television, y o u. would rise a better man, and you would find that by some miracle of modern wonderment it would sustain and further you even though it contained no appreci- able nourishment. The old-fashioned breakfast thus seems to become ponder- able, and with the great appetite surrounding me as I listened to his suggestions, I found his re- marks revolting, It is easy enough to hit the right keys here and typewrite that a good breakfast used to start with a dish of prunes, con- tinue with thick overnight oat- meal slathered in Barbados mo- lasses and bright cow's cream that you dipped from a bowl with a tablespoon; after which you would have at least two fried eggs, a palm of thick home- and sugar -cured ham lightly brown- ed, a jorum of fried potatoes, bread and butter, a piece or pie, two -three glasses of unhomoge- nized and unanything milk, and two plain doughnuts to sop in a nappie of warmed maple syrup. This was the foundation for the day, and while it might wear off by 10:30 or 11:00 it would never- theless keep you reasonably sus- • tained until you could sit down to a real meal. Breakfast was never taken lightly. As the warriors of old girded their armor and strode forth, so did the Melee farmer assume his breakfast and do mighty deeds. I remember once • we were discussing favorite foods, and while some held to the roast of beef and others to the lobster, with the chicken pie also represented, one old fellow hove a sigh and said, "Break- fast." We knew what he meant. It isn't important what goes with it, but breakfast is the keystone of well-being. Ingestion was ap- plied to affairs then, and affairs were demanding. The oatmeal, back then, was oatmeal; a distinction lost on moderns. The quick -cooking roll- ed oats confuse us. At supper - time, before the dishes were "done," and while the wood - burning stove was still hot, they'd start the breakfast oat- meal. An odd stick of wood would be thrust in, to promote simmering, and by bedtime breakfast was thus started. This carried today into tomorrow; it was a salute to expectations, a prudent preparation for continu- ity. It gave you something to look forward to. And in the morning, after the fire had 'been kindled and before the "kittle" sang, the oatmeal would be heated again and ready. 3t was stirred now and then, to keep it from catching on and skimming over. It gave the family' some- thing to do while the eggs were cooking. Prunes operated on sonic the- ory that fruit was good for us. We had oranges at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but ate them be- cause it was Thanksgiving and Christmas—not because of ascor- bic acid, And there was an ac- cepted difference between pru- nes at breakfast and preserved fruit at other meals for dessert. We always had all kinds of home -packed plums and pears and berries, but they were for fun eating, and prunes remained a hard-working breakfast item. Frying was a stand-up job of some duration, and the result was a magnificent platter dom- inated by the eggs, which gazed up at you in glad splendor. The golden shafts of the rising sun, for all this took place in an easterly kitchen at .an early mo- ment, would thrust in at the cur- tainless windows and become magnified in the platter's shin- ing glory. The bread was home -baked, often of a size so each slice was quartered and still bigger than a slice of today's blown -up fuzz, and the butter was yellow as a bower of blossoms and stili throbbing from its native spank- ing. The ham, too, was manufac- tured in the precinct, lovingly encouraged in a brine of brown • • IP'' TALKS Jam A .d ews BAKED HALIBUT STEAKS topped with spears of freshly cook- ed asparagus and splashed with a golden Hollandaise sauce, make a tasty and colourful spring treat,' From now until summer, fresh. Pacific halibut will be appearing in good supply on food markets. In 'eastern Canada some fresh halibut will also be available. Firm, meaty halibut is one of the most highly prized of the white -fleshed fish and in fresh. form is notably a spring delicacy. HALIBUT HOLLANDAISE 2 pounds fresh halibut steaks teaspoon salt • Dash pepper 2 tablespoons butter 1 pound asparagus freshly cooked Sauce: 3 egg yolks r/ teaspoon salt 2 tablepsoons lemon juice 34 cup butter, melted r/4 cup boiling water Cut steaks, if necessary, to give 4 serving -size portions. Sea- son with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow, greased baking dish and dot with butter. Bake in a hot oven at 450°F. until the flesh will easily separate into flakes when tested with a fork. Allow about 10 minutes cooking time per inch thickness of the steaks. Meanwhile cook aspa- ragus and prepare sauce. For convenience the sauce may be prepared in advance and then reheated over "hot water before serving time. Make it this way. Beat egg yolks lightly. Add salt and lemon juice. Stir in. melted butter and then boiling water. Place mixture over hot, but not boiling water. Cook and stir for 5 minutes, or until thickened. When steaks are cooked,re- move to a heated platter and top each portion with a bundle of hot, freshly cooked asparagus. Ladle with a ribbon of Hollan- daise sauce, Serve remaining sauce at the table. Makes 4 servings. * a * Those who like onion with their fish will enjoy this recipe which again points up the tech- nique of using high oven heat for a short period to cook fish. Marinating the halibut first seasons it delightfully. HALIBUT ISLE ROYALE 2 pounds fresh halibut steaks 1 teaspoon salt 11 teaspoon paprika Few grains cayenne Juice of 1 lemon cup finely chopped onion 2 tablespoons butter, melted Green pepper strips (optional) If steaks are large, cut them into serving -size portions. Place in a single layer in a shallow dish. Combine salt, paprika, cayenne, and lemon juice. Pour sugar and salt, tidily sewn in flannel for ripening in the oat bin, and then lightly smoked over corncobs and juniper tips until all of us wondered what the poor people ate. The potatoes, may I add, were judged by their pink skins and the pop -open texture of their in- nards, but their excellence for other meals was always exceed- ed by their breakfast preemin- ence—we boiled them alive and then diced them for frying in ham fat. That an onion was per- mitted to accompany them on this last safari was fitting, and a great honor to all. Of course, all this had to do with time and purpose. That we had been up for two hours, and had done the barn chores was a factor of time, not counting that the morning was to be long and occupied, The purpose was plow- ing and harrowing, lumbering and cordwooding, moving rocks and building wall, teaming and tedding, and the joyous travail, of man against the reluctant bounties of nature. The prospect of finding yourself in the far lot, "prising" rocks and stumps and too feeble to lift the prize, was to be guarded against, You did this by eating a good breakfast. Something that would sassy by you, and bring you to the dinner table with strength enough to eat, By John Gould in the Chris- tian Science Monitor. this mixture over steaks. Mar- inate in refrigeratoreor 1 hour, turning at half time to permit seasonings to penetrate both sides. Cook onion in butter until limp but not browned. ' Place marinated steaks in a shallow, greased baking dish and spread with onion. If desired, garnish each portion with several thin strips of green pepper. Spoon remaining butter from frying pan' over steaks. Bake in a hot oven at 450°F. until . flesh will easilyseparate into flakes on testing with a fork. Allow about 10 minutes cooking time per inch thickness of 'the steaks. Serve piping hot. Makes -4 to 6 servings. „ * A quick, easy, and delightful- ly different way to prepare hali- but steaks is to broil them, and serve with a ripe olive sauce. BROILED HALIBUT WITH RIPE OLIVE SAUCE 2 pounds fresh halibut. steaks 3 tablespoons butter, melted • 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon paprika Dash pepper Sauce: r/4 cup butter, melted 2 tablespoons lemon juice ?!r cup pitted, 'chopped' ripe olives ' 1 tablespoon chopped•.pa'rsley. If steaks are large, -cut into serving -size portions. Combine butter, salt, paprika, and pepper. Place steaks on a greased broiler pan; brush with seasoned butter. Broil about 3 inches from the source heat for 4 to 8 minutes, or until slightly • browned. Turn carefully,, baste with remainder of seasoned butter, and broil 5 to 8 minutes longer, or until fish flakes, easily when tested with a fork. While fish is broiling, pre- pare sauce by combining all in- gredients and heating. Serve over hot, broiled,fish. Makes 4 to 6 servings. •Many western cooks use, sour cream to advantage when they cook halibut. The following re- cipe is an excellent example. In it the sour cream does two nice things -for the fish. It adds a desirable tartness and the neces- sary fat for baking. HALIBUT COUNTRY STYLE 2 pounds fresh halibut steaks t,2 teaspoon salt ?e teaspoon pepper ti cup finely chopped green onions and their tops 1/2 pint dairy sour cream Season steaks with salt and pepper. Place, single layer deep, in a shallow greased baking dish, Cover with finely chopped green ' onions and their tops. Spread steaks and tapping with sour cream, Bake uncovered in a moderate oven at 350°F. for 30 minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings. LAST SALUTE TO DEAD HEROES Australians are a tough, un- sentimental people. But war heroes "down under" are proper- ly honoured and not ignored or despised as happens far too often in other countries. The Victorian Dunkirk Veterans' Association now intends to use sand from the very beach of the immortal last ditch withdrawal as a token, of respect at the passing of each comrade. After officials had collected the sand recently. M. Paul Asse- man, Mayor of Da nkirlt, sealed it inside a hand -carved wooden casket, which was them mailed to Australia. Whenever some sand from the casket is used Ear sprinkling over the grave of a Dunkirk veteran, a disc bearing the, soldier's name and regiment will replace it, When the last of the veterans has received this act of homage. the casket will be resealed and returned, with discs as its filling, to France, With it, the Associa- tion intends to send a testament certifying that the sand from Dunkirk rests now and for ever in the graves of those who fought to defend its beaches. ISSUE 20 — 1961 England's Scarcest Drink—Plain Water• It has taken an act of Parlia- ment to do it --but now it's offi- cial: You can insist on a glass of water in a British restaurant! More accurately, the govern- ment has accepted an'.amend- ment to the Licensing: Bill malt- ing it a condition that drinking water must be available equally with intoxicating liquor in li- censed restaurants in this coun- try Said the sponsor of the amend- ment, Dr. Donald Johnson: "It is a restrictive practice of the, worst kind that when you pay between 12 ($5.60) and 83' ($8.40)' for lunch you cannot get a glass of water," • Many Britons—and visitors to Britain—will know exactly what. he, means, American tourists in particular, when they stay here, find they develop an insatiable thirst. It`se�em� dawns on them that the familiar tinkling glass of water beside their plate at mealtimes simply isn't there, Moreover, when they ask for it, the water is not always forth- coming with alacrity—except in those relatively few establish- ments where the tourist and his wants are well known and spe- cially catered to. Whet is so hard to understand about the` reluc- tance to serve water is that they have it on hand all right—but they don't seem to want patrons to have it! I'know Americans resident in London who battle with the waiter for the right to a glass of water every 'time they eat out. And I know other Americans, less stalwart, who long since have given up the unequal fight and, camellike, have learned . to do. without water at restaurants. Moreover, the indoor drinking -fountain seems almost unknown here. You won't See ' them in railway stations, schools, offices, theaters, hotels, public buildings, or any of the usual places, In- stead there are the tibiquttots hot -beverage wagons and stacks of cups. Hot water clearly is no problem; it's plain cold Water for drinking that is scarce. Why? .. Obviously the British don't think the stuff is worth. imbibing un- cooked. The trouble is that, wines and liquors aside, alternatives to wa- ter are limited here. One can have ` ginger: beer, of course' which despiteits name is not al- coholic, This whitish liquid was thrust upon me the day I arrived in Britain, and I thought at first someone had forgotten to rinse the soap out of the glass. I soon became fond of ginger beer—but it is not to everyone's taste, writes Henry H. Hayward in the Christian Science Monitor. But watch out for pitfalls. For example, cider, which, despite its name, is usually alcoholic, When Americans see this listed on the menu underr drinks, they bright- en up at once and order it, They have visions of statesside mild, sweet cider. To their surprise what they get is sordetimes closer akin to American applejack. While there are nonalcoholic ciders here, such as "Cydra*," you have to ask for them under the trade name, and they are not generally available in, restaur- ants. Among the carbonated drinks, ginger ale is usually on hand, al-• • though the British variety is stronger than i t s American equivalent. Various American bottled drinks also have made an appearance iri recent years. While they are served cool, they are seldom iced—except on firm demand. The fact has to be faced; iced drinks—or ice water —just aren't in the British na- tional tradition. For the teetotaler, be he for- eign or domestic, the British rea-. iaurateur or host often will fail back on what are called "squashes." This refreshment is Permed be' pouring an inch or $a of concen- trated flavoring• -.-orange, lemon, and , grapefruit are the most frequent choices—in the bottom of a glass and diluting with plain water. Some of the most thought- ful will even offer carbonated water, if you prefer, But don't try to get that plain water in a glass, without the squash—that's cheating, UP WE GO — This stretcher, shaped like a sled, helps Po- lice Constable Harry Ward res- cue victims of the white cliffs near 'Eastbourne, England. Here he ascends cliff with stretcher drawn to top by winch. Testing Cancer Vaccines On Humans Results Indicate A Promising Field Dr. DR. CHARLES A. DOAN Dean and Director of Medical Research, Ohio State University College of Medicine. (Written for Newspaper Enterprise Assn.) COLUMBUS, Ohio — Scien- tists can now prevent, control and cure cancers in .mice much more readily than in humans. The reason: extensive experi- ments can be done in mice; in humans similar definitive studies are not possible. It has long been recognized in medicine that selected patients with diseases such as cancer may themselves stand to benefit very materially from carefully con- trolled studies -by teams of high- ly specialized clinical research investigators. In this spirit, 'studies have been undertaken in carefully chose$ cancer patients and then in healthy volunteer men in a few pilot studies. They are be- ginning to tell us things about human cancer- that animal stud- ies never could have shown, First, patients ill with far ad- vanced cancer were tested for their ability to reject or receive cancer cell transplants from other patients. Scientists work- ing in this field also permitted themselves `to be grafted with living cancer tissue from human patients, Then normal healthy prison in- mates were chosen for more ex- tensive studies. The prisoners freely volunteered as a sincere gesture to society. Over the past four years, in- vestigators at New York's Sloan-Kettering Institute and Ohio State University, have col- laborated in a series of care- fully controlled studies; involv- ing the injectibn of almost 200 healthy male volunteers at Ohio State Penitentiary with a variety of human cancer cells, some liv- ing, some killed. Two weeks after their injec- tion, the healthy subjects de- veloped a vigorous local in- flammatory reaction at the site of the inoculation. In two more weeps, all evidence of the in- jections has disappeared. Tissue (biopsy) sampl:;s were examined at various intervals under the microscope. The pri- soners' "natural resistance" over- came the transplanted cancer cells on first contact. Subsequent inoculations in the same individ- ual brought an even earlier and more rapid conquest. in advanced cancer patients, by contrast, the immune reaction usually was slow in starting and weak, Their systems did not destroy the cancer cells as rapid- ly as healthy systems did What did the cancer patients lack that healthy people have? Specific antibodies against the injected cancer cells? No, • the scientists found that both groups produced anti-cancer antibodies at about the same rate, Complement — the mixture of. blood proteins which help anti- bodies destroy invading cells? No, there was no defect in quality or "quantity of the can= cer patients' complement. Properidin — another natur- ally occurring blood protein in- volved in destroying infectious agents? Yes — in the cancer patients, properidin was weak or absent altogether. In sharp con- tgast, properidin levels in healthy blood samples were consistently higher, But more than properidin is involved. Cancer patients, when given properidin, showed little or no improvement. It was -concluded from these studies that the healthy human body does indeed have a vigor- ous resistance to cancer cells; in cancer patients this evidence of natural resistance is lacking. A Chicago scientist has dem- onstrated similar resistance to leukemia in healthy humans. He had found earlier that when cell- free fluids from the brains of people who had died of leukemia were injected into highly suscep- tible mice, the mice developed leukemia and died of it. But what about humans? Prisoners, in Illinois this time, volunteered for highly signifi- cant experiments. They allowed the Chicago scientist to inject them with fluid from human leu- kemic brains. The injections did not make the prisoners leukemic. On the contarary, these healthy men developed antibodies which destroyed the leukemic agent and protected them against the dis- ease, When their antibody -loaded blood serum was injected into mice, it protected most of the mice against leukemic inocula- tions, A few investigators have given vaccines and antisera to some. medically adjudged "terminal pa- tients." The results have not been clear cut as yet, because the time has been too short, the patients too few in ' number and some clearly too far advanced in their disease. Or the experiments have been uncontrolled and the im- provement too unpredictable and transient. - The preliminary published re- sults, however, indicate that this approach to cancer treatment must. be studied further with an. open mind. A Buffalo team has given ad- vanced cancer patients a vaccine made from their .own excised tu- mors. Killed tuberculosis organ- isms and other substances design- ed to stimulate the patients' de- fense reactions, are in the vac - eine. X-rays, which conceivably could help the reaction, were given with the vaccine in some cases. The Buffalo researchers found that after one year of a con- trolled experiment, about 40 per cent of the patients given the vac- cine or the vaccine plus X-rays, were alive — and some of them "well" — as compared with 24 per cent of those given only radiotherapy and 17 per cent of those .given only anti-cancer drugs. Dallas scientists; have tried a modified version of the Buffalo vaccine on 14 terminal cancer pa- tients. All of the patients event- ually died of their cancers but, in 12, the tumors became smaller and ulcerative lesions healed temporarily. Most interesting perhaps was the observation that those blood proteins that are believed to as- sist in destroying infectious agents, and . perhaps cancer cells, rose substantially in twelve pa-' tients, A Canadian researcher has treated a number of patients with antiserum — produced by: in- jecting large animals with por- tions of the patients' tumors and then giving the patients the ani- mal serum, rich in antibodies against that specific cancer. While a preliminary report in- dicated that some of the patients appeared to be doing well, there is no real basis, as yet at least, that this will be the final answer to cancer. These preliminary published repo'•ts indicate that this is a field of substantial promise. . IN LABORATORIES around rho world, the work goes on.