Over 1,700 total pages ... The Armed Forces Recipe Service is a compendium of high-volume food service recipes written and updated regularly by the United States Department of Defense Natick Laboratories, and used by military cooks and by institutional and catering operations. It originated in 1969 as a consolidation of the cooking manuals of the four main services, and is based on previous military publications dating back to the first standardization efforts in the US Army in 1896. Recipes are based primarily on American cookery, with the addition of specialized items such as vegetarian, kosher and halal recipes to meet more specialized needs of those being served. The Service database is now distributed by the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence, a division of the US Army Quartermaster School based in Fort Lee, Virginia. Each recipe card has a standardized format; each recipe is calibrated to feed 100 people, with a basic nutritional analysis across the top of the card.

The Armed Forces Recipe Service is a large collection of high-volume, standardized food service recipes developed by the United States Department of Defense and used by military chefs, institutional and catering operations. All of the recipes have been developed, tested and standardized for product quality, consistency and yield. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines were among the many considerations in both the selection and development of the recipes. Many of the recipes have been modified to reduce fat, salt and calories. For new and experienced cooks, consistent use of standardized recipes is essential for quality and economy. Broken into two volumes due to its size, the Armed Forces Recipe Service contains over 1,600 tested recipes calibrated to feed 100 people and easily adjusted up or down to adjust portion size depending on the number of people being fed. The recipes contain a basic nutritional analysis as well, detailing calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, cholesterol, sodium and calcium. Both volumes of The Armed Forces Recipe Service must be purchased to have the manual in its entirety. This volume, Volume I of II, holds the following sections: General Information, Appetizers, Beverages, Breads and Sweet Doughs, Cereals and Pasta Products, Cheese and Eggs, Cakes and Frostings, Cookies, Pastries and Pies, Puddings and Other Desserts, and Desserts (Sauces and Toppings).

This compendium of US Army cooking manuals features recipes, camp cooking tips, and more from the Revolutionary War to WWI. This collection of excerpts from US Army cooking manuals illustrates how America fed its troops from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth, offering a glimpse of what daily life was like for those preparing and consuming the rations. With an introduction explaining the historical background, this is a fascinating and fun exploration of American army cooking, with a dash of inspiration for feeding your own army! Beginning with a manual from 1775, you will learn how the Continental Congress kept its Patriot forces fed. A manual from 1896 prepares Army cooks for any eventuality—whether in the garrison, in the field, or on the march—with instructions on everything from butchery and preserving meat to organizing food service and cleaning utensils. Along with classic American fare such as chowder, hash, and pancakes, it also includes recipes for Crimean kebabs, Turkish pilau, and tamales. In contrast, a 1916 manual offers a detailed consideration of nutrition and what must be one of the first calorie counters. Instructions are given on how to assemble a field range in a trench or on a train. Among the more unusual recipes are head cheese—meat stew made from scraps—and pickled pigsfeet. Later manuals produced during WWI include baking recipes for breads and cakes, as well as how to cook dehydrated products. “Culinary and military historians will equally find this a valuable resource.” —Booklist

Americans eat more processed foods than anyone else in the world. We also spend more on military research. These two seemingly unrelated facts are inextricably linked. If you ever wondered how ready-to-eat foods infiltrated your kitchen, you’ll love this entertaining romp through the secret military history of practically everything you buy at the supermarket. In a nondescript Boston suburb, in a handful of low buildings buffered by trees and a lake, a group of men and women spend their days researching, testing, tasting, and producing the foods that form the bedrock of the American diet. If you stumbled into the facility, you might think the technicians dressed in lab coats and the shiny kitchen equipment belonged to one of the giant food conglomerates responsible for your favorite brand of frozen pizza or microwavable breakfast burritos. So you’d be surprised to learn that you’ve just entered the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center, ground zero for the processed food industry. Ever since Napoleon, armies have sought better ways to preserve, store, and transport food for battle. As part of this quest, although most people don’t realize it, the U.S. military spearheaded the invention of energy bars, restructured meat, extended-life bread, instant coffee, and much more. But there’s been an insidious mission creep: because the military enlisted industry—huge corporations such as ADM, ConAgra, General Mills, Hershey, Hormel, Mars, Nabisco, Reynolds, Smithfield, Swift, Tyson, and Unilever—to help develop and manufacture food for soldiers on the front line, over the years combat rations, or the key technologies used in engineering them, have ended up dominating grocery store shelves and refrigerator cases. TV dinners, the cheese powder in snack foods, cling wrap . . . The list is almost endless. Now food writer Anastacia Marx de Salcedo scrutinizes the world of processed food and its long relationship with the military—unveiling the twists, turns, successes, failures, and products that have found their way from the armed forces’ and contractors’ laboratories into our kitchens. In developing these rations, the army was looking for some of the very same qualities as we do in our hectic, fast-paced twenty-first-century lives: portability, ease of preparation, extended shelf life at room temperature, affordability, and appeal to even the least adventurous eaters. In other words, the military has us chowing down like special ops. What is the effect of such a diet, eaten—as it is by soldiers and most consumers—day in and day out, year after year? We don’t really know. We’re the guinea pigs in a giant public health experiment, one in which science and technology, at the beck and call of the military, have taken over our kitchens.