HOW TO COOK VEGETABLES.
[Illustration: PREPARING TO COOK CABBAGE.]
Those who have tried the foregoing recipes are unanimous in their
approval, but as regards the cooking of vegetables in paper bags,
opinions are divided. Several noted vegetarians are enthusiastic on the
subject, and declare that paper-cooking is the very best possible way of
conserving the juices and flavour of all vegetables. Others, again,
shake doubtful heads, though they admit that some vegetables are
improved by this method of cooking, while others are quite decided
against it, maintaining that a new and unpleasant flavour is imparted to
vegetables so cooked. On investigation, however, it will be found that
these last-mentioned critics have not given paper-bag cookery a fair
trial. They have probably seized on the homely cabbage as an inexpensive
subject on which to experiment, hastily washed it, thrust it into a
paper bag, and placed it in the oven for an indefinite period. The
result, naturally, is uneatable. Shredded very finely, and put into a
well buttered bag with a cup of water, a piece of butter the size of a
walnut, pepper, and salt, a palatable dish will emerge from the oven. At
the same time, cabbage, plainly boiled or cooked in a conservative
boilerette, is in many people's estimation a more superior dish.
Potatoes, again, are a cause of division in the camp. They undoubtedly
acquire a new flavour when cooked in a paper bag, and this flavour is
not agreeable to every palate. Many people prefer new potatoes plainly
boiled, for the young, immature vegetable is of so watery a nature that
unless the moisture be dispersed by rapid boiling, the potato is too wet
and waxy to be palatable. For this reason, new potatoes cooked by steam
or in a conservative boilerette are seldom liked, and paper-bagged new
potatoes are open to the same objection. It is a different matter,
however, with old potatoes, which, when cooked in a paper bag, are very
generally liked, and several excellent and proved recipes for cooking
old potatoes in paper bags are given further on.
Asparagus is not always a success cooked in a paper bag. Some people
complain that the flavour is by no means so delicate when so treated as
when simply boiled or cooked by steam or in a conservative boilerette,
therefore this vegetable is best put on the black list.
Other vegetables which have been tried and found wanting are celery,
turnip-tops, and artichokes. These, however, when once boiled, can be
utilised to make many delightful dishes in paper-bag cookery. It may,
too, be worth the while of the ardent paper-bag cook to continue to
experiment with them until success crowns her efforts. Speaking
personally, these vegetables have not met with general approval when
cooked in paper bags. But one cannot waste time in lamentations over the
few vegetables which are failures cooked in this way, when one considers
how many there are which gain so much in flavour as to be a revelation
in delicacy and richness of taste to those who have only known them
cooked in the ordinary way.
Green peas gain a perfectly exquisite flavour when cooked in a paper
bag, but a certain amount of care is required. Too much water will ruin
them, and if left too long in the oven they will be hard. One family
declared with one voice against paper-bag cookery, because a dish of
young, fresh peas emerged from the oven looking like tiny brown bullets,
and crackling crisply between the teeth of those who tried to eat them.
But this, of course, was the fault of a careless, incompetent cook, not
of paper-bag cookery.
Broad beans are delicious cooked paper-bag fashion; but here, also, care
and attention are required, as also with French beans and scarlet
runners. Tomatoes cooked in this way are infinitely superior to those
cooked in any other way, and there are a great variety of delicious
tomato dishes to be cooked in paper bags. Young carrots and turnips gain
in flavour so cooked, and cauliflower paper-bagged is unsurpassed.
Brussels sprouts are not without merit, and mushrooms, onions, cucumber,
and vegetable marrow gain so much in flavour as to almost fulfil the
harassed housewife's aspiration for a new discovery in vegetables.
POTATOES.
Pare and wash the required number of potatoes and place in the greased
bag wet from the washing. Put in a hot oven and cook for fifty minutes,
reducing the heat after ten minutes.
STEWED POTATOES
are a very savoury dish. Wash and peel as many potatoes as are wanted,
cut each into four thick slices, and put in a greased paper bag, with a
finely chopped peeled onion, a tablespoonful of minced parsley, a good
piece of roast-beef dripping, salt and pepper to taste, and half a cup
of water. In forty minutes turn this savoury and delicious potato
mixture into a very hot dish and serve at once.
DUCHESS POTATOES.
This is an excellent way of using up cold mashed potatoes. Melt a piece
of butter or dripping in a little milk, the quantities being in
proportion to the amount of potato; add pepper, salt, a pinch of dry
mustard, and beat all very thoroughly up together. Butter a bag very
thickly, put in the potato, and cook in a hot oven for ten minutes.
SLICED POTATOES.
Slice the potatoes thickly, wash well, and then dry in a cloth. Sprinkle
with salt and a little flour. Butter a "Papakuk" bag very thickly, and
cook for thirty minutes. The bag must be shaken now and then to make the
potatoes crisp.
GREEN PEAS.
Shell the peas and to each half peck add a pinch of salt, one lump of
sugar, and one leaf of mint; more than one leaf would give too strong a
flavour to the peas. Add one glass of water, and cook for three-quarters
of an hour. The gas should be reduced after five minutes. If the heat is
too great, the peas will be hard.
BROAD BEANS.
Remove the pods and then shell the beans. This extra trouble is quite
worth taking, for it makes all the difference in the delicacy of the
flavour, and the skins are very easily removed. Put the beans when
skinned into a thickly buttered bag, add a piece of butter the size of a
walnut, into which has been worked a tablespoonful of flour, a little
salt, and a teaspoonful of minced onion. Add also a cupful of water, and
cook three-quarters of an hour, reducing the heat after the first five
minutes.
DUCHESS GREEN PEAS.
Shell the peas and put into a thickly buttered bag with a lettuce
cleaned and pulled into very small pieces, a few spring onions, a leaf
of mint, a pinch of salt, a little castor sugar, a good slice of butter,
and a cupful of water. Cook for about three-quarters of an hour, the gas
turned down after the first five minutes.
FRENCH BEANS AND SCARLET RUNNERS.
These are excellent cooked in a paper bag. Contrary to the opinion of
many cooks, the beans should never be sliced, but cooked whole. If the
scarlet runners are very large and coarse, they may be cut into two or
three pieces, but otherwise, they should merely have the tops and
stringy parts removed and be cooked entire. Put them into a well
buttered bag, with a slice of butter, a tablespoonful of minced parsley,
the same of minced onion, if the flavour is liked, the juice of half a
lemon and half a teacupful of water. Cook for about thirty minutes.
CARROTS.
Wash and scrape a bunch of young carrots, and put them into a buttered
bag, with half a teacupful of milk and water. Cook for twenty minutes.
If the carrots are large and no longer young, they should be cut into
thick slices.
TURNIPS.
New turnips are delicious when cooked in a well buttered paper bag. Wash
and peel them, cut into thick slices, put into a greased bag, with half
a cupful of milk and water, a pinch of salt, a pinch of castor sugar,
and half a teaspoonful of white pepper. Cook for about thirty minutes.
MUSHROOMS.
These are particularly good cooked in a paper bag. They must be freshly
gathered, if they are to be really nice. Cut off a portion of the stalk,
peel the top, and wipe the mushrooms carefully with a piece of flannel
and a little salt. Put them into a buttered bag, with a piece of butter
on each mushroom. Cook for twenty minutes. This method preserves all the
aroma and flavour of the mushroom.
CAULIFLOWER.
There is no more delicious way of cooking a cauliflower than by cooking
it in a paper bag. Cut away all the green, carefully cleanse the
cauliflower, cutting the stalk crosswise to secure equal cooking.
Lightly butter the cauliflower all over, put very carefully into a bag
with half a tumbler of water, and cook thirty minutes.
PARSNIPS.
Wash, pare, and cut into slices as many parsnips as may be required,
sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put them into a greased paper bag, with a
cup of water and a little thickened milk. Cook for twenty minutes.
ONIONS.
The onion is rich in nitrogenous matter, induces sleep when taken at
night, and is excellent as a remedy for colds. It has a soothing action
on the nerves, and is beneficial to the kidneys. Take moderate-sized
Spanish onions, remove the outer skin; cut off the tops to form lids,
and hollow out a little of the onion. Fill this with sausage-meat, cored
and skinned sheep's kidney, or a little minced and seasoned meat. Rub
over with dripping, put into a well greased bag, and cook for an hour.
ONIONS AND TOMATOES.
These two vegetables go particularly well together. One excellent method
of cooking them is to take as many tomatoes as there are onions, slice
off the tops, scoop out some of the pulp, and carefully fix them in the
hollow of onions, which have been steamed till tender and a hollow
scooped in each. Put a piece of butter in the tomato centres, drop an
egg into each, sprinkle with salt and pepper, add a tiny bit more
butter, replace the top of the tomato, cover with the piece of onion
previously cut off, put into a well greased bag, and cook for fifteen
minutes.
TOMATO STEW.
Take nice ripe tomatoes. Plunge into boiling water for a few seconds,
then put into cold water for the same length of time. Take them out and
pull off the skins, which will now come away readily. Cut them up
roughly in a basin; add salt and pepper, the grated rind of half a
lemon, a bouquet of herbs, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf, and half a
teacupful of water, and a piece of butter. Mix together, and turn into a
well buttered bag. Cook for twenty minutes. Empty into a hot dish, pick
out the bouquet of herbs, and serve immediately.
TOMATO PIE.
Prepare the tomatoes as in the foregoing recipe, and put into a basin
roughly cut up. Mix in a tablespoonful of chopped onion, salt, and
pepper, a teaspoonful of grated lemon rind, half a cupful of weak stock
or water, a tablespoonful of fine bread-crumbs, a small piece of butter.
Have ready macaroni boiled and cut in inch-long pieces. Mix with the
tomato. Thickly butter a "Papakuk" bag, put in the pie, and cook for
twenty minutes.
STUFFED TOMATOES.
This is a very nice supper or breakfast dish. Choose ripe but firm
tomatoes. Cut off the tops, and put them aside. Scoop out the seeds from
the tomatoes, and fill with a little minced cooked meat, nicely
seasoned; or cut a sheep's kidney in four and use it as stuffing; or a
pork sausage skinned and made to fit the hollow. Put a tiny piece of
butter on each, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little minced parsley;
fit on the lids, brush over with oiled butter, put into a greased
"Papakuk" bag, and cook for twenty minutes.
VEGETABLE MARROWS.
These are particularly good cooked in "Papakuk" fashion. Plainly boiled
and served with white sauce, it is an insipid vegetable, and even mashed
with butter it is not very savoury. Prepared, however, in the following
method, it is both tasty and satisfying. It is best pared before being
cooked, although many vegetarians maintain that by doing so a great deal
of the flavour and juice is lost, an assertion made also of the
cucumber. This is very true when either vegetable is cooked in the
ordinary way, but not so in paper-bag cookery. Having peeled the marrow,
it must be cut in two, lengthways, and all the seeds and fibres removed.
The cavity must be filled with a tasty stuffing of minced onion, cooked
meat, finely minced, and half as much bread-crumbs seasoned with salt
and pepper, and also some minced parsley, chopped beef suet, and a
well-beaten egg. Tie the two halves together with thin string, brush
over with oiled butter, put carefully into a thickly greased bag, and
cook forty-five minutes.
SLICED VEGETABLE MARROW.
Peel a rather small marrow, and slice it into rings, cutting out all
seeds and fibres. Sprinkle each ring with salt and pepper. Have ready a
very thick batter, dip each ring in this, and put it, with as much
batter as it will take up, into a very thickly buttered bag, and cook
thirty minutes.
SAVOURY VEGETABLE MARROW.
This is a very tasty vegetable dish. Peel, cut open right through the
middle, not lengthways; take four or five ripe tomatoes, plunge first
into boiling, then into cold water, to remove the skins, then cut up
roughly in a basin, add two onions, finely minced, a teaspoonful of
lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, a slice of butter or some grated
suet, any remnants of cold ham or bacon there may be in the house,
finely minced, a teaspoonful of minced parsley, half a cupful of fine
bread-crumbs. Bind the mixture with the yolk of an egg, well beaten, and
fill in the two halves of the marrow. Carefully put each half in a
separate well buttered bag, the mixture side uppermost, and cook for
forty-five minutes.
CUCUMBER.
Simply peel one or more cucumbers, brush over with oiled butter, season
with salt, pepper, sprinkle over with a little flour, put into a well
buttered "Papakuk" bag, and cook twenty minutes.
CUCUMBER FRITTERS.
Peel a young cucumber, cut in slices of a medium thickness, season with
salt, pepper, the juice of a lemon, and leave them to soak for an hour.
Have ready a thick batter, dip in the slices, sprinkle with minced
parsley and a little minced onion, put into a thickly greased bag and
cook fifteen minutes.
CUCUMBER STUFFED.
Peel a large thick cucumber, cut off the top, scoop out the seeds, fill
with a mixture of minced cold meat, a few bread-crumbs, seasoning, and a
little stock to moisten. A very nice stuffing is made with some
sausage-meat or some kidneys cut small, flavoured with minced onion and
parsley. Fix on the top with white of egg, brush over with oiled butter,
sprinkle with bread-crumbs, and cook twenty minutes in a thickly greased
bag.
Cereals do not seem very adaptable for paper-bag cookery, but with a
little care and attention they lend themselves very fairly to this
method of cooking, and gain considerably in flavour thereby.
BUTTER BEANS
are extremely nice cooked in paper-bag fashion. They want a great deal
of soaking to be really mellow. Wash the beans well, and put to soak
early in the morning in abundance of water. Leave all day. By night the
beans will have absorbed most of the water. Pour off any that may
remain, leaving them quite dry. Cover the basin and leave till morning.
This gives the beans a much nicer flavour than if they were cooked at
once. Next day skin them. They are much superior when the outer skin is
removed, and the trouble is really trifling. Put them into a buttered
bag with a cupful of water, a sprinkle of minced parsley, a
tablespoonful of minced onion, two rashers of fat bacon, cut into dice,
but no salt, which would render them hard. They will be ready in an hour
and a half. If the skins are left on, they will take another half-hour.
Have ready a little butter, just melted over the fire, season with salt
and pepper, and pour over the dish of beans before sending to table. If
the bacon is omitted, substitute a good slice of butter in the bag.
LENTILS.
Either Egyptian or German lentils are excellent in a paper bag. Wash
them well, soak all night in abundance of fresh, cold water. Next day
put them in a well greased "Papakuk" bag, with the water in which they
have been soaking, a carrot, a turnip, a parsnip, and an onion, chopped
up roughly. Add neither salt nor pepper. Cook two hours, and they will
then be tender enough to press through a colander. Season the resulting
_purée_ with salt and pepper, re-heat, and serve as a vegetable. Or add
enough boiling stock to make a thick cream, stir in carefully a well
beaten egg, and serve as soup.
LENTIL CUTLETS.
Cook the lentils as in the recipe already given. When they have been
pressed through a colander, add enough bread-crumbs and mashed potato to
make a stiff paste, season rather highly with salt, pepper, a little
lemon juice, and a tablespoonful of onion juice. Mix thoroughly, form
into neat cutlets, place in a thickly buttered bag, and cook fifteen
minutes.
RICE.
Well wash a cup of rice, and put to soak overnight. Next day put it with
the water in which it has soaked and at least another cupful into a very
thoroughly greased bag. If it is not sufficiently greased, the rice will
stick to it. Cook thirty-five minutes.
SAVOURY RICE.
Soak a cup of well washed rice overnight. Next day put it into a well
greased bag with a sliced onion, two skinned and cut-up tomatoes,
pepper, salt, a piece of thinly cut lemon rind, a couple of rashers of
streaky bacon cut in dice. Add a cupful of stock or water and cook
thirty-five minutes.
VEGETABLE ROLL.
Mash a quarter of a pound each of cooked carrot, turnip, vegetable
marrow, haricot beans, and potatoes. Season with pepper, salt, grated
nutmeg, mixed herbs; mix all well, bind with a beaten egg, form into a
shapely roll, put into a greased bag, and cook fifteen minutes.
SAVOURY MACARONI.
Cut cold boiled macaroni into convenient lengths, and put into a basin.
Skin and cut up roughly two or three ripe tomatoes; tinned may be used
when fresh ones are expensive. Add these to the macaroni; add also a
tablespoonful of strong gravy or some made from "Lemco" or any good meat
extract; pepper, salt, a chopped onion, half a cup of fine bread-crumbs,
and the zest of a lemon. Put all into a well buttered bag and cook
fifteen minutes.
GROUND RICE FRITTERS.
Rub ground rice smooth in a little milk, and add enough to boiling milk
to make a thick paste. Add to this a tablespoonful of onion juice, a
piece of butter the size of a walnut, pepper and salt to taste, and a
tablespoonful of grated cheese. Mix well and let it get cold. Form balls
out of the paste, put into a well buttered bag, and cook fifteen
minutes.
MUSHROOM PUDDING.
Roll out a nice short crust, cut it in two. On one half lay small button
mushrooms, properly cleansed; sprinkle with a little salt and pepper;
put bits of butter over them, cover with the other half of pastry; put
into a buttered bag and cook fifteen minutes.
TURNIP CUPS.
Take nicely shaped round turnips, cut off the tops and scoop out some of
the centres; fill with green peas, put little bits of butter on the
tops; put the cups carefully into a well greased bag, so as not to upset
them. Add cautiously about two tablespoonfuls of water and cook twenty
minutes.
ONION DUMPLINGS.
Take as many onions as may be required, peel them, and make a deep
incision across them; put into this cut a piece of butter or dripping,
salt, and pepper. Make a good short crust, roll it out, and cut into as
many pieces as there are onions. Put an onion on each, and work up the
paste as if making an apple dumpling. Put into a well greased bag and
cook about an hour.