into a very slack oven for about 8 hours. When cold peel them and
dress them as follows: Chop ½ onion finely, put it into a saucepan
with a piece of butter. When it begins to take colour, add the
beetroot, cut up into large dice, pepper and salt to taste, and 2 or
3 tablespoonfuls tarragon vinegar. When quite hot serve.
Boiled.--Wash the beetroot as for baked, and put it into fast-boiling
salted water, to boil 1-2 hours, according to size, then dress as
baked.
With Cream Sauce.--Boil the beetroot, and when cold peel and slice
it; stew the slices until quite hot in some well-flavoured white
stock well freed from grease; strain off the stock, and stir into
it, off the fire, the yolk of an egg beaten up with a little milk
or cream. Arrange the beetroot in a dish, pour the sauce over, and
serve; or serve plainly, boiled with a cream sauce made without
stock. If wanted cold, serve with a mayonnaise sauce, or with a
little plain cream poured over, and with a seasoning of pepper and
salt.
_Broad Beans._--Boiled.--Shell very young and newly gathered beans as
much as possible all of a size. Boil them in plenty of fast-boiling
salted water, with a sprig or two of savoury. When quite done, which
is to be ascertained by tasting one, drain them and serve with the
following sauce, either in a sauce-boat, or poured over them. Mix 2
oz. butter in a saucepan with 1 tablespoonful flour, add 1 tumblerful
boiling water, pepper and salt to taste, and plenty of minced
parsley; stir well until the sauce boils.
_Broccoli and Cauliflower._--Au Gratin.--Boil a cauliflower,
previously well washed and trimmed, in plenty of water, with a due
quantity of salt; be careful not to overboil it; about 10 minutes
will do it. Try the stem with a thin iron skewer, and the moment it,
is soft remove the saucepan from the fire, and put the cauliflower
to drain on a hair sieve. When it is quite cold, cut it up neatly
and carefully, place the roughest pieces flat on a well-buttered
dish, so as to form a sort of foundation; sprinkle this with pepper
and salt, a little nutmeg, and cover it well with grated Parmesan
cheese, dispose the remaining and best pieces on the top, add more
pepper, salt, and nutmeg, cover with grated Parmesan, add a few baked
breadcrumbs, and pour over all a little liquefied butter; bake in a
quick oven 15-20 minutes, and serve. Rubbing the dish with garlic is
an improvement.
Dressed.--Trim and boil a nice firm cauliflower; it should not be
over large, and should be boiled with care, that it may be tender
without being broken. To secure this it should not boil too quickly,
and there should be put into the water used either a little common
or a little soda carbonate and 1 tablespoonful salt. When done, take
up carefully on a sieve to drain, and keep warm while you make the
following sauce: Put into a clean stewpan 3 oz. fresh butter; let it
dissolve on the stove, but do not let it get so hot that it will oil.
Now mix with it 1 dessertspoonful cornflour, and pour on it ¼ pint
boiling water and a little cream and let it boil up. Now put into it
1 teaspoonful chopped parsley and ¼ teaspoonful chopped onion. Let
these boil 1 minute; take from the fire and stir into the sauce the
beaten yolks of 2 or 3 fresh eggs, 1 tablespoonful chili vinegar, and
a little salt. Divide the cauliflower into tufts, and arrange neatly
on a dish. Pour the sauce over, put some sippets of toast round, and
serve.
With White Sauce.--Pick out all the green leaves from a couple of
broccoli, and cut off the stalks close. Put them head downwards
into a saucepan full of boiling salted water. When done pick them
out into sprigs and arrange them head downwards in a pudding basin,
which must have been made quite hot. Press them in gently, then turn
them out dexterously on a dish, and pour over them the following
sauce, boiling hot: Melt 1½ oz. butter in a saucepan, mix with it 1
tablespoonful flour, and then add ½ pint boiling water; stir till it
thickens; add salt and white pepper to taste; then take the saucepan
off the fire and stir in the yolks of 2 eggs beaten up with the juice
of a lemon and strained.
_Brussels Sprouts._--Boiled.--(_a_) Take about 1 qt. sprouts all of a
size, not larger than walnuts, throw them into salt and water for 10
minutes, then put them in fast-boiling water, in which you have put
a small piece of soda to preserve the green colour. When nearly done
pour off the water, and put in as much fresh butter as you can lift
on a teaspoon; toss the pan gently, but do not stir and keep the lid
on by the side of the fire until you have prepared the sauce, which
must be made of good stock, with some of the red gravy from roast
beef added; take a breakfastcupful, and bring it to a boil, then mix
a teaspoonful of cornflour in cold water; add a little browning and
some Harvey’s sauce, or any other brown sauce, then pour the boiling
stock on; give one boil up, and strain the sauce into the pan with
the Brussels sprouts. Let them remain closely covered, and, when
dishing up, squeeze a little lemon juice into the sauce.
(_b_) Trim each sprout neatly, and wash them in several waters. Put
them to boil in plenty of boiling salted water, and, when almost
done, strain them and dry them in a cloth. Put them in a saucepan
with a large piece of butter, pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to
taste. Toss them gently on the fire until they are quite cooked.
_Cabbage._--Boiled.--(_a_) Take 2 summer cabbages, trim off all the
outer leaves, cut the cabbages in half lengthwise, and steep them in
salted water for an hour, then throw them into fast-boiling water,
and when they have boiled 20 minutes change the water for fresh
boiling water, salted to taste. Let them boil till quite done. Put
them on a sieve in the screen to drain all the water from them, and
serve.
(_b_) First boil it very well, then chop it up with a little butter,
add a small quantity of vinegar and pepper, and then fry it for 2
minutes; grate a little Parmesan cheese, and when ready to serve pour
some melted butter over the cabbage and sprinkle the grated cheese
over it.
Cold Slaugh.--Cut a head of hard white cabbage into very fine
shavings; it is seldom shaved fine enough. For 1 qt. cabbage take
the yolks of 3 eggs, beat them well; stir into 1½ tumbler vinegar
2 spoonfuls loaf sugar, 1 tablespoonful olive oil, 1 of thick
sweet cream, or a piece of butter as large as a walnut, 1 heaped
teaspoonful mustard, salt and pepper to taste; mix with the egg, and
put this sauce into a stewpan; when hot add the cabbage, stew until
thoroughly hot, which will only require 4-5 minutes. Toss it up from
the bottom with a silver or wooden fork; take it up and set where it
will become perfectly cold--on ice is best. The quantity of vinegar
would depend upon its strength.
Hot Slaugh.--Take a fine hard head of white or red cabbage, shred it
very finely, and put it into a stewpan with a piece of butter the
size of an egg, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoonful chili and 1 of tarragon
vinegar. Cover the stewpan and toss gently for about 5 minutes, when
the cabbage should be thoroughly hot through. Care must be taken not
to overcook hot slaugh, as it should be borne in mind that this very
agreeable dish is a hot salad, and not stewed cabbage, and should
therefore retain its crispness.
Stuffed.--Parboil a small cabbage or savoy, leaving it whole. Mince
very finely any remains of cold meat, and half the quantity of beef
suet, add a small quantity of chopped shallot, pepper, salt and
minced herbs to taste, the same quantity of fine breadcrumbs as of
suet, and the yolks of 2 or more eggs. Make an incision on the top
of the cabbage, open the leaves lightly, insert the forcemeat and
tie up the cabbage with thread. Line a saucepan with bacon, lay in
the cabbage with a little stock or broth; simmer on the fire for 2-3
hours. At the time of serving, remove the thread from the cabbage;
strain the sauce, free it from excess of fat, thicken with butter and
flour, and pour it over the dish.
_Cardoons._--Boiled.--Cut the stalks into convenient lengths, remove
the prickles on either side of them, and parboil them for 15 minutes
in salted water; drain them, and scrape and rub off the outer skin
from each piece, putting them into cold water as they are done. When
they are all ready, finish cooking them as artichokes.
_Carrots._--À la Maître D’Hôtel.--Trim each carrot neatly, cut it in
half, and boil them in salted water; when done drain off the water,
add a piece of butter to the carrots, some parsley finely minced, a
dust of pepper, a little powdered sugar, and a squeeze of lemon. Give
the saucepan a toss or two on the fire to keep the contents hot till
wanted.
À la Flamande.--When parboiled and drained, put the carrots into a
saucepan with a piece of butter, a pinch of sugar, and as much water
as may be necessary for sauce, add some finely minced parsley and
white pepper and salt to taste. Let the carrots simmer till done
(about 15 minutes), shaking them occasionally. Beat up together the
yolks of 2 eggs and ½ gill cream, stir this into the carrots off the
fire and serve.
À la Nivernaise.--Cut out the red portion of some carrots to the
shape of olives, parboil and then put them into a saucepan with
plenty of butter, a little pounded loaf sugar, pepper, and salt;
add a little stock to prevent their burning, and keep shaking the
saucepan till they are cooked.
_Celeriac._--Boiled.--Peel the roots, and cut them into quarters or
in slices; throw them into boiling salted water, and let them boil
till quite done; drain them, and serve with white sauce.
_Celery._--Boiled.--Trim the roots, and cut to the same length (about
6 in.) 3 heads celery, wash them carefully, tie them together with
string; put them in a saucepan with an onion, a blade of mace, some
whole pepper, salt, and sufficient boiling water to cover them. Let
them boil till quite done, then drain them, remove the string, and
serve with the following sauce over them: Melt 1 oz. butter in a
saucepan, and mix with it 1 dessertspoonful flour, add as much of the
water in which the celery was boiled as is wanted to make the sauce,
put in salt to taste, and stir in off the fire the yolk of an egg
beaten up with the juice of a lemon, and strained.
On Toast.--Trim the roots, and cut to the same length (about 6 in.) 3
heads of celery, wash them carefully, tie them together with string,
parboil them a few minutes, and drain them. Put a layer of bacon
in a saucepan, lay the celery on this, with an onion and a carrot
sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, pepper, salt, a blade of mace, or a
few cloves; fill up with enough stock just to cover the celery, and
let it gently simmer till done. Take some of the liquor well freed
from fat, thicken it with a little flour and butter; pour it on a
dish. Have ready a number of slices of bread cut to a uniform shape,
and fried in butter; arrange them on the sauce in a circle, disposing
half a head of celery on each.
Stewed.--Trim and cut to the same length a number of heads of celery,
split them in two lengthwise, tie them in bundles with thread, and
parboil them for 10 minutes in salted water. Drain them, and arrange
them in a saucepan over slices of bacon, with a bundle of sweet
herbs, 2 onions, pepper and salt to taste, and a blade of mace. Add
enough stock just to cover the contents, and simmer gently till the
celery is quite tender. Having removed the string, dispose the celery
neatly on a dish; take some of the stock in which it has been stewed,
remove all fat from it, add a small piece of fresh butter, pour it
over the celery, and serve.
_Dandelions._--Pick before they blossom, and cut roots off just below
the leaves, thus keeping them together. They should be picked over
well, washed in cold spring water, chopped up into ½ in. lengths,
and boiled with a little salted water, or steamed over salted water;
the latter method is preferable. Spread a cloth over a colander,
drain the dandelions through it, and squeeze out all the water; chop
up fine, and put into a saucepan with a small lump of butter and
some salt; stir it over the fire for a few minutes, then turn on
to a hot dish, put a soup plate over it and set it over steam for
a few seconds, remove the soup plate, cut it or mark it in squares
like spinach, garnish with sippets and serve. Dandelions will be
found more bitter in taste than spinach; if lemon juice is added to
them while cooking, and a very little powdered white sugar, this
bitterness will be counteracted. (Eliot-James.)
_Egg-Plant Fruit._--Boil the fruit until tender, halve them
lengthwise, and scoop out the inside, leaving a shell about ½
in. thick. Take a small quantity of any kind of meat or poultry
previously cooked and well freed from fat, skin, and gristle;
mince it finely, and then pound it quite smooth with the pulp of
the vegetable (not the seeds), and with some sweet herbs, chopped
mushrooms, or any flavouring preferred; season the whole with pepper
and salt, toss it for a few minutes in a saucepan with a piece of
butter, and a little stock to moisten it (if necessary), fill the
cavities with this mixture, add a layer of fried breadcrumbs, pour
over them some liquefied butter, put them into the oven for a few
minutes, and serve very hot.
_French Beans._--The nice flavour of this wholesome vegetable depends
not only on its freshness, but also on the mode of cooking. When
very young and very small, it is better not to cut them, but simply
take off the tops and tails, and a thin stringy strip at each side
of the bean, then wash, but do not leave them in water. Throw them
into a saucepan of fast-boiling water, with 1 tablespoonful salt to
each ½ gal. water. Boil quickly, with lid off, till tender, and at
once drain in a colander, taking care to shake or press gently with
a wooden spoon, every drop of water from them; serve very hot, with
pieces of fresh butter between each layer of beans. When the beans
are not so young or so small, they should be cut into thin, slanting
strips, and dressed in the same way.
_Haricot Beans._--(_a_) Soak them for 12 hours, put them in a
saucepan of cold water, let it come gradually to the boil, then
simmer till quite tender; drain and put them at once into a stewpan,
with some fresh butter, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and a little
lemon juice, toss them well, and serve very hot.
(_b_) The usual way in America for cooking white haricot beans is in
the old-fashioned New England dish, “pork and beans.” Parboil a piece
of the middling of salt pork, and score the skin. Allow 1 lb. to 1
qt. of the dried beans which must be soaked overnight in lukewarm
water. In the morning put them on to boil in cold water; when they
are soft drain off the water, put the beans in a deep dish, half bury
the pork in the middle, adding a very little warm water. Bake a nice
brown. Some like a dessertspoonful of sugar mixed in with the beans
before placing them in the dish.
_Jerusalem Artichokes._--Wash them well, peel and shape them to a
uniform size; throw them into boiling salted water, and let them boil
15-20 minutes; drain them at once thoroughly; put them on a dish and
serve with the following sauce poured over them: Mix over the fire
1½ oz. butter, with 1 tablespoonful flour; add ½ pint boiling water,
white pepper, and salt to taste; stir till the sauce thickens, then
take the saucepan off the fire, and stir in the yolks of 2 eggs,
beaten up with ½ gill cream.
_Laver_ or _Sloke_.--Only good during the winter months. After being
gathered and washed and picked clean, put it with water into an iron
pot, and boil it until it is a pulp. If too thick, add a little more
water, taking care it does not burn. It cannot be boiled too much,
and the darker the colour the better laver it is. It will keep fresh
for a week, and when wanted for table it must be heated, with a lump
of butter put in, and served in a silver saucepan, which is kept hot
by the fire. Laver is eaten with roast meat, with pepper and vinegar.
Lemon juice is preferable to vinegar.
_Lentils._--(_a_) Soak in cold water for 24 hours. Boil in plain
water for 2½ hours, drain off the water, put with the lentils in the
saucepan a small lump of butter, a little pepper and salt; stir well
together and serve hot. Another way is to soak as above, and stew in
good beef tea, gravy, or thin soup for 2½ hours. The German lentils
are the best.
(_b_) Fry 3 or 4 onions sliced, in 1 oz. butter. Put into a saucepan
with ½ pint red lentils, and 1 pint water; simmer 1 hour, then add
1 dessertspoonful curry powder and 1 teaspoonful lemon juice. Serve
with boiled rice.
_Mushrooms._--(_a_) Chop up half a small punnet of mushrooms,
having first taken off the skins and stalks; also a handful of
washed parsley and 3 small shallots. Scrape ¼ lb. ham, of which the
proportions of fat and lean should be about equal; if the ham be
too lean, some fat of bacon can be used with it. Also chop a little
thyme. Mix all well together, seasoning with pepper and salt, and
fry them over the fire for a few minutes, and until done; then mix
in the yolks of 3 eggs, and set it aside while the mushrooms are
preparing (these must be large ones); take off the skins and stalks,
and, having trimmed the edges neatly, fill each one with some of
the above preparation. Spread a sautépan thickly with butter, place
the mushrooms in it side by side, shake some raspings of bread
plentifully over them, and set them in the oven for about ¼ hour;
they should be nicely browned. Arrange them on a dish in the form
of a pyramid, and pour round them a little of the following sauce,
which must have been previously prepared and be waiting hot and ready
for use: Chop 2 shallots, wash them in several waters to take away
the strong taste, wring them dry in the corner of a napkin, and put
them into a stewpan with about 1 doz. small white mushrooms finely
minced; add a little thyme, a small bay leaf, and a dessertspoonful
of salad oil; shake these together over the fire for 5 minutes; add 1
small wineglassful white French wine, and then set it on to reduce to
half its quantity; moisten this with a little good white sauce; let
it boil up, free it from the oil, take out thyme and bay leaf. Let
it be of the consistency of ordinary sauces, which can be regulated
by adding a little white stock if too thick, or boiling up to reduce
if too thin. When ready, set it aside in a small stewpan to keep hot
till wanted.
(_b_) Pick and peel ½ pint mushrooms, wash them well, put them into
a lined saucepan with ½ pint plain white sauce, made with rice, new
milk, and well seasoned with mace, salt and paper, white or cayenne
as preferred. Let the mushrooms stew until quite tender, then add 1
spoonful butter rolled in arrowroot sufficient to thicken it; simmer
a few minutes longer and serve.
(_c_) Skin and wash the mushrooms, then dry in a cloth; butter each
one on the inside, sprinkle salt and pepper over, and grill until
tender.
(_d_) Peel 1 pint mushrooms and cut off their stalks; boil these and
the parings; when ready, strain. Put the mushrooms, chopped fine,
into a stewpan; pour in the gravy, add some chopped parsley, season
well with pepper and salt, and stew the whole gently for 40 minutes
over a moderate fire. Beat up 6 eggs, mix with the other ingredients;
have ready some buttered cups, pour the mixture into them, and bake
quickly; turn out on to a hot dish, and serve with white sauce.
(Eliot-James.)
_Nettles._--In some parts of Scotland the young shoots of nettles
are used as greens, but chiefly by the poor. This is probably the
result of prejudice. The following recipes will be found excellent
as a vegetable: (_a_) Select the light green tops and leaves of the
nettles, wash them carefully in 2 waters; a little salt and a small
piece of soda should be dissolved in the second water. Boil till
quite tender, then turn them into a colander and press them quite
dry. Place on a hot vegetable or entrée dish, scoring them backwards
and forwards 3 or 4 times. Place a small piece of butter the size
of a walnut in the centre, and pepper and salt and send very hot to
table. Melted butter can be served separately if desired. (_b_) A
more savoury way of dressing the nettle tops would be the following.
Wash and prepare the tops as before, drain and dry them, then chop
them into a fine mince. Put this mince into a stewpan, in which has
been placed a little good stock or gravy; add to this a pinch of
salt, a little pepper and powdered sugar, and a squeeze of lemon
juice, or, if liked, a little finely chopped onion. When ready to
serve thicken with a little flour and butter, and a teaspoonful of
cream. Place on toast, and serve very hot with poached eggs, or
garnish with hard-boiled eggs cut in slices.
_Olives._--Stir some chopped parsley and scallions into some butter
melted over the fire. Moisten with some gravy or good broth, a glass
of white wine, some capers, and an anchovy pounded in a spoonful of
olive oil. Put into this sauce some olives, which have previously
been stoned by peeling the fruit spirally off the nuts with a sharp
knife. Bring it to the boil, and thicken the sauce with a little
light colouring of butter and flour, made separately. If liked, the
stones of the olives can be replaced by a veal stuffing, which has
been cooked first.
_Onions._--(_a_) Cut off the roots close of 2 Spanish onions, and
remove the outer peels or any that are in the least dry, then parboil
them in salted water for 10 minutes; dry them in a cloth, and cut
them in half lengthwise. Put them in a saucepan over a slice of fat
bacon, add a faggot of sweet herbs, 2 or 3 cloves, and some whole
pepper, with salt to taste; pour in a sufficient quantity of very
good stock to just cover them, and let them stew gently for 2 hours.
Strain off a portion of the liquor, free it from superfluous fat,
reduce it by letting it boil for ¼ hour, dish up the onions, pour the
reduced sauce over, and serve.
(_b_) Peel off the very outer skins, cut off the pointed ends like
a cigar, put them in a deep dish, and put a piece of butter and a
little salt and pepper on the place where the point has been cut off,
cover them with a plate or dish, and let them bake for not less than
3 hours. They will throw out a delicious gravy.
_Parsnips._--(_a_) Scrape and boil some parsnips, then cut each
lengthwise in 4, and fry them very brown, and dish in twos and twos.
There is no vegetable so nourishing as parsnip, and when done in this
way is much more tasty than the English way.
(_b_) Boil 4 or 5 parsnips till tender, mash them up, and add 1
teaspoonful flour, 1 beaten egg, and a little salt; make the mixture
into small cakes with a spoon, and fry them in butter a delicate
brown. Serve on a napkin.
_Peas._--Melt ¼ lb. butter in a saucepan, then add 1½ pint young
peas, pepper and salt to taste, 2 small onions (whole), a small bunch
of parsley, and half a head of lettuce, tied up together, and a pinch
of sugar. Toss on a slow fire till the peas are cooked, then remove
the parsley, lettuce, and onions, and serve with a little finely
minced parsley mixed in the peas.
_Potatoes._--(_a_) With Cream.--Put into a stewpan a piece of butter
rolled in flour, 1 gill cream, pepper, salt, and a very little
nutmeg, also the juice of half a lemon; stir these over the fire till
boiling. Then add slices of freshly boiled new potatoes, and after
warming them up in the above sauce, serve very hot.
(_b_) A la Russe.--Cut some raw potatoes into dice, after washing
and peeling, and fry them in olive oil, with half the quantity of
mushrooms finely minced.
(_c_) Au Gratin.--Put a few spoonfuls of good white sauce into a
stewpan with a ¼ lb. grated Parmesan cheese, and half that quantity
of butter, also the yolks of 4 eggs, a small piece of glaze, lemon
juice, pepper and salt, and nutmeg; stir all this over the fire until
well mixed, but it must not boil. Cut some potatoes into slices,
stick some well-pointed three-cornered croutons of fried bread round
the edge of the dish, standing up to form a border, and place a close
row of slices of potato within it, and a layer over the centre of the
dish: spread a layer of the cheese preparation over them, then repeat
the potatoes and mixture till the dish is complete, and smooth some
of the sauce over the top. Shake breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan over
the surface, so as to quite cover it, and put the whole into the oven
for about ¼ hour, or until warmed through, and a nice colour.