VEGETABLES
ALL green vegetables should be washed in cold water and cooked in
boiling water. Salt may be added first or last according to preference.
Allow one tablespoon salt to each quart of water.
The time required for cooking depends upon the age and freshness of the
vegetables.
Time Table for boiling Vegetables
Artichokes 45 to 60 minutes
Asparagus, young 15 to 20 minutes
Asparagus, old 30 to 50 minutes
Beans, fresh 1 to 2 hours
Beans, dried 2 to 4 hours
Beets, young 60 minutes
Beets, old 3 to 5 hours
Brussels sprouts 15 to 20 minutes
Cabbage, young 30 minutes
Cabbage, old 2 to 3 hours
Carrots, young 30 minutes
Carrots, old 1 to 2 hours
Cauliflower 30 to 60 minutes
Corn 5 to 20 minutes
Dandelions 2 to 3 hours
Onions 60 to 90 minutes
Parsnips 1 to 2 hours
Peas 20 to 40 minutes
Potatoes 30 minutes
Salsify 30 to 60 minutes
Squash, summer 20 to 60 minutes
Squash, winter 60 to 90 minutes
Spinach and other greens 20 to 60 minutes
Sweet potatoes 30 to 60 minutes
Turnips 40 to 60 minutes
Globe Artichokes
Soak in cold water. Remove lower leaves and cut ends of others. Cook in
boiling salted water forty-five minutes or until the leaves pull out.
Drain. Serve with Béchamel or Hollandaise Sauce or with Drawn Butter.
Scalloped Globe Artichokes
2 cups chopped artichokes
2 cups White Sauce
1 cup buttered crumbs
Arrange in a scallop dish and bake until crumbs are brown.
Jerusalem Artichokes
Wash and scrub. Cook in boiling salted water. Serve with melted butter
or White Sauce. They may be marinated with French Dressing and served
cold.
Asparagus
Wash stalks, snap off all white tough part. Tie in bunch. Cook in deep
kettle of boiling salted water. Stand bunch upright for the first ten
minutes. Cook twenty to thirty minutes. Drain. Serve on buttered toast,
spread with butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. White Sauce or
Hollandaise may be served.
The asparagus may be broken in inch pieces, cooked until tender, mixed
with White Sauce, and served on toast.
Shelled Beans
Cook in boiling water until tender. Add salt after the first hour. Time
of cooking depends upon age of beans. Drain. Serve with butter or cream
or White Sauce. Lima, kidney, or agricultural beans may be cooked in
this way.
String Beans
Remove all strings. Cut in inch pieces. Wash, cook in boiling water
fifteen minutes. Add salt and cook until tender. Drain, add butter,
salt and pepper. A piece of salt pork cooked with beans is considered
by many an improvement.
Brussels Sprouts and Cabbage
Remove outside leaves and soak in cold water for half an hour. Drain.
Cook in boiling salted water until tender, changing the water at least
once during cooking. Serve Brussels sprouts whole with butter and salt
or with White Sauce. Chop the cabbage when cooked, season with salt,
pepper and butter, reheat and serve, or mix one cup cabbage with one
cup White Sauce, cover with buttered crumbs and bake until brown.
Kohl Slaw
Shred cabbage finely. Soak in acidulated water. Drain, and cover with
Cream Dressing. Serve very cold.
Beets
Scrub beets, but do not break skin. Cook in boiling water—young beets
about an hour, old beets until tender. Slip skins off as soon as taken
from stove. Serve hot with butter, salt and pepper. Serve cold beets
for garnishing Potato Salad.
Carrots
Wash, scrub, and scrape. Cook in boiling salted water. Drain, cut in
slices, and serve with White Sauce; or they may be cut lengthwise and
sautéd in butter.
Cauliflower
Cut stalk close to flower, remove green leaves and soak in cold salted
water one hour. Cook in cheese cloth bag thirty to forty minutes.
Remove from bag and serve with Hollandaise or White Sauce, or scalloped
with White Sauce and crumbs.
Celery
Celery is usually eaten raw as a relish. Or it may be scraped, cut
in inch pieces, cooked until tender, and served in a White Sauce, or
drained and fried in deep fat. It may also be scalloped with chopped
red pepper, White Sauce and crumbs.
Cucumbers
Generally served sliced thinly and eaten raw. But if too old to serve
in this way, they may be pared, cut in quarters, boiled, drained,
mashed, and seasoned with salt and pepper.
Or they may be cut in quarters, dipped in batter, and fried in deep fat.
Corn
Remove husks and silk. Cook in a small amount of water from five to
twenty minutes. Cover while cooking with the inside green husks. Serve
on the cob; or cut from the cob and serve with salt, pepper and butter.
Corn may be made into fritters (see receipt) or mixed with beans for
succotash. Also served as pudding mixed with eggs and milk.
Greens
Beet tops, dandelions, spinach, Swiss chard, young cabbage sprouts,
cowslips, may all be prepared in the same way. Wash in many waters
until all grit and sand are removed. Cook in boiling salted water until
tender. Drain, chop, and serve with butter and salt. Lettuce may also
be cooked and served in this way. Garnish greens with hard-cooked eggs.
Egg Plant
Cut in slices one half inch thick. Remove skin, sprinkle with salt,
pile slices one on another, cover with plate and weight, let stand over
night. Drain, wash in cold water. Dry, dip in crumbs, egg and crumbs,
or in batter, and fry in deep fat.
Lentils
Soak over night and cook in boiling water until tender. Mash, season
with salt, pepper and butter, and serve; or make in balls and sauté in
butter.
Okra
Wash, cut off ends of pods, cover with boiling salted water, and cook
until tender. Season with butter, salt and pepper. Okra is more often
stewed or scalloped with tomato than served plain.
Onions
Peel, cover with boiling salted water. Change water every ten minutes
until tender. Drain, and add milk to cover. Reheat, season with butter,
salt and pepper; or serve with White Sauce; or scallop with White Sauce
and crumbs; or stuff. When boiled, remove hearts, and fill the space
with finely chopped peppers. Surround with White Sauce. Bake, and baste
with butter.
Salsify, or Oyster Plant
Scrape, wash, and cook until tender. Drain, mash, season, and sauté in
butter; or cut in inch lengths, dip in Fritter Batter, and fry in deep
fat.
Parsnips
Wash, scrape, and cook in boiling salted water until tender. Cut in
halves, spread with salt and butter, and serve hot; or mash, season,
and sauté in butter.
Stuffed Peppers
See receipts under head of Vegetable Entrées.
Boiled Macaroni
Break in inch pieces and wash. Cook in boiling salted water until
tender. Drain, season with salt, pepper and butter, and serve hot.
Macaroni with Sauce
Prepare as for Boiled Macaroni. Drain, and reheat in Cream Sauce,
Tomato Sauce, or Béchamel Sauce.
Baked Macaroni
Prepare boiled macaroni. Drain, arrange in layers in a buttered baking
dish with White Sauce and cheese. Cover with buttered crumbs, and bake
until crumbs are brown.
Macaroni Baked with Tomatoes
Arrange layers of cooked macaroni, stewed and seasoned tomato, and
chopped green pepper. Dot each layer with butter. Cover all with
buttered cracker crumbs. Bake in hot oven.
Boiled Rice
Wash one cup rice and drain. Fill a four-quart saucepan one half full
of boiling salted water. Place on hottest part of range. When boiling
rapidly, sprinkle in the rice slowly, not to stop the boiling. Cook
until tender, adding more water if needed. Drain in a colander, and
place in the open oven to dry.
Rice cooked in this way will have every grain separate.
Summer Squash
Wash and cut in quarters. Cook in boiling salted water until tender.
Drain in cheese cloth. Add butter, salt and pepper. Reheat and serve.
Winter Squash
Cut squash, remove seeds, and steam or boil until soft. Remove squash
from shell. Add butter, salt and pepper. Reheat and serve.
Baked Squash
Cut in pieces for serving. Remove seeds and stringy portion, brush with
molasses, season with salt and pepper. Bake until soft, add butter, and
serve in shell.
Broiled Tomatoes
Cut tomatoes in halves. Sprinkle each half with salt, pepper and fine
bread crumbs, and broil five minutes. Slip on to hot platter, dot with
butter, place in the oven for five minutes. Serve hot.
Fried Tomatoes
Cut tomatoes in quarters lengthwise; season with salt and pepper, dip
in batter, and fry in deep fat.
Sautéd Tomatoes
Slice tomatoes; season with salt and pepper. Dip in crumbs, egg and
crumbs, and sauté in hot frying pan. Serve on hot buttered toast.
Scalloped Tomatoes
Arrange in layers canned tomatoes and bread cut in cubes, sprinkle each
layer with salt and pepper, dot with butter. Bake one half hour. For
variety rub dish with onion before putting in tomato.
Stuffed Tomato
Cut a thin slice from smooth end of tomatoes. Scoop out pulp, mix with
an equal quantity of cold cooked rice, macaroni, or bread crumbs. Add
salt, pepper, butter and a few drops of onion juice. Refill tomato
shells, cover with tops, and bake one half hour.
Peas
Cook peas in boiling water. Use just enough water to keep them from
burning. Add salt fifteen minutes before taking them from the fire.
Season with butter and pepper.
Peas may be used for croquettes or may be used with White Sauce and
served in Croustade Cases.
Equal quantities of chopped carrots and peas served together are
delicious.
Turnips in White Sauce
Wash and pare; cut in pieces. Cook, mash, and season; or cut in cubes,
cook in boiling salted water until tender, and serve in White Sauce.
Boiled Potatoes
Potatoes may be boiled with skins on, or may be pared and boiled in
salted water. Old potatoes should be soaked in cold water at least an
hour. Potatoes should be boiled gently and not furiously.
When tender, drain thoroughly, dry on back of range. Shake saucepan,
cover with coarse towel until ready to serve.
Serve in open vegetable dish, never in a closed one.
Mashed Potatoes
Cook potatoes in boiling salted water. Drain, mash. To each cup of
mashed potato, allow one tablespoon butter, one half teaspoon salt, one
eighth teaspoon pepper, and hot milk to make of creamy consistency.
Beat with a fork until light.
Potato Balls
Add to one pint hot mashed potatoes, one eighth teaspoon celery salt,
one teaspoon chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and butter to taste, and
enough hot milk to make of consistency to shape. Form into smooth round
balls, bake in hot buttered pan; or sauté in butter; or fry in deep
fat. Or they may be sautéd in sausage fat, which gives an appetizing
flavor.
Creamed Potatoes
Cut two cups cold boiled potatoes in very thin slices, or in cubes. Add
one cup White Sauce. Season highly and reheat in double boiler. Serve
in hot dish sprinkled with finely chopped parsley.
Stewed Potatoes
Mix two cups potato cubes with two tablespoons butter, two cups milk,
salt and pepper.
Dredge with two tablespoons flour and cook twenty minutes in double
boiler.
Scalloped Potatoes
Mix two cups potato cubes with two cups White Sauce, cover with
buttered bread crumbs, and bake thirty minutes in hot oven. A few drops
onion juice may be added.
Lyonnaise Potatoes
Melt two tablespoons butter. Add one tablespoon finely chopped onion.
When onion is yellow, add two cups potato cubes. Season with salt and
pepper, cook until potatoes are heated through, and sprinkle with
finely chopped parsley, and serve.
French Fried Potatoes
Pare small raw potatoes, divide in halves, and cut each half in three
pieces; cover with boiling water and let stand three minutes. Drain
dry between cloths, and cook in frying basket in hot fat ten minutes.
Drain, sprinkle with salt, and serve.
Potato Chips
Slice raw potatoes, cover with cold water, and let soak over night.
Drain dry between towels and fry in frying basket in hot fat about ten
minutes. Drain and sprinkle with salt. Care must be used when lowering
the basket into the hot fat, as the potatoes contain so much water it
causes violent ebullition.
Potato Puff
Prepare two cups hot mashed potato. Add one half cup milk, two
well-beaten yolks, two tablespoons butter. Salt and pepper to taste.
Beat well; add beaten whites of two eggs. Pile lightly in buttered
baking dish and bake until puffed and brown.
Hashed Brown Potatoes
Sprinkle two cups cold boiled potato cubes with salt and pepper. Melt
one tablespoon butter; add one tablespoon flour and one half cup brown
stock. Cook five minutes; add potato cubes; cook ten minutes, stirring,
without breaking potatoes. Melt one tablespoon butter in another frying
pan. When brown, turn in potatoes, spread evenly, and cook ten minutes;
fold like an omelet, and serve hot.
Stuffed Potatoes
Bake six potatoes. When done, cut a lengthwise slice; scoop out the
potato with a spoon. Mash; add one tablespoon butter, salt, pepper,
one half cup milk, and two egg-whites beaten stiff. Refill skins with
this mixture. Pile lightly, do not smooth, and bake until potatoes are
puffed and brown.
French Potato Balls
Cut two cups of potato balls with French potato cutter. Parboil ten
minutes, drain, and fry in deep fat.
Potatoes à la Maître d’Hôtel
Cook two cups potato balls in boiling water until tender. Drain, and
serve with Maître d’Hôtel Butter.
Italian Potatoes
Mix two cups hot mashed potatoes, one teaspoon onion juice, one
tablespoon finely chopped parsley, one egg yolk well beaten, four
stiffly beaten whites, one half cup grated cheese, and salt and pepper
to taste. Pile lightly in baking dish and bake until brown.
Franconia Potatoes
Pare six medium-sized potatoes; parboil five minutes. Place on grate
under roast beef. Baste with beef fat, and bake from twenty to thirty
minutes, turning often.
Baked Potatoes
Wash and scrub six potatoes of uniform size. Place in dripping pan,
and bake in hot oven forty-five minutes to one hour, turning when half
done. Pierce with skewer, and serve immediately.
Browned Sweet Potatoes
Cut cold boiled sweet potatoes in lengthwise slices, sprinkle with salt
and pepper. Brush with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. Brown in
hot oven.
Southern Sweet Potatoes
Cut cold boiled sweet potatoes in lengthwise slices. Arrange in layers
in buttered baking dish. Cover each layer with brown sugar, dot with
butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, add one cup boiling water, and
bake in hot oven.
Stewed Tomatoes
Wipe one quart tomatoes, plunge into boiling water, let stand two
minutes, remove skins. Cut in pieces. Cook slowly twenty to thirty
minutes. Season with butter, salt and pepper and cook five minutes
longer. A few drops of onion juice and one half cup crackers, added
when the seasonings are put in, give a variety.