twine tie it into a loose bundle. Have ready, boiling, enough salted
water to cover the asparagus. The saucepan containing this should be
large enough to allow the asparagus to lie at full length. Boil until
tender, but not until the green tips begin to break. Spread upon a
platter crustless slices of buttered toast; drain the asparagus, and
lay it in a neat pile upon the toast. Of course the string must be
removed from the bundle. Just before sending to the table pour a white
sauce over the asparagus. An excellent plan is to pour this sauce only
over the green ends of the stalks, leaving the white ends uncovered,
that the fingers need not be soiled in handling the vegetable.
Baked asparagus
Cut the tender halves of the asparagus-stalks into inch-lengths. Cook
for fifteen minutes in salted boiling water, then drain. Grease a
pudding dish and put in the bottom a layer of the asparagus. Sprinkle
this with fine bread-crumbs, bits of butter, pepper and salt and small
pieces of hard-boiled egg. Now put in another layer of asparagus, more
crumbs, etc., and so on until the dish is full. The last layer must be
sprinkled with crumbs and bits of butter. Bake for half an hour, and
serve in the dish in which it is cooked.
Asparagus tips cachés
Cut the tops from square breakfast-rolls, and scoop the crumbs from
the insides, leaving box-like crusts. Butter the outside and inside of
these hollowed rolls and set them with the tops beside them in the oven
to dry and brown lightly.
Boil asparagus tips tender in salted water and drain. Have ready on the
stove a white sauce made by cooking together a tablespoonful of butter
and one of flour, and adding to them a cup and a half of milk. Stir
into this sauce the asparagus tips, and pepper and salt to taste. Fill
the hollowed rolls with the mixture, replace the tops and set in the
oven just long enough to become very hot.
Creamed asparagus
Reject the lower halves of your asparagus stalks and boil the upper
halves until they are very tender. Then drain and chop. Cook together
a tablespoonful of butter and two of flour until they bubble, pour on
them a pint of milk with a bit of soda dissolved in it. Stir until
smooth and of the consistency of cream, add the minced asparagus, with
salt and pepper to taste. Set this mixture aside until cool, then
beat into it three well-whipped eggs and two tablespoonfuls of cream.
Pour into a greased pudding dish and bake covered for twenty minutes;
uncover and brown.
Asparagus á la vinaigrette (No. 1)
Boil the asparagus according to the directions given in the preceding
recipe. When done, drain and set aside until cold, then place in the
ice-box until wanted. Lay upon a chilled platter and pour over the
stalks the following dressing:
Put three tablespoonfuls of salad oil into a bowl and stir into it a
tablespoonful of vinegar, a saltspoonful, each, of salt and sugar, and
a dash of paprika.
The asparagus and the dressing that accompany it should be served very
cold.
Asparagus á la vinaigrette (No. 2)
Cook as directed in recipe for boiled asparagus. While the vegetable is
cooking make a hot French dressing by putting together in a saucepan
over the fire half-a-dozen tablespoonfuls of salad oil, two of vinegar,
two teaspoonfuls of French mustard, half a teaspoonful of sugar, salt
and pepper to taste. When the asparagus is tender, drain, lay it in a
deep dish, and pour over it the hot dressing. Cover and set aside to
cool, then stand in the ice-chest for an hour or two before serving.
Asparagus loaf
Cook three cupfuls of the asparagus tips until tender, then drain. Put
into a saucepan two tablespoonfuls of butter and one tablespoonful
of flour; cook together one minute. Add one cupful of milk, one-half
teaspoonful of salt and one-fourth teaspoonful of paprika. Add the milk
slowly, stirring all the time, and let it cook five minutes. Take from
the fire and add four well-beaten eggs, one cupful of asparagus tips
and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Line a well-buttered baking dish
with the remainder of the asparagus tips; pour in the asparagus and
sauce, and cook with the dish in water in the oven for fifteen minutes.
Serve with egg sauce.
ARTICHOKES
The American artichoke, indigenous to this country, has received,
nobody living can say why, the absurd name of “Jerusalem artichoke.” It
is a tuber, resembling in appearance a turnip when cooked, but far more
agreeable in flavor.
The Italian artichoke _articiocco_ was introduced into this country
some years ago, and speedily became a fashionable edible. The part
eaten is the succulent bud, cut before it expands into a flower.
Boiled Jerusalem artichokes
Wash the artichokes thoroughly, pare and slice or trim them into an
oblong shape. Cook in slightly salted boiling water until tender, but
not broken, and pour melted butter over them. Sprinkle with salt and
pepper, and when turned into the dish, add a sprinkling of minced
parsley and a few drops of lemon juice.
Baked Jerusalem artichokes
Wash and pare the artichokes, and cook tender. Then cut into neat
slices. Put them into a baking-dish, sprinkle on a layer of grated
Parmesan cheese and cover with a white or cream sauce. Sprinkle
buttered crumbs over the top and bake until the crumbs are brown.
Boiled Italian artichokes
Cut off the stems, put the vegetables into boiling salted water,
and boil for half-an-hour. Cut in half from top to bottom and serve
half-an-one to each person. Pass with them a Hollandaise sauce. The
stems are stripped off by the person eating the artichoke, the soft end
dipped in the sauce and eaten. The fuzzy part should be scraped off and
the bottom of the artichoke, which is really the most delicate portion,
eaten with a fork.
Italian artichokes with sauce tartare
Remove the stems and outer leaves from the artichokes, and with a sharp
knife remove the cores or centers. Lay these in cold, salted water for
half-an-hour, drain and put into a saucepan with enough salted, boiling
water to cover them. Cook until tender, drain thoroughly, put into a
heated vegetable dish, and pour over them a sauce made of a half-cupful
of melted butter, into which you have beaten a teaspoonful of lemon
juice, a few drops of onion juice, a saltspoonful of French mustard, a
pinch, each, of salt and paprika, and a teaspoonful of salad oil. Beat
this sauce all together over the fire, remove from the range, and stir
it, very slowly, into one beaten egg. Unless this is done gradually,
the hot liquid will curdle the egg. Beat hard for a minute before
pouring over the artichokes.
Fried Italian artichokes
Cut off the leaves and trim away the wool from the stalks. Cook tender,
but not until broken, in salted water; drain and set on ice until
perfectly cold. Make a good batter of half a cupful of flour sifted
twice with a quarter teaspoonful of baking-powder and a little salt,
wet up with half a cupful of milk into which has been beaten one egg.
Cut each artichoke, perpendicularly, into halves, sprinkle with salt
and pepper, dip into the batter and fry in deep cottolene or other fat.
Drain off every drop of fat and serve hot with a tart sauce.
BANANAS
Bananas sautés
Peel, cut lengthwise into thirds; roll in flour, slightly salted and
peppered. Heat two tablespoonfuls of butter, or clarified dripping in
a frying-pan; put in the bananas and fry to a golden brown, turning
several times. Serve upon buttered toast.
Bananas fried whole
Peel and cut off the tip at each end; sprinkle with pepper and salt,
roll in beaten egg, then in fine crumbs, again in egg, and again crumb
them. Leave them upon ice for an hour or two, and fry in deep, boiling
cottolene or other fat to a delicate brown. Serve very hot.
Baked bananas
Strip off one-third of the skin of each, and with a silver knife loosen
the skin around the fruit. Arrange in a baking-pan with the stripped
side uppermost. On each banana place a quarter teaspoonful of butter,
sprinkle with one teaspoonful of sugar and a half teaspoonful of water
for each banana, and bake about twenty minutes.
Scalloped bananas
Peel, slice and arrange in a buttered bake-dish, alternately with fine
crumbs. Sprinkle each layer with salt, pepper and butter, also with a
little cream. Let the uppermost layer be crumbs, well-buttered and wet
with cream. Bake, covered, half-an-hour, then brown.
BEANS
Boston baked beans (No. 1)
Soak a quart of beans in cold water all night. In the morning soak them
for two hours in warm water. Drain, put into a pot with enough water to
cover them, and bring them slowly to a boil. When they are tender, turn
then into a deep bake-dish; first pouring off the surplus water. Cut
gashes in a half-pound piece of parboiled salt pork, and place this in
the center of the dish. To a pint of the water in which the beans were
boiled add a gill of molasses and a saltspoonful of French mustard. Mix
well, and pour this over the beans and pork. Cover the dish and bake in
a steady oven for six hours.
Boston baked beans (No. 2)
Wash a quart of beans, let them stand over-night in a gallon of cold
water. In the morning, pour off the water and wash again. Then place in
a pot, cover with plenty of water, and set over the fire.
Have the pork all fat if possible, unless lean is preferred. Score the
rind deeply. Put the beans and pork over the fire and simmer until the
beans begin to crack open, not any longer. Drain all the water from
them and rinse again with cold water. Put about half the beans in the
pot, and then the pork, rind-side up. Next, put in the remainder of the
beans. Mix a teaspoonful, each, of mustard and sugar with pepper, and a
great spoonful of molasses with a pint of boiling water and pour over
the beans. Cover the pot, set in a slow oven and bake ten hours, adding
boiling water whenever the beans look dry. Do not have the fire so hot
that the water on the beans bubbles, and have no more water than will
barely come to the top of the beans. Use an earthen pot.
New Jersey baked beans
Soak and boil the beans in the same way as before described—only change
the water in which they are boiled an hour before they are done—and
boil the pork with the beans; a slice of onion and a tiny piece of
bay-leaf may be added to the first water. When they are ready for
baking fill a shallow basin with them; place the pork in the center
with the scored rind exposed, with one or two tablespoonfuls of
molasses, some white pepper, and one tablespoonful of butter in small
bits sprinkled all over the beans; bake, covered, about two hours.
Enough of the water in which they were boiled should be poured in to
make them soft, and about an hour before they are done one cupful of
sweet cream, heated, with a pinch of soda, may be poured in upon the
beans, loosening them with a fork that the cream may soak in.
Sunnybank baked beans
Soak over night and boil tender as already directed. Parboil half a
pound of pork and chop fine. Have ready a large cupful of strained
tomato sauce, well seasoned with onion juice, butter, salt and a good
deal of sugar. Put a layer of minced pork in the bottom of your dish;
then one of beans, next tomato sauce. Proceed in this way until the
dish is full; add a very little hot water; cover closely and bake two
hours, then brown.
It will be found very good, a vast improvement upon the conventional
pork and baked beans. The top layer should be of tomato sauce.
Baked beans with tomato sauce
Soak white beans over night in cold water, and in the morning put over
the fire in boiling water, slightly salted. Cook until tender. Drain
and put into a deep dish. Cover with a tomato sauce, made by cooking
together a tablespoonful, each, of butter and flour until they bubble,
and then pouring upon them a cupful of strained tomato liquor. Season
to taste, and rather highly, unless you have previously added salt and
pepper to the beans. Stir the sauce in with these and bake, closely
covered, for two hours.
Beans sautés
Soak beans over night and boil until tender. Drain very dry and
sprinkle with salt. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter into a frying pan,
and when this has melted fry in it a large onion sliced. When the onion
has browned remove it with a perforated spoon, and stir into the butter
a tablespoonful of minced parsley. Now add the beans and turn them over
and over in the hissing butter until very hot. Sprinkle lightly with
salt (if needed) and pepper. Turn into a colander, then into a hot dish.
Stewed beans
Soak over night. In the morning parboil for one hour, drain, put
them over the fire in enough weak stock to cover them and stew two
hours, slowly. For the last hour set in a pan of boiling water to
prevent scorching. All the stock should be absorbed, yet the beans
should not be dry. At the end of two hours stir in a sauce made of one
tablespoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of mustard and the same of
molasses, with twice as much onion juice and the juice of half a lemon,
mixed in half a cupful of boiling water. Leave, covered, upon the fire
for ten minutes (still in boiling water) and turn out.
Lima beans
Shell, lay in cold water for half an hour, and cook half an hour in
boiling water, a little salted. Drain, dish, toss about over a lump of
butter, and salt and pepper to your liking.
Lima beans with white sauce
Cook as directed in last recipe, but instead of dishing after draining,
return to the saucepan with a good white sauce into which you have
stirred a little chopped parsley. Simmer three minutes and serve.
Boiled string beans
You can not destroy this dish more effectually than by “stringing” the
beans in the slovenly manner practised by at least one-half of American
cooks, or those who represent the American kitchen. The neatest way
of ridding beans of backbones is to pare each the whole length with a
sharp knife. The flavor is more delicate when this is done.
Lay a handful of the pods upon a board with the ends even, and cut
through all into inch-pieces. Wash and cook in boiling salted water
until tender. Drain, season with butter, salt and pepper, and serve.
Full-grown beans demand much more time for cooking than young.
Underdone beans have a rank taste and are unwholesome.
Steamed cream string beans
By some they are called “butter beans,” by others “German wax beans.”
They are sweeter and richer than the ordinary green string bean. Put
into cold water for half an hour after paring the fiber lightly from
each side of the pods, taking care not to touch the beans inside. Then,
with a _sharp_ knife cut them into slanting slivers, three for each
bean, and each a little over an inch long. Wash and put the dripping
beans into a saucepan containing a great spoonful of warmed (not hot)
butter, pepper and salt to taste. Add three tablespoonfuls of warm
water. Cover closely, and bring slowly to a gentle simmer. Now and then
shake the saucepan upward to make sure the beans are not sticking to
the bottom, but do not open it, as everything depends upon the steam.
Young beans may be tender in forty minutes. Large or stale will not be
fit to eat under one hour. Do not put more than three tablespoonfuls of
water for a quart of beans, and dish without draining.
String beans of any kind are nicer when cooked in this way than any
other.
Savory string beans
String and cut the beans diagonally as just directed, and boil tender
in salted water. Have ready a roux of butter and flour, and mix it with
half a cupful of gravy of any kind. Stir until smooth, seasoning with
pepper, salt and a little onion. Strain this sauce over the beans and
cook for five minutes longer.
BEETS
Boiled beets
As the preliminary process to all dishes composed of beets is boiling
it is well to learn exactly how this should be done. Too often the once
ruddy vegetable is allowed to “bleed” out its juices until it has a
pallid and uninviting appearance.
Wash the beets, rubbing them carefully with the palm of the hand to
dislodge dirt, but not so hard as to abrade the tender skin. Drop into
fresh cold water as you cleanse them. Put into a saucepan of salted
boiling water and cook for an hour. Drain, scrape, slice and serve in
a deep dish with melted butter poured over them. They are best when a
tablespoonful of hot vinegar is added to the melted butter.
Creamed young beets
Cook with two inches of the stem on to prevent bleeding, and do not
clip the tap root. Have ready a cupful of cream heated with a pinch of
soda. Rub the skins off, top and tail the beets, and slice them thin
into the cream, setting the saucepan containing it in boiling water.
When all are in stir in a tablespoonful of butter rubbed into one of
flour, pepper, salt and a teaspoonful, each, of sugar and onion juice.
Simmer two minutes to cook the flour, and dish.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Boiled Brussels sprouts
Remove the outer leaves and lay the sprouts in cold salted water for
three-quarters of an hour. Drain and boil in salted water for about
fifteen minutes, or until tender. Try with a fork, and if they are
tender, but not soft, all through, they are done. Drain and lay in a
hot dish and pour over them a half cupful of melted butter in which has
been stirred a half saltspoonful, each, of salt and pepper. Serve very
hot.
Brussels sprouts au gratin
Boil the sprouts tender in salted water, drain and cut each sprout in
four pieces. Cook together a tablespoonful, each, of butter and flour,
and when they are blended pour upon them a scant pint of milk. When you
have a smooth sauce stir the quartered sprouts into this. Season to
taste, turn all into a greased pudding-dish, strew thickly with crumbs
and bits of butter, and bake to a light brown. Serve in the dish in
which they were baked.
CABBAGE
Those who know cabbage as it is served with the old-fashioned “boiled
dinner” have no conception of the many delightful changes of which this
so-called plebeian vegetable is susceptible. In summer, when it is
young and tender, it is particularly good, and may be so cooked that it
is as palatable and delicate to the taste as its refined cousin, the
cauliflower. Have the water boiling when the vegetable is thrust into
it, head down, and keep it at a hard boil until done. Some housekeepers
claim that a teaspoonful of vinegar added to the water will dissipate
the obnoxious odor.
Savory boiled cabbage
Cut a firm cabbage into four parts and reject the outer leaves. Wash
carefully in two waters, taking care to dislodge any insects that may
be concealed between the leaves. Have a large pot of boiling water
on the range; dissolve in a tablespoonful of salt and a quarter of a
teaspoonful of baking soda. Plunge the cabbage into this, and cook,
uncovered, for fifteen minutes, drain, and fill the pot with more
boiling water, adding salt as you do so. Cook the cabbage until tender,
always uncovered, turn into a colander, press out all the water and
set aside to get very cold. Chop fine and season with salt, white
pepper, and a dash of tomato catsup. Heat in a saucepan a large cupful
of well-seasoned soup stock, turn the cabbage into this and toss and
turn until very hot. Now add a large spoonful of melted butter, and a
teaspoonful of lemon juice, and serve.
Baked cabbage
Boil cabbage tender in two waters, drain and set aside until cold,
then chop fine. Mix together two beaten eggs, two tablespoonfuls of
melted butter, two tablespoonfuls of cream, a saltspoonful of salt and
a dash of paprika. Stir this into the chopped cabbage and put it into a
buttered pudding-dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top and bake until
brown.
Fricasseed cabbage
Boil and chop, as in the last recipe, and keep hot while you cook
together in a saucepan a tablespoonful of butter and one (heaping) of
flour; when they bubble pour upon them a cupful of hot milk. Stir to a
smooth sauce; turn into this the chopped cabbage, cook for a minute,
season and serve.
Stuffed cabbage
Choose a fresh, firm cabbage. Lay in cold water for half an hour, and
boil in salted water for ten minutes. Remove, drain, and allow it
to get very cold. Meanwhile make a forcemeat of a cupful of boiled
rice and the same quantity of chopped cold chicken with half a cupful
of minced ham. Work to a paste and season. Stand the cabbage on the
stem-end and carefully open the leaves, beginning at the center. Fill
the spaces between the layers of leaves with the forcemeat; close the
cabbage upon itself, tie it up firmly in a piece of coarse netting,
put it gently into a pot of boiling salted water, and cook almost two
hours. Take from the water, remove the netting very carefully, put the
cabbage on a platter and pour a rich white sauce over it. If properly
prepared, this is a delicious dish.
Baked cabbage with tomato sauce
Boil a cabbage in two waters, drain, cut it fine, and season with salt
and pepper. Grease a pudding-dish and put a layer of the cabbage in the
bottom of it; cover this layer with tomato sauce and sprinkle with a
few fine crumbs. Proceed in this way until the dish is full, having the
last layer of crumbs. Bake for half an hour.
Shredded cabbage and cheese
Cut a cabbage into shreds and boil in salted water until tender. Drain
and stand in a heated colander at the side of the range. Cook together
two teaspoonfuls of butter and two of flour, and pour upon them a pint
of hot milk. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in three heaping
tablespoonfuls of grated cheese. Cook, stirring constantly, for just a
minute. Turn the cabbage into a deep vegetable dish and pour the cheese
sauce over it.
Cold slaw
Wash a cabbage and lay it in cold water for half an hour. With a sharp
knife cut it into strips, or shreds. As you cut these drop them into
iced water. When ready to serve, drain in a colander, shaking hard to
dislodge the moisture, and pour over all a dressing made by rubbing the
yolks of two hard-boiled eggs to a paste with one beaten egg, a half
cupful of salad oil, the juice of a lemon, mustard, salt and pepper to
taste.
Cabbage cream salad
Prepare as in the preceding recipe, only cutting the shreds into
inch-lengths before dropping them in iced water. Beat a pint of cream
very stiff. Drain the cabbage, sprinkle lightly with salt, and stir
it into the whipped cream, turning and tossing until it is thoroughly
coated with the white foam. Serve at once with crackers and cheese. The
cabbage should be tender and crisp for this dish.
An Italian dish of cabbage
Boil a cabbage in two waters; drain; when cold, chop coarsely, and
season with salt and pepper. Butter a pudding-dish, put a layer of the
cabbage in this; sprinkle with buttered crumbs and a teaspoonful of
grated Parmesan cheese. Put in more cabbage, more crumbs and cheese,
and, when the dish is nearly full, pour a cup of seasoned beef stock
over all. Bake for half an hour.
Scalloped cabbage
Boil a head of cabbage in two waters; drain; let it cool, and chop
fine. Cover the bottom of a baking-dish with bread-crumbs; scatter over
these tiny morsels of butter, seasoned with pepper, salt and a few
drops of onion juice; spread with a layer, an inch thick, of the minced
cabbage. Season this layer with salt, butter-bits, and a sharp dash
of lemon juice. Repeat the crumbs, then a second stratum of cabbage,
a cupful of boiling milk, and cover all thickly with bread-dust, well
seasoned. Sift grated cheese upon the top, and bake, covered, until
bubbling hot. Uncover and brown. You can use weak stock in place of
milk if you have it. Boil a pinch of soda in the milk. An excellent
family dish.
CARROTS
Stewed carrots
Wash, scrape off the skin, cut into dice and leave in cold water
for half an hour. Put, then, into the inner compartment of a double
boiler with no water upon them except that which clings to them after
washing. Cover closely, and cook tender. An hour should be long enough
for this. Turn into a deep dish, pepper and salt, and cover with a good
white sauce.
Mashed carrots
Scrape and slice carrots, and boil tender in two waters. Drain, rub
through a colander, and mash with a potato-beetle. Beat light with a
tablespoonful of melted butter, add salt and pepper, and serve very hot.
Carrots sautés
Boil young carrots, not longer than your forefinger, for eight minutes
in salted water. Rub and scrape off the skins; cover with boiling water
and cook tender. Drain, lay for a minute in cold water until you can
handle them, and cut each carrot in two, each half into strips. Heat
a tablespoonful of butter in a frying-pan with a half teaspoonful of
white sugar, a little salt and pepper, and when it boils lay in the
strips of carrot. Cook three minutes after the bubble recommences;
sprinkle with chopped parsley, toss about for one minute, drain and
serve hot.
Carrot croquettes
Wash and scrape and cook until very tender. Mash smooth and beat to a
paste with the yolk of a raw egg, a good spoonful of softened butter,
pepper and salt to taste. Let this paste get cold and stiff before
making into croquettes or balls. Roll in beaten egg, then in fine
crumbs; set on ice for an hour and fry in deep, boiling cottolene or
other fat. Drain and serve hot.
CAULIFLOWER
Cauliflower boiled whole