2. All green vegetables should be laid in cold salt and water for 1 hour
before they are cooked. This draws out all the insects they contain.
Carrots should be scraped, then cut up and thrown into cold water till
they are cooked. Turnips must be peeled thickly, then cut up and thrown
into cold water till they are cooked. Onions must be peeled, then, as a
rule, sliced or chopped.
3. Green vegetables should be thrown into boiling water with a little
salt and small piece of soda, boiled quickly for a few minutes and then
simmered until tender.
4. A crust of bread should be boiled with cabbages, greens, etc. This
takes off the disagreeable smell.
5. Vegetables must never be left over-night in saucepans, for a poison
would be produced.
6. All the waste part of vegetables should be dried under the grate,
then burnt at once, _never thrown into the dust-bin_. By this means all
unwholesome smells are avoided.
Baked Beetroot. Time—3 hours.
Boil a large beetroot about 2 hours, be careful not to pierce it. When
cold mash it very smooth, add a little dripping, pepper, salt and stock.
Place in a greased basin and bake for 1 hour.
Broad Beans. Time—¾ hour.
Shell, wash and drain them. Throw into cold water with a little salt and
a bunch of parsley. Boil until soft (20 to 30 minutes), then drain them.
Serve either with melted butter or gravy.
French Beans. Time—¾ hour.
String the beans, cut each slantwise into 2 or 3 pieces, wash them well
in cold salt and water, drain them, and throw them into boiling water
with a little salt and a small piece of soda in it. Let them boil very
fast with the lid off, until tender. Drain the water off and serve.
_French beans, à la maître d’hôtel_ are boiled as above, then rinsed in
cold water, dried and put into a stew-pan on the fire with a little
dripping, chopped parsley, pepper, salt, nutmeg and lemon-juice, till
thoroughly heated through.
Haricot Beans. Time—6 hours.
1 pint haricot beans, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, 1 teaspoonful brown
sugar; pepper and salt to taste.
Soak the beans over-night. Next day boil them for 5 or 6 hours in plenty
of water. One hour before serving, mix the vinegar, sugar, pepper and
salt well together, pour away some of the water from the beans, and add
the mixture to them.
Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Greens, and Savoys. Time—1½ hour.
Cut off the faded outside leaves and hard part of the stalk, and wash
the vegetables well. Cook in plenty of boiling water, with a
tablespoonful of salt to every half-gallon. If the water is very hard,
add sufficient carbonate of soda to cover a threepenny piece. Boil with
the lid off till the stalk is soft.
Stewed Carrots. Time—½ hour.
Scrape carrots carefully and cut in thick pieces. Place them in
sufficient water to cover them and stew till tender. Then evaporate
water till only half remains. Add a little dripping, flour and pepper
and toss carrots gently in pan till they are coated with their own
juice, and serve.
Stewed Celery. Time—¾ hour.
Boil some heads of celery, cut into pieces about 2 inches long, in some
good stock, add salt, pepper, and a little lemon-juice. Thicken the
stock with flour and serve.