Chapter VIII: Part 8

Mix the flour and butter, pour boiling water over, stirring, add cream and salt.

Put cooked oyster plant and mushrooms in pieces (⅔ oyster plant, ⅓ mushrooms), 1 pt. in all, into baking dish. Pour sauce over, cover with universal or pastry crust and proceed as in trumese pie.

Substitute stewed potatoes for oyster plant with either crust, or cover with a thin crust of mashed lentils, or use celery in place of oyster plant and cover with a rice crust.

=★ Cream of Fresh Mushroom Soup=

Cook chopped imperfect caps and stems of mushrooms in water 5-10 m. Add more water if necessary and heavy cream; thicken with flour to the consistency of heavy cream. Add salt and a few cooked caps if desired, or, from 1-3 caps may be placed in each dish when the soup is served.

This soup cannot be improved upon.

=★ Boundary Castle Soup=

Add sufficient water with salt to Boundary Castle sauce to make of the consistency of soup. Very delicious.

Directions for canning and drying mushrooms pp. 71 and 72.

STUFFINGS AND DRESSINGS

The quantity of liquid, if any, must be determined by the purpose the dressing is to be used for and the dryness of the ingredients. As a rule, dressings are better without eggs.

Dressings may sometimes be put over the top of suitable meat pies for the crust.

They may also be put into the bottom of a well oiled tin or pudding dish with slices of or minced nut meat or mashed legumes on top, baked and inverted on a platter or chop tray for serving; garnished with halves of nut meats, accompanied of course with a suitable gravy.

Whole pine nuts, or broken nuts of different kinds may sometimes be used in stuffings.

=Simple Dressing=

Dip slices of stale bread into salted hot water quickly. Lay them in a baking tin and sprinkle delicately with powdered leaf sage or savory. When a sufficient number of layers is prepared, sprinkle with crumbs and a little more water if necessary. Bake in a quick oven about 20 m., or until browned over the top. Serve on a platter with some ragout over it.

Or, bake in a pudding dish and send to the table to be served with the meat dish with gravy.

=Savory Dressing=

Crumbs, egg or not, butter or oil, parsley, thyme, sage, summer savory, onion juice and salt.

=Danish Dressing=

3 large tart apples, chopped
1 cup cooked rice
3 chopped onions
½ cup dry bread crumbs
1 cup English currants
a very little thyme, sage or savory
salt
a little melted butter
hot water if necessary

=Onion and Parsley Stuffing=

3 cups stale bread crumbs
3 onions chopped fine
2 tablespns. chopped parsley
2 or 3 tablespns. oil or melted butter

A few sage leaves may be substituted for the parsley for a sage and onion stuffing.

=Celery Stuffing=

Equal parts bread crumbs and finely-sliced celery, salt and butter.

=Nut and Raisin Dressing=

To bread crumbs, melted butter, thyme, sage, grated onion and salt, add a few seeded raisins and chopped English walnuts.

=Vegetable Stuffing=

½ cup each mashed green peas, onions in oil, stewed celery, stewed carrot and finely-sliced raw celery, salt, 1 or 2 eggs.

=Chestnut Stuffing=

Mashed boiled chestnuts, salt, butter or a little heavy cream.

=Black Walnut and Potato Stuffing=

1 qt. mashed potato
½-1 cup chopped black walnut meats
2-3 tablespns. grated onion
1¼ teaspn. salt

Beat.

MEAT AND VEGETABLE GRAVIES AND SAUCES

“Perfection in the art of cookery is attainable only by lengthened
experience and careful study of the qualities of foods and the
application of sauces and seasonings. _It is chiefly in knowing how
to make and apply sauces that a cook shows her skill._”

--_Old Writer._

Suggestions

Use pastry flour for gravies and sauces.

The sauce should be a little more salt than the food with which it is to be served.

As a rule, the sauce should be poured around, not over the food.

No positive general rule can be given for thickening, as flour varies and different kinds of liquid require different proportions. Also the evaporation of liquids, in different quantities, varies.

About one tablespoon of flour may be calculated for each cup of water; but for milk, cream or tomato that amount is quite too much.

Do not make sauces too thick. A sauce should not be a paste. The consistency of medium cream is about right for nearly all; some should be thinner, and a few slightly thicker.

As they thicken by standing, make sauces thinner at first than required.

A Roux is a mixture of oil or butter, and flour, heated together for thickening sauces. It is used in the following manner;

Heat the oil, without browning, in a saucepan; add the flour, rub smooth with wire batter whip, then add liquid, hot, stirring until smooth. The sauce should come to the boiling point only and be removed at once from the fire as otherwise the oil will separate.

Adding flour to hot oil cooks it more perfectly than a boiling liquid and obviates the raw flour taste.

Directions for flavoring, pp. 24-27.

=1 Plain Nut Sauce=

1 tablespn. raw nut butter, 1 pt. water. Mix butter with water, boil ½ hr., add salt with water to make 1½-2 cups; thicken slightly.

Serve with nut and legume dishes, over boiled rice and with some vegetables. Steamed nut butter may be used instead of raw.

=2 Nut Onion Sauce=

Cook sliced onions with plain sauce.

=3 Nut and Tomato Sauce=

Use ⅓ tomato instead of all water in plain sauce. A little browned flour sometimes.

=4 Nut Gravy for Roasts=

Cook browned flour, onion, garlic, bayleaf and a very little tomato with plain sauce. A little sage occasionally.

=5 Nut and Tomato Bisque Sauce=

Thicken nut and tomato bisque, p. 93, slightly.

May use steamed or roasted nut butter, nutmese, or the water from boiled peanuts with a little lemon juice, for nut sauces.

=6 Simple Brown Sauce=

2 tablespns. oil or melted butter
2 tablespns. flour
1-2 teaspns. browned flour
1 pt. water
salt

Follow directions for making sauce with roux.

=7 Brown Onion Sauce=

Simmer without browning sliced or chopped onion in oil, before adding flour to brown sauce.

=8 Savory Sauce=

Add a delicate flavoring of leaf sage to brown or brown onion sauce.

=9 Roast Gravy--par excellence=

A little tomato, onion, a trifle of thyme and bay leaf with nut cream in brown sauce. Simmer, strain.

=10 Consommé Sauce=

Consommé with more browned flour and tomato or onion, thickened. Roux may be used.

=11 Celery Consommé Sauce=

½ cup finely-sliced celery
2 tablespns. oil or melted butter
2 tablespns. flour
1 pt. consommé

Add celery to hot oil, then flour and hot consommé with more salt if necessary.

=★ 12 Everybody’s Favorite=

⅔ tablespn. butter
1⅓ tablespn. oil
½-1 clove garlic
1-2 teaspns. browned flour
1½-2 tablespns. white flour
1¾ cup boiling water
¾ cup milk
salt
½ tablespn. chopped parsley

Throw crushed or finely-chopped garlic into oil and proceed as for sauce with roux, adding parsley last, of course. The sauce is nice without the parsley. Raw or steamed nut butter may be used.

=13 Almond and Tomato Cream Sauce--starchless=

½ tablespn. almond butter
1 cup strained tomato
½ teaspn. salt

Rub butter smooth with tomato, heat to boiling, add salt and serve.

This sauce heated with stewed okra makes a delightful omelet sauce, or side dish, or dressing for trumese, toast or rice.

=★ 14 Old Fashioned Milk Gravy=

1 pt. rich milk (part cream)
2-2½ tablespns. browned flour No. 1

Blend the flour with cold water or milk, stir into boiling milk, boil up and add salt. Or, put 1-1½ tablespn. of oil in a sauce pan; when just hot add the flour, then hot milk, stir until smooth and add salt.

=★ 15 Sour Cream Gravy=

½ cup sour cream
1 tablespn. flour
½-1 teaspn. browned flour
boiling water
salt

Mix cream and flour, pour boiling water over, stirring constantly, to make of the desired consistency; boil thoroughly, add salt, serve. The gravy may be flavored.

=16 Cream or White Sauce=

2 tablespns. oil or melted butter
(or 1 tablespn. solid butter)
1½ tablespn. flour
1 pt. milk
salt

Follow directions for sauce with roux. Or, heat milk, without oil, in an oiled frying pan, to just boiling; add slowly, stirring, flour blended with water or milk. Boil up well, remove from fire, add salt.

¼-⅓ cream and ⅔ water may be used instead of milk.

For vegetables the sauce should be thinner. A teaspoonful of sugar improves the flavor with carrots and turnips.

=★ 17 Tomato Cream Sauce=

Especially suitable for mashed peas or sweet potatoes.

Add ½ cup rich strained tomato and more salt to each pint of cream sauce.

=18 Cream of Tomato Sauce=

1 pt. strained tomato
1 tablespn. flour
¼ cup cream (½ cup if thin)
1 teaspn. salt

Thicken boiling tomato, add cream, remove from fire, add salt.

Do not add the salt before the cream.

=19 Cream of Tomato Sauce--Sister Howard’s=

1-1½ tablespn. butter
finely-sliced onion
1-1½ tablespn. flour
1 pt. tomato
2-3 tablespns. cream
salt

Simmer onion in butter without browning, add flour, hot tomato, cream and salt.

CREAM SAUCE VARIATIONS

=20 Mint Cream=--Add chopped mint to cream sauce. Use for green peas, mashed dry green peas, poached or hard boiled eggs and other dishes.

=21 Cream of Celery=--Use water in which celery was cooked, with cream, or milk and oil or butter, for cream sauce, and add stewed celery.

=22 Cream of Onion=--Add stewed, crushed, boiled onions to cream sauce. Or, add cooked onions to roux in pan, then add milk. Or, simmer without browning, chopped raw onions in oil, before adding flour.

=23 Cream of Parsley=--Chopped parsley in cream sauce.

=24 Cream of Spinach=--Pour cream sauce gradually stirring, into macerated, cooked spinach; heat; strain through wire strainer if necessary.

=25 Lavender=--Finely-chopped, cooked purple cabbage in cream sauce.

=26 Golden=--Mashed or grated cooked carrots in cream sauce, with or without onion and garlic.

=27 Brown Cream=--Use 1-1½ (according to brownness) tablespn. browned flour in cream sauce recipe.

=28 Egg Cream=--Add yolks of 2 eggs to each pint of cream sauce.

=29 Egg Cream No. 2=--1 tablespn. butter, 1 teaspn. flour, 1 cup milk, 2 beaten eggs, salt, 1-2 tablespns. lemon juice if desired, chopped parsley.

=30 Egg Cream-non-starch=--For stewed cucumbers, oyster plant, asparagus and carrots. To each pint of vegetables, ½ tablespn. butter, ½ cup thin cream or rich milk, yolk of 1 egg, salt. Richer cream may be used and butter omitted. Use the yolks of 3 eggs only for a pint of cream.

=31 Egg=--Add hard boiled eggs in dice or coarsely-chopped, to cream sauce.

=32 Bread Sauce=

⅓ cup fine dry bread crumbs (or ⅔-1 cup stale crumbs)
1 pt. dairy or nut milk
salt

Soak crumbs in half the milk in double boiler till soft; beat until smooth; add salt and the remainder of the milk, heat, strain through coarse strainer, if necessary. If the milk is not rich a little butter may be added just before serving. Browned coarse crumbs (fine croutons) may be sprinkled over the dish with which the sauce is served.

Flavor sauce with onion, onion and sage, chives, celery salt, or onion and parsley, sometimes.

=33 Bread and Bean Sauce--Sister Elsie’s=

1 cup mashed beans
¼-½ cup bread crumbs (from salt rising bread if you have it)
1½ cup rich milk
1 teaspn. flour
salt
1 tablespn. butter if desired

Milk from raw nut butter gives another sauce.

=34 Drawn Butter=

1½-2 tablespns. butter
1 tablespn. flour
1 cup boiling water
salt

Rub butter and flour together, pour boiling water over, heat to boiling, remove from fire and add salt; or, follow directions for sauce with roux.

VARIATIONS OF DRAWN BUTTER

=35 Cream=--Use 1¼ cup milk instead of water in preceding recipe.

=36 Tomato=--Use ¼-½ cup of strained tomato, and water to make 1¼ cup, in drawn butter. Flavor with onion if desired.

=37 Egg=--Chopped or sliced hard boiled eggs in drawn butter.

=38 Sour=--½ to 1 tablespn. lemon juice to each cup of liquid in drawn butter.

=39 Onion=--Add crushed boiled onions to drawn butter. Use sometimes 1¼-1½ tablespn. browned flour No. 1, instead of white flour. May simmer (without browning) sliced or chopped raw onion in butter before adding flour.

=40 Drawn Butter Sauce=

Add ½ cup of cream to plain drawn butter.

=41 Emerald Parsley Sauce=

Add 3-4 tablespns. chopped parsley to drawn butter of 1 pt. of water. 2 or 3 teaspns. lemon juice may be added, also a little mint and sugar sometimes.

A nice way to prepare the parsley is to wash it well and boil 10 m. in salted water, drain, chop and bruise to a pulp. Milk with less flour may be used for the sauce.

=42 Tarragon Sauce=

Substitute finely-chopped fresh tarragon for parsley in preceding recipe. Use a little lemon juice if desired.

=★ 43 Sauce for Meat and Vegetable Pies=

Rub together 5 tablespns. oil or melted butter and 5 to 6 tablespns. of flour; add 1 qt. boiling water, boil well, add salt. Or, make as sauce with roux.

Allow a few slices of onion to stand in sauce for 10 m., then strain and it is nice for the table for any use.

=44 Gravy for Rhode Island Johnny Cakes=

corn meal porridge, macaroni and rice.

1 tablespn. oil
1 teaspn. butter
1 level teaspn. browned flour
1 level teaspn. white flour
½ cup water
salt
a little powdered sage

=45 Cream of Lentil Gravy=

For rice, macaroni or cutlets of corn meal porridge.

1 cup mashed lentils
1 cup rich milk or thin cream
1 teaspn. flour
salt

Thicken milk with flour blended with water and combine with lentils; heat. Add finely-sliced celery and chopped parsley for some dishes.

=46 Nut and Lentil Gravy=

½ cup lentils (large cupful after cooking)
¼-⅓ cup strained tomato
¼ tablespn. nut butter
1 cup water

Mix nut butter with water and add with tomato to mashed lentils. Heat to boiling, strain through fine strainer, add salt.

=47 Swiss Lentil Gravy=

1 cup mashed lentils
1-2 teaspns. browned flour
slices of onion
1 teaspn. white flour
salt

Heat lentils, browned flour and onion together for 10 m. Thicken with white flour stirred smooth with water. Add salt, strain, reheat.

=48 Vegetable Gravy=

3 tablespns. chopped onion
3 tablespns. finely-slice celery
2 tablespns. grated carrot
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 large bay leaf
5 tablespns. oil
5 tablespns. white flour
1-2 teaspns. browned flour
½ cup strained tomato
3½ cups boiling water
a trifle of thyme
salt
1 tablespn. chopped parsley

Simmer vegetables and bay leaf in oil for 10 m. Do not brown. Add brown and white flour, tomato and water; boil. Remove bay leaf; add salt, thyme and parsley; serve. Celery tops may be used instead of sliced stalks. The gravy may be strained.

=49 Olive Sauce=

2 tablespns. olive oil
1 tablespn. chopped onion
1-1½ tablespn. flour
1 teaspn. browned flour
1 pt. water, milk, or raw nut butter milk
(1 tablespn. raw nut butter cooked in water 20 m. to ½ hr.)
10-15 ripe olives
1-2 tablespns. lemon juice if desired

Prepare sauce in the usual manner and add sliced or chopped olives just before serving.

=50 Olive and Nut Butter Sauce=

For Rhode Island Johnny cakes, corn meal porridge, macaroni and potatoes.

Make thin cream of roasted nut butter, boil up, add chopped or sliced ripe olives and salt if necessary. A little tomato may be used.

For a cold sauce, stir nut butter smooth with tomato or water and add chopped olives.

=51 Cream of Fresh Mushroom Sauce=

Cook chopped stems and imperfect mushrooms in salted water for 10 m. Add water. Thicken a little more than for an ordinary sauce. Add a little heavy cream, heat.

Mushrooms may be cooked for 20 m. in milk and butter in a double boiler or on back of range.

=52 Mushroom and Asparagus Sauce=

Use asparagus liquor for part of the liquid in the preceding recipe and add a few cooked asparagus tips.

=53 Boundary Castle (Fresh Mushroom) Sauce=

For timbales, mashed lentils, macaroni, rice, potatoes or toast, broiled trumese, croquettes, patties and corn meal porridge.

2 tablespns. oil
3 tablespns. chopped onion
½ tablespn. browned flour
2½ tablespns. white flour
2 tablespns. tomato
¾-1 teaspn. salt
¾-1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 tablespn. chopped parsley

Simmer but do not brown onion in oil for 10 m., add browned and white flour mixed, then tomato, with water for thick sauce. Now add with their liquor, the mushrooms which have been cooked for 10 m. and water to make of the right consistency, with the salt and parsley.

When served with timbales decorated with truffles, use juice of truffles in sauce.

=54 Italian (Dried Mushroom) Sauce=

2 tablespns. butter and oil
2 tablespns. chopped onion
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1½-2 tablespns. flour
mushroom liquor with hot rich milk to make 1 pt.
¼ cup dried mushrooms
salt

Heat oil, add onion and garlic, simmer, add flour, then liquid, and lastly the mushrooms which have been soaked for 2 hours, chopped, and cooked for 5 m. in the water in which they were soaked. Serve sometimes over split biscuit, on a platter, with slices of broiled trumese on top, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

For variety, add 1 teaspn. browned flour and 2 tablespns. tomato to the sauce.

For Italian Tomato Sauce, use ½ cup tomato instead of the mushrooms.

=55 Canned Mushroom Sauce=

2 tablespns. oil or butter
2 tablespns. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1½-2 tablespns. flour
2 teaspns. browned flour
¼ cup tomato
a trifle of thyme
a very little sage
½ cup sliced, canned mushrooms
1 pt. liquid--water and mushroom liquor
salt

Proceed as in other similar recipes.

=★ 56 Dried Mushroom Brown Sauce=

3 level tablespns. butter
2 level tablespns. flour
2 level teaspns. browned flour
½ cup strong dried mushroom liquor
1½ cup milk
salt

May add a few chopped dried mushrooms cooked 5 m. after soaking 4-5 hours. A little lemon juice may be added if liked.

=★ 57 Sauce Imperial=

1 qt. stewed tomatoes
1 or 2 large bay leaves
2 large sprigs thyme (or ¼ teaspn. dry thyme)
1 tablespn. chopped onion
⅛ of a lemon, rind and all
2 tablespns. oil
2½ or 3 tablespns. flour
salt

Cook all except flour, oil and parsley together for 20 m. Strain, heat oil, add flour and the strained tomato mixture. Then add 1¼ to 1½ teaspn. salt (or enough to destroy the acid taste of the tomato), and the parsley.

=★ 58 Chili Sauce=

4 qts. stewed tomatoes
2-3 pints finely-sliced onion
1 cup sugar
1¼ cup lemon juice
1¾-2¼ tablespns. salt
1½-2 tablespns. celery salt
4 large bay leaves
¼-½ teaspn. thyme

Cook tomato, onion and bay leaf together until onions are tender; then add dry ingredients (which have been mixed together), and the lemon juice. Boil up well, put into jars and seal. Thyme and bay leaf may omitted.

=★ 59 Tomato Catsup=

2 qts. strained, stewed tomato
1 large head of celery
4 tablespns. sugar
4 teaspns. salt.

Slice celery very fine, add with sugar and salt to the boiling tomatoes; cook until the celery is tender and the sauce rather thick.

=60 Other Catsups=

Very delightful sauces may be made by cooking a consommé, the nut French soup and other suitable soups down thick.

=61 Peas and Carrot Sauce=

Add cooked carrots cut into dice or fancy shapes, and cooked green peas, to thickened white soup stock, p. 77. They may be added to cream sauce or drawn butter.

=62 Pink Sauce=

Fruit color, or rich red beet juice in drawn butter or white sauce. Sauce may be flavored with onion, garlic and lemon juice or with celery.

=63 Apple and Onion Sauce=

Simmer chopped onion in oil 5-10 m. Add thick slices of apple with salt and a very little water. Cover close; cook until apples are tender. Serve with broiled trumese or nutmese, or with omelets or scrambled eggs.

=64 Another=

Apples in quarters, not pared, grated onion, a little tomato, sugar, salt and celery salt, water to cook apples tender. Rub through colander.

=65 Currant Sauce=

1 qt. currants
1 large onion, sliced
1 teaspn. celery salt
½ teaspn. salt
2-3 tablespns. sugar
½ cup water

Cook onion in water, with salt and sugar. When tender, add currants and celery salt; cook until currants are broken but not till the seeds are hard. Put into jars boiling hot. Seal.

=66 Currant Sauce No. 2=

1 qt. currants
1 small head celery--1 pt. finely sliced
3 or 4 tablespns. sugar
½ teaspn. salt
1 cup water

Simmer all together until currants are broken. Seal in jars. Or, cook celery in salted water, add currants and sugar, and cook until currants are broken only.

=67 Baked Gooseberry Sauce=

1 pt. ripe gooseberries
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
a little salt

Put all into baking dish, cover close, bake about an hour.

=68 Jellied Chutney Sauce=

1 pt. currant juice
1 pt. red raspberry juice
1 cup orange juice
3½ cups granulated sugar
1-1½ cup ground seeded raisins
particles of thin yellow shavings of half an orange

Make jelly and add a little at a time to raisins. Stir in orange rind and put into tumblers. Rind may be omitted.

=69 Tomato Chutney=

1 qt. sliced tomatoes
1 qt. sliced onions
¾ cup lemon juice
1 cup water
1 cup chopped raisins
salt

Cook all together 1½, hour.

=70 Ripe Cucumber Chutney=

1 qt. pared and seeded ripe cucumber in cubes
⅓ cup lemon juice
¾ cup sugar
⅔ teaspn. ground coriander seed
⅛-¼ teaspn. celery salt
½ cup seeded raisins

Soak cucumber in cold water over night, drain; cook with the sugar, raisins and part of the lemon juice until soft; add the other ingredients, heat well and seal in jars.

=71 Apple and Green Tomato Chutney=

2 qts. chopped tart apples
3 cups (1 lb.) seeded raisins
3-4 cups brown sugar
3-4 cups lemon juice
1-2 cups water
2 qts. chopped green tomatoes
1 large onion chopped
⅓-½ cup salt

Grind tomatoes through food chopper, drain, pour cold water over and drain after 1 hr., mix all ingredients, let stand in stone jar over night.

In the morning set jar in kettle of cold water with something underneath to keep it from the bottom of the kettle; heat to boiling, cook 6 hrs., stirring occasionally. Seal in jars. May cook carefully in preserving kettle on pad or ring.

=72 Brother Coates’ Mother’s Chutney=

¾ pt. lemon juice
¼ pt. water
¾ cup brown sugar
3-6 cloves of garlic
3 level tablespns. salt
½ cup chopped onion and
¼ cup shallots or ¾ cup onion
1 pt. gooseberries (¾ pt. canned)
¾-1 pt. quartered apples--½ as many dried apples
¾ cup raisins

Chop fruit fine, boil in ½ the lemon juice and water with the sugar. Chop onions, shallots and garlic fine, mix with salt and remaining lemon juice and water and add to boiling fruit. Cook well together and put into jars.

=73 Mint Sauce=

1 tablespn. chopped spearmint
1 tablespn. brown sugar
2 tablespns. lemon juice
2 tablespns. boiling water

Pour boiling water over mint, add lemon juice and sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Do not heat sauce. Proportions of mint, sugar and lemon juice may be varied and water may be omitted.

=74 Currant Mint Sauce=

Add chopped mint to melted currant jelly. The addition of particles of thin yellow rind of orange makes a variation.

=75 Sauce Amèricaine=

Suitable for Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, breaded carrots or bean croquettes.

2 tablespns. oil or oil and butter
yolks of 2 eggs
1 tablespn. lemon juice
¼ teaspn. salt
¼-⅓ cup of hot water

Cook in double boiler like custard, adding only a part of the water at first.

A little less water may be used.

For variety add chopped or sliced olives, or onion juice and parsley, or olives and onion.

=76 Sauce for Breaded Carrots=

Cream the yolk of a hard boiled egg with a tablespn. of butter; place on back of range and add ½-1 tablespn. of lemon juice with water to make 2 tablespns., and salt. As soon as the mixture thickens, pour it over the carrots.

=77 Sour Sauce for Carrot Timbale=

1 tablespn. butter
yolks of 3 eggs
2 tablespns. cream
1 cup boiling water
1½ tablespn. lemon juice
¼-½ teaspn. salt

Mix creamed butter and beaten yolks of eggs with cream; pour boiling water over; cook in double boiler until thick. Remove from fire, add lemon juice and salt. Serve at once. Excellent without lemon juice.

=78 Lemon Butter Sauce=

Cream butter and work into it lemon juice to taste. Add chopped parsley, 1 tablespn. to each half cup of butter.

A few chopped nuts may also be added.

=79 Pickle for Beets, String Beans and Carrots=

2 parts lemon juice, 1 part water, 1-1¼ part sugar, a trifle of salt or none; heat to boiling, pour over vegetables, drain off. Repeat twice.

With string beans a little celery salt or finely-sliced celery may be used.

VEGETABLES

“Upon leaving Eden to gain his livelihood by tilling the earth under the curse of sin, man received permission to eat also ‘the herb of the field.’”

While vegetables are not, as some suppose, the chief article of a vegetarian diet, they form an important part of it, supplying the bulk so necessary to good digestion, as well as the mineral elements. One writer says, “Nearly all vegetables are blood purifiers; they dissolve other food and greatly assist digestion.”

Suggestions

Vegetables should be used soon after gathering, as they begin to ferment and lose their wholesomeness as well as flavors very shortly.

As a rule put vegetables to cooking in boiling water, and bring to the boiling point again as quickly as possible.

Cook green vegetables in salted water to preserve their shape and color. A lump of white sugar in the saucepan is said to preserve the color also, or a few drops of lemon juice, or charcoal tied in muslin.

Onions and cabbage should be cooked in salted water.

Cook roots and tubers in unsalted, and if possible soft water until tender or nearly so; then add the salt and let them boil up well.

If roots have become withered soak them in water as nearly ice cold as possible, for three or four hours or over night, before cooking.

Soak cauliflower and loose heads of cabbage in cold (not salted) water for an hour or more. Drain and shake gently to dislodge insects, if any.

Pare all vegetables except turnips, as thin as possible.

Turnips should be pared inside the dark line encircling them, or they will have a strong taste.

Parboiling leeks, onions, cabbage and old carrots renders them more digestible and more agreeable to some.

All vegetables will require longer cooking at great altitude.

Milk or cream of raw or steamed (not roasted) nut butter may be substituted for dairy milk or cream with nearly all vegetables.

Many vegetables are delightful to the cultivated taste served plain with Brazil or other nuts. Thus we get the benefit of the fine delicate flavors in the different foods instead of covering them up with sauces and dressings.

More elaborate dishes of vegetables are given among entrées.

=Artichokes--Globe=

Soak artichokes for several hours or over night, drain, cut stalks close, trim away the bottom leaves, clip the sharp points from the leaves or cut off the tops straight across. Boil in salted water, if possible with charcoal tied in piece of muslin, until tender enough for the leaves to draw out easily, ¾-1 hour. Remove from water carefully with flat wire beater or small skimmer. Drain upside down; serve whole or in halves or quarters, with cream or egg cream sauce, drawn butter or sauce Amèricaine poured around; or on a napkin on hot platter or chop tray and pass sauce with them. Serve cold with French dressing.

It is a good plan to tie a strip of muslin around each artichoke before boiling to hold it in shape, and to put an inverted plate upon them while cooking to keep them down.

=Artichokes--Jerusalem=

Wash and boil artichokes with the skins on until tender, 30-40 m. If they boil too long they may become tough. Drain, peel, and serve in rich cream sauce. They may be peeled before boiling.

A still better way is to peel artichokes cut them into thick slices and boil 15-20 m., then drain thoroughly and serve in cream, cream of tomato or onion cream sauce.

Not containing any starch, Jerusalem artichokes are suitable for salads, either cooked in slices and dried on a towel after draining, or used raw in thin slices.

=Asparagus=

Select green asparagus for the table, the short bleached stalks are tough and often bitter. Take care also that asparagus is fresh. The tops of stale asparagus have the odor of spoiled flesh meat and are not fit to use.

If not just from the garden, asparagus should stand in cold water ½-1 hour before cooking. Wash thoroughly, dipping the heads up and down in a large quantity of water, shaking well to dislodge the sand.

As the different parts of the stalk vary in tenderness, the best way to prepare and cook asparagus is to lay a handful of stalks on a vegetable board and holding it with the left hand, with a large sharp knife cut off the tips about 1½ in. from the end, and if the next part is very tender, cut off 1 in. more to go with the tips. Then cut inch lengths of the next that is of about equal tenderness, and lastly, the remaining part of the stalk that is not tough. The tough part save to flavor soups or sauces, or, reject entirely.

To cook, throw the third lot, that nearest the tough part, into boiling salted water, boil for 10 m., add the second lot, boil 10 m., throw in the top part and boil 10-15 m., or until tips are just tender. By this method the asparagus is all nice and tender and the tips are whole.

When desiring to serve in longer pieces, lay on the board as before and cut 4 or 5 in. from the top (reserving the remaining part for soups or scallops). Tie into neat bundles with strips of muslin. Stand these bundles in rapidly boiling, salted water with the heads well out. Cook from 20 to 30 m., when the stalks will be tender and not decapitated.

Asparagus is one of the vegetables that will not admit of many combinations; such only as develop and preserve its characteristic flavor are suitable.

=Asparagus--Cream or Butter=

Cook in short pieces as directed; drain or leave the water on (there should be but little); add without stirring a little heavy cream; bring just to the boiling point, remove from the fire, add more salt if necessary, shaking gently to dissolve it, and serve in vegetable dish with or without points of toast around the edge.

Butter may be substituted for cream.

=Asparagus--Egg Cream Sauce=

Lay cooked asparagus in small pieces on hot moistened toast of any desired shape, on tray or platter, and pour egg cream sauce, around. It may also be served the same with a nice rich cream sauce, or with either sauce in pastry crusts for Asparagus en Croustade.

=Asparagus--Drawn Butter=

On large, slightly moistened toast points on a platter, pile long pieces of asparagus cooked according to directions (enough for one serving on each piece of toast), the heads all one way, and put a generous spoonful of drawn butter on each. Or the sauce may be put on when serving.

=Asparagus--Sauce Amèricaine and Spinach Leaves=

Lay asparagus on hot platter with heads toward each end and stem ends just meeting in center; surround with border of salad leaves of spinach and place same across the asparagus where the stems meet. Serve leaves with asparagus, and pass sauce Amèricaine.

=String Beans--Cream, Nut or Dairy=

String beans should be gathered before the pods begin to show the shape of the bean much.

To prepare, break the blossom end back and pull off the string from that side, then break the stem the other way and remove the string from that side. Wash beans well and if they have not been crisped before stringing, let them lie in cold (ice, if possible) water a half hour or longer. Drain, take in handfuls on to the vegetable board and cut into ¾ in. lengths (cut diagonally instead of straight across when preferred). Throw into boiling salted water and boil until tender, 1-3 hours. Drain, saving the water for soups or to make drawn butter sometimes for the beans. Cover with cream, heat, remove from fire, add salt, serve.

Cream from raw nut butter may be added to the beans about ½ hour before they are done instead of using dairy cream.

Cream sauce of either nut or dairy milk may be served over beans on toast if desired.

Wax and stringless beans are prepared and cooked the same except that _young_ stringless beans have no strings. Any of the varieties may be cooked in whole pods when desired but will require a longer time for cooking. Flowering or scarlet runner beans are used for string beans when the pods are very young.

=String Beans--Nut and Tomato Bisque Sauce=

Prepare beans as above and cover with sauce 5, made of either raw or roasted nut butter.

=Shelled Green Beans=

Wash beans before shelling and not after, cook in boiling salted water until tender, the time varying according to the variety. Allow plenty of time as beans are richer in flavor if simmered or kept hot for some time after they are tender.

They may be served with different sauces, but it seems too bad to spoil their delightful flavors with anything but salt, or a little cream or butter, nut or dairy.

=Flowering Beans--Green=

The large pole beans with red and white blossoms have the richest flavor of all shelled beans. After shelling, put beans into cold water, let them heat slowly to the boiling point and boil 5-10 m. Drain, let cold water run over them in the colander. Return to the fire with boiling salted water and cook until tender, considerably longer than other shelled beans. Serve plain, or with a little cream poured over and shaken (not stirred) into them a few minutes before removing from the fire. If one has the time to hull these and Lima beans, it may be done.

_To Hull_--Boil beans about half an hour (or until the skins are loosened) in unsalted water. Drain and slip the hulls off with the thumb and finger.

Cook after hulling in double boiler or very gently on back of stove, adding seasoning before they are quite tender which will be in a much shorter time than with the hulls on.

=Beets=

Beets should be fresh, plump and firm. If slightly withered, they may be freshened by standing in cold water over night. But if much withered do not waste time and fuel in trying to cook them, as they will be bitter and tough with any amount of cooking. Use care in handling beets before cooking so as not to break the skins. If the skins are broken the flavor and sweetness of the beet will be lost in the water. Press with thumb and finger to find when they are tender rather than to puncture with a knife or fork.

Put to cooking in perfectly boiling water. Boil steadily until tender, when remove at once from the fire as over-cooking toughens them, throw into cold water a moment and rub off the skins. Serve plain, whole if small, or cut into quarters if large; or, slice and pour over a hot mixture of lemon juice and sugar (part water and a trifle of salt may be used), or hot cream with salt, or salt and olive oil.

Small young beets, right from the garden, will cook in from 20 m. to 1 hr. Large, old ones in winter will require 3-5 hours.

=Pickled Beets=

Let sliced beets stand over night in sauce 79.

=Broccoli=

This is a vegetable grown in cool climates, similar to cauliflower, more hardy but not so fine in quality. Follow directions for cooking and serving cauliflower, except that broccoli requires about 20 m. only for cooking.

=Brussels Sprouts=

Wash, pick off outside leaves, lay in cold water ½-1 hour, drain. Boil in salted water (in cheese cloth if convenient), 15-30 m., according to age; do not cook until soft. Drain carefully, pile in center of dish; serve with hot cream poured over, or with sauce 16, 19, 34, 57, olive oil or French dressing. May add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to each ½ cup of 34.

=Cabbage--Plain Boiled=

Trim cabbage and if not very crisp let stand in cold or ice water 1 hr. or over night. Drain, cut into sixths, eighths or any number of pieces 1-1½ in. across the broadest part. Lay in sufficient boiling salted water to cover; let come to the boiling point and set back on the stove where it will simmer gently ½-¾ of an hour, until tender only, and still perfectly white. Drain and lay on to hot dish with pieces overlapping. Serve at once.

Until one has tried it, he will not know how delightfully sweet this cabbage is, perfectly plain, eaten slowly with Brazil nuts, filberts, almonds or English walnuts. It may be served with olive oil or lemon juice, or with both together or with sauce 16, 34 or 57, or with the sour cream or sour milk salad dressing without cooling. Use two eggs in dressing when serving warm.

If cooked until it begins to turn dark, cabbage will have a strong flavor and will be indigestible.

_To Parboil_--Put at first into a large quantity of unsalted boiling water, cook 15 m., drain carefully, sprinkle with salt, pour boiling water over and proceed as above.

=My Mother’s Cabbage, or Cabbage in Cream=

Shave crisp cabbage fine, cook in boiling salted water 20-30 m., until just tender and still white. Drain, pour in cream, heat to almost boiling, serve.

_For Sour Cabbage_--Add a little lemon juice instead of or with cream and more salt if necessary.

=★ Cabbage in Tomato=

Prepare cabbage as in preceding recipe, cook for 20 m., drain, add stewed tomatoes (not too juicy, they may be strained if preferred) with salt and cook until cabbage is tender. This is an unusually fine combination and very suitable to accompany a hearty nut meat dish such as broiled trumese. A little cream may be added just before serving, but the dish is complete without it.

=Cabbage and Corn=

Heat together 2 parts of stewed cabbage and 1 part of corn with cream, nut or dairy.

=Sweet Sour Cabbage=

1 qt. fine shaved cabbage
¾ cup water
2 tablespns. oil or butter
1 level teaspn. salt
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspn. caraway seeds
¼ cup lemon juice

Cook cabbage in water 15-20 m., then add the other ingredients and simmer slowly until the cabbage is tender.

=Cabbage with Nuts and Raisins=

Season stewed cabbage with cream--cocoanut, almond or dairy, or with butter; add stewed raisins and sprinkle chopped nuts over just before serving. May garnish with halves of nuts.

=Carrots=

Carrots being among the most healthful vegetables should be used freely, and with a little care they may be made exceedingly palatable.

Unless very fresh, let carrots stand in cold water for some time before paring. When they are full grown, or late in the season, parboil them to remove the strong taste.

It will require from 20 m. to 1½ hr. to cook carrots tender, according to the age and the sizes into which they are cut. A little chopped parsley makes a pretty combination with most of the dishes.

=Carrots--Minced=

Scrape or pare carrots, cut into strips, grind in food cutter coarse or fine as preferred, cook in water until tender, add salt, boil, drain. Add a little cream, cream sauce, butter or oil, reheat, serve. Add a trifle of sugar to cream sauce or cream. Carrots may be ground or rubbed through colander after boiling.

=Carrots--Stewed=

Cut pared carrots into quarters, sixths or eighths, lengthwise, then across in quarter inch slices in the largest part and gradually thicker toward the small end; or if carrots are small and of uniform size they may be cut in whole round slices. Cook until tender, drain, and reheat with cream, or sauce 16 or 28, to each pint of which a teaspoonful of sugar has been added, or add butter and lemon juice, sauce 1, 2 or 34.

=Carrots à la Washington=

1 qt. sliced or diced carrots
1 cup to 1 pint sliced onions
¼ cup strained tomato
½ tablespn. browned flour
¾-1 teaspn. salt
1 tablespn. raw nut butter if desired

Cook all together in a small quantity of water until carrots are tender and well dried out.

=Pickled Carrots=

Pour sauce 79, over sliced cooked carrots, cover and let stand for several hours.

=Carrots and Peas--Better than either alone=

Mix 1 part stewed carrots and 2 parts cooked green peas. Add cream or cream sauce, heat and serve.

Or, the carrots may be cooked in slices, laid overlapping around edge of flat dish, with peas piled in center and sauce poured around.

=Carrots and String Beans--Excellent=

Equal quantities cooked string beans and carrots with cream or cream sauce. If preferred, the beans may be cooked whole and the carrots cut into strips.

=Carrots and Onions=

Pour hot cream over a mixture of stewed onions and carrots; heat and serve.

=Carrots and Beets=

Heat mixture for pickled carrots, add 1 part carrots and 2 parts beets; serve as soon as hot. Butter, lemon juice and salt may be used instead of the dressing.

=Carrots and Corn--Delightful=

To equal quantities of stewed carrots and corn add cream or thin rich cream sauce; heat, serve. If the corn is dried corn, especially dried yellow sweet corn, the dish is most delightful.

=Carrots and Succotash=

1 part each carrots and beans with 2 parts corn; season with cream or with milk and butter.

=Cauliflower=

While cauliflower is a delightfully delicate vegetable when properly cooked, it is easily rendered strong and disagreeable. It should be cooked until tender only, 15-25 m. in constantly boiling liquid, either slightly salted water, or milk and water (⅓ milk), salted. Tie loosely in cheese cloth or muslin to prevent any particles of scum from settling on it and to keep the flowerets whole, then drop into a sufficient quantity of rapidly boiling liquid to cover it.

It should not lose its snowy whiteness in cooking. 5 m. of over-cooking will ruin it. The milk helps to keep it white and gives it a richer flavor.

To serve whole, trim off the outside leaves, leaving the inside green leaves on, and cut the stalk close. When done, lay carefully in a round dish and pour sauce over or around it. If the head is a perfect one, do not cover its beauty with sauce.

Sauce 16, 18 or 75 or 34 plain or with lemon juice, are all suitable for the heads, and when broken into flowerets it is delightful with hot rich cream poured over it. Salt and oil, with or without lemon juice may also be used.

Nice perfect flowerets with Sauce Amèricaine or any suitable sauce may be used as a garnish for timbales and other true meat dishes.

For salad, let cooked cauliflower stand in cold water until ready to serve.

=Celery--Raw=

Trim off the coarse outside stalks, leaving about an inch of the root stalk; then cut the whole stalk into quarters or sixths from the bottom up, and throw into ice water until well crisped. If there should be dirt between the stalks it will be necessary to cut them off and brush each one separately with a vegetable brush. Throw the tender inside stalks into water to be served raw, and reserve the outside ones for cooking.

It is said that wilted celery may be restored to crispness by dipping into hot water or laying a few minutes in warm water, then plunging into ice water.

=Celery--Mint Sauce=

Cut tender stalks of celery across as fine as possible, cover with cold fresh mint sauce and serve in dainty cups with suitable true meat dishes.

=Celery--Stewed=

Cut tender stalks of celery (not those that are fit for flavoring only) into half-inch lengths, by handfuls on board with large knife. Put into boiling salted water and boil 30-35 m., or until just tender. Drain (there should not be much water left), pour cream or sauce over, let stand over hot water 10-20 m. Serve by itself or on toast. Sauce 16, plain, with a few drops of lemon juice in it, or made with half water in which the celery was cooked, or 34, 57 or 31 (when using 31, of course it should not stand over hot water) are all enjoyable with it.

=★ Celery in Tomato=

Stew celery as above in just enough water to cook, for 25 m. and have very little water, if any, remaining; then add enough strained or unstrained stewed tomato to nearly cover, and simmer until celery is tender and tomato cooked away a little. The combination of the flavors of celery and tomato is unusually fine. The addition just before serving of a little heavy cream makes the dish still more delicious.

=Chard--Swiss=

Swiss Chard or Spinach Beet, affords two distinct dishes from the same plant at one time. Strip the leafy part of the foliage from the stalk and cook as greens. Cook and serve the stalks the same as asparagus. The leaves and stalks may be cooked together as greens.

Young shoots of poke or scoke are sometimes served as “French Chard.”

=Corn--Green=

The earliest varieties of green corn are never very sweet. By far the richest and sweetest are the yellow kinds, though the dark purple or black almost equals them. There are also some medium or later varieties of white corn that are excellent.

Corn is at its best the day it is gathered. When not perfectly fresh, cook corn in almost any other way than on the cob. Never cook it in salted water as salt hardens it. Corn requires the least salt for seasoning of any vegetable.

=Corn--On the Cob=

Husk nice fresh corn and put it over the fire in cold water. When just at the boiling point, but not boiling, remove from the fire. Let it stand in the hot water where it will not boil until ready to serve.

Serve in a dish on a napkin covered with another napkin, or in a close covered dish, as a few moments’ exposure to the air toughens it. In eating, score each row with one tine of the fork so that the hulls will be left on the cob, unless you have a corn slitter.

=Corn--Boiled=

Put husked corn into boiling water and boil rapidly for 5-15 m., usually about 10 m., as that which requires 12-15 m. cooking is really too old to cook on the cob. Young, tender corn will cook in 5 m. Long boiling destroys the sweetness of corn and renders it tough.

=Corn--Steamed=

Wrap ears of corn in cheese cloth and steam for 15-20 m.

Hold the ear of corn with one hand and draw the slitter with slight pressure. Three or four strokes will slit every grain on the cob. It does not remove the corn from the cob but cuts the hull of every grain. The delicious corn is obtained with the slightest pressure of the teeth, leaving the hulls on the cob.

_To Prepare Corn for Muffins, Oysters, etc._--Slit the grains as described above, then, holding the slitter in the same position but elevating the hand use the front of the slitter as a scoop and push the corn into a dish.

=Corn--Baked, Boiled or Steamed in Husks=

Select nice tender ears of uniform size. Open the husks and remove the silk, then tie the husks close in place. A few of the heavy outside husks should be removed. Bake the ears in a _hot_ oven, separate from each other, 15-20 m., remove the husks quickly and serve covered.

Or prepare in the same way and after tying, cut off the stalk and point of the ear and boil rapidly for 10-12 m. or steam for 10-20 m. Serve in the husks on napkin. The husks give a sweet flavor to the corn and help to keep it warm when they are not removed before serving.

=Corn--Roasted--Best of All=

Place husked corn in wire broiler or large corn popper and hold close to bed of hot coals, or lay on gridiron over the coals, turning the ears as necessary. The ears may be laid on the coals when more convenient and turned often, or they may be roasted in a _very hot_ oven.

=Corn--Stewed=

If corn is quite old, grate the outside of each ear on a coarse grater and scrape out the remaining pulp with the back of a knife. Cook carefully in oiled saucepan on ring or asbestos pad, in a small quantity of water 8-12 m.; add sugar, to give the sweetness of young corn, salt and a little cream, cream sauce or butter. Heat, serve.

When corn is not too old, the nicest way to prepare it is to draw a knife down each row of kernels, then with a large sharp knife cut a thin shaving from each two rows and scrape the pulp from the cob with the back of a knife. Cook the part cut off in boiling water for 5 m., then add the pulp and cook carefully 5-8 m. longer. Season as for grated corn, omitting the sugar if corn is sweet.

=In Milk=--Cook either way in milk in double boiler 20-30 m., and season as desired.

=Corn--Baked=

Prepare corn in either of the ways given for stewed corn; add salt, sugar if necessary, and enough rich milk to cover. Bake in hot oven 15-20 m.

=Corn--Dried=

Cover dried corn ½ in. (or more) deep with warm water, let stand over night. In the morning set in warm place and shortly before serving time increase the heat gradually until it is about at the boiling point, but not boiling. Season with a little cream, milk or butter, or with cream of raw or steamed nut butter and salt; heat, serve.

Or, cover with warm water 1½-2 hours before meal time and keep hot (covered) on the back of the stove. Just before serving, season and heat just to boiling.

Or, best of all, cover quite deep with cold milk, let stand in cold place over night, cook in double boiler 1 hr. or longer, season, serve.

=Cucumbers=

The fruit of the cucumber vine “serves to introduce a large quantity of water into the system and is a refreshing addition to richer foods, especially in hot weather, when its crisp, cool succulence is peculiarly acceptable.”--_Church._

One unusually successful physician used to recommend cucumbers because they were “so crisp and easily digested.”

Cucumbers should be gathered in the early morning, laid in ice water for an hour or two, then kept in the ice box or on the cellar bottom until serving time. Or, when they come from the market, they should be put at once into ice water and kept in it until thoroughly refreshed. Cucumbers are nearly always left on the vines until they are too old. Many never know the delightful flavor of cucumbers in which the seeds are just formed but not developed.

=Cucumbers au Naturel=

Pare nice crisp cucumbers, cut in quarters lengthwise and serve on a flat dish, to be eaten with or without salt the same as celery. This is by far the most enjoyable way to serve cucumbers.

=Sliced Cucumbers=

Pare and slice cucumbers in not too thin slices. Pass lemon juice, salt and oil with them. Some prefer them with salt and oil only; others with lemon juice and salt.

If not thoroughly crisp, or if prepared some time before serving, lay in ice water without salt. Salt wilts and toughens them.

=Stewed Cucumbers=

Pare cucumbers, cut into halves lengthwise, crosswise also if long. If seeds are large, remove them, but younger fruit is better.

Lay the pieces cut side down in perfectly boiling unsalted water. When nearly tender 15-20 m., add a little salt to the water and finish cooking. They should be just tender, not soft when done. They will take about 20-25 m. cooking in all, never over 30 m. Drain thoroughly. Serve with sauce 75, 34, 28 or 29 or with 16 made of cocoanut or dairy milk. On toast, with egg cream sauce like asparagus, they are especially nice. Sprinkle chopped parsley in the sauce.

=Egg Plant=

Egg plant belongs to the family of the deadly night-shade, the same as the potato, tomato, peppers and tobacco, and contains an irritating principle which should be removed by thorough parboiling when used.

=Egg Plant in Batter=

Cut egg-plant into ½-¾ in. slices, put into a large quantity of cold water, heat to boiling and boil 5 m.; drain, repeat the process, add salt to the third water and boil until just tender; drain thoroughly.