Chapter 25

TOMATO WITH OKRA.--Wash the okra, cut off the stem and nibs, and slice thin. For a quart of sliced okra, peel and slice three large tomatoes. Stew the tomatoes for half an hour, then add the okra, and simmer together for half an hour longer. Season with salt and a little cream.

EGG PLANT.

DESCRIPTION.--The egg plant, a vegetable indigenous to the East Indies, is somewhat allied in character to the tomato. In shape, it resembles an egg, from which fact it doubtless derives its name. It ranks low in nutritive value. When fresh, the plant is firm and has a smooth skin.

_RECIPES._

SCALLOPED EGG PLANT.--Pare a fresh egg plant. If large, divide in quarters, if small, in halves, and put to cook in boiling water. Cook until it can be easily pierced with a straw, and drain in a colander. Turn into a hot dish, and beat with a silver fork until finely broken. Measure the egg plant, and add to it an equal quantity of graded bread crumbs, a little salt, and a tablespoonful of thick sweet cream. Lastly, add one well beaten egg. Put in an earthen pudding dish, and brown in the oven until the egg is set, and the whole is heated throughout but not dry.

BAKED EGG PLANT.--Wash and cook whole in boiling water until tender. Divide in halves, remove the inside with a spoon, taking care not to break the skin. Beat the egg plant smooth with a fork. Season with salt and cream, and if desired, a stalk of celery or a small slice of onion very finely minced, for flavor. Put back in the skin, sprinkle the top with bread crumbs, and brown the outside uppermost in the oven.

CUCUMBER.

DESCRIPTION.--The cucumber is a native of Southern Asia, although it is quite commonly cultivated in most civilized countries. It formed a part of the dietary of the Israelites when in Egypt, where it grew very plentifully. The ancient Greeks held the cucumber in high esteem, and attributed to it wonderful properties.

The cucumber is not a nutritious vegetable, and when served in its raw state, as it so generally is, dressed with salt, vinegar, pepper, and similar condiments, it is an exceedingly indigestible article. If it is to be eaten at all, it should first be cooked. It may be pared, divided in quarters, the seeds removed, and cooked in a small quantity of water until perfectly tender, and served on toast with an egg sauce or a cream sauce; or it may be prepared the same as directed for Escalloped Egg Plant.

SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER.

DESCRIPTION.--The vegetable oyster plant, sometimes called purple goat's-beard, or salsify, is indigenous to some portions of Great Britain. The long, slender root becomes fleshy and tender under cultivation, with a flavor, when cooked, somewhat resembling that of the mollusk for which it is named. On this account, it is much esteemed for soups. A variety of the plant grows near the line of perpetual snow, and forms the principal article of fresh vegetable food in the dietary of Kurdistan.

PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Select fresh and unshriveled roots, wash and scrape well, dropping into cold water as soon as cleaned, to prevent discoloration. If the roots are covered with cold water for a half hour or more before scraping, they can be cleaned much easier. Use a porcelain-lined kettle, for cooking, as an iron one will discolor it and injure its flavor. From twenty minutes to one hour, according to age, is required to cook it tender.

_RECIPES._

SCALLOPED VEGETABLE OYSTERS.--Boil two quarts of sliced vegetable oysters in about two quarts of water until very tender. Skim them out, and fill a pudding dish with alternate layers of crumbs and oysters, having a layer of crumbs for the top. To the water in which they were boiled, add a pint and a half of thin cream, salt to taste, boil up, and thicken with a heaping tablespoonful or two of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold cream. Pour this over the oysters and crumbs, and bake a half hour. If this is not enough to cover well, add more cream or milk. Stewed tomatoes are a nice accompaniment for escalloped vegetable oysters.

STEWED VEGETABLE OYSTERS.--Wash, scrape, and cut into slices not more than one half inch in thickness. Put into a small quantity of boiling water and cook until tender. If a large quantity of water is used, the savory juices escape, and leave the roots very insipid. When tender, pour in a cup of rich milk and simmer for five or ten minutes; add a little flour rubbed smooth in milk, and salt if desired; boil up once, and serve as a vegetable or on slices of nicely browned toast. If preferred, a well-beaten egg may be used in the place of flour.

GREEN CORN, PEAS, AND BEANS.

DESCRIPTION.--Corn, peas, and beans in their immature state are so nearly allied to vegetables, that we give in this connection recipes for cooking green corn, green beans, and green peas. A general rule applicable to all is that they should, when possible, be cooked and eaten the day they are gathered, as otherwise they lose much of their sweetness and flavor. For corn, select young, tender, well-filled ears, from which the milk will spurt when the grain is broken with the finger nail. Beans and peas are fresh only when the pods are green, plump, snap crisply when broken, and have unshriveled stems. If the pods bend and appear wilted, they are stale. Corn, peas, and beans are wholesome and nutritious foods when thoroughly cooked and sufficiently masticated, but they are almost indigestible unless the hull, or skin, of each pea, bean, or grain of corn, be broken before being swallowed.

_RECIPES FOR CORN._

BAKED CORN.--Select nice fresh ears of tender corn of as nearly equal size as possible. Open the husks and remove all the silk from the corn; replace and tie the husks around the ears with a thread. Put the corn in a hot oven, and bake thirty minutes or until tender. Remove the husks before serving.

BAKED CORN NO. 2.--Scrape enough corn from the cob (as directed below for Corn Pulp) to make one and a half quarts. Put into a baking dish, season with salt if desired, add enough milk, part cream if convenient, barely to cover the corn, and bake in a hot oven twenty-five or thirty minutes.

BOILED GREEN CORN.--Remove the husks and every thread of the silk fiber. Place in a kettle, the larger ears at the bottom, with sufficient boiling water nearly to cover. Cover with the clean inner husks, and cook from twenty to thirty minutes, according to the age of the corn; too much cooking hardens it and detracts from its flavor. Try a kernel, and when the milk has thickened, and a raw taste is no longer apparent, it is sufficiently cooked. Green corn is said to be sweeter, boiled with the inner husks on. For cooking in this way, strip off all outer husks, and remove the silk, tying the inner husk around the ear with a bit of thread, and boil. Remove from the kettle, place in a heated dish, cover with a napkin and serve at once on the cob. Some recommend scoring or splitting the corn by drawing a sharp knife through each row lengthwise. This is a wise precaution against insufficient mastication.

STEWED CORN PULP.--Take six ears of green corn or enough to make a pint of raw pulp; with a sharp knife cut a thin shaving from each row of kernels or score each kernel, and with the back of the knife scrape out the pulp, taking care to leave the hulls on the cob. Heat a cup and a half of rich milk--part cream if it can be afforded--to boiling, add the corn, cook twenty or thirty minutes; season with salt and a teaspoonful of sugar if desired.

CORN CAKES.--To a pint of corn pulp add two well-beaten eggs and two tablespoonfuls of flour; season with salt if desired, and brown on a griddle. Canned corn finely chopped can be used, but two tablespoonfuls of milk should be added, as the corn is less moist.

CORN PUDDING.--One quart of corn pulp prepared as for stewing, one quart of milk, three eggs, and a little salt. Mix the corn with a pint of the milk, and heat it to boiling. Break the eggs into the remainder of the milk, and add it to the corn, turn all into an oiled pudding dish, and bake slowly until the custard is well set.

ROASTED GREEN CORN.--Remove the husks and silk, and place the corn before an open grate or in a wire broiler over hot coals until the kernels burst open, or bury in hot ashes without removing the husks. Score the grains, and serve from the cob.

STEWED GREEN CORN.--Cut the corn from the cob and with the back of the knife scrape off all the pulp, being careful to leave the hull on the cob. Put into a stewpan with half as much water as corn, cover closely and stew gently until thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently to prevent the corn from sticking to the pan; add cream or milk to make the requisite amount of juice, and season with salt if desired. A teaspoonful of white sugar may be added if desired.

Cold boiled corn cut from the cob and stewed a few minutes in a little milk, makes a very palatable dish.

SUMMER SUCCOTASH.--This maybe made by cooking equal quantities of shelled beans and corn cut from the cob, separately until tender, and then mixing them; or the beans may be cooked until nearly soft, an equal quantity of shaved corn added, and the whole cooked fifteen or twenty minutes or longer. Season with cream, and salt if desired.

DRIED CORN.--The sweet varieties of corn taken when young and tender and properly dried, furnish an excellent material for nearly all purposes to which green corn is put. Take green corn, just right for eating, have it free from silk; cut the fleshy portion from the cob with a sharp knife, then with the back of the knife gently press the remaining pulp from the cob. Spread thinly on plates and put into an oven hot enough to scald, not scorch it. Watch closely for a half hour or more, turning and stirring frequently with a fork. When thus thoroughly scalded, the corn may be left without further attention if placed in a moderate oven, save an occasional stirring to prevent its sticking to the plate, until the drying is complete, which ought to be in about forty-eight hours; however, if one can spend the time to watch closely and stir very frequently, the drying may be completed in a single afternoon in a rather hot oven. Be careful that it does not scorch.

When needed for use, soak over night and cook in accordance with recipes for Stewed Corn, Succotash, etc., pages 265, 234, only remembering to allow a longer time.

_RECIPES FOR PEAS._

STEWED PEAS.--If from the garden, pick and shell the peas with clean hands; if from the market, wash the pods before shelling, so that the peas will not require washing, as they are much better without. When shelled, put into a colander and sift out the fine particles and undeveloped blossoms. If not of equal growth, sort the peas and put the older ones to cook ten minutes before the others. Use a porcelain kettle, with one half pint of boiling water for each quart of peas, if young and tender; older ones, which require longer stewing, need more. Cover closely, and simmer gently till tender. The time required for young peas is from twenty-five to thirty minutes; older ones require forty to fifty minutes. Serve without draining, season with salt and enough sweet cream to make them as juicy as desired. If preferred, the juice may be thickened with a little flour.

The peas may be purposely stewed in a larger quantity of water, and served in their own juices thickened with a little flour and seasoned with salt.

_RECIPES FOR BEANS._

LIMA BEANS.--Lima beans are not good until they are full grown and have turned white. Shell, wash, cover with boiling water, and cook about one hour or until tender. Let the water nearly evaporate, and add milk or cream thickened with a little flour. Season with salt to taste, boil up once, and serve.

SHELLED BEANS.--Shell, wash, drop into boiling water sufficient to cover, and cook until tender. Let the water boil nearly away, and serve without draining. Season with thin cream, and salt if desired.

STRING BEANS.--Wash well in cold water. Remove the strong fiber, or strings, as they are called, by paring both edges with a sharp knife; few cooks do this thoroughly. Break off stems and points, carefully rejecting any imperfect or diseased pods. Lay a handful evenly on a board and cut them all at once into inch lengths. Put in a porcelain kettle, cover with boiling water, and cook from one to three hours, according to age and variety, testing frequently, as they should be removed from the kettle just as soon as done. When very young and tender, only water sufficient to keep them from burning will be needed. When done, add a half cup of thin cream, and salt to taste. If the quantity of juice is considerable, thicken with a little flour.

THE ONION.

The onion belongs to a class of foods containing an acrid oil of a strongly irritating character, on which account it cannot be considered a wholesome food when eaten raw, as it so generally is. The essential oil is, however, quite volatile, so that when cooked, after being first parboiled in two or three waters, its irritating properties are largely removed. The varieties grown in warm climates are much milder and sweeter than those grown in colder countries. The onion is valuable for flavoring purposes. It may also be boiled and served whole with a cream sauce, or cut in quarters and prepared as directed for Scalloped Turnips, page 242.

CANNING VEGETABLES.

Most housekeepers experience more difficulty in canning and keeping vegetables than fruit. This is frequently owing to lack of care to secure perfect cans, covers, and rubbers, and to cook the vegetables thoroughly. Whatever is to be canned must be cooked sufficiently to be eaten, and must be boiling at the time it is put into the cans. Care as to the cleanliness of the cans and their sterilization is also important, and after the canning process is completed, all vegetables put up in glass should be kept in a cool, dark place. The general directions given for canning fruits should be followed in canning vegetables.

_RECIPES._

CANNED CORN.--Select corn just ripe enough for table use, and prepare as directed for stewed corn. It will require from twelve to fifteen ears to fill sufficiently each quart can. To insure success, the cans should be so full that when the corn is shrunken by the cooking, the can will still be well filled. Pack the corn in the cans, working it down closely by means of the small end of a potato masher, so the milk will cover the corn and completely fill the can; heap a little more corn loosely on the top, and screw the covers on sufficiently tight to prevent water from getting into the can. Place the cans in a boiler, on the bottom of which has been placed some straw or a rack; also take care not to let the cans come in contact with each other, by wrapping each in a cloth or by placing a chip between them. A double layer of cans may be placed in the boiler, one on top of the other, if desirable, provided there is some intervening substance. Fill the boiler with cold water so as completely to cover the cans; place over the fire, bring gradually to a boil, and keep boiling steadily for four hours. Remove the boiler from the fire, and allow the cans to cool gradually, tightening the covers frequently as they cool.

If the corn in the can shrinks, do not open to refill. If cooked thoroughly, and due care is taken in other particulars, there need be no failure. Wrap closely in brown paper, and put away in a dark, cool, dry place.

CANNED CORN AND TOMATOES.--Use about one third corn and two thirds tomatoes, or in equal portions if preferred. Cook the tomatoes in a double boiler for an hour and a half or longer; and in another double boiler, when the tomatoes are nearly done, cook the corn in its own juices until thoroughly done. Turn them together, heat to boiling, and can at once.

CANNED PEAS.--Select peas which are fresh, young, and tender. Shell, pack into perfect cans, shaking and filling as full as possible, add sufficient cold water to fill them to overflowing, screw on the covers, and cook and seal the same as directed for canning corn.

CANNED TOMATOES.--Tomatoes for canning should be freshly gathered, ripe, but not at all softened.

As they are best cooked in their own juices, peel, slice, put into a double boiler or a porcelain fruit-kettle set inside a dish filled with boiling water, and cook from one to two hours. Cooked in the ordinary way, great care will be required to keep the fruit from burning. When thoroughly cooked--simple scalding will not do--put into cans, and be sure that all air bubbles are expelled before sealing. Wrap in dark brown paper, and put in a cool, dry, dark place.

CANNED TOMATOES NO. 2.--Cut the fruit into thick slices, let it stand and drain until a large portion of the juice has drained off; then pack solid in new or perfect cans. Allow them to stand a little time, then again drain off the juice; fill up a second time with sliced tomatoes, and screw on the top of the cans without the rubbers. Pack into a wash boiler as directed for canning corn, and boil for two hours, then put on the rubbers and seal. When cold, tighten the covers and put away.

STRING BEANS.--Select young and tender beans, string them, and cut into pieces about one half inch in length. Pack the cans as full as possible, and fill with water until every crevice between the beans is full. Screw on the covers and can in the same manner as corn.

Shelled beans may be canned in the same way.

CANNED PUMPKIN AND SQUASH.--These fruits when canned are quite as desirable for pies as the fresh material. The same general rules should be followed as in canning other vegetables and fruits.

TABLE TOPICS.

The word "vegetarian" is not derived from "vegetable," but from the Latin, _homo vegetus_, meaning among the Romans a strong, robust, thoroughly healthy man.

AN INTELLECTUAL FEAST.--Professor Louis Agassiz in his early manhood visited Germany to consult Oken, the transcendentalist in zoölogical classification. "After I had delivered to him my letter of introduction," he once said to a friend, "Oken asked me to dine with him, and you may suppose with what joy I accepted the invitation. The dinner consisted only of potatoes, boiled and roasted; but it was the best dinner I ever ate; for there was Oken. Never before were such potatoes grown on this planet; for the mind of the man seemed to enter into what we ate sociably together, and I devoured his intellect while munching his potatoes."

Dr. Abernethy's recipe for using cucumbers: "Peel the cucumber, slice it, pepper it, put vinegar to it, then throw it out the window."

A green son of the Emerald Isle was eating sweet corn from the cob for the first time. He handed the cob to the waiter, and asked, "Will you plaze put some more beans on my shtick?"

A French physician styles spinach, _le balai de l'estomac_ (broom of the stomach).

An ox is satisfied with the pasture of an acre or two; one wood suffices for several elephants. Man alone supports himself by the pillage of the whole earth and sea. What? Has Nature indeed given us so insatiable a stomach, while she has given us so insignificant bodies? No; it is not the hunger of our stomachs, but insatiable covetousness which costs so much.--_Seneca._

The oftener we go to the vegetable world for our food, the oftener we go to the first and therefore the cheapest source of supply. The tendencies of all advanced scholars in thrift should be to find out plans for feeding all the community, as far as possible, direct from the lap of earth; to impress science into our service so that she may prepare the choicest viands minus the necessity of making a lower animal the living laboratory for the sake of what is just a little higher than cannibal propensities.

_--Dr. B.W. Richardson._

A VOICE FROM THE CORN.

I was made to be eaten, not to be drank, To be husked in a barn, not soaked in a tank; I come as a blessing when put in a mill, As a blight and a curse when run through a still. Make me up into loaves, and your children are fed; But made into drink, I will starve them instead. In bread I'm a servant the eater shall rule, In drink I'm a master, the drinker a fool. Then remember my warning; my strength I'll employ, If eaten, to strengthen, if drunk, to destroy.

--_Sel._

SOUPS

Soup is an easily made, economical, and when properly prepared from healthful and nutritious material, very wholesome article of diet, deserving of much more general use than is commonly accorded it.

In general, when soup is mentioned, some preparation of meat and bones is supposed to be meant; but we shall treat in this chapter of a quite different class of soups, viz., those prepared from the grains, legumes, and vegetables, without the previous preparation of a "stock." Soups of this character are in every way equal, and in many points superior to those made from meat and bones. If we compare the two, we shall find that soups made from the grains and legumes rank much higher in nutritive value than do meat soups. For the preparation of the latter, one pound of meat and bones, in about equal proportion, is required for each quart of soup. In the bone, there is little or no nourishment, it being valuable simply for the gelatine it contains, which gives consistency to the soup; so in reality there is only one half pound of material containing nutriment, for the quart of soup. Suppose, in comparison we take a pea soup. One half pound of peas will be amply enough for a quart. As we take an equal amount of material as basis for each soup, we can easily determine their relative value by comparing the amount of nutritive material contained in peas with that of beef, the most commonly used material for meat soups. As will be seen by reference to the table of food analyses on page 486, peas contain 87.3 parts nutritive material, while lean beef contains only 28 parts in one hundred. Thus the pea soup contains more than three times as much nourishment as does the beef soup.

Soups prepared from grains and legumes are no more expensive than meat soups, and many kinds cost much less, while they have the added advantage of requiring less time and no more labor to prepare.

The greater bulk of all meat soups is water, holding in solution the essence of meat, the nutritive value of which is of very doubtful character.

When properly prepared, the solid matter which enters into the composition of vegetable soups, is so broken up in the process of cooking, that it is more easily digested than in any other form.

Taken hot at the beginning of a meal, soup stimulates the flow of the digestive juices, and on account of the bulk, brings a sense of satiety before an excessive quantity of food has been taken.

In preparing soups from grains, legumes, and vegetables, the material should be first cooked in the ordinary manner, using as small an amount of water as practicable, so as the more thoroughly to disintegrate or break it up. If the material be legumes or grains, the cooking should be slow and prolonged. The purpose to be attained in the cooking of all foods is the partial digestion of the food elements; and in general, with these foods, the more slowly (if continuous) the cooking is done, the more completely will this be brought about.