Part 5

Pick over 1 1/2 cups of dried beans of any sort, cover with water, and soak ten hours or more. Drain and put in boiling water (or the stock onions or leeks have boiled in), and let cook slowly for two hours, or until tender but unbroken, then drain. Put 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan, and when melted add 1 onion chopped fine, and let it cook slowly for ten minutes; then add the beans and season with salt and pepper and put over them 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or 1 tablespoon of "reduced vinegar," and let cook very slowly for ten or fifteen minutes that all may be well blended before serving.

WHITE BEANS FLORENTINE

Soak 4 cups of white kidney beans for ten hours, then boil them two hours. Slip the skins off and put them into a saucepan with 1 cup of broth and a bunch of sweet herbs, 1 bay leaf, and 2 tablespoons of Marsala or sherry. Cover and let them cook slowly for thirty minutes. Remove the herbs and stir in 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour rubbed well together, stir until smooth, and then pour on 1 cup of cream or milk into which 1 egg has been beaten; continue to stir, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, and serve with grated cheese.

BEANS AND CORN ESCALLOPED

Use 1 can of green string beans, or Lima beans, and 1 can of sweet corn. Butter a baking dish, and arrange a layer of beans; dot with butter, and season with pepper and salt, then put on this a layer of corn about half an inch deep, season, and so proceed until the dish is filled. Then pour 1/2 cup of milk over all, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and bake for fifteen minutes, or until the crumbs are browned.

ITALIAN BEANS

Use 3 cups of white haricot beans, soak for several hours, boil two hours in salted water, then drain. Put 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, and when melted add 1 large onion chopped fine and 2 bay leaves. Let cook slowly for eight minutes, then put into the pan the boiled beans, and season with salt and pepper; let heat through, stirring gently, and add 1 cup of tomato sauce two minutes before removing from the fire.

Canned brown or red beans may be used, giving the same dish practically with far less trouble.

SPANISH BEANS

Soak for eight or ten hours any sort of large dried beans, then drain them and put them into boiling water two hours or more, or until cooked. One way of testing them is to remove a few and blow on them; if the skins crack they are done. Drain, and put them in a bean-pot or casserole and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of chopped onion and 2 cups of strained tomatoes, and dredge well with salt. Cover the dish and bake slowly for an hour. A quarter of an hour before taking out, pour over them 1 tablespoon of melted butter and remove the cover.

LIMA BEANS

Let Lima beans stand in cold water for an hour or so after they are shelled, and in cooking them allow 8 cups of water to every 4 cups of beans. Put them in boiling salted water, and let them cook for an hour, or more if not fresh picked. Drain them and add 1/2 cup of the water they cooked in, 1/2 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of butter, and season highly with salt and pepper.

Dried beans must soak ten or twelve hours and cook two hours. Canned Lima beans only need reheating, draining, and a little milk and butter and seasoning added to them.

LIMA BEANS HOLLANDAISE

Boil 1 quart of beans until tender, salting them well when half cooked. Beat a large tablespoon of butter to a cream, beat in the yolk of 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley, 1 saltspoon of black pepper, and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice; when this sauce is well mixed stir it into the beans, taking care not to break them.

CREAMED LIMA BEANS

Cover 2 cups of boiled Lima beans with 1 scant cup of cream, and let simmer in a double boiler for ten minutes; then add 1 teaspoon of butter, and season with salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg.

LIMA BEAN SAUQUETASH

Boil 2 cups of freshly picked Lima beans in 1 quart of water for half an hour, then drain them and add 1 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of butter, and enough green corn cut from the cob to make 2 cups. Season well, and let simmer for fifteen minutes, and salt again before serving.

If canned corn and canned beans are used they need be cooked for only ten minutes.

BEETS

Great care should be taken in washing beets that the small rootlets are not broken or the skin of the beet bruised, as anything which causes the juice to escape injures both the taste and the colour. In the city, beets are seldom obtainable which require less than two or three hours' cooking; but really young, small beets should not require more than one hour's boiling. When boiled they should be drained, then plunged into cold water, after which the skin can be rubbed off with the hand. Some, however, prefer that beets should be baked or steamed; the time required to cook will then be somewhat longer. Canned beets are a great convenience.

CREAMED BEETS

Boil 6 or 7 medium-sized beets until tender, then remove them from the saucepan and place them in cold water; rub the skins off carefully with the hands, and cut them in half-inch cubes. Make a sauce of 2 tablespoons of butter creamed with 2 tablespoons of flour and 1/2 cup of the water in which the beets were boiled, 2 tablespoons of cream, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 saltspoon of pepper. Pour the sauce over the hot beets and serve in a heated deep dish.

VIRGINIA BEETS

Carefully peel boiled beets, and with a sharp knife cut into very thin, even slices, laying them as sliced into a heated vegetable dish; when a layer has been made over the bottom, dot it well with butter, season lightly with salt, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar; then arrange another layer of beets with butter, salt, and sugar, and proceed in this way until the dish is filled. The work should be done near the fire in order that the beets may not cool, as the dish should be served very hot. If, however, the beets have cooled in preparation, set them in a hot oven for a few minutes, and turn them with a spoon in the dish before serving in order that they may be juicy.

PICQUANT BEETS

Peel hot cooked beets, cut into slices, and toss about for three or four minutes in a saucepan which contains 3 tablespoons of butter to which has been added 1 teaspoon of plain vinegar, or a few drops of tarragon, 2 cloves, and 1 teaspoon of sugar.

GERMAN BEETS

Make a sauce of 1 tablespoon of butter, when melted add 1 tablespoon of flour, 2 teaspoons of onion juice, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and enough hot water to make the sauce the right consistency; then add freshly sliced cooked beets, and let cook together three or four minutes before serving.

PICKLED BEETS

Place slices of cold beets in a deep porcelain or glass receptacle, place some peppercorns among them, and a few allspice, cover with mild vinegar, and let stand ten or twelve hours before using.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Brussels sprouts are best if laid for ten minutes, after trimming and looking over, in salted cold water which contains some lemon juice. They should then be drained and put in a large saucepan filled with boiling water containing salt and a pinch of soda. Parboil in this ten minutes, then lift them with a strainer and put in a steamer above the boiling water; cover, and let steam half an hour to finish cooking.

If sprouts are cooked by boiling instead of steaming, leave the saucepan uncovered, as this will keep the odour from being pronounced. Boil in salted water from twenty to thirty minutes, drain the instant they are tender, and serve with melted butter.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS IN DUTCH BUTTER

Put boiled Brussels sprouts in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of melted butter, to which has been added a tablespoon of lemon juice; stir until hot and add pepper and salt.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH CELERY

Trim and wash in cold running water 1 quart of Brussels sprouts; then place them in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, and let them boil for five minutes; then drain and cover with fresh boiling water containing 1 teaspoon of salt. Boil for another twenty-five minutes uncovered, and then drain them. Wash enough celery to make 1 1/2 cups when cut in pieces one inch long, put this in a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of butter, stir well together, and add 1 1/2 cups of scalded milk containing 2 tablespoons of flour; when this is thickened add the sprouts, season with salt and pepper, and serve very hot.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH CHESTNUTS

To every cup of Brussels sprouts allow 1/2 cup of blanched chestnuts which have been cooked for fifteen minutes; put the sprouts and chestnuts together, cook another forty minutes, drain, and serve with white sauce.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS LYONNAISE

Put 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, and when melted add 1 tablespoon of chopped onion; when this is beginning to brown add 4 cups of boiled sprouts, and stir together for three or four minutes, unless the sprouts were cold, in which case they should be tossed about with the butter and onion until hot.

CREAMED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Cover freshly boiled Brussels sprouts with a white sauce made entirely of milk, or of the stock in which they were cooked, with 1 tablespoon of cream added.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS IN BREAD CASES

Cut stale bread into three-inch squares, and with a sharp knife cut out the centre, leaving a bottom and four sides like a box; brush over with melted butter, and brown in the oven. Serve sprouts prepared in any of the above ways in these cases; the creamed sprouts are perhaps the best served this way.

CABBAGE

Wash cabbage carefully after cutting it in half, and let it boil for five minutes in well-salted boiling water; pour this water off and re-cover with fresh boiling water; let cook for half an hour, then add 1 teaspoon of salt, and let finish cooking, which will be in about another half an hour for a medium-sized cabbage.

Cabbage should never be covered while boiling, as covering increases the odour in cooking.

NEW ENGLAND CABBAGE

Cut a cabbage in quarters, wash it thoroughly, and parboil it for five minutes in salted water; then drain and cook with 2 carrots and 2 turnips for an hour or until tender, in any strong vegetable stock, to which 1 tablespoon of butter has been added. Drain and dampen with a little of the stock to serve, and season well with salt and pepper.

WESTERN CABBAGE

Take 4 or 5 cups of shredded white cabbage and put in a frying pan in which 1 tablespoon of butter has been melted. Press the cabbage into the pan, dredge with salt and pepper, and pour over it 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of water; cover and let cook very gently for half an hour or somewhat less.

Red cabbage can be prepared in this same way, and a pretty dish is made by using equal quantities of red and white cabbage.

CABBAGE SARMAS

Put 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, and when melted add 1 onion chopped fine, and after it has cooked gently for ten minutes stir into it 1 cup of boiled rice, 1/2 cup of chopped nuts, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 saltspoon of pepper, and 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Parboil a small cabbage for fifteen minutes, then separate its leaves, and into each leaf roll 1 tablespoon of the force-meat; pack tightly in a shallow pan, dredge with salt and pepper, and cover with the water in which the cabbage cooked; lay 2 bay leaves on the top, and let simmer for fifteen minutes. Serve with melted butter or tomato sauce.

CABBAGE LICHTENSTEIN

Cut one large cabbage into small pieces, not using the stalk. Wash well and put in a kettle of boiling water with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of caraway seed. Cook for half an hour uncovered, then add to the cabbage 4 large potatoes peeled and quartered, season afresh with salt, and let cook another twenty minutes. Put 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan, and when melted add 1 onion chopped fine and 1 tablespoon of flour; let all cook together until brown, then scrape the contents of the frying pan into the cabbage, etc., and cook slowly for twenty minutes more, or until the stock is almost cooked away.

LADY CABBAGE

Boil firm white cabbage fifteen minutes, changing the water then for more from the boiling teakettle; continue boiling for half an hour or until tender, then drain and set aside until perfectly cold. Chop fine, season with pepper and salt, add 1 or 2 well-beaten eggs, 1 tablespoon of butter, and 1/2 cup of rich milk. Stir all well together and bake in a buttered dish until brown. The oven should be moderately hot, and the same care used as in the baking of a custard. Serve in the baking dish.

COLD SLAW

Put 2 tablespoons of vinegar on to boil in a saucepan, and add to it when boiling 1/2 cup of sour or fresh milk or cream containing 2 lightly beaten eggs; stir and then add 1 tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper, and pour over 4 cups of shredded cabbage arranged in a deep bowl. Serve cold.

GERMAN RED CABBAGE

Put 3 or 4 cups of shredded red cabbage into a saucepan with 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 finely chopped apple, and the juice of half a lemon; sprinkle lightly with sugar, season with salt and pepper, cover, and let cook from half to three quarters of an hour.

HUNGARIAN CABBAGE

Quarter a red cabbage, remove the stalk parts and wash well, and put it in a kettle containing enough boiling water to cover it. Let boil for three quarters of an hour or until tender, and then drain, gently pressing out all the water. Put 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan, and when melted add 1 onion chopped fine and 1 tablespoon of flour; stir until smooth and let cook until brown. Then add 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/3 of a cup of vinegar, and salt well. Add the shredded cabbage to this, and let all simmer together for fifteen or twenty minutes before serving.

PICKLED RED CABBAGE

Chop or shred enough cabbage to make 2 quarts (8 cups) and add to it 1 large onion chopped fine and 1 tablespoon of salt; mix well together and let stand over night in a covered jar. Next day press through a colander to drain, and then place a layer of cabbage in a jar, sprinkle over it a few mustard seeds and 2 or 3 cloves, and proceed in this way until the cabbage is all used. Do not press down. Cover with cider vinegar, and use any time after twenty-four hours.

CREAMED CARROTS

Scrape and wash enough carrots to make 4 cups when cut in dice, and put them in a double boiler containing half milk and half water at boiling point. Let them cook slowly for forty minutes or until tender, then drain them and put them in a hot dish at the side of the stove. Use 1 cup of the stock they cooked in to make a sauce, with 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 of flour, and plenty of salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over them to serve.

CREAMED CARROTS AND POTATOES

To 1 quart of cold boiled potatoes, cut in dice, add 1 cup of boiled diced carrots. Put them in a double boiler and cover with 1 1/2 cups of highly seasoned white sauce, to which has been added 1 tablespoon of onion juice and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley; let boil up once and serve.

CARROTS SAUTÉ

Use boiled carrots cut in dice or fancy shapes and toss them for five minutes in hot butter. Season with salt and pepper, add a little chopped parsley, and serve very hot.

Fancy shaped German carrots in glass bottles can be used instead of fresh ones.

GLORIFIED CARROTS

Take 2 cups of diced carrots and boil them in slightly sweetened water about half an hour, or until tender, and let them cool. Put 1 tablespoon of butter into a saucepan, add to it 1 teaspoon of grated onion, and toss together until hot; then add the diced carrots and 1 cup of well-made white sauce. Butter small individual gratin dishes, fill them with the carrot mixture, sprinkle the top with a few lightly browned bread crumbs, then with chopped chives, and set in a hot oven for five minutes. Serve alone as an entrée, placing each dish on a small plate with a paper doily.

This dish can be varied by using more chives mixed with the carrots and omitting the onion, or, if chives are not at hand, they can be omitted when the onion is used, and finely chopped parsley substituted to garnish the top.

The quantities given here can be doubled, and the carrots cooked in a large baking dish as an addition to the main course of a luncheon or dinner.

GLAZED CARROTS

For this, the carrots must be cut into even cones or ovals, and it is convenient to use the imported carrots in glass bottles. If these are used they are already boiled; if fresh carrots are used scrape and wash them and cut out the little shapes with a patent cutter, then boil slowly until tender, but not quite done, and put 2 or 3 cups of them in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of butter, which has been melted, sprinkle with fine sugar, and stir over a hot fire until they begin to brown; then add 2 tablespoons of the stock they boiled in, continue to stir them, add more stock if needed, and continue stirring until the carrots are nicely glazed. Serve alone or as a garnish.

CARROTS DELMONICO

Scrape and cut in dice enough carrots to fill a small baking dish; cover with boiling water in which is 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of butter, and let cook for half an hour, or until tender. Drain and let them cool, and then arrange them in the baking dish with the following sauce: Melt 3 tablespoons of butter, add 3 tablespoons of flour, and when this is smooth stir into it, using a little at a time, 1 cup of the stock in which the carrots were cooked, 1/2 cup of cream or milk containing the beaten yolks of 2 eggs; when smooth add 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice, and salt and pepper well. Sprinkle the top with finely rolled crumbs and let brown in the oven.

CARROT SOUFFLÉ

Mix 2 cups of boiled, mashed carrots, 2 tablespoons of chopped onion, fried for five minutes in 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 cup of milk or cream in which 3 egg-yolks are beaten, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, salt and pepper, and when well blended add lightly with a fork the stiffly beaten whites of the 3 eggs. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake to brown about fifteen or twenty minutes.

CAULIFLOWER

Leave all the green that looks fresh and palatable on the cauliflower, and wash it and let it stand from fifteen minutes to half an hour in salted water. Then put it in a saucepan, stem downwards, with the top barely covered with boiling water, and, if the saucepan is not too large, it will keep the cauliflower upright, so that the delicate top will not cook to pieces before the green stalk is tender. A small cauliflower will take half an hour to cook, and the lower part can be tried with a fork to see when it is tender. Leave the saucepan uncovered in cooking cauliflower, and the odour from the cooking will be very much lessened and the cauliflower more delicate in taste.

CREAMED CAULIFLOWER

Boil and drain a cauliflower and serve over it 1 cup of white sauce.

CAULIFLOWER AU GRATIN

Boil a large cauliflower, drain it, and break the sprays apart. Arrange in layers in a buttered baking dish, sprinkling each layer with cheese, and seasoning it with pepper and salt. When the dish is filled pour on 1 cup of white sauce, sprinkle the top with crumbs and cheese, and let bake fifteen minutes to brown.

CAULIFLOWER IN A GERMAN WAY

Boil a cauliflower and drain it, dredge with salt and pepper, and cover the white part with melted butter, and then dust this with browned bread crumbs; pour 3/4 of a cup of Dutch butter over it, and let it heat for five minutes in the oven in the shallow gratin dish in which it should be served.

ITALIAN CAULIFLOWER

Boil and drain a cauliflower and dredge the top with pepper and salt, sprinkle with grated cheese, and pour a little melted butter over it. Set in the oven for five minutes to brown, and serve surrounded with tomato sauce.

CAULIFLOWER FRITTERS

Boil a cauliflower for twenty-five minutes, or until nearly tender, then drain it and let it cool. When cold separate the sprays and dredge with salt and pepper, then dip in batter, and fry in deep fat until a golden brown. Drain and serve very hot.

CREAMED CELERY

Scrape and trim 3 or 4 heads of celery, leaving the roots on and cutting the tops off; cut each stalk in half, lengthwise, and into pieces five inches long; wash carefully in running water, and then blanch in boiling water for ten minutes. Drain and tie the stalks together like bunches of asparagus, and put them in a saucepan containing 2 cups of water, 2 cups of milk, 1/2 a carrot, 1/2 an onion with 2 cloves stuck in it, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 scant saltspoon of pepper, and let simmer three quarters of an hour or more, or until quite tender when tried with a fork. Remove the celery, strain the stock, and use 1 cup of it in making a sauce, with 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour. Untie the bunches of celery, and arrange them evenly on toast with the sauce poured over them.

CELERY IN BROWN SAUCE

Prepare celery as above, boil for three quarters of an hour or until tender, drain, and cover with the brown sauce described below, omitting the wine, and serve in an ordinary vegetable dish.

CELERY IN CASSEROLE

Cut celery in four-inch lengths, halving each stalk lengthwise, and leaving the root on, wash well and parboil for ten minutes in salted water or milk, and arrange in a square, covered casserole. Put 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, and when browned add 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir until well dissolved, then add 2 cups of the water in which the celery cooked, 1 scant teaspoon of salt, 1 small saltspoon of pepper, and 2 bay leaves. Stir until smooth, and then strain and pour this sauce over the celery, add 1 teaspoon of sherry or Madeira, cover the dish, set it in a shallow pan containing a little water, and let it cook for half an hour in the oven. Serve in the casserole.

BAKED CELERY

Cut 2 bunches of celery into two-inch lengths, wash thoroughly, and let blanch in boiling water and milk, using equal quantities of each, for fifteen minutes, then remove the celery and let it cool; add to 1 cup of the milk and water stock 1 tablespoon of butter blended with 1 tablespoon of flour, some pepper and salt, and when smoothed remove from the fire and beat into it vigorously 2 eggs. Arrange the celery in a buttered baking dish, pour the sauce over it, spread the top thickly with crumbs, and put in the oven. Cover for twenty minutes, then uncover and let brown nicely before serving.

CÊPES IN BLACK BUTTER

French Cêpes come in tin or glass. Put 3 tablespoons of butter in a pan, with 2 bay leaves, a few celery seeds and 1 clove of garlic; let it slowly brown. Strain and add cêpes and let them heat in the butter. Season with salt and paprika and serve very hot.

AMERICAN SWEET CORN

Sweet corn on the cob, which has been picked within twenty-four hours of the time of using, should be dropped into rapidly boiling, slightly salted water, and boiled not more than eight or ten minutes.

ROAST CORN

To roast sweet corn, leave the husks on the cob, and put in a slow oven and let bake for half an hour. Take off the husks and silk and serve at once. Some think this method of cooking the delicate American vegetable retains the flavour of the corn more than the usual way of boiling it.

CORN PUDDING

Use 6 or 7 ears of sweet corn, and cut each row down the middle with a sharp knife, and then cut the grains from the ear, and add to them 2 cups of milk, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 saltspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of melted butter, and 2 slightly beaten eggs. Put this into a baking dish and bake like a custard, in a slow oven for half an hour, taking care it does not cook too long nor get too hot lest it curdle. Canned corn may be used when fresh is out of season.

CORN PUDDING IN TOMATO OR PEPPER CASES

Bake the preceding in cases made by scooping a large part of the inside from large, solid tomatoes, or in hollowed-out green, sweet peppers.

CORN CREOLE