Vaughan's Vegetable Cook Book (4th edition) How to Cook and Use Rarer Vegetables and Herbs
Part 2
These make excellent greens for winter and spring use. Boil hard one half hour with salt pork or corned beef, then drain and serve in a hot dish. Garnish with slices of hard boiled eggs, or the yolks of eggs quirled by pressing through a patent potato masher. It is also palatable served with a French dressing.
KALE ON TOAST.
Boil kale, mix with a good cream sauce and serve on small squares of toast.
BROCCOLI.
Broccoli if not fresh is apt to be bitter in spite of good cooking. Strip off all the side shoots, leaving only the top; cut the stalk close to the bottom of the bunch, throw into cold water for half an hour, drain, tie in a piece of cheese cloth to keep it from breaking and boil twenty minutes in salted water. Take out carefully, place upon a hot dish, pour over it a cream sauce and serve very hot; or it may be served on toast.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS.
Wash in cold water, pick off the dead leaves, put them in two quarts of boiling water, with a tablespoonful of salt, and a quarter teaspoonful of bi-carbonate of soda. Boil rapidly for twenty minutes with the saucepan uncovered, then drain in a colander, and serve with drawn butter or a cream sauce.
BOILED CABBAGE.
Slice a cabbage fine and boil in half water and half milk, when tender add cream and butter. This is delicious.
A CABBAGE CENTER PIECE.
Take a head of cabbage, one that has been picked too late is best, for the leaves open better then, and are apt to be slightly curled. Lay the cabbage on a flat plate or salver and press the leaves down and open with your hand, firmly but gently, so as not to break them off. When they all lie out flat, stab the firm, yellow heart through several times with a sharp knife, until its outlines are lost and then place flowers at random all over the cabbage.
Roses are prettiest, but any flower which has a firm, stiff stem, capable of holding the blossom upright will do. Press the stems down through the leaves and put in sufficient green to vary prettily. The outer leaves of the cabbage, the only ones to be seen when the flowers are in, form a charming background, far prettier than any basket.
Roses are best for all seasons, but autumn offers some charming variations. The brilliant scarlet berries of the mountain ash or red thorn mingled with the deep, rich green of feathery asparagus, make a delicious color symphony most appropriate to the season.
G. L. COLBRON.
CREAM SLAW.
Chop a crisp head of cabbage fine, place in the individual dishes in which it is to be served; fill a cup with white sugar, moisten it with vinegar, add a cup of sour cream beaten until smooth, mix thoroughly, pour over the cabbage and serve at once.
CABBAGE A LA HOLLAND.
The following is a favorite dish in Holland:--Put together in a saucepan, either porcelain or a perfect granite one, a small head of red cabbage shredded, four tart apples peeled and sliced, one large tablespoonful of butter or of drippings, a teaspoonful of salt, a half teaspoonful of pepper, and a little sprinkling of cheese or nutmeg; stew over a slow fire at least three hours. Mix together one tablespoonful of vinegar, a little flour and one tablespoonful of currant jelly, just before taking from the fire add this mixture to the cabbage, boil up once or twice and serve.
RED CABBAGE PICKLE.
This is an improvement on saur kraut. Slice a large red cabbage in fine shreds, place on a large platter and sprinkle well with salt; allow it to stand three days and then drain. Heat enough vinegar to cover it nicely, and put in one ounce of whole spices, pepper, cloves, allspice and mace. Put the cabbage into a stone jar, pour the boiling vinegar upon it, cover and let stand three days.
CABBAGE PUDDING.
Chop up small, enough white cabbage to fill a large baking pan when done. Put it in a pot of boiling water that has been salted, let it boil until tender, then drain thoroughly in a colander. In two quarts of the cabbage stir half a pound of butter, salt and pepper to taste, one pint of sweet cream and four eggs beaten separately. Add also, a pinch of cayenne pepper; put in a pan and bake for half an hour.
PURITAN CABBAGE.
Take half of a small very solid head of white cabbage, cut into eighths, from top to stem, without cutting quite through the stem so that it does not fall into pieces; cover with cold water for one hour; then immerse it in a porcelain kettle of rapidly boiling water, into which has been dropped a teaspoonful of salt and soda the size of a pea. Cover the vessel well and continue boiling for five minutes; drain, cover again with fresh boiling water and let boil for eight or ten minutes longer. Take out of water, draining, flat side down, on a hot platter for a moment. Then turn right side up, allowing the slices to spread apart a little, and drop slowly over it the following sauce: One tablespoon butter and two tablespoons sweet cream, melted together. Select and have ready to use at once, eighteen or twenty plump, good sized oysters, dried on a towel. Take a double-wire gridiron and butter it well; spread the oysters carefully on one side of the gridiron and fold the other side down over them. Have a clear fire and broil them quickly, first one side, then the other, turning iron but once. Dot them over the hot cabbage, giving all a faint dust of curry powder and two or three dashes of white pepper. This is a most dainty and delicious dish.
CHICAGO RECORD.
CABBAGE SALAD.
This salad requires about a pint and a half of chopped cabbage. The cabbage should have the loose leaves removed, the stem cut out, and then be laid in cold water twelve hours. Chop rather fine, pour over and mix with it a boiled dressing. Heat three-quarters of a cup of milk and beat two egg yolks with a fork. Mix with the egg a half-teaspoonful of mustard, one half-teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of granulated gelatine that has been softened in a little cold water, a teaspoonful of sugar and a few grains of cayenne. Cook a tablespoonful of butter and flour together and add half a cup of vinegar. Now cook the milk and egg mixture together like a soft custard and combine with the other part. This dressing, if sealed tight, will keep a long time. When the cabbage and dressing are mixed, fill little individual molds and set away to cool. After-dinner coffee cups, wet in cold water, make good molds. Bits of red beet or half an olive put in the bottom of the mold before the cabbage is put in will make a pretty garnish when the salad is turned out.
CHICAGO RECORD.
SOUR CABBAGE.
Beat one half-cupful of sour cream until smooth, add three tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and one beaten egg, pour over chopped cabbage raw or boiled, and mix thoroughly. Serve on lettuce.
STUFFED CABBAGE.
Use a savoy cabbage, open up the leaves and wash thoroughly in cold water, put in salted boiling water and boil five minutes, then take out without breaking, and put in cold water. Make a stuffing of sausage meat, and bread crumbs which have been moistened and squeezed. To a half pound of sausage allow one egg, two tablespoonfuls of minced onion browned in butter, a pinch of parsley and four tablespoonfuls of minced cooked ham. Drain, and open up the cabbage to the center, between the leaves put in a half teaspoonful of the stuffing, fold over two or three leaves, put in again and so continue until the cabbage is filled. When finished press it as firmly as the case will allow, tie up in a piece of cheese cloth and put into boiling water; boil two hours. Serve the cabbage in a deep dish and pour over a cream sauce.
TURKISH CABBAGE.
Prepare the cabbage as above for stuffing, then cut out the stalk carefully. Cut each leaf in pieces about three inches square and fold into it a forcemeat of some sort, or a highly seasoned vegetable dressing. These little rolls are arranged in layers in a saucepan and are held in place by the weight of a heavy plate; a broth is then turned over them and they are boiled half an hour over a moderate fire. Serve in a hot deep dish and pour over a good sauce made from the broth in which they were cooked.
CARROTS A LA CREME.
Take a large bunch of very small new carrots, scrape them, tie them loosely in a piece of coarse muslin and put into a saucepan almost full of boiling water, to which has been added a small lump of beef drippings and two ounces of salt. In about twenty minutes they will be tender, when remove from the hot water and plunge for a moment in cold. Next melt an ounce of butter in a saucepan and stir into this a dessert spoonful of flour, a small quantity each of pepper, salt and cayenne, also a little nutmeg and half a teacupful of cream. Remove the carrots from the muslin, put them into the saucepan with the other ingredients and let them simmer in them for a few minutes; then serve very quickly while hot. Green peas and carrots mixed and dressed in this way make an excellent variation.
CARROTS A LA FLAMANDE.
When par-boiled and drained, put the carrots into a saucepan with a piece of butter, a small lump of sugar and as much water as may be necessary for sauce; add some finely minced parsley and pepper and salt to the taste. Let the carrots simmer until done (about fifteen minutes) shaking them occasionally. Beat together the yolks of two eggs and two tablespoonfuls of cream; stir this into the carrots off the fire and serve.
CARROT CROQUETTES.
Wash six small, fine-grained carrots and boil until tender. Drain and mash them. To each cupful add one-half spoonful of salt and one-fourth as much pepper, the yolks of two raw eggs, a grate of nutmeg and one level teaspoonful of butter. Mix thoroughly and set away until cold. Shape into tiny croquettes, dip in slightly beaten egg, roll in fine bread crumbs and fry in smoking-hot fat.
CHICAGO RECORD.
FRIED CARROTS.
When the carrots are boiled tender, slice them lengthwise. Into a frying pan put one tablespoonful of butter, and when very hot put in the carrots; brown them lightly on both sides, sprinkle them with salt, pepper and a little sugar and garnish with parsley.
ESCALLOPED CARROTS.
Take six small fine-grained carrots and two small white onions, boil in water until tender, from forty-five to sixty minutes, just enough water to keep from burning. Do not scrape them, and the flavor will be retained; do not cover them and the color will be preserved. When the onions are tender remove them. When the carrots are done peel them and slice thin. Put in baking dish a layer of carrots, sprinkle with salt and pepper and dots of butter. Proceed in this way until you have used all the carrots. Moisten with a cup of new milk, into which a beaten egg has been carefully stirred, and a good pinch of salt. Spread over the top a layer of bread crumbs and bake until a nice brown.
CHICAGO RECORD.
PRESERVED CARROTS.
Scrape carrots clean, cut into small pieces and boil with sufficient cold water to cover them. Boil until tender, and put through the colander, weigh the carrots, add white sugar pound for pound and boil five minutes. Take off and cool. When cool add the juice of two lemons and the grated rind of one, two tablespoonfuls of brandy and eight or ten bitter almonds chopped fine to one pound of carrot. Stir all in well and put in jars.
CARROT SOUP.
Boil a pint of carrots with a piece of butter about as large as a walnut and a lump of sugar until they are tender. Press through a colander and put into a pint of boiling milk, thickened with a tablespoonful each of butter and flour, dilute this with soup stock or chicken broth, and just before taking up add the yolks of two eggs well beaten and two tablespoonfuls of cream.
BAKED CAULIFLOWER.
Boil cauliflower in salt water, separate into small pieces, and put in a baking dish, make a cream sauce and pour over it. Cover the mixture with bread crumbs, dot with butter and bake a light brown.
BOILED CAULIFLOWER WITH WHITE SAUCE.
Cut off the stem close to the bottom of the flower and pick off the outer leaves. Wash well in cold water and let it lie in salt and water top downward for an hour to remove any insects which may be in the leaves. Then tie in a cheese cloth or salt bag to prevent its going to pieces, and put, stem downward, in a kettle of boiling water with a teaspoonful of salt. Cover and boil till tender, about half an hour. Lift it out carefully, remove the cloth and arrange, stem downward, in a round, shallow dish. Pour over it a cream sauce.
FRIED CAULIFLOWER.
Take cauliflower cooked the day before, divide into small tufts, dip in egg and roll in cracker or bread crumbs, or make a batter in the proportion of one egg, two tablespoonfuls of milk and one tablespoonful of flour. Beat the eggs very light before adding to the milk and flour, and into this dip the cauliflower. Have the butter boiling hot in the frying pan, put in the cauliflower and fry a light brown, garnish with parsley.
PICKLED CAULIFLOWER.
Boil the cauliflower not too soft and break up into small tufts. Drain and put into bottles with horse-radish, tarragon, bay leaves and grains of black pepper. Pour over good cider vinegar and cork the bottle tightly.
CAULIFLOWER SALAD.
This salad is what Mrs. Rorer terms delicious served with her favorite French dressing. Take a head of cauliflower and boil in a piece of fine cheesecloth. Remove from the cloth, drain and sprinkle over it two tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar and stand aside to cool. At serving time break the head apart into flowerets, arrange them neatly on a dish; sprinkle over a little chopped parsley or the wild sorrel; cover with French dressing made as follows; put a half-teaspoon of salt and as much white pepper into a bowl; add gradually six tablespoons of olive oil. Rub until the salt is dissolved, and then add one tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice. Beat well for a moment and it is ready to use. It is much better if used at once.
CAULIFLOWER SOUP.
Boil a head of cauliflower in water, or if convenient in soup stock or chicken broth. If water is used add an onion. Lift out the cauliflower, lay aside one half-pint of tufts. Mash the rest through a sieve using the water in which it was boiled to press it through. Put one large tablespoonful of butter over the fire in a saucepan and when melted stir in a large tablespoon of flour. Stir this into the puree until of a creamy consistency, add a pint of hot milk, a beaten egg, salt and pepper to taste and a little grated nutmeg if liked. Add the reserved tufts, simmer five minutes and serve.
CAULIFLOWER AND TOMATO SOUFFLE.
Boil cauliflower in salted water until tender, then drain and separate into tufts. Put in a buttered baking dish a layer of tufts, then a layer of tomatoes, salt and pepper the tomatoes. Continue these alternate layers until the dish is full. Make a boiled sauce of two tablespoonfuls of butter, one and one half-tablespoonfuls of flour, one cup of milk, and the yolks of two eggs, lastly add three tablespoonfuls of grated cheese and the beaten whites of the two eggs. Pour into the baking dish and cover all with a layer of bread crumbs dotted with bits of butter. Bake one half hour.
TO CRISP CELERY.
Let it lie in ice water two hours before serving. To fringe the stalk, stick several coarse needles into a cork and draw the stalk half way from the top several times, and lay in the refrigerator to curl and crisp.
CELERY A LA VERSAILLES.
Cleanse two or three heads of well-blanched celery and trim them nicely, leaving on just as much of the stalk as is tender; parboil the vegetable in well-salted water, then rinse in cold water and drain on a sieve. Have about a pint of boiling white stock ready in a saucepan, lay in the celery, with a large onion cut in quarters and a good seasoning of salt and pepper, and cook very gently until the celery is quite tender, then drain the vegetable carefully on a napkin so as to absorb the moisture, and cut each head into quarters lengthwise. Fold the pieces into as neat a shape as possible and make them even in size; mask them entirely over with thick bechamel sauce and allow this latter to stiffen; then dip the pieces in beaten egg, roll thickly in fine white bread crumbs, and fry in boiling fat. When sufficiently browned, drain on blotting-paper, and pile up high in the center of a hot dish covered with a napkin. Garnish with sprigs of fried parsley and serve.
CELERY-POTATO CROQUETTES.
To a pint of mashed potatoes add half a teacup of cooked celery, season with a tablespoon of butter, half a teaspoon of salt, a dash of white pepper; add the yolk of one egg. Roll in shape of a small cylinder three inches long and one and a fourth inches thick. Dip them in the beaten white of egg, roll in cracker or bread crumbs and fry.
CHICAGO RECORD.
CELERY AU GRATIN.
Wash and trim four heads of celery; set in a stewpan with a teaspoonful of vinegar, salt and cold water; boil until tender and drain dry. Make some sauce with a tablespoonful of butter, the same quantity of flour and half a pint of milk. Cook while stirring till it thickens; add the yolk of one egg and a tablespoonful of grated cheese; stir the sauce, but do not let it boil. Arrange the celery in a pie dish, sprinkle bread crumbs over and little bits of butter; cover with sauce and brown in the oven. Serve in the dish in which it is cooked.
CHICAGO RECORD.
CELERY SALAD.
Take the inner and tenderest heads of three stalks of celery, cut them into strips an inch long and about the thickness of young French beans. Rub the salad bowl lightly with shallot. Mix the yolks of two hard boiled eggs with three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, one of tarragon vinegar, a little mustard and pepper and salt to taste. Add the celery to this sauce, toss well with two silver forks, garnish with slices of hard boiled eggs. If you have any cold chicken or turkey, chop it up, and mix with some of above in equal proportions; or a few oysters will be a great addition.
STEWED CELERY.
After celery is cut up and soaked in cold water for fifteen minutes, then cooked until tender, it must be drained in the colander, thrown into cold water to blanch and become firm, and then thoroughly heated in a white sauce. If the cold bath is neglected the result will be flat and discolored instead of white and crisp.
CELERY SOUP.
The ingredients are two heads of celery, one quart of water, one quart of milk, two tablespoonfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of butter and a dash of pepper. Wash and scrape celery and cut in half inch pieces, put in boiling water and cook until soft. Mash the celery in the water in which it is boiled and add salt and pepper. Let the milk come to a boil; cream together the butter and flour and stir the boiling milk into it slowly; then add celery and strain through a sieve mashing and pressing with the back of a spoon until all but the tough fibres of the celery are squeezed through. Return the soup to the fire and heat until it is steaming when it is ready to serve.
BOILED CELERIAC.
Pare the roots and throw them into cold water for one half hour. Cut into squares, boil in salted water until tender and serve with a butter or cream sauce.
CELERIAC SALAD.
Boil the roots in salted water, throw into cold water and peel; slice, serve on lettuce leaves and pour over a French or mayonnaise dressing. (See Salad Dressing.)
CHERVIL SALAD.
Clean the leaves thoroughly in cold water and shake to drain. Serve with French salad dressing. The leaves are aromatic and are used for seasoning dressings, salads, sauces and soups and also for garnishes.
CREAM CHICORY.
Clean well and boil several heads of chicory, drain and cool; squeeze out the water from the chicory and mince it; melt some butter in a saucepan and cook until the moisture has evaporated; sprinkle with flour and add hot milk; boil up stirring all the time; season, and cook on back of the stove fifteen minutes; serve with croutons or bits of toast.
FRENCH RECIPE.
CHICORY SALAD.
Wash and shake well; select the white leaves and cut in one or two inch lengths. In the salad bowl mix the oil, salt and vinegar then add the chicory and mix vigorously with a wooden fork and spoon; add the vinegar sparingly--1-1/2 tablespoons of vinegar to 6 of oil. A crust of bread rubbed with garlic is usually added, but the bowl itself may be slightly rubbed with a cut clove.
FRENCH RECIPE.
CITRON PRESERVES.
Select sound fruit, pare and divide them into quarters, and cut each quarter into small pieces, take the seeds out carefully; the slices may be left plain or may be cut in fancy shapes, notching the edges nicely, weigh the citron, and to every pound of fruit allow a pound of sugar. Boil in water with a small piece of alum until clear and tender; then rinse in cold water. Boil the weighed sugar in water and skim until the syrup is clear. Add the fruit, a little ginger root or a few slices of lemon, boil five minutes and fill hot jars. Seal tightly.
CITRON PUDDING.
Cream together half a cup of butter and one cup of sugar; add the well beaten yolks of five eggs, the juice and grated peel of one lemon, and whip until very light, then add the whites beaten to a froth alternately with two full cups of flour, through which must be sifted two even teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Butter a mold lavishly, line it with strips of preserved citron, using a quarter of a pound for a pudding of this size, put in the batter, cover and set in a pan with boiling water in a good oven. Keep the pan nearly full of boiling water and bake steadily one and one half hours. Dip the mold in cold water, turn out upon a hot dish, and eat at once with any kind of sweet pudding sauce. The mold must not be filled more than two thirds full, in order to give the pudding a chance to swell.
SWEET PICKLED CITRON.
One pound of sugar and one quart of vinegar (if too strong dilute with water) to every two pounds of citron. Boil the vinegar, sugar and spices together and skim well. Then add the citron and cook until about half done. Use spices to suit taste.
CORN CHOWDER.
Chop fine one-quarter pound of salt pork, put in a kettle, and when well tried out add two white onions sliced thin. Brown lightly, then add one pint of raw diced potatoes, one can of corn, chopped fine, and sufficient boiling water to cover. When the potatoes are tender stir in two tablespoonfuls of flour, blended with one of butter, one teaspoonful of salt and saltspoonful of white pepper and one quart of boiling milk. Simmer five minutes longer, add one cupful of hard crackers, broken into bits, and serve.
MISS BEDFORD.
CHICKEN WITH CORN OYSTERS.
Clean and joint a chicken, one weighing about three pounds, as for fricassee. Wipe each piece with a damp cloth, dip in slightly beaten egg; then roll in seasoned fine bread crumbs. Arrange in a deep dish, and bake in a very hot oven for forty-five minutes, basting every ten minutes with melted butter. While the chicken is baking chop one cup full of cold boiled corn fine, add to it one beaten egg, one-quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, one tablespoonful of milk, two tablespoonfuls of flour and one-quarter of a teaspoonful of baking powder. Heat one tablespoonful of drippings in a pan, drop the batter in in spoonfuls, and brown quickly on both sides. Prepare a sauce with one tablespoonful of butter, blended with one of flour and one cupful of chicken stock (made from the neck and wing tips), one-half of a cupful of cream, one teaspoonful of lemon juice, a saltspoon of salt, one-quarter as much pepper and the yolks of two eggs. Do not add the eggs and cream until just before it is taken from the fire. Arrange on a warm, deep platter. Garnish with the corn oysters and sprigs of parsley. Serve the sauce in a boat.
CHICAGO RECORD.
CREAM OF CORN.