Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches Part 26

CAULIFLOWER

Remove the green leaves that surround the head or white part, and peel off the outside skin of the small piece of stalk that is left on. Cut the cauliflower in four, and lay it for an hour in a pan of cold water. Then tie it together before it goes into the pot.

Put it into boiling water and simmer it till the stalk is thoroughly tender, keeping it well covered with water, and carefully removing the sc.u.m. It will take about two hours.

Take it up as soon as it is done; remaining in the water will discolour it. Drain it well, and send it to table with melted b.u.t.ter.

It will be much whiter if put on in boiling milk and water.

BROCOLI.

Prepare brocoli for boiling in the same manner as cauliflower, leaving the stalks rather longer, and splitting the head in half only. Tie it together again, before it goes into the pot. Put it on in hot water, and let it simmer till the stalk is perfectly tender.

As soon as it is done take it out of the water and drain it. Send melted b.u.t.ter to table with it.

SPINACH.

Spinach requires close examination and picking, as insects are frequently found among it, and it is often gritty. Wash it through three or four waters. Then drain it, and put it on in boiling water. Ten minutes is generally sufficient time to boil spinach.

Be careful to remove the sc.u.m. When it is quite tender, take it up, and drain and squeeze it well. Chop it fine, and put it into a sauce-pan with a piece of b.u.t.ter and a little pepper and salt. Set it on hot coals, and let it stew five minutes, stirring it all the time.

SPINACH AND EGGS.

Boil the spinach as above, and drain and press it, but do not chop it. Have ready some eggs poached as follows. Boil in a sauce-pan, and skim some clear spring water, adding to it a table-spoonful of vinegar. Break the eggs separately, and having taken the sauce-pan off the fire, slip the eggs one at a time into it with as much dexterity as you can. Let the sauce-pan stand by the side of the fire till the white is set, and then put it over the fire for two minutes. The yolk should be thinly covered by the white. Take them up with an egg slice, and having trimmed the edges of the whites, lay the eggs on the top of the spinach, which should firstly seasoned with pepper and salt and a little b.u.t.ter, and must be sent to table hot.

TURNIPS.

Take off a thick paring from the outside, and boil the turnips gently for an hour and a half. Try them with a fork, and when quite tender, take them up, drain them on a sieve, and either send them to table whole with melted b.u.t.ter, or mash them in a cullender, (pressing and squeezing them well;) season with a little pepper and salt, and mix with them a very small quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter. Setting in the sun after they are cooked, or on a part of the table upon which the sun may happen to shine, will give to turnips a singularly unpleasant taste, and should therefore he avoided.

When turnips are very young, it is customary to serve them up with about two inches of the green top left on them.

If stewed with meat, they should be sliced or quartered.

Mutton, either boiled or roasted, should always be accompanied by turnips.

CARROTS.

Wash and sc.r.a.pe them well. If large cut them into two three, or four pieces. Put them into boiling water with a little salt in it.

Full grown carrots will require three hours' boiling; smaller ones two hours, and young ones an hour. Try them with a fork, and when they are tender throughout, take them up and dry them in a cloth.

Divide them in pieces and split them, or cut them into slices.

Eat them with melted b.u.t.ter. They should accompany boiled beef or mutton.

PARSNIPS.

Wash, sc.r.a.pe and split them. Put them into a pot of boiling water; add a little salt, and boil them till quite tender, which will be in from two to three hours, according to their size. Dry them in a cloth when done, and pour melted b.u.t.ter over them in the dish.

Serve them up with any sort of boiled meat, or with salt cod.

Parsnips are very good baked or stewed with meat.

RUSSIAN OR SWEDISH TURNIPS

This turnip (the Ruta Baga) is very large and of a reddish yellow colour; they are generally much liked. Take off a thick paring, cut the turnips into large pieces, or thick slices, and lay them awhile in cold water. Then boil them gently about two hours, or till they are quite soft. When done, drain, squeeze and mash them, and season them with pepper and salt, and a very little b.u.t.ter.

Take care not to set them in a part of the table where the sun comes, as it will spoil the taste.

Russian turnips should always be mashed.

SQUASHES OR CYMLINGS.

The green or summer squash is best when the outside is beginning to turn yellow, as it is then less watery and insipid than when younger. Wash them, cut them into pieces, and take out the seeds.

Boil them about three quarters of an hour, or till quits tender.

When done, drain and squeeze them well till you have pressed out all the water; mash them with a little b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt.

Then put the squash thus prepared into a stew-pan, set it on hot coals, and stir it very frequently till it becomes dry. Take care not to let it burn.

WINTER SQUASH, OR CASHAW.

This is much finer than the summer squash. It is fit to eat in August, and, in a dry warm place, can be kept well all winter. The colour is a very bright yellow. Pare it, take out the seeds, cut it in pieces, and stew it slowly till quite soft, in a very little water. Afterwards drain, squeeze, and press it well, and mash it with a very little b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt.

PUMPKIN.

Deep coloured pumpkins are generally the best. In a dry warm place they can be kept perfectly good all winter. When you prepare to stew a pumpkin, cut it in half and take out all the seeds. Then cut it in thick slices, and pare them. Put it into a pot with a very little water, and stew it gently for an hour, or till soft enough to mash. Then take it out, drain, and squeeze it till it is as dry as you can get it.

Afterwards mash it, adding a little pepper and salt, and a very little b.u.t.ter.

Pumpkin is frequently stewed with fresh beef or fresh pork.

The water in which pumpkin has been boiled, is said to be very good to mix bread with, it having a tendency to improve it in sweetness and to keep it moist.

HOMINY.

Wash the hominy very clean through three or four waters. Then put it into a pot (allowing two quarts of water to one quart of hominy) and boil it slowly five hours. When done, take it up, and drain the liquid from it through a cullender. Put the hominy into a deep dish, and stir into it a small piece of fresh b.u.t.ter.

The small grained hominy is boiled in rather less water, and generally eaten with b.u.t.ter and sugar.

INDIAN CORN.

Corn for boiling should be full grown but young and tender. When the grains become yellow it is too old. Strip it of the outside leaves and the silk, but let the inner leaves remain, as they will keep in the sweetness. Put it into a large pot with plenty of water, and boil it rather fast for three hours or more. When done, drain off the water, and remove the leaves.