Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches Part 27

You may either lay the ears on a large flat dish and send them to table whole, or broken in half; or you may cut all the com off the cob, and serve it up in a deep dish, mixed with b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt.

MOCK OYSTERS OF CORN.

Take a dozen and a half ears of large young corn, and grate all the grains off the cob as fine as possible. Mix with the grated corn three large table-spoonfuls of sifted flour, the yolks of six eggs well beaten. Let all be well incorporated by hard beating.

Have ready in a frying-pan an equal proportion of lard and fresh b.u.t.ter. Hold it over the fire till it is boiling hot, and then put in portions of the mixture as nearly as possible in shape and size like fried oysters. Fry them brown, and send them to table hot.

They should be near an inch thick.

This is an excellent relish at breakfast, and may be introduced as a side dish at dinner. In taste it has a singular resemblance to fried oysters. The corn must be young.

STEWED EGG PLANT.

The purple egg plants are better than the white ones. Put them whole into a pot with plenty of water, and simmer them till quite tender. Then take them out, drain them, and (having peeled off the skins) cut them up, and mash them smooth in a deep dish. Mix with them some grated bread, some powdered sweet marjoram, and a large piece of b.u.t.ter, adding a few pounded cloves. Grate a layer of bread over the top, and put the dish into the oven and brown it.

You must send it to table in the same dish.

Eggplant is sometimes eaten at dinner, but generally at breakfast.

TO FRY EGG PLANT.

Do not pare your egg plants if they are to be fried, but slice them about half an inch thick, and lay them an hour or two in salt and water to remove their strong taste, which to most persons is very unpleasant. Then take them out, wipe them, and season them, with pepper only. Beat some yolk of egg; and in another dish grate a sufficiency of bread-crumbs. Have ready in a frying-pan some lard and batter mixed, and make it boil. Then dip each slice of egg plant first in the egg, and then in the crumbs, till both sides are well covered; and fry them brown, taking care to have them done all through, as the least rawness renders them very unpalatable.

STUFFED EGG PLANTS.

Parboil them to take off their bitterness. Then slit each one down the side, and extract the seeds. Have ready a stuffing made of grated bread-crumbs, b.u.t.ter, minced sweet herbs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and beaten yolk of egg. Fill with it the cavity from whence you took the seeds, and bake the egg plants in a Dutch oven. Serve them up with a made gravy poured into the dish.

FRIED CUc.u.mBERS.

Having pared your cuc.u.mbers, cut them lengthways into pieces about as thick as a dollar. Then dry them in a cloth. Season them with pepper and salt, and sprinkle them thick with flour. Melt some b.u.t.ter in a frying-pan, and when it boils, put in the slices of cuc.u.mber, and fry them of a light brown. Send them to table hot.

They make a breakfast dish..

TO DRESS CUc.u.mBERS RAW.

They should be as fresh from the vine as possible, few vegetables being more unwholesome when long gathered. As soon as they are brought in lay them in cold water. Just before they are to go to table take them out, pare them and slice them into a pan of fresh cold water. When they are all sliced, transfer them to a deep dish, season them with a little salt and black pepper, and pour over them some of the best vinegar, to which you may add a little salad oil. You may mix with them a small quant.i.ty of sliced onion; not to be eaten, but to communicate a slight flavour of onion to the vinegar.

SALSIFY.

Having sc.r.a.ped the salsify roots, and washed them in cold water, parboil them. Then take them out, drain them, cut them into large pieces and fry them in b.u.t.ter.

Salsify is frequently stewed slowly till quite tender, and then served up with melted b.u.t.ter. Or it may be first boiled, then grated, and made into cakes to be fried in b.u.t.ter.

Salsify must not be left exposed to the air, or it will turn blackish.

ARTICHOKES.

Strip off the coa.r.s.e outer leaves, and cut off the stalks close to the bottom. Wash the artichokes well, and let them lie two or three hours in cold water. Put them with their heads downward into a pot of boiling water, keeping them down by a plate floated over them. They must boil steadily from two to three hours; take care to replenish the pot with additional boiling water as it is wanted. When they are tender all through, drain them, and serve them up with melted b.u.t.ter.

BEETS.

Wash the beets, but do not sc.r.a.pe or cut them while they are raw; for if a knife enters them before they are boiled they will lose their colour. Boil them from two to three hours, according to their size. When they are tender all through, take them up, and sc.r.a.pe off all the outside. If they are young beets they are best split down and cut into long pieces, seasoned with pepper, and sent to table with melted b.u.t.ter. Otherwise you may slice them thin, after they are quite cold, and pour vinegar over them.

TO STEW BEETS.

Boil them first, and then sc.r.a.pe and slice them. Put them into a stew-pan with a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, some boiled onion and parsley chopped fine, and a little vinegar, salt and pepper.

Set the pan on hot coals, and let the beets stew for a quarter of an hour.

TO BOIL GREEN OR FRENCH BEANS.

These beans should be young, tender, and fresh gathered. Remove the strings with a knife, and take off both ends of the bean. Then cut them in two or three pieces only; for if split or cut very small, they become watery and lose much of their taste. They look best when cut slanting. As you cut them, throw them into a pan of cold water, and let them lay awhile. Boil them an hour and a half.

They must be perfectly tender before you take them up. Then drain and press them well, season them with pepper, and mix into them a piece of b.u.t.ter.

SCARLET BEANS.

It is not generally known that the pod of the scarlet bean, if green and young, is extremely nice when cut into three or four pieces and boiled. They will require near two hours, and must be drained well, and mixed as before mentioned with b.u.t.ter and pepper. If gathered at the proper time, when the seed is just perceptible, they are superior to any of the common beans.

LIMA BEANS.

These are generally considered the finest of all beans, and should be gathered young. Sh.e.l.l them, lay them in a pan of cold water, and then boil them about two hours, or till they are quite soft.

Drain them well, and add to them some b.u.t.ter and a little pepper.

They are destroyed by the first frost, but can be kept during the winter, by gathering them on a dry day when full grown but not the least hard, and putting them in their pods into a keg. Throw some salt into the bottom of the keg, and cover it with a layer of the bean-pods; then add more salt, and then another layer of beans, till the keg is full. Press them down with a heavy weight, cover the keg closely, and keep it in a cool dry place. Before you use them, soak the pods all night in cold water; the next day sh.e.l.l them, and soak the beans till you are ready to boil them.

DRIED BEANS.

Wash them and lay them in soak over night. Early in the morning put them into a pot with plenty of water, and boil them slowly till dinner time. They will require seven or eight hours to be sufficiently done. Then take them off, put them into a sieve, and strain off the liquid.

Send the beans to table in a deep dish, seasoned with pepper, and having a piece of b.u.t.ter mixed with them.

GREEN PEAS.

Green peas are unfit for eating after they become hard and yellowish; but they are better when nearly full grown than when very small and young. They should be gathered as short a time as possible before they are cooked, and laid in cold water as soon as they are sh.e.l.led. They will require about an hour to boil soft.

When quite done, drain them, mix with them a piece of b.u.t.ter, and add a little pepper.