Reform Cookery Book Part 14

Stewed Celery.

Wash and trim the celery into short lengths and allow to soak in vinegar and water for an hour or so before cooking. Drain, and parboil in water containing a little salt and lemon juice or vinegar for 10 minutes. Drain again, and stew for another 10 or 15 minutes in some good white stock. Do not throw away the water in which celery, cauliflower, peas, &c., are boiled. It can be added to the stock-pot. Meantime toast a slice of bread, dip it in this celery water, and lay on ashet cut in triangles. Lay the celery on this when cooked, make the stock in saucepan into a good sauce with flour and b.u.t.ter, and pour over.

Seakale

is rather scarce and expensive as a rule, but it is well to know how to cook it when occasion offers. It is a choice delicacy for an invalid or convalescent. Soak in salted cold water for a time, trim neatly and cook till tender--about half-an-hour in fast boiling water containing a little salt and lemon juice. Drain, and serve on toast with white sauce over.

Asparagus.

Wash well in cold water and sc.r.a.pe the stalks white. Tie in small bundles and stand in fast boiling salted water till the stalks are tender--about twenty minutes. Drain, and serve like celery.

Salsify,

or vegetable oyster, is another vegetable which would find great favour were it not so scarce and dear. Sc.r.a.pe the roots and throw into cold water. Cut in 2-inch pieces and simmer gently for an hour or till tender in stock with a slice of lemon, or in milk and water. Lift out the salsify and place on toast. Thicken the liquor with b.u.t.ter and flour and pour over.

All vegetables which are served with white sauce or melted b.u.t.ter can be acceptably served

Au Gratin,

and a dish of carrots, turnips, and the like served in this way is quite a delicacy. Young tender vegetables are of course always to be preferred, but even when rather old are better this way than any other. Cook till quite tender, but not in the least broken. Lay in a pie dish, cover with sauce, coat thickly with crumbs or cheese and crumbs. Dot over with b.u.t.ter, and bake a light brown.

Spinach.

Soak in cold water and rinse very well to remove all grit, &c. Trim away stalks and tough fibre at the back of the leaf. Shake the water well off, and put in dry saucepan with lid on, to cook for about 10 minutes. Drain, chop finely, and return to saucepan with some b.u.t.ter, salt and pepper, to get quite hot. Dish neatly in a flat, round, or oval shape, with poached eggs on top, and croutons of toast or fried bread round.

Cauliflower--Dutch Way.

(Mr VAN TROMP.)

Boil cauliflower in usual way, drain, and put in vegetable dish. Coat with this sauce:--Make a cream with 2 spoonfuls potato flour, add a little sugar, and stir over fire till it thickens.

SALADS.

"Cuc.u.mbers,--Peel the cuc.u.mber, slice it, pepper it, put vinegar to it, then throw it out of the window."_--Dr Abernethy._

One does not need to be a vegetarian to appreciate salads, and many who find cooked vegetables difficult of digestion, will find that they can take them, with impunity, raw, but it is inadvisable to take raw and cooked fruit or vegetables at the same meal.

Raw Cabbage,

for example, digests in little over an hour, while cooked it takes 3 to 4-1/2 hours. Needless to say, only young, tender, freshly pulled cabbage can be used in this way. Shred finely, removing all stalks and stringy pieces, and cover with the usual salad dressing. This may now be had ready for use in the shape of

Florence Cream,

but if wanted to be made at home, take equal quant.i.ties of finest salad oil and either lemon juice or vinegar and mix together gradually by a few drops at a time. A little cream or yolk of egg beat up is an improvement, and ketchup, made mustard, &c., may be added to taste. The dressing may be prepared beforehand, but should be put on just before sending to table.

Cold Slaw

is a favourite American salad. Shred the cabbage as above and sprinkle liberally with salt. Allow to remain for at least 24 hours, turning occasionally. Drain and use with lemon juice or salad dressing.

Tomato Salad.

Shred down a crisp, tender lettuce. Put in salad bowl. Scald and pare some firm, ripe tomatoes. Slice and cut up--not too small. Mix with lettuce.

Pour over a simple dressing. Some slices of hard-boiled egg may be used as a garnish, or the white may be chopped up and the yolk grated over at the last. Tomato aspic is also a tasteful addition. Chop up and put lightly over. This salad or plain lettuce may be varied by adding almost any tender young vegetable, shred fine. Sc.r.a.ped radish, young carrots, turnips, cauliflower, green peas, very finely shred shallot or white of spring onion, chives, cress, &c., are all good, and may be used according to taste and convenience. A good

Winter Salad

can be made with celery, endive, &c., and of course with cold cooked vegetables. These latter should be cooked separately, and mixed tastefully together with an eye to colour and appearance. Raw and cooked vegetables should never be mixed in the same salad, or indeed eaten at the same meal.

SAUCES.

"Hunger is the best Sauce."

"England" has been slightingly defined by a French gourmand as a country of fifty religions and only one sauce! If this be true of those who have all the resources of the animal kingdom at their disposal, what can be the plight of those from whom these are shut out. This "one sauce" was, I believe, melted b.u.t.ter, or as it is more generally now called

White Sauce,

and it is not every one who can make even that plain sauce as it should be.

The thin, watery mixture, or grey "stodgy" ma.s.s which is sometimes served with cauliflower or parsnips, even where the other viands are fairly well cooked and served, is certainly enough to condemn "vegetables." Yet, how simple it is if done the right way. In a small saucepan--preferably earthenware or enamel, for it must be spotlessly clean and smooth--melt 1 oz. b.u.t.ter, and into that stir 1 oz. flour. When quite smooth add by degrees a teacupful milk. Stir till it thickens, and allow to cook for a minute or two longer. It must be done over a very gentle heat--the side of the range, or gas stove turned low. If wanted more creamy, use more b.u.t.ter in proportion to the flour. Salt and pepper to taste. To make

Parsley Sauce,

add a spoonful of finely chopped and scalded parsley to this just as it comes a boil; and for

Caper Sauce,

add some finely chopped capers or fresh nasturtium pods in same way.

Tarragon Sauce.