The Book of Household Management Part 129

_Sufficient_.--Allow about 50 heads for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_.--May be had, forced, from January but cheapest in May, June, and July.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ASPARAGUS.]

ASPARAGUS.--This plant belongs to the variously-featured family of the order _Liliaceae_, which, in the temperate regions of both hemispheres, are most abundant, and, between the tropics, gigantic in size and arborescent in form. Asparagus is a native of Great Britain, and is found on various parts of the seacoast, and in the fens of Lincolnshire. At Kynarve Cove, in Cornwall, there is an island called "Asparagus Island," from the abundance in which it is there found. The uses to which the young shoots are applied, and the manure in which they are cultivated in order to bring them to the highest state of excellence, have been a study with many kitchen-gardeners.

ASPARAGUS PEAS.

(Entremets, or to be served as a Side-dish with the Second Course.)

1088. INGREDIENTS.--100 heads of asparagus, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, a small bunch of parsley, 2 or 3 green onions, flour, 1 lump of sugar, the yolks of 2 eggs, 4 tablespoonfuls of cream, salt.

_Mode_.--Carefully sc.r.a.pe the asparagus, cut it into pieces of an equal size, avoiding that which is in the least hard or tough, and throw them into cold water. Then boil the asparagus in salt and water until three-parts done; take it out, drain, and place it on a cloth to dry the moisture away from it. Put it into a stewpan with the b.u.t.ter, parsley, and onions, and shake over a brisk fire for 10 minutes. Dredge in a little flour, add the sugar, and moisten with boiling water. When boiled a short time and reduced, take out the parsley and onions, thicken with the yolks of 2 eggs beaten with the cream; add a seasoning of salt, and, when the whole is on the point of simmering, serve. Make the sauce sufficiently thick to adhere to the vegetable.

_Time_.--Altogether, 1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. 6d. a pint.

_Seasonable_ in May, June, and July.

MEDICINAL USES OF ASPARAGUS.--This plant not only acts as a wholesome and nutritious vegetable, but also as a diuretic, aperient, and deobstruent. The chemical a.n.a.lysis of its juice discovers its composition to be a peculiar crystallizable principle, called asparagin, alb.u.men, mannite, malic acid, and some salts. Thours says, the cellular tissue contains a substance similar to sage. The berries are capable of undergoing vinous fermentation, and affording alcohol by distillation. In their unripe state they possess the same properties as the roots, and probably in a much higher degree.

ASPARAGUS PUDDING.

(A delicious Dish, to be served with the Second Course.)

1089. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 pint of asparagus peas, 4 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, 1 tablespoonful of _very finely_ minced ham, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt to taste, milk.

_Mode_.--Cut up the nice green tender parts of asparagus, about the size of peas; put them into a basin with the eggs, which should be well beaten, and the flour, ham, b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt. Mix all these ingredients well together, and moisten with sufficient milk to make the pudding of the consistency of thick batter; put it into a pint b.u.t.tered mould, tie it down tightly with a floured cloth, place it in _boiling water_, and let it boil for 2 hours; turn it out of the mould on to a hot dish, and pour plain melted b.u.t.ter _round_, but not over, the pudding. Green peas pudding may be made in exactly the same manner, subst.i.tuting peas for the asparagus.

_Time_.--2 hours. _Average cost_, 1s. 6d. per pint.

_Seasonable_ in May, June, and July.

BOILED FRENCH BEANS.

1090. INGREDIENTS.--To each 1/2 gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt, a very small piece of soda.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Scarlet Runner.]

_Mode_.--This vegetable should always be eaten young, as, when allowed to grow too long, it tastes stringy and tough when cooked. Cut off the heads and tails, and a thin strip on each side of the beans, to remove the strings. Then divide each bean into 4 or 6 pieces, according to size, cutting them lengthways in a slanting direction, and, as they are cut, put them into cold water, with a small quant.i.ty of salt dissolved in it. Have ready a saucepan of boiling water, with salt and soda in the above proportion; put in the beans, keep them boiling quickly, with the lid uncovered, and be careful that they do not get smoked. When tender, which may be ascertained by their sinking to the bottom of the saucepan, take them up, throw them into a colander; and when drained, dish and serve with plain melted b.u.t.ter. When very young, beans are sometimes served whole: when they are thus dressed, their colour and flavour are much better preserved; but the more general way of dressing them is to cut them into thin strips.

_Time_.--Very young beans, 10 to 12 minutes; moderate size, 15 to 20 minutes, after the water boils.

_Average cost_, in full season, 1s. 4d. a peck; but, when forced, very expensive.

_Sufficient_.--Allow 1/2 peck for 6 or 7 persons.

_Seasonable_ from the middle of July to the end of September; but may be had, forced, from February to the beginning of June.

FRENCH MODE OF COOKING FRENCH BEANS.

1091. INGREDIENTS.--A quart of French beans, 3 oz. of fresh b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt to taste, the juice of 1/2 lemon.

_Mode_.--Cut and boil the beans by the preceding recipe, and when tender, put them into a stewpan, and shake over the fire, to dry away the moisture from the beans. When quite dry and hot, add the b.u.t.ter, pepper, salt, and lemon-juice; keep moving the stewpan, without using a spoon, as that would break the beans; and when the b.u.t.ter is melted, and all is thoroughly hot, serve. If the b.u.t.ter should not mix well, add a tablespoonful of gravy, and serve very quickly.

_Time_.--About 1/4 hour to boil the beans; 10 minutes to shake them over the fire.

_Average cost_, in full season, about 1s. 4d. a peck.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ from the middle of July to the end of September.

BOILED BROAD OR WINDSOR BEANS.

1092. INGREDIENTS.--To each 1/2 gallon of water, allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt; beans.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BROAD BEAN.]

_Mode_.--This is a favourite vegetable with many persons, but to be nice, should be young and freshly gathered. After sh.e.l.ling the beans, put them into _boiling_ water, salted in the above proportion, and let them boil rapidly until tender. Drain them well in a colander; dish, and serve with them separately a tureen of parsley and b.u.t.ter. Boiled bacon should always accompany this vegetable, but the beans should be cooked separately. It is usually served with the beans laid round, and the parsley and b.u.t.ter in a tureen. Beans also make an excellent garnish to a ham, and when used for this purpose, if very old, should have their skins removed.

_Time_.--Very young beans, 15 minutes; when of a moderate size, 20 to 25 minutes, or longer.

_Average cost_, unsh.e.l.led, 6d. per peck.

_Sufficient_.--Allow one peck for 6 or 7 persons.

_Seasonable_ in July and August.

NUTRITIVE PROPERTIES OF THE BEAN.--The produce of beans in meal is, like that of peas, more in proportion to the grain than in any of the cereal gra.s.ses. A bushel of beans is supposed to yield fourteen pounds more of flour than a bushel of oats; and a bushel of peas eighteen pounds more, or, according to some, twenty pounds. A thousand parts of bean flour were found by Sir II. Davy to yield 570 parts of nutritive matter, of which 426 were mucilage or starch, 103 gluten, and 41 extract, or matter rendered insoluble during the process.

BROAD BEANS A LA POULETTE.

1093. INGREDIENTS.--2 pints of broad beans, 1/2 pint of stock or broth, a small bunch of savoury herbs, including parsley, a small lump of sugar, the yolk of 1 egg, 1/4 pint of cream, pepper and salt to taste.

_Mode_.--Procure some young and freshly-gathered beans, and sh.e.l.l sufficient to make 2 pints; boil them, as in the preceding recipe, until nearly done; then drain them and put them into a stewpan, with the stock, finely-minced herbs, and sugar. Stew the beans until perfectly tender, and the liquor has dried away a little; then beat up the yolk of an egg with the cream, add this to the beans, let the whole get thoroughly hot, and when on the point of simmering, serve. Should the beans be very large, the skin should be removed previously to boiling them.

_Time_.--10 minutes to boil the beans, 15 minutes to stew them in the stock.

_Average cost_, unsh.e.l.led, 6d. per peck.

_Seasonable_ in July and August.

ORIGIN AND VARIETIES OF THE BEAN.--This valuable plant is said to be a native of Egypt, but, like other plants which have been domesticated, its origin is uncertain. It has been cultivated in Europe and Asia from time immemorial, and has been long known in Britain. Its varieties may be included under two general heads,--the white, or garden beans, and the grey, or field beans, of the former, sown in the fields, the mazagan and long-pod are almost the only sorts; of the latter, those known as the horse-bean, the small or ticks, and the prolific of Heligoland, are the princ.i.p.al sorts. New varieties are procured in the same manner as in other plants.