A practical cook and text book for general use

Vegetables when cold may be finely chopped for hash, or if warmed, mashed and seasoned can be dropped from a spoon in small cakes and baked. They can also be used for soup, purée, salad or stew, with suitable seasonings. Lemons a substitute for Salt. Lemons are an excellent substitute for salt and are much used by non-salt eaters. Thoroughly wash them, cut in thin slices and carefully remove every seed. They may be thus used for cooking in soups and stews, baked beans, etc. Should the peel prove objectionable use the lemon without it. Nothing excels lemon juice clear or diluted with oil or water as a vegetable dressing. Onions. There is a diversity of opinion among hygienists regarding the wholesomeness of onions, owing to their peculiar flavor, and pungent qualities. Like many other articles used as food, the onion possesses valuable medicinal properties and if properly cultivated and cooked should be as harmless as other vegetables. A very small quantity of onion juice, or bits of sliced onion make a delicate flavor for many dishes. To Boil Onions. Peel and slice one-fourth of an inch thick, pour boiling water over them and simmer five minutes, drain, and if strongly flavored repeat the process, then boil in as little water as possible one-half hour, or until done. To Boil Carrots. Wash and scrape them with a knife to remove the skin. Boil in as little water as possible an hour and a half or more. If very large cut them lengthwise ; if too strongly flavored boil ten minutes, drain, and add boiling water and cook until tender. Shredded Carrots. Cut the carrots in strips about two inches long one quarter wide and one-eighth thick. Put in kettle with water enough to show, but not to cover, being always careful not to let the water boil entirely away. Just before it is taken up, add a table-spoonful of cocoanut butter or butter oil, rubbed into a teaspoonful of flour or com starch, together with a table-spoonful of chopped parsley. Serve with a border of parsley. To Boil Beets. Wash them thoroughly, but do not break the skin ; leave the tops an inch long. Drop them in boiling water and cook an hour or more, depending upon age and size. When done, dip in cold water and remove the skins. Slice, arrange neatly on a platter, and serve with lemon juice, diluted to taste. Beets are sweeter steamed than boiled. To Cook Salsify or Vegetable Oyster. Wash and scrape them, slice one-fourth of an inch thick, steam, or stew in a very little water. Serve with white sauce. To Boil Parsnips. Wash thoroughly, pare them and if very large cut them lengthwise and boil half an hour or until tender. Serve in slices plain, or dressed with vegetable butter. Or slice them, spread with butter, lay them on a plate with a little of the juice that may be in the sauce pan, and set in the oven a few minutes before serving. To Boil Turnips. Wash and pare them, and if large cut them. Boil until done. Drain and mash them, season with cocoanut butter. Parsnips and turnips are very good mashed with an equal quantity of potato and seasoned with butter. Spinach. Spinach requires great care in looking over and should not be thought clean until it has been washed in five or six waters. If you use an Aladdin oven it can then be laid without water in a baking pan and cooked in its own juices. Mrs. Lincoln's Way of Cooking Spinach. Put in the bottom of the kettle a table-spoonful of butter, two or three gratings of nutmeg, one-half teaspoonful salt, the same of pepper. Put in the spinach and let stand ten minutes or more on cool part of stove, then cook.