How to cook vegetables

J pint white haricot beans or butter beans, £ pint German lentils, 2 oz. butter, bouquet-garni (thyme, marjoram, bay-leaf and parsley), 1 piece celery, a clove of garlic, 1 leek, 2 carrots, 1 clove, 1 turnip, 3 quarts water. Wash and drain the beans and lentils, melt the butter in a saucepan, and when hot put in the beans and lentils and fry a little. Next add the onion and leek previously peeled and trimmed and cut into slices, fry them also a little, then moisten them with 3 pints of water. Boil up and remove the scum, but none of the fat. Prepare the rest of the vegetables and add them with the herbs, 10 to 12 peppercorns and the garlic. Boil gently for 1^ hours, then add another pint of water, season to taste, and cook for another 2 hour. Strain the stock through a fine sieve, let it cool and use as required. White Sauce. \ oz. cornflour, 1 oz. butter, \ pint milk. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the cornflour till smooth. Add the milk, and stir the mixture over the fire till it boils. Cook for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, also a little grated nutmeg; if liked. To make a richer sauce add 2 tablespoonsful of thick cream and reheat without letting the sauce boil again. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and serve hot. Melted Butter Sauce. 1 \ oz. of butter, 1 oz. flour, about § pint cold water, or vegetable stock, a pinch of grated nutmeg, salt and pepper. Put the butter in a saucepan, let it melt, stir in the flour, and add the water gradually ; stir, and boil up gently for 10 minutes ; add a pinch of salt, and a grate of nutmeg. Note. — This sauce is much improved if made with vegetable liquor, i.e., water in which the VEGETABLE SAUCES. vegetables are cooked; asparagus, seakale, cauliflower, artichokes, cucumber, or vegetable marrow water will be found best. Bechamel Sauce ( rich white sauce). Melt ij oz. of butter in a small stew-pan, stir in 1 oz. of flour (bare weight), and cook for a few minutes without browning, then add half a sliced carrot, half a small onion stuck with a clove, half a bay-leaf, and a small blade of mace, and dilute with 1 gill of good white stock, and | pint of milk. Stir till it boils and let simmer gently for about 20 minutes to | hour. Strain the sauce and season to taste. Brown Sauce. Take 1 pint of stock, 1 small onion, 1 carrot, 1 ripe tomato, 1 oz. of butter or dripping, 1 oz. of flour, 1 dessertspoonful of mushroom ketchup, one teaspoonful of vinegar, salt, and pepper. Peel and chop the onion, scrape and slice the carrot, and slice the tomato. Melt the butter or dripping in a saucepan ; when hot add the flour and fry a little, then add the vegetables. Stir over the fire until nicely browned, then add the tomato, the vinegar, ketchup, and stock, stir until it boils, skim well, and allow to simmer for about t hour. Strain and season to taste. Curry Sauce. Peel and slice a small onion, scrape and slice a small carrot, fry both together in 1 oz. of butter ; when the onion has acquired a light brown colour, add one tablespoonful of " Empress ” curry powder and stir for a few seconds. Next add a small peeled and chopped apple, moisten with A gill of tomato pulp and 1 gill of brown sauce. Allow to boil for a few minutes. Season to taste, and pass it through a fine strainer. Reheat, and stir in last of all a finely-chopped gherkin. Onion Sauce.