How to cook vegetables

\ oz. Brown & Poison’s cornflour, 1 oz. butter, £ pint milk, 2 tablespoonsful grated Parmesan cheese, or failing that, ordinary cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the cornflour and stir till smooth, but do not let it get brown. Add the milk and stir the mixture till it boils. Cook 214 HOW TO COOK VEGETABLES. gently for 5 minutes. Add seasoning as noted, then the grated cheese, stirring well all the while. To make a richer sauce, incorporate one yolk of egg. Add this after the sauce is well boiled . Do not allow the sauce to boil again else it will curdle. VEGETABLES COOKED IN PAPER BAGS. Cooking in paper bags has lately been brought into prominence. Although this mode of cooking is best adapted for fish, meat, and poultry, certain vegetables can with advantage be cooked in paper. The following vegetables are recommended to be cooked in paper bags by those who like this mode of cooking : Jerusalem artichokes, broad beans, sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, cucumber, endive, chicory, flageolets, seakale, mushrooms, parsnips, potatoes, salsify, tomatoes, vegetable marrow. These must in each case be washed, trimmed, and prepared the same as for an ordinary cooking process, duly seasoned and placed with a little water and in some cases butter as well, in a grease-proof paper bag (sealed up), and put in a moderately-heated oven on an iron or wire grid, not a solid shelf, as is usually found in coal ovens. The heat will thus reach the con- tents of the bag from all sides and top and bottom. From 15 to 30 minutes should be allowed to cook any kind of vegetable, some will take even less time. When paper bags are not available, use pure white paper, butter, i.e., brush over with oiled butter, one side, and wrap the vegetables, buttered side inwards, in the paper. Care must be taken to see that the ends of the paper are carefully sealed up ; for this reason paper bags are more convenient, being easier to seal up. GENERAL HINTS ON COOKING VEGETABLES. All vegetables must undergo some kind of prepara- tion, washing, drying, scraping, peeling, etc., before they can be cooked in the correct sense, and unless this is done well, the success of a dish is often spoiled. Always cook the vegetables on the same day on which they are prepared and wanted for table. Vegetables of strong flavour, which include almost every kind of green vegetable, should be cooked in a large quantity of water, sufficient to well cover the articles to be cooked. The water in which they are cooked must be well seasoned with salt. About a teaspoonful to every quart of water is the average proportion used. All green vegetables, and most others, should be put into fast boiling water and be cooked rather rapidly till done. Potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes are put into cold water. Over-cooking vegetables is just as harmful as under-cooking them ; they must always be done just to a nicety. After cooking, vegetables should always be well drained, to free them of all superfluous moisture, whether they are to be served with the sauce poured over them or in a separate dish.