How to cook vegetables

In choosing potatoes for boiling, it is well to get them as near as possible the same size. This is important, if the potatoes are all to be cooked at the same time, as naturally the smaller ones would get cooked first. Peel the potatoes thinly, and wash them in plenty of cold water. Put them in a saucepan of cold water, to which a little salt has been Hi added ; allow them to come to the boil, and then cook more slowly until done. Drain off all the water from the potatoes by turning the saucepan upsidedown, and using the lid to prevent their coming out. Cover them with a napkin, and put the lid on, allow them to dry over a very slow fire, and then serve in a vegetable dish. It is usual to serve some fresh butter in a glass dish with plain boiled potatoes. Boiled Potatoes ( another way). Wash the potatoes, peel them very thinly, and again wash them well. Put them into a saucepan, just cover them with cold water, and boil very gently till tender. Add salt to taste about io minutes before they are done. Drain away the water, dry the potatoes by putting the pan near the fire, thus allowing the steam to escape. Shake the pan occasionally so that the potatoes may become quite dry and floury, then dish up and serve. Salted Potatoes. Prepare a strong brine, clean and brush, without breaking, the skin of about a pound of medium-sized potatoes. Heat up the brine and drop in the potatoes when boiling. When done, take up the potatoes and serve in their jackets with small pats of fresh butter. New Potatoes. When potatoes are quite new, they should not be peeled. The skin is removed by scraping the potatoes lightly with the blade of the knife. When the potatoes are getting old it is better to steam them, and remove the skins after they are cooked. They can either be served with a sauce, butter, or else cream. A sprig of green mint is generally added to the water, when boiling new potatoes. Steamed Potatoes. For the purpose of steaming a utensil called a “ steamer ” is employed ; its construction is very simple, and it well answers the purpose. It consists of a kind of boiler made of cast iron, provided with a large handle ; into this part of the steamer boiling water is poured. Fitting into the top of this boiler is placed another very similar, the difference being that it is perforated with numerous holes. The steamer is placed over a good fire, the steam collects and passes through the little holes into the upper part of the steamer containing the potatoes which cook in the steam. For steaming, potatoes can be left in their skins or else peeled, the same as for boiling. They are first sprinkled with salt, before cooking. Potatoes in their Jackets. This refers to potatoes cooked in their skins ; whether they are steamed, baked in hot ashes, or in the oven. They are served, and eaten with fresh butter and a little salt. When potatoes are cooked in their jackets in the oven, it is important that the skins should be pricked, otherwise very mealy potatoes are liable to burst. It often happens when they are shaken about when hot, or even sometimes when they are quite lightly pressed with the hand. The steam collects under the skin and the hot potato pulp bursts out. Browned Potatoes.