The "Queen" cookery books: Vegetables

Radish, boiled. — Trim the radishes neatly, plunge them in fast-boiling salted water, and cook till tender (about thirty minutes), drain, and serve with melted butter. leaves, boiled. — Pick over the leaves, removing any old or faded ones and the thickest of the stalks. Let them steep in cold water for half an hour, then drain and boil them in fast-boiling salted water till tender (from twenty-five to thirtyfive minutes). Now lift them out, mince pretty finely, season with a little butter, pepper, and salt, and serve. They may also be finished off like spinach. Specially good with roast ham, pork, &c. Rampion. — A plant of the campanula tribe, formerly much more in request than at present, though abroad it is still cultivated and liked. The roots were the part liked, and were gently boiled till tender, then served hot with melted butter, or cold with oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt. Ravigotte. — This is a name applied to minced herbs served abroad for a garnish, either to salads, savoury butter, or sauce. The commonest form is green tarragon, chervil, chives, and burnet, but almost every cook has his or her special blend of herbs for this purpose. In France, where the salad is often prepared at the dining table, the herbs are chopped and dished in separate little heaps to allow the mixer to make his own proportions. Saffron, or Saffern (Safran). — The dried stigmas of the winter crocus, much used formerly as a flavouring for cakes, hashes, <fcc., and still used in the Levant in pilaffs, &c. Its use probably died out in this country from the difficulty of buying it pure. It is sold as “ hay saffron ” and “ cake saffron.” Where the flavour is liked, it is well worth keeping as an extract, made thus : Put a small amount of saffron in a jar, say half an ounce or so, and pour on to it a full gill of boiling water, leave till all the colour is extracted, then use or bottle. Sage (Sauge). — This is a kind of Salvia, much used in the preparation of stuffing for duck, goose, or pork. The leaves are used fresh or powdered, but in the former case any cook who respects her art will care fully blanch the sage leaves for five minutes in boiling water, and dry them carefully, before mincing them for stuffing, to which they give a strong, crude flavour if this precaution is omitted. Salad (Salade). — -This is a mixture of either raw or cooked vegetables, served cold, tossed in either a French salad dressing or in mayonnaise sauce. In this country we have an evil habit of mixing raw vegetables to an almost infinite extent, but abroad, where delicacy of flavour is more studied, one or at most two, vegetables are tossed in the dressing, and served with a fourniture of minced herbs chosen from the following list : Parsley, chives or onion threads, tarragon, chervil, purslane, pimpernel, &c. Salad is a most wholesome companion to meat of every kind, and should be seen almost daily on our tables. Lettuce of either kind is not the only foundation necessary, for endive, tomatoes, onions, &c., may be served alone or in combination, or with cold cooked vegetables as you please. This, needless to say, refers to plain salads simply; fancy salads (previously described in No. IX. of this series), may be composed of almost everytbin;^, fish, flesh, fowl, or vegetable. The two following recipes give examples.