The "Queen" cookery books: Vegetables

Slaw. — This is an American preparation of cabbage, and can be served both hot and cold ; in the former case it is a very nice vegetable entremet, in the latter it is a more or less recondite form of cabbage salad. hot. — Well wash a good white cabbage, using plenty of water for the purpose, shred it very fine (in America a special shredder is used), drain it thoroughly, place it in a pan, and fora quart of shredded cabbage pour in a good half pint of boiling water ; dust it all with half a teaspoonful of salt, cover down the pan, and let it boil till nearly tender, which it should be in about half an hour ; at the end of this time pour in a gill of milk and a teaspoonful of butter, and let it cook till this is all absorbed. Now turn it into a hot vegetable dish, and serve either with a Bcarnaise sauce or with the following : Dissolve in a tablespoonful of best white vinegar a pinch each of mustard, flour, salt, and caster sugar, with a tiny pinch of cayenne, stir into this a well beaten whole egg, then add a teaspoonful of butter, and stir it in the bain marie till fairly thick, when you add half a gill of boiling milk, and use it. Some cooks use thin tomato sauce instead of the above. Another way is to prepare the cabbage as above, and boil it, till perfectly tender, in fast-boiling salted water. When thoroughly cooked, drain off all the water, stir into it a tablespoonful of butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, a dust each of cayenne and freshly-ground pepper, and from half to a gill of best vinegar, according to taste ; cover down the pan and leave it at the side of the stove for five minutes or so till the sauce and the cabbage are well blended. Slaw, cold. — For this choose a good, firm head of cabbage, remove the outside and faded leaves, and shred it finely as before ; steep it for an hour or so in very cold or iced water, then drain well, and serve either with a French oil and vinegar dressing, or with the hot sauce recommended for hot slaw, only using double the quantities there given and making the sauce in the usual way, and pouring it over the raw shred cabbage instead of mixing it all over the fire. Sorrel {Oseille). — This is such a wholesome vegetable that it is a great pity it is not more commonly used in this country. Abroad veal is seldom seen unless accompanied by a puree of sorrel. It is best cooked with butter, preparing it thus : Pick it over well, nip off the stalks, and, if thick, tear the midrib from the leaves, tearing these also into shreds if large ; then well wash it in several waters, finally leaving it in a colander under a running tap for a little ; then drain, shake off most of the moisture, and put it in a pan with a dust of sugar and loz. of butter for each quart of picked sorrel, the moisture adhering to the latter being sufficient to cook it, with the butter. Let it cook till well reduced (it reduces a great deal), and when quite tender dust in a little fine flour, stir this over the fire till well mixed, when it must be all rubbed through a sieve, reheated, and blended with a little more butter or some cream, or some good veal gravy, and, if liked, a little more sugar.