Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Kohl Bahi is often used instead of Turnips, though it really is partly a cabbage and partly a Turnip. The root appears above the ground, and Kohl Rabi, the Brassica oleracea Gaulorapa of botanists and gardeners, does not, like Turnips, suffer from drought, and is seldom injured by frost. The Early Vienna sorts, both purple and white, should find a place in all vegetable gardens. Kohl Rabi should be cooked like Turnips, and, as with Turnips, it is most important to eat it when young. Turnip Tops.— “ While yet the white frost sparkles over the ground And daylight just peeps from the misty blue sky, In yonder green fields with my basket I’m found — Come buy my sweet Turnip-tops, Turnip-tops buy ! Sadly cold are my fingers, all drench’d with the dew, For the sun has scarce risen the meadows to dry, And my feet have got wet with a hole in my shoe, Come haste then, and buy my sweet Turnip-tops, buy TURNIPS While you are asleep with your bed-curtains drawn, On pillows of down, in your chambers so high, I tript, with the first rosy beam of the morn, To cull the green tops : Come my Turnip- tops buy ! Then with the few halfpence or pence I can earn, A loaf for my poor mammy’s breakfast I’ll buy, And to-morrow again little Ann shall return With Turnip-tops green and fresh-gathered to cry.” J ane Taylor’s verses are now as little known as Turnip-tops are cried in tlie streets of London. Yet Turnip-tops gathered in February and March, and made into a puree like Spinach, are excellent. (The young leaves of Beetroot can be cooked in the same way, and really young nettles make a good puree.) When Turnips begin to run to seed take the stalks as far as they will easily break downwards, peel them, tie them in bundles, and boil them like Asparagus. TRUFFLES AND MORELS. Truffles are found in many parts of England, but they are most 'abundant in the southern counties, particularly in the chalky soils and under the beech woods of Wiltshire and Berkshire. English Truffles soon lose their flavour’, and should be eaten at once. They are excellent when freshly taken out of the ground and roasted like Potatoes. For more elaborate cooking the Truffles should be scrubbed with a hard brush in order to get the grit and earth out of the crevices of their wrinkled and tough skins. After this is done the outer skin (which is of no use) must be peeled off, and the Truffles must be put into a small saucepan, covered either with stock or with equal parts of chicken broth and marsala, with an ounce of butter, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a little finelyminced shallot. Cover the pan closely and let the Truffles simmer till tender. This may take fifteen minutes or more ; when they are done they will yield to pressure. Drain on a cloth, and serve the Truffles on a hot folded napkin. Keep the sauce for flavouring, and hand pats of butter with the Truffles. TRUFFLES AND MORELS French and Italian Truffles are larger than the English kinds, but their price when fresh is as a rule prohibitory. Foreign Truffles cost from twenty-five to fifty shillings a pound, and only from eight to twelve go to a pound. Preserved foreign Truffles are generally used, but their taste differs little from that of cork. It is far better to use English Mushrooms, which can be obtained fresh and full of flavour at all seasons and at reasonable prices.