Elements of the theory and practice of cookery

Cook in its own juices, heating it gradually till these are drawn out. Cook in a steamer or a strainer placed over boiling water. Steam like summer squash. a % a s Cut off roots, stems, and poor leaves ; wash by lifting from one pan of cold water to another, till water is free from sand. Wash, cut into pieces, and pare. Break into pieces with hatchet ; take out shreds and seeds. Let them stand covered with boiling water for one minute to loosen the skins ; peel and cut into pieces. Choose that with leaves fresh and dirty. If clean, they have wilted and been soaked to revive them. Good ones are light yellow, the shell ten- der enough to be bro- ken with the finger- nail. Choose sound ones with no soft spots. If you buy a quantity, keep them spread out in a dry place. Best ones are firm, smooth, and evenly red, with no decayed, bruised, or green spots. Spinach. Squash. Crookneck or Sum- mer. Hubbard or Winter. 247 248 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY Suggestions about cooking and serving Vegetables 395. 1. Strong-flavored vegetables may have to be cooked in a generous supply of water to make them palatable. As this wastes them, it is better to buy mild-flavored ones. 2. Avoid piercing vegetables to see if they are cooked. A knitting-needle breaks them less than a fork. 3. As one object in using vegetables is to give variety to our diet, take pains to vary the vegetables served from day to day ; if you can get but few kinds, vary the ways of cooking these. 4. Take particular pains to make winter vegetables attractive to sight and taste. Suggestions for home work and reading. — Make a list of the parts of plants used as vegetable, and write each under its proper head, — beet under root, celery under stalk, etc. As you become familiar with other plant foods add them to the list, — cinnamon under bark, maple syrup under sap, etc. Write in tabular form directions for selecting, keeping, preparing, cooking, and serving potatoes, or any other vegetable not included in the table on pp. 244-247. Some common vegetables are treated of in Chapter XXII of Food Products of the World, p. 193. Section 3. Cream-of-Vegetable Soups (Purees) 396. A puree is the pulp of a cooked vegetable, strained and thinned slightly with milk or cream. A cream-of- vegetable soup is a very thin puree. Vegetables too old or too tough to be served whole should be made ACID AND SALT SUPPLYING FOODS 249 into soup or puree, as straining removes the hull and coarse fibre, leaving the digestible part of the vegeta- ble. Flour or cornstarch is added to these soups to keep the vegetable from settling. This flour or corn- starch and the butter usually mixed with it are called " binding material," because they bind together the solid and liquid parts of the soup. Recipe for Green Pea Soup Green peas, 1 pint, or 1 can. Salt, 1 teaspoonful. Boiling water, 1 (juart. Pepper, i^ teaspoonful. Milk, 1 pint. Sugar, yi to 1 teaspoonful (more Butter, 2 tablespoonfuls. for old peas than for young). Flour, 2 tablespoonfuls.