Foods and household management

When boiling salted water is used, allow one tablespoonful of salt to four quarts of water. Steamed and stewed vegetables are salted and dressed with butter or butter substitute before serving. Butter is a better dressing for vegetables than white sauce. Where cream is available, nothing is so delicious. Use white sauce very sparingly with some escalloped vegetable for variety. Making a sauce adds to the labor of preparation, and the sauce hides the delicious flavor of a well-cooked vegetable. Some vegetables are mashed before serving; potatoes, turnip, squash, either boiled or baked. Time of cooking. — The following table is a guide, but one must learn from practice, for the time depends upon the quality of the vegetable, whether tender or tough, and upon the size whether large or small. Test by gently inserting a fork. AUow more time for cooking in a steamer, than for stewing or boiling. It requires more time to bake a potato than to boil one of the same size. Why? Time-table (For stewing and boiling unless stated otherwise.) Fifteen minutes. — Tender cabbage and sweet corn. These are usually cooked too long. Thirty minutes. — Asparagus ; peas ; potatoes of medium size ; summer squash ; tomatoes. Forty-five minutes. — Young beets and carrots ; onions ; young parsnips ; medium potatoes baked, sweet potatoes boiled. One hour, — String and shelled beans ; cauliflower ; oyster plant ; winter squash, steamed or baked ; young turnips. Two hours. — Old carrots, beets, and turnips. Six to eight hours (or more). — Dried beans, lentils, and peas, baked in the oven, with water added. The potato, a starchy vegetable. — Make it your pride to serve a plain potato, mealy and inviting. Potatoes are " new," fully ripe, and old. The new potato is in market in July and August, and may be recognized by its very thin skin. The later potatoes have a thicker skin, the color still being fresh. In the spring after its winter storage, the potato is " old.'' It seems a little less firm, the color of the exterior is somewhat changed ; perhaps the buds in the eyes of the potato are beginning to grow. When cooked it has a stronger flavor, and rather darker color. If the potato has been frozen, a sweet flavor is developed, and the quality is waxy. Potatoes are sometimes inferior in quality when the season is a poor one, or when some potato disease is prevalent. The following classification shows you in how many ways potatoes may be cooked, and also shows you how easy it is to classify recipes in an orderly way. I. Potatoes cooked whole, 1. Steamed. o. With skin. b. Without skin. 2. Boiled. a. With skin. b. Without skin. 3. Baked. a. With skin. b. Without skin. II. Potatoes, not whole. 1. From raw potatoes. a. Sliced and escalloped. 6. Cut in cubes and stewed. c. Cut in slices or fancy shapes and fried. 2. From cooked potatoes. a. Mashed. i (a) From boiled potatoes, plain or browned on top. (6) From baked potatoes, seasoned and served in shell. .6. Creamed. From either cold boiled or baked potatoes ; the latter are better. c. Sauté. (a) Sliced and browned. (6) Hashed and browned. If you know some other method, see if you can fit it into this grouping. X. Baked potatoes.