Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Lettuce, Boiled. — Wash four or five lettuces thoroughly ; cut away the thick, bitter stalks, but retain all the sound leaves, whether green or white. Boil them ten or fifteen minutes in plenty of salted water, then throw them for a minute into cold water, strain, and chop them lightly. Put them into a stewpan with a pint of good white sauce. Season them with salt, pepper, and a quarter of a Lettuce a la Creme VEGETABLES Mushrooms nutmeg grated, and simmer gently until quite hot. Draw the saucepan to the side for a minute, and stir among the lettuces the well - beaten yolks of two eggs. Lettuce a la Creme. — Take the hearts of cabbage lettuce, wash them, and bleach them for a quarter of an hour in boiling salted water. Next take the lettuces out of the boiling water, put them in a sieve, throw cold water over them, and let them drain thoroughly. Then, in a dish which will stand heat, put some cream, some small lumps of butter, and finally the lettuce hearts ; pour on more cream, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cover with a thin layer of cracker crumbs. Cook for an hour and a quarter in a moderate oven, where the whole will simmer gently. Serve in the dish in which it has been cooked. Lettuce Salad. See Salads. Lettuce, Stuffed. — Wash four or five large lettuces. Boil them in plenty of salted water for fifteen minutes. Throw them at once into cold water, and afterwards let them drain. Open them, fill them with good veal forcemeat, tie the ends securely, and put them into a stewpan with as much good gravy as will cover them, a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, and a teaspoonful of vinegar. Simmer gently for another fifteen minutes, remove the strings, place them on a hot dish. Mushrooms a la Bordelais. — Proceed in all respects as for grilled mushrooms, but serve with a sauce of oil or melted butter, in which are minced young onions, parsley, and a little garlic ; or serve with a sauce made by boiling the trimmings of the mushrooms in good brown gravy, seasoned with cayenne pepper and salt, and thickened with the yolks of eggs. Time to broil, about twelve minutes; to bake, fifteen to twenty minutes. Mushrooms a la Casse-tout. — This mode of cooking mushrooms is borrowed from the French, as its name implies. Their hearth-fires are particularly adapted for it. Place a baking -tin on the hot hearth, on which lay toast, well buttered; cover with mushrooms, carefully cleaned, keeping the cup side uppermost, and placing upon each mushroom a bit of butter and a seasoning of pepper and salt. Medium-sized, flat mushrooms do best for this dish ; they should be freshly gathered. A glass is sometimes fixed closely over the mushrooms, but for cooking mushrooms in any quantity an earthenware cover with a flat top, to allow of the wood-embers being placed around and on it, is used. Serve on a hot dish. Time, ten to twelve minutes. Mushrooms a la Creole. — Put half a pint of olive oil in a flat bakingdish, sprinkle dry bread-crumbs and finely chopped parsley in it, lay over some large mushrooms which have been peeled and stemmed, pour more oil over, and sprinkle with breadcrumbs and seasoning. Bake in a hot oven half an hour.