The home science cook book

Break off tough lower end, wash the stalks, and cook them in boiling salted water from twenty to forty-five minutes, until tender. Or break in inch pieces, scraping off the lower end, cooking tough portions first and adding tips for fifteen minutes. Serve on buttered toast or with white or Hollandaise sauce. The water where the asparagus was boiled may be used to soften the toast, or in the sauce, or for a soup. The asparagus with sauce may be served in rolls crisped in the oven after the centers are removed and the sides spread with butter. Left-over asparagus may be used for soup or salad or in an omelet. Baked Beans. Soak one quart of pea beans over night in cold water. In the morning put them into fresh water and simmer until they burst slightly on removing a few of them in a spoon and blowing on them. One-fourth teaspoon of soda is often put in this water when the beans are parboiled. Then turn them into a colander and drain 148 Home Science Cook Book. thoroughly, and place in the small-top earthen bean pot. Wash one-quarter to one-half of a pound of salt pork, part fat and part lean, scrape the rind till white, and cut it one inch deep in half-inch strips. Bury the pork in the beans, leaving only the rind in sight. Mix one teaspoon of salt and one-fourth cup or less of molasses with some water and pour over the beans. Add enough more water to cover them, and keep adding hot water as needed until the last hour. Bake from eight to twelve hours in a slow oven, the longer the better, so long as the beans are kept moist. One-half teaspoon of dry mustard may be added with the salt and molasses. Sugar may be used instead of molasses and part butter instead of all pork. Vegetarians leave out the pork and add one tablespoon of olive oil for each cup of dry beans after they are partially baked. Some housekeepers use a piece of fat corned beef in place of pork. Fresh shelled beans may be baked in the same way. Stewed Beans. Soak any dry beans from twelve to twenty-four hours. Parboil as for baked beans, drain, add more water, and stew until tender. Season with butter, salt, and pepper. Split peas may be prepared in the same way. A piece of salt pork or bacon is often stewed with them. Spanish Beans. One-half cup of sliced onions, stewed until tender, one cup of stewed beans, one cup of stewed tomatoes. Boil together until thick enough to serve on the Vegetables. 149 dinner plate. Season to taste with butter, salt, and cayenne pepper. String Beans. Break off the ends, pulling off the strings. Cut or break the pods in inch pieces and freshen in cold water. Cook until tender, one hour or more, in boiling water slightly salted. Drain and season as desired. Any left-overs may be served as a salad. Shell Beans. Cook, in boiling water, changing it after fifteen minutes, and letting it evaporate at the last, until just enough is left to moisten the beans. Beets. Wash, but do not cut them, as that destroys the sweetness and color. Cook in boiling water until tender. Young beets will cook in one hour, or less, old beets require a longer time, and if tough, wilted, or stringy, they will never boil tender. When cooked, put them in cold water, and rub off the skin.