The household cook book

The juices of other vegetables like cabbage, turnips, celery and most others, are palatable and work well into soups. Onions are an exception; they should be used sparingly, as flavoring, for those who like them, but a dish of boiled onions, served with the water they are boiled in, causes distressing flatulence often. They can be parboiled, the water changed once, and then eaten by most people without unpleasant digestive disorders. All green vegetables are best when tliey are grown quickly, in which case they have less woody fibre. All green vegetables need to be eaten fresh. When fresh, vegetables will snap crisply. Peas picked in the early moruing can be cooked the same day in about | the time needed if they are kept 1 or 2 days longer, and their flavor is much better. Ears of green corn that are just filled, will, if plunged into boiling water as soon as gathered, cook in 10 minutes, or perhaps less, and if kept 1 or 2 days twice as much time will be needed, and they will not then be as tender and fine flavored. Very few vegetables are roasted; they are generally boiled. Those which contain saccharine matter, such as carrots, beet-root, parsnips, etc., are best cooked by steam, as boiling water dissolves out a large quantity of their nutritious ingredients. Vegetables, however, which contain much starch, as a rule, are best boiled, as by boiling, the granules of the starch are ruptured and partially dissolved, and any volatile oils which may be present are expelled, as well as the confined air. We elsewhere explain how much cooking adds to the digestibility of starch. All vegetables, with a few exceptions, should be put first into boiling water which contains salt in the proportion of an even teaspoon to every 2 qts. of water; the exceptions are old, dry, and partly dried vegetables, such as peas, beans of all kinds, and wilted vegetables; the latter had better be thrown away if they do not become crisp after standing a few hours in cold water. How to Boil Vegetables. — While in boiling meat, the great point is not to have the water boil, but to have it simmer instead, the great point in boiling vegetables is not to let the toiling stop. Even if the boiling water could be raised above 212° the vegetable would be rather improved than injured thereby. Have plenty of water, especially for greens of all kinds. Choose a sufficiently large kettle, and get it |- full of boiling, water in ample time; then the water will come to a boil more quickly when the vegetables are thrown in, for when the cold vegetables are first put in they will check the boiling. The quicker vegetables boil the greener they will be, and remember that freshly gathered vegetables do not require as long boiling as those which have been long kept. Experience will best tell you when the vegetables are sufficiently cooked. The rule should be to cook them until they are soft and tender, hut no longer, because the starch cells having then burst, they will begin to absorb water, and the vegetable will become soggy, and loose flavor as well. If not sufficiently done they are indigestible, and if left too long they become soggy. As soon as they are done, take them out and serve them.