Household hints

A delicious dish, which is not common, is made by taking new potatoes and young beets ; boil them separately, then peel and slice them ; put a layer of beets and a layer of potatoes in the vegetable dish with butter, pepper, and salt, and enough sweet milk or cream, if you have it, to make a little gravy ; set in the oven for a moment, and serve hot. Potatoes are very nice peeled and roasted in the dripping-pan under a roast of beef, lamb, or a turkey ; sweet potatoes are especially good in this way. Cold boiled sweet and Irish potatoes are nice sliced and broiled on a gridiron, well buttered, peppered, and salted. Potatoes chopped with about a third of the quantity of corned beef make a hash which, when well cooked and seasoned, is not to be despised. Cold mashed potatoes fried brown in butter is a welcome dish at our breakfast-table. Asparagus, Lima Beans, Peas, and Cauliflower are all delicious, and cooked alike by boiling till tender in as little water as you can safely use, with a pinch of salt added ; then, just before you take them up, put in milk, cream, butter, pepper, and salt to taste. Salsify, or vegetable oys- ters, is cooked in the same way, and, like asparagus, is improved by serving with toasted bread. When cooking asparagus, be sure to put salt in the water ; put in almost enough to season it with ; the asparagus will cook quicker and be more tender. A solution of salt and water boils at a higher temperature than water alone; consequently a little salt should be added to the water in which any vegetable is cooked. Cabbage, when cooked and seasoned like cauliflower, can hardly be distinguished from it. Cabbage chopped, and boiled, and seasoned with pepper, salt, and a little vinegar, makes a nice relish. Parsnips boiled, then sliced and browned in butter, are delicious, and are liked by some who do not enjoy an old-fashioned parsnip stew, which is made by boiling parsnips, potatoes, and slices of salt pork together. When done, take them out on a hot platter, and add a little milk, flour, and butter, pepper and salt, and a part of the water in the kettle ; when the gravy is done, pour it over the parsnips, etc. Beets. — One of the most satisfactory ways to cook beets is to bake them. When boiled, even if their jackets are left on, a great deal of the best part of the beet is dissolved, and so lost ; it will, of course, take a little longer to bake than to boil them, but this is no objection. Allow from fifteen to twenty minutes longer for baking ; slice them and season as you would if they were boiled. One pleasing way to serve them is to chop them fine after they are cooked, and season with pepper, salt, and butter. Turnips are nice also served in this way. Celery. — A dish which is sure to find favor with lovers of celery is made by taking the stalks which are not thoroughly bleached, cutting them in pieces of about an inch long, and cooking as you would asparagus, the same length of time being required to boil it ; season with milk, pepper, and salt. ^* String Beans " are also cooked in the same way, only omitting the milk and using cream. People who like the flavor of salt pork sometimes put in a small slice to boil with the beans. Baked Beans. — Soak the beans over night, first carefully looking them over ; in the morning boil them until the skin will crack open, then put into the baking dish, a small stone jar being a very good thing to bake them in ; season to taste with sugar or a spoonful of molasses, salt, a little butter, and a small piece of pork which has already been boiled, cut through the rind, to indicate where the slices will be cut ; bake slowly and a long time. Summer Squash should always be steamed, it is so watery. Winter Squash is best when cut in pieces and baked.