The Portland Woman's Exchange Cook Book

Vegetables Cook green vegetables in hard water, salted and freshly boiling. Cook dry vegetables in soft water. 1 teaspoon common salt hardens water. 1/2 teaspoon bi-carbonate of soda softens water. Artichokes Manhattan. Artichoke heart with 4 asparagus tips laid across it; served hot with melted butter. Miss Isabella Gauld. French Artichokes a la Louisiana. Boil in salted water until tender. After squeezing water out, serve hot with melted butter into which a few drops of lemon juice and a dash of mustard and cayenne pepper have been mixed. A little cider vinegar — about a tablespoon to a cup of butter — can be used. Mrs. Sanderson Reed. Asparagus With Eggs. Boil a bunch of asparagus 20 minutes; lay the tender tops in a baking dish with butter, pepper and salt. Beat 4 eggs, the yolks and whites separately, to a stiff froth; add 2 tablespoons cream, a tablespoon warm butter, pepper and salt to taste. Pour evenly over the asparagus and bake 8 minutes, or until eggs are set. Baked Asparagus. Boil as usual, and arrange in a baking dish. Pour over the tips only Bechamel sauce, and grate cheese over. Finish with dry crumbs and small bits of butter. Cover the tips with a bit of brown paper and brown nicely about twenty-five minutes. Mrs. S codding. Boston Baked Beans. 1 pint beans. 1/2 lb. pork. 1 small onion. 1 teaspoon salt. 1 teaspoon sugar. 1/2 teaspoon mustard. 3 or 4 tablespoons molasses. Soak beans over night. In the morning let them come to a boiling point. Drain well. Put onion in bottom of beanpot, then beans. Add salt, sugar, mustard and molasses. Pork on top. Fill beanpot with water and cook all day slowly, adding water when necessary except the last two hours. Mrs. Morris Whitehouse. Baked Pork and Beans. Boil 1 quart of navy beans with a piece of soda the size of a Lima bean in the water for 10 minutes. Pour off the water, cover well with fresh boiling water, and boil with 2 pounds of salt pork for 20 minutes. Slice a small onion in the bottom of a beanpot; drain the water from the beans and put half of them in the pot, then the pork, and then the rest of the beans. Rub together 1 even teaspoon of mustard, 1 even teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons of molasses, and dissolve in about 1 pint of hot water. Pour over the beans, add enough water to cover, and bake all day, adding occasionally a little water until about 2 hours before serving. Brown Bean Croquettes. 1 quart mashed beans. 1 tablespoon butter. 2 eggs. 2 cups bread crumbs. Pepper, salt and nutmeg. Put 1 cup brown beans to soak over night. In the morning cover with water and cook slowly 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool. Mash through strainer and add more seasoning if liked. Mix well with butter, and form into croquettes. Dip in seasoned crumbs, then in beaten seasoned egg, then in crumbs again, and fry in deep fat. Serve with tomato sauce. W, E. Cauliflower au Gratin. Break the boiled cauliflower into small flowerets. Place them in a pudding dish in alternate layers, with white sauce and grated cheese. Cover the top with crumbs and bits of butter and bake. C. C. B. Carrots au Gratin. 6 medium carrots. Sauce, 1 tablespoon butter. 1/2 pint cream. Seasoning. 1 wineglass sherry. 2 large tablespoons Parmesan or grated cheese. After the sauce is made, add the carrots which have been dried and boiled, and cook for 12 minutes in a covered saucepan. Serve on rounds of toast. Carrots and Turnips. Cut carrots and turnips into dice !4-inch thick or into balls. Boil separately in salted water; drain and mix them together with enough cream sauce to moisten them well. C. C. B. Celery au Jus.