Scientific cooking with scientific methods

Cut fresh sweet corn from the cob. Put into hot frying-pan one tablespoon lard, one tablespoon butter; as soon as they are quite hot, add the corn cut and scraped from the cob. This is done by first cutting a very thin cutting from the top of the grains of corn, and with the back of knife press out the inside of the grain. Add this to hot fat, and stir with broad-bladed knife to keep it from burning, as the milk from the corn will burn very quickly. This is fine with fried chicken. Corn Fritters. 1% cups corn. 1% teaspoons baking-powder. % cup flour. % teaspoon paprika. 1 teaspoon salt. 2 eggs. If the corn is fresh, grate it; if canned, chop very fine. Add dry ingredients and yolks of eggs well beaten, then the whites beaten stiff. Cook in fryingpan in hot fat, and drain on paper. Asparagus. The asparagus is a salt-water plant, and the finest we have in the market is that which is washed by the sea every day. We read that ages ago the Romans looked upon it as one of their most succulent and de- licious vegetables, and great care and attention were given by them to the cooking of it. Our best asparagus appears in the market about the last of April, and the large white varieties come from Oyster Bay. Fresh cut and tender, it will cook in about twenty minutes (great care should be taken not to cook it too long), and the heads (or tips) cook much quicker than the stalks, and for this reason we tie it up in uniform bunches and stand in stewpan heads up, so the steam cooks them while the stalks are boiling in the salted boiling water. The tough end of the stalk should be peeled. If this is done carefully, it makes the entire stalk edible. Boiled Asparagus with Butter. Prepare as directed above. Cook in boiling salted water for twenty minutes, or until tender. Untie and season with butter, salt and pepper, about a tablespoon of butter to a bunch of asparagus. Asparagus on Toast. Prepare same as the above. Have toast ready, and dip quickly in the water in which the asparagus was cooked. Place enough of the asparagus on each piece of toast for a service. Asparagus in White Sauce. Cut asparagus into inch lengths. Boil in salted water until tender. The heads will cook in less time than the stalk, and for this reason you leave them until the last ten minutes of the boiling, when you lay them in the boiling water with the stalk. Drain and add to a thin white sauce, and serve in crustards of bread. Crustards. Cut rounds of bread one and one-half inches thick, and shape with a knife by removing the center to form a cup. Fr}^ in deep fat, or dip in melted butter and toast a golden brown in the oven. Fill with creamed asparagus. Asparagus a la Hollandaise. Prepare as directed. Tie in bunches and boil heads up in salted water until tender. Drain and pour over the tips a sauce Hollandaise. This is a nice vegetable course for a dinner. Asparagus with Poached Eggs. Prepare and boil in salted water until tender. Drain and arrange on squares of toast, dipped in the water where the asparagus was cooked, and on each service put a nicely poached egg and enough melted butter to season. This makes a nice dish for luncheon where meat is not served. Cucumbers.