If you wish to fry them pare off the rind, then cut
them in slices lengthwise ; dust each side with corn meal
or flour, pepper, and salt, and fry them in lard a light
brown. If you prefer boiling, cut them lengthwise into
quarters, and cook precisely as you do asparagus, serv-
ing them up also with butter, cream, and toasted bread.
Choose for this purpose medium-sized, full-grown cucum-
bers✪ Fried Cucumbers, and you will not be disappointed in having a nice
and appetizing dish.
Cyclings, ok Summer Squash.
In selecting cymlings take none that the thumb-nail
cannot easily penetrate, and the white ones are prefera-
ble. Cut them into pieces, and boil in just enough water
128 VJROINIA COOKERY-BOOK.
to cover them for about three-quarters of an hour, or un-
til soft enough to mash ; strain them through a colander
to get rid of the seeds; then return them to a skillet or
stewpan ; add a large spoonful of cream, a small lump of
sweet butter, and a little salt and pepper. Be sure to
send them to table hot. Colored cooks need to be warned
not to flavor cymlings with bacon-grease, of which they
are fond, but which is apt to render this delicious vegeta-
ble inedible for more refined palates.
To Bake Egg-plant.
Peel and cut in slices and boil until soft; then mash
and bake with crumbs of bread, butter, pepper, and salt✪ Baked Egg-plant,
arranged in layers, as you would oysters or tomatoes.
To Fey Egg-plant.
Choose them young and fresh (the purple variety is the
best) ; pull out the stem and parboil them, to take out the
bitter taste ; cut in slices an inch thick, but do not peel ;
dip them into the yolk of Qgg, and cover them with grated
bread-crumbs dusted with pepper and salt. When dry cover
the other side in the same way. Fry them a nice brown.
This is a luscious vegetable, and deserves to come into
more frequent use, its rarity being probably due to the
great difficulty in raising it successfully, on account of its
being so peculiarly susceptible to the ravages of bugs.
Gkits, or Small Hominy.
Samp is another name for this preparation of shelled
and dried corn. To half a pint allow one quart of water,
after seeing that the grits are well washed and every dark
speck picked out; boil carefully in a stewpan set inside
of another one, to prevent burning, if you have not one
made with double lining specially for such cooking. The
VIHGINIA COOKERY-BOOK. 129
great art in cooking small hominy is to have it of just the
right consistency, neither too mushy nor too stiff and dry.
A little experience teaches one how to manage it. If the
water has not been sufficiently evaporated, as the dimier-
hour draws near move the kettle to one side, and lifting
up the lid from time to time to let the steam escape, it
will probably be dry enough. If it becomes too stiff add
gradually a little more boiling water and stir well. Serve
hot, with a seasoning of butter that should be mixed in,
not left floating on top.
To Bake Grits.
A nice variety in your list of winter vegetables is sup-
plied by taking as much boiled small hominy as will
nearly fill a small baking-dish, adding one beaten e^^y a
gill of sweet milk, and a table-spoonful of butter, and
then baking for a good hour or more.
Fried Grits.
When a dish of grits is left over from dinner spread it
out on a dish in a layer half an inch thick. JThe next day,
for breakfast or dinner, as you choose, cut it into pieces
of convenient size, and fry nicely in lard. With many in
the South this is quite a favorite dish.
To Boil Hominy. ✪ Boiled Hominy
Page 64 · 7 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
If you wish to fry them pare off the rind, then cut them in slices lengthwise ; dust each side with corn meal or flour, pepper, and salt, and fry them in lard a light brown. If you prefer boiling, cut them lengthwise into quarters, and cook precisely as you do asparagus, serving them up also with butter, cream, and toasted bread. Choose for this purpose medium-sized, full-grown cucumbers, and you will not be disappointed in having a nice and appetizing dish.
Cymlings, or Summer Squash.
In selecting cymlings take none that the thumb-nail cannot easily penetrate, and the white ones are preferable. Cut them into pieces, and boil in just enough water
to cover them for about three-quarters of an hour, or until soft enough to mash ; strain them through a colander to get rid of the seeds; then return them to a skillet or stewpan ; add a large spoonful of cream, a small lump of sweet butter, and a little salt and pepper. Be sure to send them to table hot. Colored cooks need to be warned not to flavor cymlings with bacon-grease, of which they are fond, but which is apt to render this delicious vegetable inedible for more refined palates.
To Bake Egg-plant.
Peel and cut in slices and boil until soft; then mash and bake with crumbs of bread, butter, pepper, and salt, arranged in layers, as you would oysters or tomatoes.
To Fey Egg-plant.
Choose them young and fresh (the purple variety is the best) ; pull out the stem and parboil them, to take out the bitter taste ; cut in slices an inch thick, but do not peel ; dip them into the yolk of egg, and cover them with grated bread-crumbs dusted with pepper and salt. When dry cover the other side in the same way. Fry them a nice brown.
This is a luscious vegetable, and deserves to come into more frequent use, its rarity being probably due to the great difficulty in raising it successfully, on account of its being so peculiarly susceptible to the ravages of bugs.
Gkits, or Small Hominy.
Samp is another name for this preparation of shelled and dried corn. To half a pint allow one quart of water, after seeing that the grits are well washed and every dark speck picked out; boil carefully in a stewpan set inside of another one, to prevent burning, if you have not one made with double lining specially for such cooking. The
great art in cooking small hominy is to have it of just the right consistency, neither too mushy nor too stiff and dry. A little experience teaches one how to manage it. If the water has not been sufficiently evaporated, as the dimierhour draws near move the kettle to one side, and lifting up the lid from time to time to let the steam escape, it will probably be dry enough. If it becomes too stiff add gradually a little more boiling water and stir well. Serve hot, with a seasoning of butter that should be mixed in, not left floating on top.
To Bake Grits.
A nice variety in your list of winter vegetables is supplied by taking as much boiled small hominy as will nearly fill a small baking-dish, adding one beaten e^^y a gill of sweet milk, and a table-spoonful of butter, and then baking for a good hour or more.
Fried Grits.
When a dish of grits is left over from dinner spread it out on a dish in a layer half an inch thick. JThe next day, for breakfast or dinner, as you choose, cut it into pieces of convenient size, and fry nicely in lard. With many in the South this is quite a favorite dish.
To Boil Hominy.
Records on this page
Fried CucumbersFried Egg-plantOnions in MilkBaked Egg-plantBoiled HominyBaked GritsFried Grits