Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie Published: 1840

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VEGETABLES

GENERAL REMARKS.

All vegetables should be well picked and washed. A very little
salt should always be thrown into the water in which they are
boiled. A steady regular fire should be kept up, and they should
never for a moment be allowed to stop boiling or simmering till
they are thoroughly done. Every sort of vegetable should be cooked
till tender, as if the least hard or under-done they are both
unpalatable and unwholesome. The practice of putting pearl-ash in
the pot to improve the colour of green vegetables should be
strictly forbidden, as it destroys the flavour, and either renders
them flat and insipid, or communicates a very disagreeable taste
of its own.

Every sort of culinary vegetable is infinitely best when fresh
from the garden, and gathered as short a time as possible before
it is cooked. They should all be laid in a pan of cold water for a
while previous to boiling.

When done, they should be carefully drained before they go to
table, or they will be washy all through, and leave puddles of
discoloured water in the bottoms of the dishes, to the disgust of
the company and the discredit of the cook.


TO BOIL POTATOES.

Potatoes that are boiled together, should be as nearly as possible
of the same size. Wash, but do not pare them. Put them into a pot
with water enough to cover them about an inch, and do not put on
the pot lid. When the water is very near boiling, pour it off, and
replace it with the same quantity of cold water, into which throw
a good portion of salt. The cold water sends the heat from the
surface to the heart, and makes the potatoes mealy. Potatoes of a
moderate size will require about half an hour boiling; large ones
an hour. Try them with a fork. When done, pour off the water,
cover the pot with a folded napkin, or flannel, and let them stand
by the fire about a quarter of an hour to dry.

Peel them and send them to table.

Potatoes should not be served up with the skins on. It has a
coarse, slovenly look, and disfigures the appearance of the
dinner; besides the trouble and inconvenience of peeling them at
table.

When the skins crack in boiling, it is no proof that they are
done, as too much fire under the pot will cause the skins of some
potatoes to break while the inside is hard.

After March, when potatoes are old, it is best to pare them before
boiling and to cut out all the blemishes. It is then better to
mash them always before they are sent to table. Mash them when
quite hot, using a potato-beetle for the purpose; add to them a
piece of fresh butter, and a little salt, and, if convenient, some
milk, which will greatly improve them. You may score and brown
them on the top.

A very nice way of serving up potatoes is, after they are peeled,
to pour over them some hot cream in which a very little butter has
been melted, and sprinkle them with pepper. This is frequently
done in country houses where cream is plenty. New potatoes (as
they are called when quite young) require no peeling, but should
be well washed and brushed before they are boiled.


FRIED POTATOES.

Take cold potatoes that have been boiled, grate them, make them
into flat cakes, and fry them in butter. They are nice at
breakfast. You may mix some beaten yolk of egg with them.

Cold potatoes may be fried in slices or quarters, or broiled on a
gridiron.

Raw potatoes, when fried, are generally hard, tough, and strong.


POTATO SNOW.

For this purpose use potatoes that are very white, mealy, and
smooth. Boil them very carefully, and when they are done, peel
them, pour off the water, and set them on a trivet before the fire
till they are quite dry and powdery. Then rub them through a
coarse wire sieve into the dish on which they are to go to table.
Do not disturb the heap of potatoes before it is served up, or the
flakes will fall and it will flatten. This preparation looks well;
but many think that it renders the potato insipid.


ROASTED POTATOES.

Take large fine potatoes; wash and dry them, and either lay them
on the hearth and keep them buried in hot wood ashes, or bake them
slowly in a Dutch oven. They will not be done in less than two
hours. It will save time to half-boil them before they are
roasted. Send them to table with the skins on, and eat them with
cold butter and salt. They are introduced with cold meat at
supper.

Potatoes keep best buried in sand or earth. They should never be
wetted till they are washed for cooking. If you have them in the
cellar, see that they are well covered with matting or old carpet,
as the frost injures them greatly.


SWEET POTATOES BOILED.

If among your sweet potatoes there should he any that are very
large and thick, split them, and cut them in four, that they may
not require longer time to cook than the others. Boil them with
the skins on in plenty of water, but without any salt. You may set
the pot on coals in the corner. Try them with a fork, and see that
they are done all through; they will take at least an hour. Then
drain off the water, and set them for a few minutes in a tin pan
before the fire, or in the stove, that they may be well dried.
Peel them before they are sent to table.


FRIED SWEET POTATOES.

Choose them of the largest size. Half boil them, and then having
taken off the skins, cut the potatoes in slices, and fry them in
butter, or in nice dripping.

Sweet potatoes are very good stewed with fresh pork, veal, or
beef.

The best way to keep them through the cold weather, is to bury
them in earth or sand; otherwise they will be scarcely eatable
after October.


CABBAGE.

All vegetables of the cabbage kind should be carefully washed, and
examined in case of insects lurking among the leaves. To prepare a
cabbage for boiling, remove the outer leaves, and pare and trim
the stalk, cutting it close and short. If the cabbage is large,
quarter it; if small, cut it in half; and let it stand for a while
in a deep part of cold water with the large end downwards. Put it
into a pot with plenty of water, (having first tied it together to
keep it whole while boiling,) and, taking off the scum, boil it
two hours, or till the stalk is quite tender. When done, drain and
squeeze it well. Before you send it to table introduce a little
fresh butter between the leaves; or have melted butter in a boat.
If it has been boiled with meat add no butter to it.

A young cabbage will boil in an hour or an hour and a half.


CALE-CANNON.

Boil separately some potatoes and cabbage. When done, drain and
squeeze the cabbage, and chop or mince it very small. Mash the
potatoes, and mix them gradually but thoroughly with the chopped
cabbage, adding butter, pepper and salt. There should be twice as
much potato as cabbage.

Cale-cannon is eaten with corned beef, boiled pork, or bacon.

Cabbages may be kept good all winter by burying them in a hole dug
in the ground.


CAULIFLOWER

Remove the green leaves that surround the head or white part, and
peel off the outside skin of the small piece of stalk that is left
on. Cut the cauliflower in four, and lay it for an hour in a pan
of cold water. Then tie it together before it goes into the pot.
Put it into boiling water and simmer it till the stalk is
thoroughly tender, keeping it well covered with water, and
carefully removing the scum. It will take about two hours.

Take it up as soon as it is done; remaining in the water will
discolour it. Drain it well, and send it to table with melted
butter.

It will be much whiter if put on in boiling milk and water.


BROCOLI.

Prepare brocoli for boiling in the same manner as cauliflower,
leaving the stalks rather longer, and splitting the head in half
only. Tie it together again, before it goes into the pot. Put it
on in hot water, and let it simmer till the stalk is perfectly
tender.

As soon as it is done take it out of the water and drain it. Send
melted butter to table with it.


SPINACH.

Spinach requires close examination and picking, as insects are
frequently found among it, and it is often gritty. Wash it through
three or four waters. Then drain it, and put it on in boiling
water. Ten minutes is generally sufficient time to boil spinach.
Be careful to remove the scum. When it is quite tender, take it
up, and drain and squeeze it well. Chop it fine, and put it into a
sauce-pan with a piece of butter and a little pepper and salt. Set
it on hot coals, and let it stew five minutes, stirring it all the
time.


SPINACH AND EGGS.

Boil the spinach as above, and drain and press it, but do not chop
it. Have ready some eggs poached as follows. Boil in a sauce-pan,
and skim some clear spring water, adding to it a table-spoonful of
vinegar. Break the eggs separately, and having taken the sauce-pan
off the fire, slip the eggs one at a time into it with as much
dexterity as you can. Let the sauce-pan stand by the side of the
fire till the white is set, and then put it over the fire for two
minutes. The yolk should be thinly covered by the white. Take them
up with an egg slice, and having trimmed the edges of the whites,
lay the eggs on the top of the spinach, which should firstly
seasoned with pepper and salt and a little butter, and must be
sent to table hot.


TURNIPS.

Take off a thick paring from the outside, and boil the turnips
gently for an hour and a half. Try them with a fork, and when
quite tender, take them up, drain them on a sieve, and either send
them to table whole with melted butter, or mash them in a
cullender, (pressing and squeezing them well;) season with a
little pepper and salt, and mix with them a very small quantity of
butter. Setting in the sun after they are cooked, or on a part of
the table upon which the sun may happen to shine, will give to
turnips a singularly unpleasant taste, and should therefore he
avoided.

When turnips are very young, it is customary to serve them up with
about two inches of the green top left on them.

If stewed with meat, they should be sliced or quartered.

Mutton, either boiled or roasted, should always be accompanied by
turnips.


CARROTS.

Wash and scrape them well. If large cut them into two three, or
four pieces. Put them into boiling water with a little salt in it.
Full grown carrots will require three hours' boiling; smaller ones
two hours, and young ones an hour. Try them with a fork, and when
they are tender throughout, take them up and dry them in a cloth.
Divide them in pieces and split them, or cut them into slices.

Eat them with melted butter. They should accompany boiled beef or
mutton.


PARSNIPS.

Wash, scrape and split them. Put them into a pot of boiling water;
add a little salt, and boil them till quite tender, which will be
in from two to three hours, according to their size. Dry them in a
cloth when done, and pour melted butter over them in the dish.
Serve them up with any sort of boiled meat, or with salt cod.

Parsnips are very good baked or stewed with meat.


RUSSIAN OR SWEDISH TURNIPS

This turnip (the Ruta Baga) is very large and of a reddish yellow
colour; they are generally much liked. Take off a thick paring,
cut the turnips into large pieces, or thick slices, and lay them
awhile in cold water. Then boil them gently about two hours, or
till they are quite soft. When done, drain, squeeze and mash them,
and season them with pepper and salt, and a very little butter.
Take care not to set them in a part of the table where the sun
comes, as it will spoil the taste.

Russian turnips should always be mashed.


SQUASHES OR CYMLINGS.

The green or summer squash is best when the outside is beginning
to turn yellow, as it is then less watery and insipid than when
younger. Wash them, cut them into pieces, and take out the seeds.
Boil them about three quarters of an hour, or till quits tender.
When done, drain and squeeze them well till you have pressed out
all the water; mash them with a little butter, pepper and salt.
Then put the squash thus prepared into a stew-pan, set it on hot
coals, and stir it very frequently till it becomes dry. Take care
not to let it burn.


WINTER SQUASH, OR CASHAW.

This is much finer than the summer squash. It is fit to eat in
August, and, in a dry warm place, can be kept well all winter. The
colour is a very bright yellow. Pare it, take out the seeds, cut
it in pieces, and stew it slowly till quite soft, in a very little
water. Afterwards drain, squeeze, and press it well, and mash it
with a very little butter, pepper and salt.


PUMPKIN.

Deep coloured pumpkins are generally the best. In a dry warm place
they can be kept perfectly good all winter. When you prepare to
stew a pumpkin, cut it in half and take out all the seeds. Then
cut it in thick slices, and pare them. Put it into a pot with a
very little water, and stew it gently for an hour, or till soft
enough to mash. Then take it out, drain, and squeeze it till it is
as dry as you can get it.

Afterwards mash it, adding a little pepper and salt, and a very
little butter.

Pumpkin is frequently stewed with fresh beef or fresh pork.

The water in which pumpkin has been boiled, is said to be very
good to mix bread with, it having a tendency to improve it in
sweetness and to keep it moist.


HOMINY.

Wash the hominy very clean through three or four waters. Then put
it into a pot (allowing two quarts of water to one quart of
hominy) and boil it slowly five hours. When done, take it up, and
drain the liquid from it through a cullender. Put the hominy into
a deep dish, and stir into it a small piece of fresh butter.

The small grained hominy is boiled in rather less water, and
generally eaten with butter and sugar.


INDIAN CORN.

Corn for boiling should be full grown but young and tender. When
the grains become yellow it is too old. Strip it of the outside
leaves and the silk, but let the inner leaves remain, as they will
keep in the sweetness. Put it into a large pot with plenty of
water, and boil it rather fast for three hours or more. When done,
drain off the water, and remove the leaves.

You may either lay the ears on a large flat dish and send them to
table whole, or broken in half; or you may cut all the com off the
cob, and serve it up in a deep dish, mixed with butter, pepper and
salt.


MOCK OYSTERS OF CORN.

Take a dozen and a half ears of large young corn, and grate all
the grains off the cob as fine as possible. Mix with the grated
corn three large table-spoonfuls of sifted flour, the yolks of six
eggs well beaten. Let all be well incorporated by hard beating.

Have ready in a frying-pan an equal proportion of lard and fresh
butter. Hold it over the fire till it is boiling hot, and then put
in portions of the mixture as nearly as possible in shape and size
like fried oysters. Fry them brown, and send them to table hot.
They should be near an inch thick.

This is an excellent relish at breakfast, and may be introduced as
a side dish at dinner. In taste it has a singular resemblance to
fried oysters. The corn must be young.


STEWED EGG PLANT.

The purple egg plants are better than the white ones. Put them
whole into a pot with plenty of water, and simmer them till quite
tender. Then take them out, drain them, and (having peeled off the
skins) cut them up, and mash them smooth in a deep dish. Mix with
them some grated bread, some powdered sweet marjoram, and a large
piece of butter, adding a few pounded cloves. Grate a layer of
bread over the top, and put the dish into the oven and brown it.
You must send it to table in the same dish.

Eggplant is sometimes eaten at dinner, but generally at breakfast.


TO FRY EGG PLANT.

Do not pare your egg plants if they are to be fried, but slice
them about half an inch thick, and lay them an hour or two in salt
and water to remove their strong taste, which to most persons is
very unpleasant. Then take them out, wipe them, and season them,
with pepper only. Beat some yolk of egg; and in another dish grate
a sufficiency of bread-crumbs. Have ready in a frying-pan some
lard and batter mixed, and make it boil. Then dip each slice of
egg plant first in the egg, and then in the crumbs, till both
sides are well covered; and fry them brown, taking care to have
them done all through, as the least rawness renders them very
unpalatable.


STUFFED EGG PLANTS.

Parboil them to take off their bitterness. Then slit each one down
the side, and extract the seeds. Have ready a stuffing made of
grated bread-crumbs, butter, minced sweet herbs, salt, pepper,
nutmeg, and beaten yolk of egg. Fill with it the cavity from
whence you took the seeds, and bake the egg plants in a Dutch
oven. Serve them up with a made gravy poured into the dish.


FRIED CUCUMBERS.

Having pared your cucumbers, cut them lengthways into pieces about
as thick as a dollar. Then dry them in a cloth. Season them with
pepper and salt, and sprinkle them thick with flour. Melt some
butter in a frying-pan, and when it boils, put in the slices of
cucumber, and fry them of a light brown. Send them to table hot.

They make a breakfast dish..


TO DRESS CUCUMBERS RAW.

They should be as fresh from the vine as possible, few vegetables
being more unwholesome when long gathered. As soon as they are
brought in lay them in cold water. Just before they are to go to
table take them out, pare them and slice them into a pan of fresh
cold water. When they are all sliced, transfer them to a deep
dish, season them with a little salt and black pepper, and pour
over them some of the best vinegar, to which you may add a little
salad oil. You may mix with them a small quantity of sliced onion;
not to be eaten, but to communicate a slight flavour of onion to
the vinegar.


SALSIFY.

Having scraped the salsify roots, and washed them in cold water,
parboil them. Then take them out, drain them, cut them into large
pieces and fry them in butter.

Salsify is frequently stewed slowly till quite tender, and then
served up with melted butter. Or it may be first boiled, then
grated, and made into cakes to be fried in butter.

Salsify must not be left exposed to the air, or it will turn
blackish.


ARTICHOKES.

Strip off the coarse outer leaves, and cut off the stalks close to
the bottom. Wash the artichokes well, and let them lie two or
three hours in cold water. Put them with their heads downward into
a pot of boiling water, keeping them down by a plate floated over
them. They must boil steadily from two to three hours; take care
to replenish the pot with additional boiling water as it is
wanted. When they are tender all through, drain them, and serve
them up with melted butter.


BEETS.

Wash the beets, but do not scrape or cut them while they are raw;
for if a knife enters them before they are boiled they will lose
their colour. Boil them from two to three hours, according to
their size. When they are tender all through, take them up, and
scrape off all the outside. If they are young beets they are best
split down and cut into long pieces, seasoned with pepper, and
sent to table with melted butter. Otherwise you may slice them
thin, after they are quite cold, and pour vinegar over them.


TO STEW BEETS.

Boil them first, and then scrape and slice them. Put them into a
stew-pan with a piece of butter rolled in flour, some boiled onion
and parsley chopped fine, and a little vinegar, salt and pepper.
Set the pan on hot coals, and let the beets stew for a quarter of
an hour.


TO BOIL GREEN OR FRENCH BEANS.

These beans should be young, tender, and fresh gathered. Remove
the strings with a knife, and take off both ends of the bean. Then
cut them in two or three pieces only; for if split or cut very
small, they become watery and lose much of their taste. They look
best when cut slanting. As you cut them, throw them into a pan of
cold water, and let them lay awhile. Boil them an hour and a half.
They must be perfectly tender before you take them up. Then drain
and press them well, season them with pepper, and mix into them a
piece of butter.


SCARLET BEANS.

It is not generally known that the pod of the scarlet bean, if
green and young, is extremely nice when cut into three or four
pieces and boiled. They will require near two hours, and must be
drained well, and mixed as before mentioned with butter and
pepper. If gathered at the proper time, when the seed is just
perceptible, they are superior to any of the common beans.


LIMA BEANS.

These are generally considered the finest of all beans, and should
be gathered young. Shell them, lay them in a pan of cold water,
and then boil them about two hours, or till they are quite soft.
Drain them well, and add to them some butter and a little pepper.

They are destroyed by the first frost, but can be kept during the
winter, by gathering them on a dry day when full grown but not the
least hard, and putting them in their pods into a keg. Throw some
salt into the bottom of the keg, and cover it with a layer of the
bean-pods; then add more salt, and then another layer of beans,
till the keg is full. Press them down with a heavy weight, cover
the keg closely, and keep it in a cool dry place. Before you use
them, soak the pods all night in cold water; the next day shell
them, and soak the beans till you are ready to boil them.


DRIED BEANS.

Wash them and lay them in soak over night. Early in the morning
put them into a pot with plenty of water, and boil them slowly
till dinner time. They will require seven or eight hours to be
sufficiently done. Then take them off, put them into a sieve, and
strain off the liquid.

Send the beans to table in a deep dish, seasoned with pepper, and
having a piece of butter mixed with them.


GREEN PEAS.

Green peas are unfit for eating after they become hard and
yellowish; but they are better when nearly full grown than when
very small and young. They should be gathered as short a time as
possible before they are cooked, and laid in cold water as soon as
they are shelled. They will require about an hour to boil soft.
When quite done, drain them, mix with them a piece of butter, and
add a little pepper.

Peas may be greatly improved by boiling with them two or three
lumps of loaf-sugar, and a sprig of mint to be taken out before
they are dished. This is an English way of cooking green peas, and
is to most tastes a very good one.


TO BOIL ONIONS.

Take off the tops and tails, and the thin outer skin; but no
more lest the onions should go to pieces. Lay them on the bottom
of a pan which is broad enough to contain them without piling one
on another; just cover them with water, and let them simmer slowly
till they are tender all through, but not till they break.

Serve them up with melted butter.


TO ROAST ONIONS.

Onions are best when parboiled before roasting. Take large onions,
place them on a hot hearth and roast them before the fire in their
skins, turning them as they require it. Then peel them, send them
to table whole, and eat them with butter and salt.


TO FRY ONIONS.

Peel, slice them, and fry them brown in butter or nice dripping.

Onions should be kept in a very dry place, as dampness injures
them.


TO BOIL ASPARAGUS.

Large or full grown asparagus is the best. Before you begin to
prepare it for cooking, set on the fire a pot with plenty of
water, and sprinkle into it a handful of salt. Your asparagus
should be all of the same size. Scrape the stalks till they are
perfectly nice and white; cut them all of equal length, and short,
so as to leave them but two or three inches below the green part.
To serve up asparagus with long stalks is now becoming obsolete.
As you scrape them, throw them into a pan of cold water. Then tie
them up in small bundles with bass or tape, as twine will cut them
to pieces. When the water is boiling fast, put in the asparagus,
and boil it an hour; if old it will require an hour and a quarter.
When it is nearly done boiling, toast a large slice of bread
sufficient to cover the dish (first cutting off the crust) and dip
it into the asparagus water in the pot. Lay it in a dish, and,
having drained the asparagus, place it on the toast with all the
heads pointed inwards towards the centre, and the stalks spreading
outwards. Serve up melted butter with it.


SEA KALE.

Sea kale is prepared, boiled, and served up in the same manner as
asparagus.


POKE.

The young stalks and leaves of the poke-berry plant when quite
small and first beginning to sprout up from the ground in the
spring, are by most persons considered very nice, and are
frequently brought to market. If the least too old they acquire a
strong taste, and should not be eaten, as they then become
unwholesome. They are in a proper state when the part of the stalk
nearest to the ground is not thicker than small asparagus. Scrape
the stalks, (letting the leaves remain on them,) and throw them
into cold water. Then tie up the poke in bundles, put it into a
pot that has plenty of boiling water, and let it boil fast an hour
at least. Serve it up with or without toast, and send melted
butter with, it in a boat.


STEWED TOMATAS.

Peel your tomatas, cut them in half and squeeze out the seeds.
Then put them into a stew-pan without any water, and add to them
cayenne and salt to your taste, (and if you choose,) a little
minced onion, and some powdered mace, Stew them slowly till they
are first dissolved and then dry.


BAKED TOMATAS

Peel some large fine tomatas, cut them up, and take out the seeds.
Then put them into a deep dish in alternate layers with grated
bread-crumbs, and a very little butter in small bits. There must be
a large proportion of bread-crumbs. Season the whole with a little
salt, and cayenne pepper. Set it in an oven, and bake it. In
cooking tomatas, take care not to have them too liquid.


MUSHROOMS.

Good mushrooms are only found in clear open fields where the air
is pure and unconfined. Those that grow in low damp ground, or in
shady places, are always poisonous. Mushrooms of the proper sort
generally appear in August and September, after a heavy dew or a
misty night. They may be known by their being of a pale pink or
salmon colour on the gills or under side, while the top is of a
dull pearl-coloured white; and by their growing only in open
places. When they are a day old, or a few hours after they are
gathered, the reddish colour changes to brown.

The poisonous or false mushrooms are of various colours, sometimes
of a bright yellow or scarlet all over; sometimes entirely of a
chalky white stalk, top, and gills.

It is easy to detect a bad mushroom if all are quite fresh; but
after being gathered a few hours the colours change, so that
unpractised persons frequently mistake them.

It is said that if you boil an onion among mushrooms the onion
will turn of a bluish black when there is a bad one among them. Of
course, the whole should then be thrown into the fire. If in
stirring mushrooms, the colour of the silver spoon is changed, it
is also most prudent to destroy them all.


TO STEW MUSHROOMS.

For this purpose the small button mushrooms are best. Wash them
clean, peel off the skin, and cut off the stalks. Put the
trimmings into a small sauce-pan with just enough water to keep
them from burning, and, covering them closely, let them stew a
quarter of an hour. Then strain the liquor, and having put the
mushrooms into a clean sauce-pan, (a silver one, or one lined with
porcelain,) add the liquid to them with a little nutmeg, pepper
and salt, and a piece of butter rolled in flour. Stew them fifteen
minutes, and just before you take them up, stir in a very little
cream or rich milk and some beaten yolk of egg. Serve them hot.
While they are cooking, keep the pan as closely covered as
possible.

If you wish to have the full taste of the mushroom only, after
washing, trimming, and peeling them, put them into a stew-pan with
a little salt and no water. Set them on coals, and stew them
slowly till tender, adding nothing to them but a little butter
rolled in flour, or else a little cream. Be sure to keep the pan
well covered.


BROILED MUSHROOMS.

For this purpose take large mushrooms, and be careful to have them
freshly gathered. Peel them, score the under side, and cut off the
stems. Lay them one by one in an earthen pan, brushing them over
with sweet oil or oiled butter, and sprinkling each with a little
pepper and salt. Cover them closely, and let them set for about an
hour and a half. Then place them on a gridiron over clear hot
coals, and broil them on both sides.

Make a gravy for them of their trimmings stewed in a very little
water, strained and thickened with a beaten egg stirred in just
before it goes to table.


BOILED RICE.

Pick your rice clean, and wash it in two cold waters, not draining
off the last water till you are ready to put the rice on the fire.
Prepare a sauce-pan of water with a little salt in it, and when it
boils, sprinkle in the rice. Boil it hard twenty minutes, keeping
it covered. Then take it from the fire, and pour off the water.
Afterwards set the sauce-pan in the chimney-corner with the lid
off, while you are dishing your dinner, to allow the rice to dry,
and the grains to separate.

Rice, if properly boiled, should be soft and white, and every
grain ought to stand alone. If badly managed, it will, when
brought to table, be a grayish watery mass.

In most southern families, rice, is boiled every day for the
dinner table, and eaten with the meat and poultry.

The above is a Carolina receipt.


TO DRESS LETTUCE AS SALAD.

Strip off the outer leaves, wash the lettuce, split it in half,
and lay it in cold water till dinner time. Then drain it and put
it into a salad dish. Have ready two eggs boiled hard, (which they
will be in twelve minutes,) and laid in a basin of cold water for
five minutes to prevent the whites from turning blue. Cut them in
half, and lay them on the lettuce.

Put the yolks of the eggs on a large plate, and with a wooden
spoon mash them smooth, mixing with them a table-spoonful of
water, and two table-spoonfuls of sweet oil. Then add, by degrees,
a salt-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful of mustard, and a tea-spoonful
of powdered loaf-sugar. When these are all smoothly
united, add very gradually three table-spoonfuls of vinegar. The
lettuce having been cut up fine on another plate, put it to the
dressing, and mix it well.

If you have the dressing for salad made before a dinner, put it
into the bottom of the salad dish; then (having cut it up) lay the
salad upon it, and let it rest till it is to be eaten, as stirring
it will injure it.

You may decorate the top of the salad with slices of red beet, and
with the hard white of the eggs cut into rings.


CELERY.

Scrape and wash it well, and let it lie in cold water till shortly
before it goes to table; then dry it in a cloth, trim it, and
split down the stalks almost to the bottom, leaving on a few green
leaves. Send it to table in a celery glass, and eat it with salt
only; or chop it fine, and make a salad dressing for it.


RADISHES.

To prepare radishes for eating, wash them and lay them in clean
cold water as soon as they are brought in. Shortly before they go
to table, scrape off the thin outside skin, trim the sharp end,
cut off the leaves at the top, leaving the stalks about an inch
long, and put them on a small dish. Eat them with salt.

Radishes should not be eaten the day after they are pulled, as
they are extremely unwholesome if not quite fresh.

The thick white radishes, after being scraped and trimmed, should
be split or cleft in four, half way down from the top.


TO ROAST CHESTNUTS.

The large Spanish chestnuts are the best for roasting. Cut a slit
in the shell of every one to prevent their bursting when hot. Put
them into a pan, and set them over a charcoal furnace till they
are thoroughly roasted; stirring them up frequently and taking
care hot to let them burn. When they are done, peel off the
shells, and send the chestnuts to table wrapped up in a napkin to
keep them warm.

Chestnuts should always be roasted or boiled before they are
eaten.


GROUND-NUTS.

These nuts are never eaten raw. Put them, with their shells on,
into an iron pan, and set them in an oven; or you may do them in a
skillet on hot coals. A large quantity may be roasted in an iron
pot over the fire. Stir them frequently, taking one out from time
to time, and breaking it to try if they are done.

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