DIRECTIONS FOR CLEANING AND BOILING VEGETABLES.

Vegetables are extremely nutritious when sufficiently boiled, but are unwholesome and indigestible when not thoroughly dressed; still they should not be over boiled, or they will lose their flavor.

Vegetables should be shaken to get out any insects, and laid in water with a little salt.

Soft water is best suited for boiling vegetables, and they require plenty of water; a little salt should be put in the saucepan with them, and the water should almost invariably be boiling when they are put in.

Potatoes are much better when steamed. Peas and several other vegetables are also improved by this mode of cooking them, although it is seldom adopted in England.

MASHED POTATOES.

Boil till perfectly tender; let them be quite dry, and press them through a cullender, or mash and beat them well with a fork; add a piece of butter, and milk, or cream, and continue beating till they are perfectly smooth; return them to the saucepan to warm, or they may be browned before the fire. The chief art is to beat them sufficiently long, which renders them light.

Potatoe balls are mashed potatoes formed into balls glazed with the yolk of egg, and browned with a salamander.

POTATO WALL, OR EDGING.

Raise a wall of finely-mashed potatoes, of two or three inches high, round the dish; form it with a spoon to the shape required, brush it over with egg, and put it in the oven to become hot and brown; if it does not brown nicely, use the salamander. Rice is arranged the same way to edge curries or fricassees; it must be first boiled till tender.

POTATOE SHAVINGS.

Take four fine large potatoes, and having peeled them, continue to cut them up as if peeling them in ribbons of equal width; then throw the shavings into a frying-pan, and fry of a fine brown; they must be constantly moved with a silver fork to keep the pieces separate. They should be laid on a cloth to drain, and placed in the dish lightly.

THE FRENCH WAY OF DRESSING SPINACH.

Wash and boil till tender, then squeeze and strain it; press it in a towel till almost dry; put it on a board, and chop it as finely as possible; then return it to the saucepan, with butter, pepper, and salt; stir it all the time, and let it boil fast.

STEWED SPINACH.

Scald and chop some spinach small; cut up an onion; add pepper and salt and brown sugar, with a little vinegar, stew all together gently; serve with poached eggs or small forcemeat fritters. This forms a pretty side-dish, and is also a nice way of dressing spinach to serve in the same dish with cutlets.

TO STEW SPANISH BEANS AND PEAS.

Soak the beans over night in cold water; they must be stewed in only sufficient water to cover them, with two table spoonsful of oil, a little pepper and salt, and white sugar. When done they should be perfectly soft and tender.

PEAS STEWED WITH OIL.

Put half a peck of peas into a stew-pan, half a lettuce chopped small, a little mint, a small onion cut up, two table-spoonsful of oil, and a dessert-spoonful of powdered sugar, with water sufficient to cover the peas, watching, from time to time, that they do not become too dry; let them stew gently, taking care that they do not burn, till perfectly soft. When done they should look of a yellowish brown.

French beans, brocoli, and greens, stewed in the above manner will be found excellent.

CUCUMBER MANGO.

Cut a large cucumber in half, length ways, scoop out the seedy part, and lay it in vinegar that has been boiled with mustard-seed, a little garlic, and spices, for twenty-four hours, then fill the cucumber with highly-seasoned forcemeat, and stew it in a rich gravy, the cucumber must be tied to keep it together.

CABBAGE AND RICE.

Scald till tender a fine summer white cabbage, then chop it up small, and put it into a stewpan, with a large cup of rice, also previously scalded, add a little water, a large piece of butter, salt and pepper; let it stew gently till thoroughly done, stirring from time to time, and adding water and butter to prevent its getting too thick; there should be no gravy in the dish when served.

PALESTINE SALAD.

Take a dozen fine Jerusalem artichokes, boil till tender, let the water strain off, and when cold cut them in quarters, and pour over a fine salad mixture; the artichokes should lay in the sauce half an hour before serving. This salad is a very refreshing one, and has the advantage of being extremely wholesome.

A SPRING DISH.

Take one quart of young peas, a little mint, a few lumps of sugar, a little salt and white pepper, simmer them gently in one pint of water, when the peas are half done, throw in small dumplings made of paste, as if for short crust, and sweetened with a little brown sugar, beat up two eggs, and drop in a spoonful at a time, just before serving; it will require a deep dish, as the liquor is not to be strained off. Some prefer the eggs poached.

CARROTS AU BEURRE.

Boil them enough to be perfectly tender, then cut them in quarters, and again in lengths of three inches, drain them from the water, and put to them a piece of butter, salt and pepper, and simmer them for a few minutes without boiling; a large piece of butter must be used.

French beans are good dressed in the same way.

PUREE OF VEGETABLES.

Take any vegetable that may be approved, boil till well done, drain away all water, reduce the vegetable to a pulp, and add to it any fine sauce, to make it of the consistency of a very thick custard.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES FRIED.

Cut in slices after parboiling them, dip in batter, and fry.

STEWED RED CABBAGE.

Clean and remove the outer leaves, slice it as thinly as possible, put it in a saucepan with a large piece of butter, and a tea cup full of water, salt and pepper; let it stew slowly till very tender.

MUSHROOMS AU NATUREL.

Clean some fine fresh mushrooms, put them in a saucepan with a large piece of butter, pepper and salt; let them simmer until tender, and serve them with no other sauce than that in which they have been dressed. Also stewed in a veal gravy, and served with white sauce on a toast, they form a nice and pretty dish.

The large flap mushrooms may be stewed in gravy, or simply broiled, seasoned with cayenne pepper, salt, and lemon juice.

DRY TOMATO SOUP.

Brown a couple of onions in a little oil, about two table-spoonsful or more, according to the number of tomatos; when hot, add about six tomatos cut and peeled, season with cayenne pepper and salt, and let the whole simmer for a short time, then cut thin slices of bread, and put as much with the tomatos as will bring them to the consistency of a pudding; it must be well beaten up, stir in the yolks of two or three eggs, and two ounces of butter warmed; turn the whole into a deep dish and bake it very brown. Crumbs of bread should be strewed over the top, and a little warmed butter poured over.

DEVILLED BISCUITS.

Butter some biscuits on both sides, and pepper them well, make a paste of either chopped anchovies, or fine cheese, and spread it on the biscuit, with mustard and cayenne pepper, and grill them.

SAVOURY EGGS.

Boil some eggs hard, put them into cold water, cut them into halves, take out the yolks, beat them up in a mortar with grated hung beef, fill the halves with this mixture, fry lightly, and serve with brown gravy.

SAVOURY CHEESE CAKES.

Grate finely an equal quantity of stale bread and good cheese, season with a little pepper and salt, mix into a batter with eggs, form into thin cakes and fry.

SCALLOPED EGGS.

Poach lightly three or four eggs, place them in a dish, pour upon them a little warm butter; sprinkle with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, strew over with crumbs of bread, and brown before the fire.

MACCARONI AND CHEESE.

Boil some maccaroni in milk or water until tender, then drain them and place on a dish with bits of butter and grated Parmesan cheese; when the dish is filled grate more cheese over it and brown before the fire.

A FINE RECEIPT FOR A SAVOURY OMELETTE.

Break four eggs, beat them up till thin enough to pass through a hair sieve, then beat them up till perfectly smooth and thin; a small omelette frying-pan is necessary for cooking it well. Dissolve in it a piece of butter, about an ounce and a half, pour in the egg, and as soon as it rises and is firm, slide it on to a warm plate and fold it over; it should only be fried on one side, and finely minced herbs should be sprinkled over the unfried side with pepper and salt. A salamander is frequently held over the unfried side of the omelette to take off the rawness it may otherwise have.

CHORISA OMELETTE.

Add to the eggs, after they are well beaten as directed in the last receipt, half a tea-cup full of finely minced chorisa; this omelette must be lightly fried on both sides, or the salamander held over long enough to dress the chorisa.

RAMAKINS.

Mix together three eggs, one ounce of warmed butter, and two of fine cheese grated, and bake in small patty pans.

RISSOLES.

Make a fine forcemeat of any cold meat, poultry, or fish, enclose it in a very rich puff paste, rolled out extremely thin. They may be made into balls or small triangular turnovers, or into long narrow ribbons; the edges must be pressed together, that they may not burst in frying. They form a pretty dish.

CROQUETTES.

Pound any cold poultry, meat, or fish, make it into a delicate forcemeat; the flavor can be varied according to taste; minced mushrooms, herbs, parsley, grated lemon peel, are suitable for poultry and veal; minced anchovies should be used instead of mushrooms when the croquettes are made of fish. Form the mixture into balls or oval shapes the size of small eggs; dip them into beaten eggs, thickly sprinkle with bread crumbs or pounded vermicelli, and fry of a handsome brown.

CASSEROLE AU RIZ.

Boil some rice till quite tender, make it into a firm paste with one egg and a couple of tablespoons of strong gravy; then line the inside of a mould with the paste of sufficient thickness to turn out without breaking. Some cooks fill the mould instead of lining it only, and scoop away the centre. After it is turned out the rice must stand till cold, before it is removed from the mould; then fill the rice with friccassee of fowl and sweetbread, with a rich white sauce, and place it in the oven to become hot and brown. The mould used for a casserole is oval and fluted, and resembles a cake mould. It is as well to observe, it cannot be made in a jelly mould.

A FONDU.

Make into a batter one ounce and a half of potatoe flour, with the same quantity of grated cheese and of butter, and a quarter of a pint of milk or cream; add a little salt, very little pepper, and the well-beaten yolks of four fine fresh eggs; when all this is well mixed together, pour in the whites of the eggs, well whisked to a froth; pour the mixture into a deep soup plate or dish, used expressly for the purpose, and bake in a moderate oven. The dish should be only half filled with the fondu, as it will rise very high. It must be served the moment it is ready, or it will fall. It is a good plan to hold a salamander over it while being brought to table.

PETITS FONDEAUS.

Make a batter as for a fondu, but use rice flour or arrow root instead of potatoe flour; add the egg in the same manner as for a fondu, and pour the mixture into small paper trays fringed round the top. The mixture should only half fill the trays or cases.