Boil steadily with the lid off for 10 to 20 minutes according to age, then lift into drainer on top of the boiling water and cook till tender in the steam. Serve on hot vegetable dish with some bits of butter on the top. It should be perfectly tender, yet crisp and of a vivid green. If at all brown, or dull, or flabby-looking, there is something wrong, either with the vegetable itself or the cooking. And I am not to give directions for "doctoring" anything that is either unwholesome or spoiled. A paragraph has been going the round of certain papers lately, giving directions for disguising the flavour of tainted meat, which "few cooks know how to treat so as to render perfectly nice"! It is to be wrapped in vinegar cloths, &c.--"boil up, and use it." I should say doctor it as you please, but then--throw it away! If anything, no matter what, goes bad--milk, soup, vegetables--throw it out without hesitation. It is a pity to waste things--and this ought to be prevented by good management--but surely it is much greater waste to use tainted food. Better miss a meal, if need be, than make a refuse bin of our bodies. All this may seem a digression, but I am so thoroughly convinced that a large proportion of the "ills that flesh is heir to"--and we accept the inheritance with a resignation "worthy of a better cause"--is due to unsound or improperly prepared food, that I make no apology. Many people have told me that they daren't touch certain vegetables, and when I have seen these as served by them have cordially agreed with them. The most common error, especially with green vegetables, like
Cabbage, Savoys, Brussels Sprouts, Greens, &c.,
which all require much the same treatment, is over-cooking. There seems to be a popular notion, somehow, regarding vegetables, that the more you cook them the better they are, and after all the substance and flavour has been boiled out of them, people wonder how anyone can relish such stuff! Each vegetable should get just the bare amount of cooking necessary, and no more. If they have to wait for some time before serving, stand over boiling water as directed above. Most vegetables may be cooked entirely by
Steaming.
This conserves all their own juices which contain the various valuable natural salts, alkalies, &c., so necessary to health, and which we so vainly try to make up by the addition of crude minerals.
Carrots, Turnips, Potatoes,
and all root vegetables and tubers, are best cooked by steaming. Steamers with perforated bottoms to fit the various sizes of saucepan are now to be had from any ironmonger. A very good way to cook carrots, turnips, and parsnips, is to make up a good white sauce, put in Queen pudding-bowl or some other such dish, lay in the carrots, parsnips, &c. Cover and steam till cooked. If rather old, they may first be par-boiled. This should be done before the skin is removed.
Beetroot
should always be steamed by preference, but quite as much care must be taken not to break any of the fibres, or it will "bleed" as in boiling. When tender, which will take from two to four hours, pare and cut in slices. It may either be dressed with vinegar, lemon juice, &c., to serve cold, or fried and served with white or tomato sauce as a hot vegetable.
Green Peas
may also be steamed in a jar or basin like stewed fruit. A very little water and a little lemon juice should be added. If to be boiled, have a small saucepan with fast boiling water to barely cover, a little sugar, salt, lemon juice, and sprig of mint. Boil fast till tender. Drain and serve with butter only.
French Beans
may be cooked in same way. Remove stalks and "strings" and cut across diamondwise.
Broad Beans, Kidney Beans, &c.,
usually require to have the tough white sloughs removed. To facilitate this, pour boiling water over, when they may be slipped off quite easily. Cook same as green peas.
To Re-heat Peas, &c.,
Put a little butter in saucepan, a finely minced shallot or spoonful grated onion, and some tomato free from skin and seeds.