Artichokes should be boiled until tender only. If over-boiled they become dark coloured and flavourless.

Asparagus should be cut into equal lengths and tied into bundles. These should be stood on end in a deep stewpan, leaving the tops about an inch above the water. When the stalks are tender the tops will be cooked also. This plan prevents the tops falling off through being over-cooked.

Cabbage should only be boiled until tender; if over-cooked it is pulpy and flavourless. Boiling too fast causes the unpleasant odour to be given off which is sometimes noticeable in a house when this vegetable is being cooked. The lid of the saucepan should not be used.

Cauliflower must not be boiled until its crispness is lost. It must be only just tender enough to eat. It can be served 'au gratin' (120), or as in recipe No. 121.

Carrots should be steamed, not boiled. The skins should then be wiped off and they should be served with a white or brown gravy. They are also nice if scraped, sliced and stewed in haricot broth (recipe 239). The smaller the carrots the more delicate will the flavour be.

Kidney or Haricot Beans need to be carefully trimmed so that all stringy parts are cut away. They should be boiled until tender, and no longer, and served with thin white sauce. The smaller and greener they are the better.

Old pods should remain unpicked until nearly ripe, when the solid beans can be used for haricot soup or entrÉes. The 'Czar' bean is the best to grow; it is the giant white haricot, and the seeds are delicious when picked fresh and cooked at once. There is the same difference between fresh and dried haricots, as between green and dried peas. Dried Haricots must be soaked in cold water for twelve hours before being cooked. They can then be stewed until tender—the water being saved for soup or stock.

Vegetable Marrow should be steamed or boiled in its jacket. The flavour is lost if this is removed before cooking.

Mushrooms should be fried very slowly in a small quantity of butter. They should be stirred during the process, and the heat employed must be very moderate indeed or they will be made tough. They can also be stewed, and served in the gravy when thickened with arrowroot.

Potatoes should be cooked in their jackets. To boil them in the best way, the water in the saucepan should be thrown away when they have been boiled for 5 minutes and cold water should be substituted. This plan equalises the cooking of the interior and exterior of the potatoes. When cooked they should be drained, a clean cloth should be placed over the pan and they should stand on the hot plate to dry. They should be lifted out separately, and should be unbroken and floury. Sodden potatoes ought to be regarded as evidence of incompetency on the part of the cook.

Potatoes baked in their jackets are considered by many to be preferable, and, as it is almost impossible to spoil them if this plan is adopted, it should be employed when the cook is inexperienced.

Fried potatoes, cooked in the Devonshire fashion, are nice for breakfast. It is best to remove some from the stewpan when half cooked on the previous day. These should be cut up in a frying pan in which a fair amount of butter has been melted, and the knife should be used while they cook. In a few minutes the potatoes should be well packed together, so that the under-side will brown; an inverted plate should then be pressed on them and the pan should be turned upside down while the plate is held in position with one hand. A neat and savoury-looking dish will thus be made, but over-cooking must be avoided previous to the browning process, or they will look sloppy.

Potatoes can be mashed with a little milk and butter. They should then be packed into a pretty shape and garnished with chopped parsley (109).

Another way of cooking them is to use the frying basket and dip them in very hot Nutter. They should either be cut into thin fingers previously, or else be half boiled and broken into pieces. This latter plan is perhaps best of all, and they are then termed "potatoes sautÉ," and are sprinkled with chopped parsley before being served.

A very savoury dish can be made by boiling some potatoes until nearly tender, and then putting them in a pie dish with small pieces of butter sprinkled over them; they should then be baked until nicely browned.

To make potatoes white when cooked they should be steeped in cold water for two hours after peeling.

Peas should be placed in a covered jar with a little butter, and should be steamed until tender. No water is required in the jar. The pods, if clean and fresh, should be washed, slowly steamed, rubbed through a colander, and added to any soup or other suitable dish in preparation. Another method is to boil the peas with mint, salt, sugar and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda added to the water. Small young peas should always be chosen in preference to those which are old and large.

Spinach should be cooked according to the directions given in recipes 90 to 92, or 103.

Beetroot should be baked in the oven instead of being boiled. By this method the flavour is improved and the juices retained.