Hints on Preparing Vegetables.

1. Vegetables keep best on a stone floor.

2. All green vegetables should be laid in cold salt and water for 1 hour before they are cooked. This draws out all the insects they contain. Carrots should be scraped, then cut up and thrown into cold water till they are cooked. Turnips must be peeled thickly, then cut up and thrown into cold water till they are cooked. Onions must be peeled, then, as a rule, sliced or chopped.

3. Green vegetables should be thrown into boiling water with a little salt and small piece of soda, boiled quickly for a few minutes and then simmered until tender.

4. A crust of bread should be boiled with cabbages, greens, etc. This takes off the disagreeable smell.

5. Vegetables must never be left over-night in saucepans, for a poison would be produced.

6. All the waste part of vegetables should be dried under the grate, then burnt at once, never thrown into the dust-bin. By this means all unwholesome smells are avoided.

Baked Beetroot. Time—3 hours.

Boil a large beetroot about 2 hours, be careful not to pierce it. When cold mash it very smooth, add a little dripping, pepper, salt and stock. Place in a greased basin and bake for 1 hour.

Broad Beans. Time—¾ hour.

Shell, wash and drain them. Throw into cold water with a little salt and a bunch of parsley. Boil until soft (20 to 30 minutes), then drain them. Serve either with melted butter or gravy.

French Beans. Time—¾ hour.

String the beans, cut each slantwise into 2 or 3 pieces, wash them well in cold salt and water, drain them, and throw them into boiling water with a little salt and a small piece of soda in it. Let them boil very fast with the lid off, until tender. Drain the water off and serve.

French beans, À la maÎtre d’hÔtel are boiled as above, then rinsed in cold water, dried and put into a stew-pan on the fire with a little dripping, chopped parsley, pepper, salt, nutmeg and lemon-juice, till thoroughly heated through.

Haricot Beans. Time—6 hours.

1 pint haricot beans, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, 1 teaspoonful brown sugar; pepper and salt to taste.

Soak the beans over-night. Next day boil them for 5 or 6 hours in plenty of water. One hour before serving, mix the vinegar, sugar, pepper and salt well together, pour away some of the water from the beans, and add the mixture to them.

Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Greens, and Savoys. Time—1½ hour.

Cut off the faded outside leaves and hard part of the stalk, and wash the vegetables well. Cook in plenty of boiling water, with a tablespoonful of salt to every half-gallon. If the water is very hard, add sufficient carbonate of soda to cover a threepenny piece. Boil with the lid off till the stalk is soft.

Stewed Carrots. Time—½ hour.

Scrape carrots carefully and cut in thick pieces. Place them in sufficient water to cover them and stew till tender. Then evaporate water till only half remains. Add a little dripping, flour and pepper and toss carrots gently in pan till they are coated with their own juice, and serve.

Stewed Celery. Time—¾ hour.

Boil some heads of celery, cut into pieces about 2 inches long, in some good stock, add salt, pepper, and a little lemon-juice. Thicken the stock with flour and serve.

Colcannon. Time—¼ hour

Equal quantities of cooked cabbage and potatoes, chopped, mixed together, seasoned with pepper and salt, and fried in a little dripping.

Shell and pick them over, wash them in cold water, drain them. Throw them into boiling water, add a teaspoonful brown sugar, a little mint and salt. Boil until quite tender, drain off the water, and serve in a hot dish with the mint.

Dried Green Peas. Time—4 hours.

Soak over-night; next morning put them in a jar in the oven with plenty of water, salt and a spoonful of sugar. Stew gently for 3 or 4 hours, until quite tender. A pinch of carbonate of soda may be added to the water, to improve the colour of the peas. Serve either with gravy, or a little butter, pepper and salt.

Jerusalem Artichokes. Time—½ hour.

Peel and wash them, place in cold water with a little salt and lemon-juice, and cook till soft. They can be served either with gravy or butter sauce.

Baked Potatoes. Time—1½ hour.

Choose potatoes of equal size. Brush them very clean, drop them into a basin of cold salt and water, then dry them. Place them on a baking sheet, and bake in a moderate oven. When a fork will pierce them easily they are baked. The skins should never be eaten.

Another way.—Brush the potatoes, peel them very thin, parboil them, then brown them under the meat.

Boiled Potatoes. Time—¾ hour.

Potatoes should be well brushed, dropped into a basin of cold salt and water, and when a saucepan of water boils they should be placed in it. When a fork will pierce them easily, they are done. The water must then be strained off, the saucepan drawn to the side of the fire, a clean cloth folded over the top of the saucepan, and the lid pressed down on to it. This dries the potatoes, and makes them a good colour. They should be held in a cloth and peeled, then re-heated for a minute. New potatoes, if well brushed or scraped, do not require peeling.

Brush the potatoes, peel them very thin, slice them, dry them, and fry them a light brown in hot fat.

Mashed Potatoes. Time—1 hour.

Boil the potatoes, mash them through a sieve, or beat them with a fork. Add a little dripping or butter, and brown in the oven.

Boiled Rice. Time—½ hour.

½ lb. rice, ¼ teaspoonful salt, 4 quarts boiling water.

Well wash the rice in cold water, then put it into the boiling water with the salt, and let it boil fast 15 to 20 minutes. When it is quite tender, strain it into a colander, turn the cold water tap on to it for 2 or 3 seconds. Then place it in a dry saucepan by the side of the fire, with the lid half on, to dry and get hot. Shake it occasionally to prevent it burning, and serve.

Spanish Onions. Time—¾ hour.

Wash them, throw them into boiling water with their skins on, and boil until tender. Remove the outer skin. Serve with pepper, salt, gravy or butter.

Turnip Tops or Spinach. Time—¾ hour.

2 lbs. turnip tops, 2 oz. clarified fat, pepper and salt.

Wash well in several waters, strip off the leaves and place them in a saucepan of cold water with a little salt, and boil till tender. Strain and squeeze them as much as possible, chop very fine on a board, put back in the saucepan with the dripping, pepper and salt, and mix well till thoroughly hot. Serve decorated with hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters.

Fried Vegetable Marrow. Time—¾ hour.

1 vegetable marrow, 2 oz. flour, ½ gill tepid water, 1 dessertspoonful salad oil, salt, white of 1 egg.

Put the flour into a basin with a pinch of salt, add the oil and tepid water gradually, then the white of egg, well beaten. Peel the marrow, put it into boiling water, and boil until tender. Cut it into slices, remove the seeds, dip each piece in the batter, and fry in hot fat or oil a golden brown.