All vegetables are best when fresh, as can easily be discovered by the difference between those newly brought from the garden, and those that have been kept in a provision shop till next day, (and perhaps longer,) imbibing the atmosphere of meat, fish, poultry, and a variety of things, each becoming impure from the same causes; not to mention the rats, mice, and insects which run over them at night. You cannot have vegetables in perfection without a country garden. But if obliged to depend upon the market or the provision shops, always have your vegetables washed and laid in cold water before cooking. Some are best when put on to boil in cold water; others require boiling water at the beginning, to give them what the cooks call a quick start. All should be thoroughly done throughout. If hard in the centre they are unpalatable, and very unwholesome; even worse than underdone meat. Use but very little salt in cooking vegetables; too much renders them hard, and overpowers their real taste. Also, it is easy for the lovers of salt to add more when at table. When vegetables are done, and taken out the pot, drain them well through a cullender or sieve, carefully pressing out all the water that is about them. There is generally, in our country, too much water allowed to the vegetables. Merely enough to cover them well, and keep them from burning, is in most cases sufficient. In France, so little water is used in cooking vegetables, that they are rather stewed than boiled, and are the better for it. A puddle of greasy water in the bottom of every vegetable dish is a disgusting sight; and yet how frequently it is seen. If of every-day occurrence, it is a certain indication of a bad cook, or an inefficient mistress, or both.

Almost all green vegetables should be thrown into fast-boiling water, and cooked rapidly; first washing them carefully, and laying them for half an hour in a large pan of cold water. If found frozen in the winter, be sure to thaw them in cold water. Continue the boiling till they are thoroughly done, and with a steady heat, taking off the scum as it rises.

It is very usual in the spring to bring early vegetables from the south, for the markets of Philadelphia and New York. By the time they reach us they are faded, withered, tough and unwholesome. It is better to wait a week or two longer till the season is a little more advanced, and the farms and gardens of our neighborhood can supply our own markets, at a far less cost, and with fresher and better vegetables.

The water in which vegetables have been boiled becomes very unwholesome, and should be thrown out immediately.

BOILED POTATOS.—

To have boiled potatos in perfection they should all be of a good sort and as nearly as possible of the same size. Till it is time to cook them, let the slight mould or earth that has adhered to the potatos in digging, be carefully washed off, even scrubbing them with a hard brush. This can be done very conveniently, by laying them under the hydrant or pump, washing them there with a broom, and letting the water run on them.

An iron pot is the best of all things for boiling potatos, as it retains the heat longer than any other utensil. Lay them in it, closely and compactly, and pour in barely sufficient cold water to cover them well, adding a tea-spoonful of salt. Simmer them till nearly done, which you may ascertain by probing all through with a fork. You may quicken the fire for the last five minutes. Pour off all the water from them as soon as they are tender all through. Lift the lid of the pot at one side to allow the steam to pass off, and set them beside the fire, or on a trevet far above it, till the moisture has escaped; the potatos will then be dry and mealy. Then peel them; or if preferred, send them to table with the skin on, which will keep them hot longer.

If the potatos are old, cut a piece of skin (about the size of a sixpence) from the top and bottom before boiling; or, take off a long slip from each side. In the spring, when quite old, cut out all the blemishes, pare the potatos, and always boil them for mashing.

ROAST POTATOS.—

Potatos for roasting should always be large and fine. If small, "they go all to skin." Select those that are nearest of a size, and wash them very clean, and wipe every one with a cloth. Put them into an oven, and let them roast or bake for more than two hours, turning them with a fork. Dish them in the skins, and send only cold butter to table with them. Bake sweet potatos in the same manner, but much longer. Small sweet potatos should be boiled; as, when small, they are not worth cooking in any other way; and when roasted there is scarcely any thing of them, but tough shriveled skin.

BAKED POTATOS.—

Pare some fine potatos all about the same size, and cover with them the whole bottom of a large deep earthen dish; lay them close together so that they all touch. Bake them under a nice piece of beef, veal, or pork, raised above them on a trivet. The gravy from the meat will drip upon them as soon as it begins to bake. They must bake till they are nicely browned, and till a fork will easily go through them. Have a smaller dish of potatos baked without meat, in a dish by themselves, as potatos pared before baking are much liked. Lay some bits of fresh butter among those that are cooked without any meat.

TO BOIL NEW POTATOS.—

Rub each one with a coarse cloth to clear off the skin, it being too thin for paring. Wash them well, and cut a small piece off the top and bottom of each potato, to make them boil tender all through. Put no salt in the water, and boil them till soft. Serve them plain, and eat them with cold butter—or, put them into a sauce-pan, and stew them in butter.

MASHED POTATOS.—

Having boiled the potatos till tender all through, drain them very dry in a cullender, and mash them smoothly with a potato beetle, a large wooden spoon, or a short-handled wooden ladle. When all are nicely mashed, add gradually plenty of fresh butter, and some cream or rich milk. On no account spoil the potatos by putting any water to them, when mashing. Put them into a deep dish or mould, and brown them with a salamander.

POTATO CAKES.—

After the mashed potatos are mixed with butter in a deep earthen pan, beat them with a wooden spoon to render them very light. Then make them up into thick flat cakes, about the size of a muffin, and brown each with a salamander.

COUNTRY POTATOS.—

Having boiled and peeled some fine newly-dug potatos, melt some butter in a sauce-pan, with cream, instead of flour and water, and pour it plentifully into the dish of potatos; seasoning with black pepper and sweet marjoram leaves. Where cream is plenty, this is a very nice way of cooking. Serve them up with the sauce poured over them, and around them. They must be well boiled, and tender all through.

FRIED POTATOS.—

The potatos must be raw, large, unblemished, and of a good round shape. First take off a thin paring of the skin. Then, pare the whole potato round and round, (not too thin,) till you have gone through it all, and nothing is left unpared but a little lump in the centre. Then put these continuous rings of potato into a frying-pan, in which is boiling plenty of fresh butter, or butter and lard mixed. Fry them brown and tender, and arrange them handsomely in a dish for breakfast.

Another Way.—Slice thin a sufficiency of fine raw potatos, and lay them in a pan of cold water to soak for an hour or more. Then pour off that water entirely, and replace it with fresh. Let them remain in this for another hour, or till it is time to cook them. Put them into a frying-pan that has in it plenty of fresh butter or lard, enough, while frying, to keep the potatos near the surface. Fry them till perfectly well done and tender.

Attempting to re-cook cold potatos renders them more hard and tough.

When once cold, potatos always remain indigestible, cook them as you will.

STEWED POTATOS.—

Having pared some fine raw potatos, quarter them, and put them into a stew-pan with a little salt, pepper, and some green sweet marjoram stripped from the stalks, and scattered among the potatos. Put them into a stew-pan with milk enough to prevent their burning, and some fresh butter—no water. If you can get cream conveniently, add some to the milk. Cover the pan, and let the potatos stew, till, on trying them with a fork, you find them thoroughly cooked, and soft and tender all through. If not sufficiently done, they are hard, tough, leathery, and unfit to eat.

They are very good stewed entirely in the dripping of cold gravy of roast beef, veal, or pork—but not mutton, as that will give them the taste of tallow. This is a nice breakfast dish. Cold potatos re-cooked never again become good. After potatos once become cold, no cooking can restore them.

STEWED SWEET POTATOS.—

These should first be scraped or pared. Then cut into pieces, and stewed as above.

BOILED CABBAGE.—

All cabbage should be well washed, and boiled in a large quantity of water with a little salt; the loose or faded leaves being stripped from the outside. They should always be cut or split in two, or in four pieces if very large. Cut the stalk short, and split it up to where the leaves begin. Put it on in boiling water, and keep it boiling steadily till quite done, which will not be till the stalk is tender throughout. If a young summer cabbage, split it in half, and when well boiled, and drained and pressed in a cullender, serve it up with a few bits of cold fresh butter, laid inside among the leaves. Season it with pepper. This is a much nicer and easier way, than to make drawn butter, and pour over the outside of the cabbage.

Sprouts and very young greens, require nothing more than to be well washed, boiled and drained. In the country, cabbage sprouts are commonly boiled with bacon.

Savoy cabbage is considered the finest sort. It is a late autumn and winter cabbage. If very large, split it in four. Do not boil it with meat. The fat will render it strong and unwholesome. Still worse, when melted butter is added to a cabbage already saturated with the fat of corned beef.

AN EXCELLENT WAY OF BOILING CABBAGE.—

Having trimmed the cabbage, and washed it well in cold water, (examining the leaves to see that no insects are lurking among them,) cut it almost into quarters, but do not divide it entirely down at the stem, which should be cut off just below the termination of the leaves. Let it lie an hour in a pan of cold water. Have ready a pot full of boiling water, seasoned with a small tea-spoonful of salt. Put the cabbage into it, and let it boil for an hour and a half, skimming it occasionally. Then take it out; put it into a cullender to drain, and when all the hot water has drained off; set it under the hydrant. Let the hydrant run on it, till the cabbage has become perfectly cold all through. If you have no hydrant, set it under a pump, or keep pouring cold water on it from a pitcher. Then, having thrown out all the first water, and washed the pot, fill it again, and let the second water boil. During this time the cabbage under the hydrant will be growing cold. Then put it on again in the second water, and boil it two hours, or two and a half. Even the thickest part of the stalk must be perfectly tender all through. When thoroughly done, take up the cabbage, drain it well through the cullender, pressing it down with a broad ladle to squeeze out all the moisture; lay it in a deep dish, and cut it entirely apart, dividing it into quarters. Lay some bits of fresh butter among the leaves, add a little pepper, cover the dish, and send it to table hot.

Cooked in this manner it will be made perfectly wholesome, and the usually unpleasant cabbage smell will be rendered imperceptible. We recommend it highly.

CALE CANNON.—

Boil in one pot a fine large cabbage, and when done, drain and press it in a cullender till all the water is squeezed out. Have boiled in another, four or five large mealy potatos. Peel and mash the potatos, and chop the cabbage small. Mix the cabbage and the potatos evenly, in one large dish, and season them with black pepper; adding some bits of nice butter. Cale cannon is a plain family dish, but is very good, when all the dinner corresponds.

FRIED CABBAGE.—

Parboil a fine cabbage. When half-boiled, take it out, drain it, and lay it awhile in cold water, to remove the cabbage smell. Next put it into a clean pot of fresh water, and boil it again till thoroughly done. Afterwards, chop it small, season it with pepper and salt, and fry it in fresh butter.

A less delicate way is to fry it in boiling lard, taking care to drain it well. It should be eaten only by people in good health.

FORCED CABBAGE—

(Choux farcie.)—This is for dinner company. Take two fine fresh cabbages, and examine them well to see that there are no insects hidden among the leaves. Wash the cabbages in cold water, and drain them. Take out the heart or inside cluster of leaves in the centre of each cabbage, leaving a circle of them standing. Cut off the stalk near the bottom, but not so close as to cause the cabbage to fall apart. You may leave a double circle of leaves. Have ready plenty of stuffing, or forcemeat, made of veal or fresh pork minced finely, cold ham or smoked tongue minced also, grated bread-crumbs, fresh butter, powdered mace, sweet marjoram and sweet basil, grated lemon-peel, and two hard-boiled yolks of egg, crumbled fine. Fill the cabbages full with this stuffing, and to keep them in shape, tie them firmly round in several places, with strings of twine or bass. They must be tied in the form of a round ball. Put them into a stew-pot, with water enough to cover them well, and let them stew till thoroughly done. Take them up immediately before they are wanted, and remove the strings that have kept them in shape while cooking. Red cabbages may be done in this way.

FRENCH SOUR CROUT.—

This may be made fresh every day, and has none of the objections generally alleged against the German saur-kraut. Having taken out the stalks or cores, split into quarters, four large white-heart cabbages. Shred them fine with a cabbage-cutter. Wash them well in two waters, and drain them in a cullender. Next lay the shred cabbages in a large earthen pan, add a table-spoonful of salt, and a pint of the best cider vinegar. Stir and toss the cabbage in this, and let it steep for three hours. Then wash and drain it, and put it into a large stew-pan, with half a pound of nice sweet butter, or a quarter of a pound of lard. Season it with a little black pepper, and three table-spoonfuls of French mustard, or a jill of tarragon vinegar. Cover the whole with a buttered white paper, and stew it slowly for two hours longer. Take off the paper, and send the sour crout to table in a covered dish.

You may lay on the top of the stew, a pound of sausage meat, or of sausage cakes. Or a thin slice or two of cold ham.

DRESSING FOR SLAW.—

Mix a small pint of real cider vinegar with four large table-spoonfuls of nice fresh butter, divided into four bits, and each bit rolled in flour; a tea-spoon of salt, and a salt-spoon of cayenne. Being well stirred, and mixed thoroughly, boil this in a porcelain-lined sauce-pan; and, as soon as it has come to a fast boil, remove it from the fire, and stir in the beaten yolk of four eggs. Have ready a nice fresh white cabbage, that has been washed, drained, and cut, or shaved, into small shreds with a cabbage cutter. Lay the shred cabbage in a deep dish or bowl, while you prepare the above dressing. Having taken it from the fire, and stirred in, gradually, the beaten yolk of egg, pour the dressing hot over the cabbage: mixing it all with a large boxwood salad-spoon or fork. Set it out of doors to cool; or cool it quickly on ice or snow.

Or if preferred warm, place it on the top of a stove, and cover it closely till wanted. It may be made of red cabbage.

This slaw (either cold or warm) will be found very superior to all others, if this receipt is exactly followed.

SALSIFY FRITTERS.—

Having washed and scraped the salsify roots, and cut off the extreme joints, stand them up and grate them. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them gradually into a pint of milk, with sufficient flour to make a stiff batter. Instead of grating the salsify you may cut it into pieces, and boil it till quite soft, so that you can mash it easily. Add a little pepper. Have ready over the fire a deep frying-pan or skillet, with plenty of boiling lard. Put in a large spoonful of the batter, and into the middle of each drop a spoonful of the mashed salsify. Fry these fritters of a light brown on both sides, and take them out with a perforated skimmer, draining off the lard through its holes.

You may fry the mashed salsify without the batter, taking large spoonfuls, and dipping each in beaten egg first, and afterward twice over in grated bread-crumbs, so as to resemble fried oysters.

Or you may first boil the roots merely split in two, and then fry them in fresh butter, or bake them brown in an oven.

SALSIFY OYSTERS.—

Get some fine salsify roots, (called also oyster-plant,) and wash and scrape them well. Boil them in sufficient fresh oyster liquor to cover them well, and when they are soft take them out, split them, and cut them into pieces about two inches long. Then put them into a stew-pan, with the oyster liquor, some pieces of fresh butter rolled in flour, and some blades of mace and some grated nutmeg, with a few whole pepper-corns. Let them cook between five and ten minutes, having stirred among them the beaten yolks of two or three eggs. Serve them up hot, as a side dish.

MELONGINA OR EGG-PLANT.—

Take a large fine egg-plant, and see that there are no blemishes about it. Having cut it into thin round slices, (without paring off the skin,) sprinkle between the slices a very little salt and pepper, cover them with a plate, and let them rest an hour more. Then wipe the pieces dry. Have some beaten egg in one deep plate, and some bread-crumbs, finely grated, in another. Dip each slice of egg-plant first into the beaten egg, and then into the bread-crumbs, and fry them brown in a pan full of boiling lard, or else lard and fresh butter mixed in equal quantities. Take them out with a perforated skimmer, and drain them well.

They will be much better if each slice is dipped twice in the egg, and twice in the crumbs.

They may be fried very plainly, simply dredged with flour, and then put into a pan with plenty of boiling lard, the lard drained well from each slice when it is done. They should be fried brown on both sides. If underdone, and left greenish or whitish, they have a raw bitter taste.

BAKED EGG-PLANTS.—

Prepare several fine large unblemished egg-plants, by scooping out the inside or pulp with a spoon, leaving the rind standing. To do this you must cut off very nicely and evenly a round piece from the top, (afterwards to be tied on again.) Make a sufficient quantity of forcemeat or stuffing of soaked bread, pressed and dried slightly; fresh butter; minced sweet marjoram leaves; a little pepper and salt; and some powdered mace, and the yellow rind of a lemon grated off very fine. Mix all these with the pulp or inside of the egg-plant. When thoroughly mixed, stuff with it the rind or outside into a perfectly round shape, and with a packthread tie on the top-piece which was cut off. Put the egg-plants into a dish, the bottom covered with thin slices of cold ham. Bake them for an hour or more, and then send them to table whole, with the slices of ham laid round on the dish. Remove the strings.

FRIED BANANAS.—

The bananas should be perfectly ripe and yellow all over. Peel them, split them into long slips, and dredge them slightly with flour. Have ready a frying pan filled with boiling lard. Put in the bananas, and fry them well. When done, take them up on a perforated skimmer, and drain back the lard into the frying pan. Dish, and send them to table with powdered sugar to eat with them.

In the West Indies, the large green bananas that are exported from thence, are by no means in favor, compared with a very small yellow sort, the only banana eaten at the best tables. The little ones are fried in the above manner.

ONION CUSTARD.—

Peel and slice ten or twelve mild onions, and fry them in fresh butter, draining them well when you take them up. Then mince them as fine as possible. Beat four eggs till very thick and light, and stir them gradually into a pint of milk, in turn with the minced onion. Season the whole with plenty of grated nutmeg, and stir it very hard. Then put it into a deep white dish, and bake it about a quarter of an hour. Send it to table as a side dish, to be eaten with poultry. It is a French preparation, and will be found very nice, by those who have no dislike to onions.

CAULIFLOWERS.—

Choose large fine white cauliflowers. Wash them well, and lay them in a pan of cold water, having divided each cauliflower into quarters. Trim off the outside green leaves. Put on the cauliflowers in boiling water with a little salt in it. It is still better to boil them in milk. Let them cook till tender throughout, flower and stalk. When quite done, put some bits of fresh butter among the flowers, or pour over them drawn butter sauce, made with milk and seasoned with powdered nutmeg or mace. Serve them up hot, and covered.

BROCCOLI—

Is drest in the same manner. It is very good with toast under, though inferior to cauliflower.

CAULIFLOWER OMELET.—

Take the white part of a boiled cauliflower after it is cold; chop it very small, and mix with it a sufficient quantity of well beaten-egg, to make a very thick batter. Then fry it in fresh butter in a small pan, and send it hot to table.

FRIED CAULIFLOWER.—

Having laid a fine cauliflower in cold water for an hour, put it into a pot of boiling water that has been slightly salted, (milk and water will be still better,) and boil it twenty-five minutes, or till the large stalk is perfectly tender. Then divide it, equally, into small tufts, and spread it on a dish to cool. Prepare a sufficient quantity of batter made in the proportion of a table-spoonful of flour, and two table-spoonfuls of milk to each egg. Beat the eggs very light, then stir into them the flour and milk alternately; a spoonful of flour, and two spoonfuls of milk at a time. When the cauliflower is cold, have ready some fresh butter in a frying-pan over a clear fire. When it has come to a boil and has done bubbling, dip each tuft of cauliflower twice into the pan of batter, and fry them a light brown. Send them to table hot.

Broccoli may be fried in this manner.

CAULIFLOWER MACCARONI.—

Having removed the outside leaves, and cut off the stalk, wash the cauliflower, and examine it thoroughly to see if there are any insects about it. Next lay it for an hour in a pan of cold water. Then put it into a pot of boiling milk and water that has had a little fresh butter melted in it. Whatever scum may float on the top of the water must be removed before the cauliflower goes in. Boil it steadily half an hour, or till it is quite tender. Then take it out, drain it, and cut it into short sprigs. Have ready three ounces of rich, but not strong cheese, grated fine. Put into a stew-pan a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, nearly half of the grated cheese, two large table-spoonfuls of cream or rich milk, and a very little salt and cayenne. Toss or shake it over the fire till it is well mixed and has come to a boil. Then add the tufts of cauliflower, and let the whole stew together about five minutes. When done put it into a deep dish, strew over the top the remaining half of the grated cheese, and brown it with a salamander or a red-hot shovel held above the surface.

This will be found very superior to real maccaroni. It is a company dish.

Take several heads of broccoli and cut the stalks short, paring off from the stalks the tough outside skin. Trim off the small outside shoots or blossoms, and tie them together in bunches. After all the broccoli has been washed, and lain half an hour or more in a pan of fresh cold water, put the large heads, with a salt-spoonful of salt, into a pot of boiling water, and let them boil till thoroughly done, and the stalk perfectly tender. When the large heads have boiled about a quarter of an hour, put in the small tufts, which of course require less time to cook. In the meanwhile have ready six beaten eggs. Put a quarter of a pound of butter into a sauce-pan, and stir it over the fire till it is all melted; then add gradually the beaten eggs, and stir the mixture, or shake it over the fire till it becomes very thick. Toast sufficient bread to cover entirely the bottom of a deep dish, cutting it to fit exactly, having removed the crust. Dip the toast for a minute in hot water. Pour the egg and butter over the hot toast. Then place upon it the broccoli; the largest and finest head in the middle, the lesser ones round it, and having untied the small sprigs, lay them in a circle close to the edge.

FRIED CELERY.—

Take fine large celery, cut it into pieces three or four inches in length, and boil it tender, having seasoned the water with a very little salt. Then drain the pieces well, and lay them, separately, to cool on a large dish. Make a batter in the proportion of three well-beaten eggs stirred into a pint of rich milk, alternately with half a pint of grated bread-crumbs, or of sifted flour. Beat the batter very hard after it is all mixed. Put into a hot frying-pan a sufficiency of fresh lard; melt it over the fire, and when it comes to a boil, dip each piece of celery twice into the batter, put them into the pan, and fry them a light brown. When done, lay them to drain on an inverted sieve with a broad pan placed beneath it. Then dish the fried celery, and send it to table hot.

Parsnips, and salsify, (or oyster plant) may be fried in butter according to the above directions. Also the tops of asparagus cut off from the stalk, and the white part or blossom of cauliflower. Cold sweet potatos are very nice, peeled, cut into long slips, and fried in this way.

FRIED ARTICHOKES.—

The artichokes must be young and tender. Cut them into quarters, remove the choke part, and strip off the leaves. Having washed the artichokes well and laid them an hour in cold water, put them into a pot of boiling water, and keep them boiling steadily for a long time, till you find by trying them with a a fork that they are tender all through. Then take them out immediately, and drain them. Have ready a sufficiency of batter, made in the proportion of the yolk of one egg to a large table-spoonful of milk, and a tea-spoonful of flour. The eggs must be well beaten before they are mixed with the milk; then beat in the flour a spoonful at a time. Have ready over the fire some fresh butter, or lard, in a frying-pan. When it has boiled hard, dip the artichokes into the butter, (each piece should be twice dipped,) and fry them brown. Then drain them well, and send them to table hot.

Parsnips may be fried as above. Salsify also.

Another way of frying artichokes, parsnips, and salsify, is, after they have been boiled tender, to dip each piece first in beaten yolk of egg, (without milk or flour,) and then roll it in finely grated bread-crumbs. Then put them into the pan and fry them in butter or lard, or a mixture of both.

In boiling artichokes, observe to take them out as soon as they are tender. If they remain in the water after they are done, they turn blackish and lose their flavor.

MUSHROOM OMELET.—

Take some fresh-gathered mushrooms; remove the stalks, and rub the flaps or heads very slightly with a little salt, mixed with cayenne. Then stew the mushrooms in a small sauce-pan, with barely sufficient cream or rich milk to cover them. Put in with them a small onion; and if the onion is found to turn blackish, throw away the whole; it being proof that there is among them a false or poisonous mushroom. Stir them with a silver spoon, and keep on the lid of the pan closely, unless when you are stirring. If the spoon turns black, the mushrooms should not be eaten.

After they have come to a boil, take them off the fire; drain them, and when cool, chop them small. To a pint or more of the minced mushrooms, allow six or seven eggs. Beat the eggs till very light and thick, (omitting the whites of two,) and then mix in, gradually, the mushrooms, stirring the whole very hard. Put three ounces of fresh butter into a hot omelet pan, or a small frying-pan; place it over the fire and stir the butter as it melts. When it has boiled hard, put in the omelet mixture, and as it fries, stir it till it begins to set. Do not turn the omelet; but brown the top by holding close above it a red-hot shovel. When done, drain off the butter, fold over or double the omelet, and serve it up immediately on a hot dish.

In gathering mushrooms, those that are fit to eat may be known by their being of a pale pearl color, or of a grayish white, instead of what is called a dead white; and the underside of the flap or head (if good) is of a light pink, or a pinkish salmon color. The best mushrooms grow on uplands, or in high open fields where the air is pure and good, and they should be gathered early in the morning before the dew is off. All that are found in low swampy ground, or in the woods, or under large trees, are poisonous.

SCOLLOPED TOMATOS.—

Take fine large tomatos, perfectly ripe. Scald them to loosen the skins, and then peel them. Cover the bottom of a deep dish thickly with grated bread-crumbs, adding a few bits of fresh butter. Then put in a layer of tomatos, seasoned slightly with a little salt and cayenne, and some powdered mace or nutmeg. Cover them with another layer of bread-crumbs and butter; then another layer of seasoned tomatos; and proceed thus until the dish is full, finishing at the top with bread-crumbs. Set the dish into a moderate oven, and bake it near three hours. Tomatos require long cooking, otherwise they will have a raw taste, that to most persons is unpleasant.

ASPARAGUS OMELET.—

Take two bunches of the largest and finest asparagus. Put it into a pot of boiling water, with a salt-spoonful of salt, and boil it about twenty-five minutes, or till perfectly tender. Then drain it, and chop small all the green part. Beat four eggs very light, and add to them a wine-glass of cream. Mix the chopped asparagus thoroughly with the egg and cream, adding a salt-spoon of salt, and a very little cayenne. Melt a large slice of fresh butter in a frying-pan over the fire; and when it has boiled, and the bubbling has ceased, put in the mixture, and fry it till light and firm. Then slip it from the frying-pan to a hot dish, and fold it over.

For a soft omelet, put the mixture into a skillet with a piece of fresh butter. Let it stew slowly for ten minutes. Lay a thin slice of buttered toast in the bottom of a hot dish, and cut the toast into small squares, but let them remain close together. With a spoon heap the soft omelet upon the toast, and serve it up.

Any omelet mixture may be kept soft by stewing instead of frying it, and it will be found more wholesome.

Before buttering the toast dip it a minute in hot water.

STEWED PEAS.—

Take young, tender, green peas, wash them, and put them into a stew-pan, with sufficient fresh butter to keep them from burning, but no water. Season them with a little black pepper, and a very little salt. Set them over a moderate fire, and stir them about till the butter is well mixed through them. Let them simmer till quite soft and slightly broken; take off the lid occasionally, and give them a stir up from the bottom. If you find them becoming too dry, add some more butter. When done, drain off what superfluous butter may be about the peas, and send them to table hot. They will be found excellent.

To the taste of many persons, they will be improved by a lump or two of loaf-sugar put in with the butter, and also by a few sprigs of mint, to be removed before the peas go to table.

Lima beans may be stewed in butter, as above; also, asparagus tops, cut off from the white stalk.

LETTUCE PEAS.—

Having washed four lettuces, and stripped off the outside leaves, take their hearts, and (having chopped them well) put them into a stew-pan with two quarts of young green peas, freshly shelled; a lump or two of loaf-sugar; and three or four leaves of green mint minced as finely as possible. Then put in four slices of cold ham, and a quarter of a pound of butter divided into four bits, and rolled in flour; and two table-spoonfuls of water. Add a little cayenne, and let the whole stew for about twenty-five minutes, or till the peas are thoroughly done. Next take out the ham, and add to the stew half a pint of cream. Let it continue stewing five minutes longer. Then send it to table.

PLAIN LETTUCE PEAS.—

Cover the bottom and sides of a stew-pan with large fresh leaves taken from lettuces. Have ready the peas, which should be young and green. To each quart of shelled peas allow two table-spoonfuls of fresh butter, and a lump of loaf sugar. Add a very little pepper and salt, and a sprig of green mint. Cover the pan closely, and let it stew for half an hour, or till the peas are thoroughly done. Then take them out from the lettuce leaves, and send only the peas to table.

TO STEW CARROTS.—

Half-boil the carrots; then scrape them nicely, and cut them into thick slices. Put them into a stew-pan with as much milk as will barely cover them; a very little salt and pepper; and a sprig or two of chopped parsley. Simmer them till they are perfectly tender. When nearly done, add a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour. Send them to table hot. Carrots require long cooking; longer than any other vegetable.

Parsnips and salsify may be stewed in the above manner, substituting a little chopped celery for the parsley.

SPINACH.—

Having peeled and washed the spinach very nicely, put it into a bain marie, or inside kettle, without any water, and cover it closely. Pour the water into the outside kettle, and you may hurry the boiling by throwing a handful of salt in the outside tin, taking care that none of the salt gets into the inside. When the spinach is well stewed, take it up and drain it without squeezing or pressing, as that will make it tough and dry. Then chop it small, and add some hard-boiled eggs, also chopped. Season it with pepper and fresh butter, stir it well together, return it to the kettle, and let it stew a quarter of an hour or more. Serve it up with buttered toast and poached eggs laid upon it.

Spinach being very watery, should always be stewed rather than boiled. If you have no bain marie, the water that remains about the spinach, after it has been washed, will suffice to stew it slowly.

Spinach juice, for coloring green, must be strained, and boiled slightly. You can obtain plenty of juice by pounding the leaves.

TO PREPARE CUCUMBERS.—

Let the cucumbers be full-grown, but not in the least yellow or hard. They are then only fit to be saved for seed. Lay the cucumbers in a pan of cold water for an hour or more, or till it is nearly time to send them to table, being careful not to set them in the sun. Have ready another pan of fresh water, (very cold) and having pared the cucumbers, slice them into it. Transfer them to a deep china or white-ware dish. Season them with vinegar, pepper, salt, and a little salad oil, taking care not to use too much salt. When there is no dislike to onions, peel and slice a few that are mild, and mix them with the cucumbers. It is usual now, at the best tables, to have the onions in a small separate dish, (sliced with vinegar and pepper) to be eaten by those that like them, and omitted by those who do not. Onions, (and also salad oil) are said to render cucumbers more wholesome.

Tomatos (raw) are frequently sliced, seasoned, and sent to table in the manner of cucumbers. Tomatos are always wholesome.

STEWED CUCUMBERS.—

Pare six fine fresh cucumbers. Cut each of them lengthways into four pieces; lay them for an hour in a pan of cold water. Take a clean stew-pan, and place in its bottom two table-spoonfuls of good fresh butter. Then put in the slices of cucumber, and sprinkle them slightly with a very little pepper. Add two table-spoonfuls of cold water. Set the pan over a moderate fire, and let the cucumbers stew slowly for half an hour or more, till they are well cooked. Keep the pan closely covered, except when you have to remove the lid to stir the stew. Serve them up hot, at breakfast, or as a side dish, at dinner.

Persons who have no objection to the taste of onions, will think the cucumbers improved by the addition of the half of a moderate sized onion, sliced thin and stewed with them.

A NICE WAY OF COOKING ASPARAGUS.—

Where asparagus is plenty, there is no better way of cooking it than the following. Take it as nearly of a size as possible, wash it, and cut off the stalks very short, leaving them not more than half an inch in length. Two quarts of water will be sufficient to boil one quart of asparagus tops; allow a tea-spoonful of salt to this quantity of water, and set it over the fire to boil. When the water is boiling hard, put in the asparagus, and boil it fast for at least half an hour. To see if it is done, take up two or three of the largest pieces and taste them. While it is boiling, prepare two slices of bread cut half an inch thick, and (having removed the crust) toast the bread brown on both sides. Have ready a large jill of melted (or drawn) fresh butter. When the asparagus is done, take it up with a perforated skimmer, and lay it on a sieve to drain. Dip the slices of toast (one at a time) first in the hot asparagus liquor, and then in the melted butter. Lay the slices, side by side, in a deep dish, and cover it with the asparagus, laid evenly over and round the toast. Then add the remainder of the drawn butter, and send the asparagus to table hot, in a covered dish.

This is a much nicer way than that of boiling and serving it up with the long stalks left on. And where you have asparagus in abundance, (for instance in a country garden,) it may always be cooked in this manner.

This is from the receipt of Mr. N. Darling, of New Haven.

ASPARAGUS OYSTERS.—

Take two bundles of fine full-grown asparagus. Cut off the green tops or points as far down as the white stalk. Take a sufficient quantity of fresh oysters, the finest you can get at that season. Put the asparagus tops into a stew-pan, with enough of oyster liquor (previously strained) to stew them quite tender. Stew the oysters themselves in another pan with some more of their liquor, seasoned with pepper, mace, and nutmeg, adding a large piece of fresh butter, divided into four, and each part rolled in flour. Do not let the oysters stew more than five minutes, or they will become tough and shriveled. When they are merely plumped, take them out and cut them up small, omitting the gristle or hard part. Set the mixture over the fire for about five minutes, stirring all the time. Have ready some slices of nice toast, with all the crust pared off; the slices dipped for a minute in hot water. Butter the toast, and cover with it the bottom of a deep dish, and fill it with the mixture of asparagus and oysters.

ONION EGGS.—

Boil a dozen eggs quite hard. Slice and fry in fresh butter five or six onions. Slice (whites and yolks together) ten of the eggs, reserving two for the seasoning. Drain the sliced onions, and lay them on a dish with the sliced eggs placed upon them. Cover the dish, and keep it hot. Take the two remaining eggs, grate the yolks, and mix them with cream and grated nutmeg, and a very little cayenne. Put this mixture into a very small sauce-pan, give it one boil up, pour it over the eggs and onions, and send it to table hot. For those who have no objection to onions this is a nice side dish.

EGG BALLS.—

Boil eight eggs till quite hard, and when done, throw them directly into cold water. Then put the yolks into a mortar, and pound them to a paste, moistening them as you proceed with the beaten yolks of three raw eggs, seasoned with as much salt as will lie flat upon a shilling, and a little cayenne, and powdered nutmeg and mace. Mix the whole well together, and make it up into small round balls. Throw them into mock-turtle soup, or into stewed terrapin, about two minutes before you take it up.

CURRY BALLS.—

Take a sufficiency of finely-grated bread-crumbs; hard-boiled yolk of egg, grated; fresh butter, and a little curry powder. Pound the whole in a mortar, moistening it with raw yolk of egg (well-beaten) as you proceed. Make it into small balls, and add them to stewed chicken or rabbit, about five minutes before you take it up.

TOMATO PASTE.—

Scald and peel as many ripe tomatos as will fill a large, deep, stone jar. Set them into a warm oven for an hour. Then skim off the watery liquid that has risen to the top, and press and squeeze the tomatos in a sieve. Afterwards add salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and powdered nutmeg, to your taste; and to every quart of tomatos allow a half a pint of cider vinegar. Stew the whole slowly in a porcelain kettle for three hours, (stirring it frequently from the bottom,) till it becomes a smooth, thick paste. Then put it into small jars or glasses, and cover it closely, pasting paper over each. It is an excellent sauce, at the season when fresh tomatos are not to be had, and is very good to thicken soup.

DRIED OCHRAS.—

Take fine large fresh ochras; cut them into thin, round slices; string them on threads, and hang them up in festoons to dry in the store-room. Before using, they must be soaked in water during twenty-four hours. They will then be good (with the addition of tomato paste) to boil in soup or gumbo.

BEEF GUMBO.—

Put into a large stew-pan some pieces of the lean of fresh beef, cut up into small bits, and seasoned with a little pepper and salt. Add sliced ochras and tomatos, (either fresh or dried ochras and tomato paste.) You may put in some sliced onions. Pour on water enough to cover it well. Let it boil slowly, (skimming it well,) till everything is reduced to rags. Then strain and press it through a cullender. Have ready a sufficiency of toasted bread, cut into dice. Lay it in the bottom of a tureen, and pour the strained gumbo upon it.

TO BOIL OCHRAS.—

For boiling, the ochras should be young and small. Wash them, and cut off a small piece from each end. Boil them till very tender throughout. Then drain them well, and transfer them to a deep dish. Lay among them some bits of fresh butter, and season them with pepper. Cover the dish, that the butter may be warm and melt the sooner. Or you may make a sauce of half a pint of milk boiled, and when it has come to a boil enrich with a quarter of a pound of very good fresh butter, divided into four pieces; each piece rolled in a little flour, the butter stirred in gradually and smoothly, as soon as the milk is taken off the fire. Pour this sauce over the dish of ochras, and keep it covered till it has gone to table.

We prefer the first way, putting the bit of butter cold into the hot ochras, with either milk or flour, and letting the butter melt gradually, in the manner of green beans. You may boil with them a small piece of very good bacon, removing when the ochras are taken off the fire. Season with pepper.

ONIONS.—

The best onions for cooking are the white or silver-skinned. The red-skinned are generally strong and coarse. Shalots are very small and delicate. Some sorts of large onions are milder and nicer than those of middle size, and some that are very small have a powerful taste and smell. The outer skin of most onions should be peeled entirely, and the ends cut off. All onions are the better for boiling, before they are cooked for any other purpose. Put them into a stew-pan with cold water, and when they have come to a boil pour off that water, and replace it with fresh cold also. Boil them slowly till quite tender all through, which will not be in less than half an hour; more, if they are large. When done, drain them well, dish them, and pour over them some nice melted butter.

To Stew Onions.—Peel, slice them, and stew them in milk, enriched with butter rolled in flour, and seasoned with a little cayenne and a few blades of mace.

To Roast Onions.—Select fine large onions; do not peel them, but place them in a bake-pan, and set them in an oven. Bake them slowly till tender all through. When done, peel off the outer skin, and send them hot to table, to eat with pepper and cold butter.

They are very good when covered up and roasted under hot ashes, taking care that they are done quite through to the heart.

TO BOIL GREEN PEAS.—

When the peas are shelled, wash them in a pan of cold water. Put on the peas in cold water, (a little salted) and let them boil very fast. If nice peas, they will generally be done in a quarter of an hour after beginning to boil. When simmering, add to them a lump or a spoonful of loaf-sugar, and a sprig of fresh green mint, (half a dozen leaves) having first ascertained if mint is not disliked by any person who is to eat of the peas. To some the taste and odor of mint is very agreeable, to others very disgusting, as is the case with onions, and many other things that are liked by the majority.

When the peas are all soft or tender, take out the mint, drain the peas through a cullender till not a drop of water is left among them; transfer them to a deep dish, mix into them some of the best fresh butter, and sprinkle them with pepper. Cover them immediately, and send them to table hot.

STEWED PEAS.—

Having prepared the peas as above, put them into a stew-pan without any water. Mix among them plenty of bits of nice fresh butter, sufficient to cook them. Let them stew slowly in the butter till they are quite soft, stirring them up from the bottom frequently. Drain and dish them. They will be found very fine—better than if boiled in water. Peas should not be stewed this way, except in places where plenty of good fresh butter is to be easily obtained.

GREEN PEAS.—

The largest and finest peas are what the English call marrowfat. The sugar pea is next. All green peas for boiling should be young and tender, but not so young as to be tasteless or insipid. As a general rule, nearly every article of food is best when it has just attained its full growth and ripeness; after that period the older it is the worse. Peas, so old as to be hard and yellow, are unfit to eat. In some ultra economical houses, good peas are things unknown. They are not bought in spring or early summer while young and fresh, but are never thought cheap enough till they become hard and yellow. Afterwards, when they reach the cheap state, a quantity are bought low, and put into jars not to be touched till next spring, when they are boiled, (with great difficulty, for they never become soft,) and attempted to be passed off "as this year's fresh peas"—and by the time the family have gotten through with them, "this year's young peas" have become old. Do not believe (for it is untrue,) that any eatable can be kept in all its genuine freshness and original flavor, by merely secluding them entirely from air. They will not spoil or decompose if skillfully managed; but they have not exactly their natural taste and consistence. It is better for those who never make pickles or preserves, to wait for fresh vegetables or fruit, till they are actually in market—or, if put up in jars, to add something more than parboiling and seclusion from the air. Vinegar, salt, sugar, spice and alcohol, will be found the grand and universal articles for securing the goodness of nearly all eatables. Without some of these along with them, things that have not spoiled while secluded from air, will surely spoil almost as soon as the jars are opened, and the external air admitted to them.

GREEN OR STRING BEANS.—

Take young and tender beans, the seeds just forming in the pods. Take off the string with a knife, leaving no bits of string adhering to the beans, either at top or bottom. Do not split them. Cut each bean into three pieces, not more, and as you cut them throw them into a pan of cold water, kept beside you for the purpose. The old-fashioned way is now obsolete of cutting them into dice or diamonds, or of splitting them. The more they are cut up (beside the trouble and time wasted,) the more the water gets through them when cooking; the more tasteless they become, and the more difficult they are to drain. We have never met with beans that, when cut small, had not a puddle of greasy water in the bottom of the dish, and sometimes the water was all through the dish, and the beans floating in it. Shame on such bean-cooking! When the beans are all ready for the pot, throw them into boiling water very slightly salted, and they will generally be done in half an hour after they have come to a boil. Transfer them to a sieve; and press, and drain them well, till no water is left about them. Then put them into a deep dish, mix them with fresh butter, and dredge them with black pepper.

LIMA BEANS.—

Shell the lima beans into a pan of cold water. Let them lie in it an hour. Put them in boiling water, little more than enough to cover them, and boil them till soft and tender. When done, drain and serve them up in a deep dish, adding among them a good piece of butter. The Lima beans now raised in North America have become coarse and white, requiring a renewal of fresh stock or new seeds from Peru. They will then be green and delicate again, as formerly.

SWEET POTATOS.—

Choose the sweet potatos large, and nearly of the same size, then you can either boil or roast them. When small they should always be boiled; as, when baked or roasted, the skin becomes so thick and hard, that it takes up nearly the whole potato. Wash them very clean, and cut off a bit from each end. Put them into a large pot of boiling water without salt, and boil them steadily for at least an hour. Probe them with a narrow-bladed sharp knife, and if it does not easily penetrate all through the largest potato, (in at one side and out at the other) continue the boiling till all are soft throughout. Then take them up, peel them, and keep them warm till sent to table.

To Bake Sweet Potatos they should all be large. Wash them, dry them, and cut off the ends. Then bake them in an oven, lying side by side, not piling one on another. Or else (which is better) roast them in hot ashes. They will not be done in less than an hour and a half, perhaps longer. Then wipe them clean, and serve them up in the skins. Eat them from the skins, with cold butter and a tea-spoon.

To Stew Sweet Potatos.—Wash and wipe them. Then scrape off the skins with a sharp knife. Split them, and cut them into long pieces. Stew them with fresh pork, veal, or beef; first putting at the bottom a very little butter or water to start them, and then the gravy of the meat will suffice for cooking them—skimming it well. Water to stew should be hot.

Mashed Sweet Potatos are very nice. When well boiled, mash them smoothly with a potato beetle. Mix them with fresh butter, and then stir them well, or beat them with a large wooden spoon to render them light. Afterwards, you may make them into round thick cakes, and touch the surface of every one with pepper—red or black. This is a breakfast dish for company.

BOILED TURNIPS.—

Have all your turnips nearly of the same size. Pare them; and if large cut them in half. Put them into boiling water, very slightly salted, and keep them closely covered. Twenty minutes will boil them if very small and young; their flavor is then very fine. Afterwards, according to their size, they will require of gentle boiling, from three-quarters to a full hour. Keep them boiling till, on trying them with a fork, you find them perfectly tender all through. Then take them up, drain them well, and pour melted butter over them; touch the top of each with a spot of black pepper. If very old and spongy, they are only fit for the pig barrel. It is said that if boiled in their skins, (though requiring a much longer time to cook well) they have a fine flavor, and are less watery. You can try it.

If the turnips are to be mashed, cut them into small pieces, boil them very soft, and drain and squeeze them till all the water is pressed out. Then mash them very smooth. Transfer them to a deep dish, and mix them with a moderate portion of fresh butter. Turnips are generally served with too much butter. Season them with pepper. When sent to table take care not to set them in a sunny place, as it will give them a bad taste.

Turnips, baked in an oven, are very good—for a change.

SYDNEY SMITH'S SALAD-DRESSING.—

Have ready two well-boiled potatos, peeled and rubbed through a sieve; they will give peculiar smoothness to the mixture. Also, a very small portion of raw onion, not more than a quarter of a tea-spoonful, (as the presence of the onion is to be scarcely hinted,) and the pounded yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Mix these ingredients on a deep plate with one tea-spoonful of salt, one of made mustard, three table-spoonfuls of olive oil, and one table-spoonful of vinegar. Add, lastly, a tea-spoonful of essence of anchovy; mash, and mix the whole together, (using a boxwood spoon) and see that all the articles are thoroughly amalgamated. Having cut up a sufficiency of lettuce, that has been well washed in cold water, and drained, add to it the dressing immediately before dinner, mixing the lettuce through it with a boxwood fork.

This salad dressing was invented by the Rev. Sydney Smith, whose genius as a writer and a wit is well known on both sides the Atlantic. If exactly followed, it will be found very fine on trial; no peculiar flavor predominating, but excellent as a whole. The above directions are taken from a manuscript receipt given by Mr. Smith to an American gentleman then in London.

In preparing this, or any other salad-dressing, take care not to use that excessively pungent and deleterious combination of drugs which is now so frequently imposed upon the public, as the best white wine vinegar. In reality, it has no vinous material about it; and it may be known by its violent and disagreeable sharpness, which overpowers and destroys the taste (and also the substance) of whatever it is mixed with. It is also very unwholesome. Its color is always pale, and it is nearly as clear as water. No one should buy or use it. The first quality of real cider vinegar is good for all purposes.

The above receipt may be tried for lobster dressing.

A Spanish proverb says, that for compounding a good salad, four persons are required—a spend-thrift for oil; a miser for vinegar; a man of judgment for salt; and a madman for stirring the dressing.

FINE CHICKEN SALAD.—

Having skinned a pair of cold fowls, remove the fat, and carve them as if for eating; cut all the flesh entirely from the bones, and either mince it or divide it into small shreds. Mix with it a little smoked tongue or cold ham, grated rather than chopped. Have ready one or two fine fresh lettuces, picked, washed, drained, and cut small. Put the cut lettuce on a dish, (spreading it evenly,) or into a large bowl, and place upon it the minced chicken in a close heap in the centre. For the dressing, mix together the following ingredients, in the proportion of the yolks of four eggs well beaten, a tea-spoonful of powdered white sugar, a salt-spoon of cayenne; (no salt if you have ham or tongue with the chicken,) two tea-spoonfuls of made mustard, six table-spoonfuls of salad oil, and five of celery vinegar. Stir this mixture well: put it into a small sauce-pan, set it over the fire, and let it boil three minutes,(not more,) stirring it all the time. Then set it to cool. When quite cold, cover with it thickly, the heap of chicken in the centre of the salad. To ornament it, have ready half a dozen or more, hard-boiled eggs, which, after the shell is peeled off, must be thrown directly into a pan of cold water to prevent them from turning blue. Cut each egg (white and yolk together) lengthways into four long pieces of equal size and shape; lay the pieces upon the salad all round the heap of chicken, and close to it; placing them so as to follow each other round in a slanting direction, something in the form of a circular wreath of leaves. Have ready, also, some very red cold beet, cut into small cones or points all of equal size; arrange them in a circle upon the lettuce, outside of the circle of cut egg. To be decorated in this manner, the salad should be placed in a dish rather than a bowl. In helping it, give each person a portion of every thing, and they will mix them together on their plates.

This salad should be prepared immediately before dinner or supper; as standing long will injure it. The colder it is the better.

CARROTS.—

Having washed the carrots, and scraped off the outer skin with a sharp knife, or taken off a very thin paring, split them a few inches down, leaving a long cleft in the upper half only, and put them on to cook in plenty of boiling water, with a little salt in it. There is no table vegetable that needs more boiling than a carrot. Small young carrots require at least half an hour. If large, they must boil from one to two hours, according to their size. When you find them tender throughout, dish them, with melted butter poured round them. They are eaten plain, only with boiled beef or boiled mutton. They are often added to soups and stews, when they must be put in long before the other vegetables. For soups and stews the nicest way is to grate them (before boiling,) on a coarse grater. This way they improve both the taste and color.

Carrots are very nice, sliced thin after boiling, put into a sauce-pan, with bits of butter dredged with flour, seasoned with pepper, and stewed soft without any water.

PARSNIPS.—

Scrape the parsnips, and split them half way down. Put them into boiling water with a little salt. Parsnips require less boiling than carrots; and, according to their size, will take from half an hour to an hour. Skim the water while they are boiling. When quite tender take them up, drain them, dish them, and pour melted butter over them. They are especially eaten with corned pork, or salted cod; but are good with various things. They are excellent stewed with fresh beef, or fresh pork, for a plain dinner.

Fried Parsnips make a nice breakfast dish. They must first be parboiled; then split, and cut into long pieces, and fried brown in fresh butter, or in nice dripping of veal or beef.

Baked Parsnips.—Split and parboil them. Then place them in a large dish. Lay among them some bits of fresh butter, and bake them brown. Eat them with any sort of roast meat.

Parsnip Fritters.—Boil and peel half a dozen large parsnips, and then split and cut them in pieces. Make a nice batter, allowing four beaten eggs to a pint of milk, and four table-spoonfuls of flour. Have ready over the fire, a frying-pan with boiling lard. Put in a large spoonful of batter; upon that a piece of parsnip, and cover it with another spoonful of batter. Proceed thus till you have used up the parsnips. When done, drain them from the lard, and serve them hot at breakfast or dinner.

BEETS.—

Beets must be washed very clean, but not scraped, trimmed, or cut till after they are boiled. Put them on in boiling water; and, according to their size, boil them steadily from one hour and a half, to two hours and a half, but they must not be probed (to ascertain if they are tender all through,) but pinched with the fingers. Then peel off the skins, and trim them neatly. Hold the beet in a pan of cold water while you peel it. Do it quickly. Serve them up either split or sliced, with melted butter poured over them, and seasoned with pepper. Or else they may be sliced thick, (allowing them to get cold,) and spiced vinegar poured over them. Red beets are usually dressed with vinegar; the white or pale ones with melted butter.

Baked Beets have a finer flavor, and are more nutritious than when boiled. Wash and wipe them dry, but do not skin or cut them till after cooking. They must be thoroughly done before they are taken out of the oven, and then pared and trimmed. According to their size they will require from four to six hours baking. Their blood-red color makes them ornamental to the table; but when cooked in soups or stews they add little to the taste, which is overpowered by that of other ingredients.

SQUASHES OR CYMLINGS.—

See that the squashes are not turning old, and hardening. Wash them, and cut them into four pieces each; but do not split them. Put them on in boiling water, with a little salt. Boil them steadily till quite tender throughout. Then take them up, and mash or drain them through a cullender, pressing them with a broad short-handled wooden ladle. All the water (of which there will be a profusion,) must be entirely squeezed out. Serve them up very dry, and smoothly and evenly mashed, having first mixed with them a very little butter; and season them with very little pepper. Much butter gives them a disagreeable taste and consistence, and the butter should be fresh and good. It is better to mash squashes, turnips, pumpkins, &c., without any butter, than to use that which is salt and bad. The flat white ones are the best summer squashes; the striped green are more watery; the cashaw, or yellow winter squash, is best of all, and grows well in the New England states, from whence, as it keeps well all winter, it is often brought in barrels. Every family should get a barrel of winter squashes from Boston. They do not thrive in the middle States. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, they cannot be raised even from the best yankee seed, turning pumpkinish the next year, and afterwards becoming quite pumpkins, and very bad ones too. But when raised in their native soil and climate nothing of the squash kind is equal to them. They are very dry and sweet, and of a rich yellow color. Take them out of the barrel, and keep them far apart on the shelves or floor of a dry pantry.

STEWED PUMPKIN.—

No pumpkin is too large to be good, but they may be too old. Cut a good deep-colored pumpkin in half, and empty out all the seeds, &c. Then cut it into pieces, and pare them. Put the pieces of pumpkin into a pot with barely sufficient water to keep them from burning. When they are thoroughly done or soft all through, take them up; drain, mash, and press them through a cullender. They must be very dry. Put the stewed pumpkin into a dish, and mix it with a small portion of butter. Season it with black pepper, and eat it with boiled corned beef, or corned pork, or bacon.

Stewed pumpkin is chiefly used for pies and puddings.

Take a pint of stewed pumpkin. Mix together a pint of West India molasses and a pint of milk, adding two large table-spoonfuls of brown sugar, and two table-spoonfuls of ground ginger. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them, gradually, into the milk and molasses. Then, by degrees, stir in the stewed pumpkin. Put it into a deep dish, and bake it without a crust. This is a good farm-house pudding, and equally good for any healthy children.

For a large family, double the quantities of ingredients—that is, take a quart of milk, a quart of molasses, four spoonfuls of brown sugar, four spoonfuls of ginger, six eggs, and a quart of stewed pumpkin.

You had best have at hand more than a quart of pumpkin, lest when mixed it should not hold out. This pudding is excellent made of winter squash.

STEWED MUSHROOMS.—

Peel and wash a quart of very fresh mushrooms, and cut off all the stems. Button mushrooms are best; but if you can only procure large ones, quarter them. Sprinkle them slightly with salt and pepper, and put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of nice fresh butter, cut in pieces and slightly dredged with flour. Keep the lid closely covered all the time. When quite tender, put the mushrooms into a deep dish, in the bottom of which is laid a nice toast that has had all the crust pared off, and been dipped for a minute in hot water, and slightly buttered. Serve up the mushrooms closely covered. They require no seasoning.

BAKED MUSHROOMS.—

Take large fine fresh mushrooms. Peel them and remove the stems. Lay them on their backs in a large dish, (not letting them touch each other) and put into each mushroom, (as in a cup) a bit of the best fresh butter. Set the dish in an oven and bake them. Send them to table in the same dish; or transfer them to another, with a large toast at the bottom. There is no better way of cooking mushrooms than this.

If you cannot procure good butter, cook them in nice olive oil.

TO BOIL INDIAN CORN.—

Corn for boiling should be full grown, but young and tender, and the grains soft and milky. If its grains are becoming hard and yellow, it is too old for cooking. Strip the ears of their leaves and the silk. Put them into a large pot of boiling water, and boil it rather fast for half an hour or more, in proportion to its size and age. When done, take it up, drain it, dish it under a cover, or napkin, and serve it up hot. Before eating it, rub each ear with salt and pepper, and then spread it with butter. Epicures in corn consider it sweetest when eaten off the cob. And so it is; but before company few persons like to hold an ear of indian corn in their hands, and bite the grains off the cob with their teeth. Therefore, it is more frequently cut off the cob into a dish; mixed with salt, pepper, and butter, and helped with a spoon.

It is said that young green corn will boil sufficiently in ten minutes, (putting it, of course, into a pot of boiling water.) Try it.

Another way.—Having pulled off the silk, boil the corn without removing any but the outside leaves. With the leaves or husk on, it will require a longer time to cook, but is sweeter and more nutritious.

HOMINY.—

Hominy is white indian corn, shelled from the cob, divested of the outer skin by scalding in hot lye, and then winnowed and dried. It is perfectly white. Having washed it through two or three waters, pour boiling water on it; cover it, and let it soak all night, or for several hours. Then put it into a pot or sauce-pan, allow two quarts of water to each quart of hominy, and boil it till perfectly soft. Then drain it, put it into a deep dish, add some butter to it, and send it to table hot, (and uncovered,) to eat with any sort of meat; but particularly with corned beef or pork. What is left may be made next day into thick cakes, and fried in butter. To be very good, hominy should boil four or five hours.

CAROLINA GRITS OR SMALL HOMINY.—

The small-grained hominy must be washed and boiled in the same manner as the large, only allow rather less water for boiling. For instance, put a pint and a half of water to a quart of small hominy. Drain it well, send it to table in a deep dish without a cover, and eat it with butter and sugar, or molasses. If covered after boiling, the vapor will condense within the lid, and make the hominy thin and watery.

SAMP.—

This is indian corn skinned, and then pounded or ground till it is still smaller and finer than the Carolina grits. It must be cooked and used in the same manner. It is very nice eaten with cream and sugar.

For invalids it may be made thin, and eaten as gruel.

HOMINY CAKES.—

A pint of small hominy, or Carolina grits; a pint of white indian meal, sifted; a salt-spoonful of salt, three large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter; three eggs or three table-spoonfuls of strong yeast; a quart of milk. Having washed the small hominy, and left it soaking all night, boil it soft, drain it, and while hot mix it with the indian meal; adding the salt, and the butter. Then mix it gradually with the milk, and set it away to cool. Beat the eggs very light, and add them gradually to the mixture. The whole should make a thick batter. Then bake them on a griddle, in the manner of buckwheat cakes, rubbing or scraping the griddle always before you put on a fresh cake. Trim off their edges nicely, and send them to table hot. Eat them with butter.

Or you may bake them in muffin rings.

If you prefer making these cakes with yeast, you must begin them earlier, as they will require time to rise. The yeast should be strong and fresh. If not very strong, use four table-spoonfuls instead of two. Cover the pan, set it in a warm place; and do not begin to bake till it is well risen, and the surface of the mixture is covered with bubbles.

CORN PORRIDGE.—

Take young corn, and cut the grains from the cob. Measure it, and to each heaping pint of corn allow not quite a quart of milk. Put the corn and milk into a pot, stir them well together, and boil them till the corn is perfectly soft. Then add some bits of fresh butter dredged with flour, and let it boil five minutes longer. Stir in at the last, four beaten yolks of eggs, and in three minutes remove it from the fire. Take up the porridge and send it to table hot, and stir some fresh butter into it. You may add sugar and nutmeg.

CORN OYSTERS.—

Three dozen ears of large young indian corn, six eggs; lard and butter in equal portions for frying. The corn must be young and soft. Grate it from the cob as fine as possible, and dredge it with wheat flour. Beat very light the six eggs, and mix them gradually with the corn. Then let the whole be well incorporated by hard beating. Add a salt-spoon of salt.

Have ready, in a frying pan, a sufficient quantity of lard and fresh butter mixed together. Set it over the fire till it is boiling hot, and then put in portions of the corn mixture, so as to form oval cakes about three inches long, and nearly an inch thick. Fry them brown, and send them to table hot. In taste they will be found to have a singular resemblance to fried oysters, and are universally liked if properly done. They make nice side-dishes at dinner, and are very good at breakfast.

SUMMER SACCATASH.—

String a quarter of a peck of young green beans, and cut each bean into three pieces, (not more,) and do not split them. Have by you a pan of cold water, and throw the beans into it as you cut them. Have ready over the fire a pot or sauce-pan of boiling water; put in the beans, and boil them hard near twenty minutes. Afterwards take them up, and drain them well through a cullender. Take half a dozen ears of young but full-grown indian corn, (or eight or nine if they are not all large) and cut the grains down from the cob. Mix together the corn and the beans, adding a very small tea-spoonful of salt, and boil them about twenty minutes. Then take up the saccatash, drain it well through a sieve, put it into a deep dish, and while hot mix in a large piece of butter, (at least the size of an egg,) add some pepper, and send it to table. It is generally eaten with salted or smoked meat.

Fresh Lima beans are excellent cooked in this manner, with green corn. They must be boiled for half an hour or more, before they are cooked with the corn.

Dried beans and dried corn will do very well for saccatash, but they must be soaked all night before boiling. The water poured on them for soaking should be hot.

WINTER SACCATASH.—

This is made of dried shelled beans and hard corn, soaked over night in separate pans, and boiling water poured over them in the morning, after pouring off the first water. Then boil both together till they are quite soft. Drain them dry in a sieve, put them into a deep dish, and mix in a large piece of butter, seasoned with pepper. This is a good accompaniment to corned pork or beef. The meat must be boiled in a separate pot.

CAROLINA WAY OF BOILING RICE.—

Pick the rice carefully, and wash it through two or three cold waters till it is quite clean. Then (having drained off all the water through a cullender,) put the rice into a pot of boiling water, with a very little salt, allowing as much as a quart of water to half a pint of rice. Boil it twenty minutes or more. Then pour off the water, draining the rice as dry as possible. Lastly, set it on hot coals with the lid off, that the steam may not condense upon it and render the rice watery. Keep it drying thus for a quarter of an hour. Put it into a deep dish, and loosen and toss it up from the bottom with two forks, one in each hand, so that the grains may appear to stand alone.

TOMATOS.—

Tomatos require long cooking; otherwise they will have a raw taste, and be quite too acid. Take fine tomatos that are quite ripe, put them into a pan, and scald them in very hot water. Let them remain for ten minutes, or till you can peel them without scalding your hands. Drain them through a sieve. You may either press out all the seeds, (retaining only the pulp or liquid,) or leave the seeds in, squeezing the tomatos slightly. Put them into a stew-pan, which must on no account be of copper, as the acid of the tomatos will render it poisonous. We knew a lady who died in agonies from eating tomatos cooked in a copper vessel that had the tinning partly worn off. If the tin inside is indispensable, (which it is) why have any copper about it? A vessel of double block tin only, will last as long, and stand the fire as well as if there was copper inside. For all stews, an iron pan, lined with delft (or what is called porcelain or enamel) is excellent. Best of all for stewing tomatos, and many other things, is a bain marie, or double kettle, with the water outside, in the outer kettle.

Having nearly filled the stew-pan with the tomatos, (cut up, if they are large) add a little salt and pepper, a piece of fresh butter dredged with flour, and (if approved) a very little chopped onion. If you have ready-boiled onions at hand, take one or two of them and mince it fine. Add to the tomatos some powdered white sugar to lessen the excessive acid. Put but very few bread-crumbs—if too many, they will weaken the taste. Tomatos are an improvement to every kind of plain soups, and may be added, with advantage, after the soup is in the tureen. The cooking of tomatos should be commenced at least three hours before dinner. Put no water with them—their own juice is sufficient.

Many persons like tomatos raw, sliced like cucumbers, and seasoned with vinegar and pepper.

TO KEEP TOMATO PULP.—

Having boiled them till entirely dissolved, (adding a little salt and pepper) press and strain them through a sieve, pour the liquor into pint or half-pint bottles, (which must be perfectly clean) and stand the bottles up in a large iron pot or oven, with a layer of straw in the bottom. Fill up the pot with cold water, cork them tightly, and let the water boil round the bottles for five hours. As it boils away, fill up with more hot water. When you take them out, put a spoonful of salad oil at the top of each bottle; seal the bottles with rosin cement. This pulp will be good for tomato purposes till next summer, if kept in a cool dry place. When you open a bottle use it fast, or cork it again immediately.

BROILED TOMATOS.—

Take the very largest and ripest tomatos. Wash, but do not scald or peel them. Cut the tomatos half apart on four sides, extract the seeds, and fill each tomato with a nice forcemeat of stuffing, made of bread-crumbs, butter, minced veal or pork, mace, nutmeg, and sweet marjoram. Having stewed this stuffing in a sauce-pan, (moistening it with tomato juice, or gravy) fill all the tomatos with it, opening them out a little like the leaves of a tulip. Butter slightly a heated gridiron, and broil them on it. Or, they may be baked in an oven.

This is a dish for company, either at dinner or breakfast.

BUTTON TOMATOS.—

These are the very smallest tomatos, and are excellent for pickling and preserving. If quite ripe, and free from blemishes, they will keep very well in cold vinegar, and are the easiest done of all pickles. There are two sorts of button tomatos, the red and the yellow, both equally good. Wipe every tomato clean and dry, and put them into small glass jars that have a cover. Fill the jars two-thirds with the tomatos, and then fill up to the top with the best cider vinegar. On the top put a table-spoonful of salad oil, and cover them closely. They require nothing to secure their keeping well. But the taste will be improved, by putting in with them, three very small thin muslin bags, each containing mace, nutmeg, and ginger, broken small, but not powdered. Lay one bag of spice at the bottom of the jar; one about the middle, and one near the top. If done without spice, they are the cheapest of all pickles. Do not put them into soups or stews; but eat them cold with meat, like other pickles.

If kegs of these tomatos were carried to sea, and liberally served out to the crew, the scurvy would be less frequent, even on long voyages.

Large whole tomatos would do for this purpose. We wish it were the universal custom in ships to take out with them plenty of tomatos kept in this way in vinegar. Tomato catchup is now much used for the army—so it should be for the navy; not only for the sick, but for the well; to keep them well.