La cuisine creole

by Lafcadio Hearn

VEGETABLES

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IRISH POTATOES, MASHED AND BROWNED

Boil them without peeling; peel them while hot, mash them up with sweet butter, a little milk, pepper and salt. Many like them better when mashed and smoothed over with a knife blade, and slightly browned in the oven. They can be kept hot in this way if the meal is kept back for a guest, which is convenient on some occasions.

STEWED IRISH POTATOES. A NICE BREAKFAST DISH

Wash, peel, and slice six potatoes; throw them for a few moments into cold, salted water, take them out in five minutes and place them in a stew pan on the fire; cover them with cold water; when tender, throw off all the water, pour over them half a cup of sweet milk, a little salt, pepper, and chopped parsley, and thicken them with a spoonful of butter, rolled in flour, or a teaspoonful of flour, beaten in carefully to prevent it from lumping; stew a few moments and serve in a covered dish.

PUFFS

Very nice potato puffs may be made by mashing seven or eight potatoes smoothly, and mixing in with them two well-beaten eggs, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, also well-beaten, and a cup of milk. Pour it into a pan and bake in a hot stove.

FRIED POTATOES

Wash and pare a sufficient quantity for the meal. Slice them in the machine, taking care to bear down lightly, so as to have the slices very thin. Have ready a vessel of very hot lard, and drop the sliced potatoes into it, letting them remain till they begin to brown. Take them out with a wire ladle, scatter a little fine salt over them, and serve while hot. Success depends almost entirely upon having the lard sufficiently hot. If the potatoes do not brown, but absorb fat, and are limp and greasy, be sure the lard must be made hotter. Properly fried, they may be eaten with relish when cold, as they are crisp and palatable.

FRIED POTATOES

Pare and cut the potatoes in thin slices; throw them as you cut them into salted water to cool, and make them crisp. Put them piece by piece on a dry towel and wipe dry, then drop them into boiling fat, enough to float them. As they brown dip them out with a skimmer, and salt them a little.

POTATO CROQUETS

Take six boiled potatoes (cold mashed potatoes will do), add three tablespoonfuls of grated ham, a little pepper, salt, and chopped parsley, also, the yolks of three eggs; form into balls, dip in egg and roll in bread crumbs; fry in hot lard; garnish with parsley.

SWEET POTATOES

Are good baked plain in their skins; or boiled, peeled and sliced, served with butter; or boiled, and then sliced in a pan, butter and sugar thrown over them, and baked in the stove. Some persons like them boiled and mashed with butter, and browned in the oven like Irish potatoes.

TURNIPS, TO COOK

Boil or steam them after peeling; when they are quite tender, you must mash them like potatoes, and season with pepper, salt and butter.

ONIONS BOILED AND FRIED

Trim and peel them, and boil them in water until quite tender, then dish them. Season with salt, pepper and butter. Many like them cut in slices and fried a light brown; they are good on a beefsteak when washed in two or three waters after being sliced, then put into hot lard and some of the beefsteak gravy, fried gently until a light color, and served around the steak.

GREEN CORN ON THE COB

Get it as fresh from the field as possible, and if you desire it boiled on the cob you must (when it is well silked) throw it into boiling salted water. Corn requires only fifteen minutes boiling; too long boiling takes out the sweetness from the grain.

STEWED GREEN CORN

Take a dozen fresh, tender ears of corn; cut it off the cob, and put it in a stew pan with a quart of cold water. No salt at first. Let it cook half an hour and then stir in a lump of fresh butter, a spoonful of flour, and salt and pepper to taste. If too dry, add a cup of sweet milk, or water, if the milk is not convenient.

GREEN CORN FRITTERS

Beat three eggs with a cup of milk; to this add a pint of boiled green corn grated; throw in flour enough to make a batter thick enough to drop from a spoon; salt and pepper to taste, beat it very hard, and drop into boiling lard one spoonful at a time. This is a great luxury and a good substitute for oysters during the hot season.

SUCCOTASH, OR CORN AND BEANS MIXED

Boil for half an hour two pints of green shelled beans, or the same amount of string beans; then pour off the water, cut the corn from two dozen ears, put it in the pot among the beans; add salt and pepper, and cover them with boiling water. Let it boil for half an hour, and add a lump of butter as big as a hen’s egg, rolled in flour; let this boil up once and it is done.

CORN OYSTERS

One pint of grated green corn, one cup of flour, one dessertspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of pepper and an egg. Mix all together, and drop and fry in hot lard. This is a nice breakfast dish.

ROASTING EAR PUDDING

Cut as much corn from the cob as you require; a dozen ears make a large pudding. To every three ears allow an egg, a spoonful of butter, a little pepper and salt, to suit your taste; fill and cover it with sweet milk. Let this bake an hour.

OKRA AND CORN FRICASSEE

Put a pint of cut okra in a frying pan in which there is a cupful of hot lard, or the fat of side meat; let it fry a little, then cut into it a pint and a half of corn; fry it until it is thoroughly cooked, pour off some of the grease, and dredge in a little flour, and a half cup of milk; pepper and salt, to taste, must be added just before dishing it up.

A NICE WAY TO COOK OKRA OR GOMBO

Take a pint of young tender okra, chop it up fine, add to it half as much skinned, ripe tomatoes, an onion cut up in slices, a tablespoonful of butter, a little salt and pepper, and a spoonful of water; stew all together till tender, and serve with meat or poultry.

SALSIFY FRIED IN BATTER

Scrape the salsify, throw it for a few moments into cold water, then parboil it, drain it and cut into lengths of three inches; allow it now to steep until cold, in a bowl with two tablespoonfuls of olive oil, one of French vinegar, pepper and salt; let it remain in this, occasionally turning it until ready to fry it. Then make a batter with eggs, milk, and flour; dip the salsify in this batter, and fry in hog’s lard; fry parsley with it and serve.

TOMATOES STUFFED

Take five large tomatoes, slice off that part which joins the stalk, cut out a little of their pulp, take out the seeds, and strain them; chop up the pulp with a handful of parsley, a slice of fat bacon, a slice of ham, and a cup of bread crumbs; fry all these, and season with butter, pepper, salt, thyme, and the yolks of two eggs; take it off the fire as soon as the eggs are beaten in, and stuff the tomatoes. Bake them for half an hour, pour some brown sauce or gravy over them and serve.

TOMATOES TO BROIL

Take ripe, red tomatoes, place them on the gridiron, broil, and turn until done through; then serve them whole, so that they can be seasoned at the table.

STEWED TOMATOES, WITH OR WITHOUT SUGAR

Pour boiling water over six or eight large, ripe tomatoes, let them remain in it a few minutes to scald the skins, then take them out and skin them. Chop them up and put them to stew with a little salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter; then add a spoonful of rolled cracker or toasted bread, and a tablespoonful of sugar, if liked; if not, omit the sugar, and let them stew gently, for half an hour longer.

TO COOK SPINACH

Wash in two or three waters, as the grit adheres very closely to spinach; when well washed, boil it one half hour in clear water; add a little soda, if it does not look a nice green. When soft, drain it well and chop very fine—it cannot be too fine; add butter, salt if needed, and pepper to taste; garnish with hard-boiled eggs cut in fancy shapes; or, in early spring, it is nice to poach two or three eggs, and lay on the freshly cooked spinach.

ASPARAGUS ON TOAST

The fresher this vegetable is the better; and in picking and washing it, all stalks not crisp and tender should be thrown aside. Cut off nearly all the horny white parts, tie the rest in neat bunches, and boil in salted water for twenty minutes or half an hour; then take it out, let it drain a minute and lay on buttered toast, the heads all one way; cover with rich drawn butter sauce.

ASPARAGUS WITH CREAM

When cream is plentiful, cut the asparagus in inch pieces, boil, and then throw it into rich hot cream, with seasoning of pepper and salt.

STEWED MUSHROOMS ON TOAST

Pull out the stems of the mushrooms, and peel them; melt a tablespoonful of butter in a stew pan, throw into the butter a little salt, pepper, and powdered mace (if liked), lay the mushrooms in this, upper side down, and stew till they are tender, which will be in about twenty minutes. Fry a slice of bread until it is a light brown, and then arrange the mushrooms over it. Serve hot.

EGG PLANT

Parboil egg plant, slice it and dip each piece in beaten egg and roll it in pounded cracker; then drop it in hot lard and fry brown. Season with salt and pepper. They are delicious cooked this way, and taste like soft-shelled crabs. Another way is to parboil them, mash them up and season with eggs, onions, pepper, salt and butter; then place the mixture back in the shell, and bake. Serve in their shells.

ANOTHER WAY TO COOK EGG PLANT

Parboil, slice them, and without rolling them in anything drop them into boiling lard; season with salt and pepper. Some like them mashed and added to a batter of eggs, flour and milk, seasoned with pepper and salt, and then dropped like fritters into hot lard.

BURR ARTICHOKES

Get them young or they are not tender, wash them in salted water, and put them to boil. Boil until you can pull off a leaf easily; salt them and serve with drawn-butter sauce, with vinegar in it, or mustard and oil, as preferred.

SNAP BEANS, STEWED AND BOILED

Pick and snap them when green and tender, cut them small, and throw into boiling water; let them cook gently for two hours; then stir in a half cup of broth, and a cup of milk; let them stew in this for half an hour longer; season with salt and pepper to taste. Many like them cooked with a piece of lean side bacon. They require several hours boiling, if not very young. Put the beans in first, and when half done, put in a pound or so of bacon to an ordinary mess of beans.

GREEN ENGLISH PEAS, TO STEW

Shell a quart of green peas for a small mess. Wash them in cold water, and put them on to cook in a stew pan with a pint of boiling water, or enough to cover them. Let them cook half an hour, and then stir in a large lump of butter rolled in flour; let this cook a few minutes, and add a teaspoonful of white sugar, same of salt and pepper, and serve while hot. Do not let them cook dry. Lamb and green peas is a favorite dish in the spring of the year.

MARROWFAT PEAS

This is a late sort of green pea, and is much richer in taste than the earlier ones, but not so delicate. They must be dressed like the early peas, by boiling in water, and when soft, pour off the water. They are sometimes a little strong if the water is not changed. Fill up with milk, or milk and water, and boil a little longer, then season with butter, pepper and salt, and thicken with a teaspoon of flour stirred in among the peas.

LIMA, OR BUTTER BEANS

Shell them, and lay them in cold water for an hour or so before cooking; this renders them more delicate and mealy. When ready to cook, put them in a stew pan in boiling water enough to cover them; let them boil fast and keep them covered while cooking; examine them in an hour, and if soft, pour off nearly all the water and stir in a lump of butter, some pepper and salt. Lima beans and sweet corn make the finest succotash, although string beans are generally used.

SQUASH, STEWED

If not very young, you must peel the squashes, steam or boil them until tender, and season them with sweet milk or cream, and a little butter, pepper and salt; let them stew down in this until they are thick, and of the consistence of mashed potatoes. Another way is to take them from the steamer, mash them with a cut-up onion, and a slice or two of ham; then stew them down thick, adding pepper and salt to taste.

STEWED SUMMER SQUASH

Gather them while young and tender. Peel, cut them up, take out the seeds, and put them on to boil; let them cook rapidly until very tender. Drain them well in a colander, and mash with a wooden spoon. Put this pulp in a stew pan with a small piece of butter, a gill of cream, and a little pepper and salt; cook this, and stir constantly until the squash is dry. Serve very hot.

PUMPKIN WITH SALT MEAT

This is very good cooked with salt meat and brown sugar. Slice the pumpkin and put it in the oven with brown sugar, or good molasses; slice some smoked meat and lay it in among the pumpkin; cook it tender. It is better than many things with more reputation.

CAULIFLOWER, WITH WHITE SAUCE

Remove the green stalks, and if the heads are large, divide them into quarters; wash and boil them with a little pepper, butter and salt; serve with drawn butter or white sauce, when they become soft and tender.

STEWED CABBAGE

Cold cabbage left from dinner can be drained from the pot liquor in which it was boiled, and then simmered for half an hour in water, or milk and water; pour off all the water when it is tender, and stir in the pot a lump of butter or clarified drippings; let it cook gently, then throw in a cup of milk or cream; thicken it with flour, and season with pepper and salt. Serve with the cream gravy poured over the cabbage.

BEETS BOILED

Wash the beets clean, but do not trim the roots, or they will bleed and lose their sweetness. If the beets are young and tender, they are nice cooked whole, and then stewed in a little butter, with sugar, salt and vinegar added. Let them simmer in this batter for twenty minutes, and serve. If the beets are large, boil, and slice them when cooked, and season with vinegar, pepper and salt, or slice them, and serve with butter.

PARSNIP FRITTERS

Boil the parsnips in salted water until they are done; make a batter of an egg, a spoonful of milk and flour, pepper and salt, and when the parsnips are cool enough to handle cut them in rounds, dip them in the batter and drop them into hot lard; fry a light brown, turn them and fry the other side. When brown on both sides, drain them from the grease. They are good, mashed like turnips.

MACARONI IN A MOULD

Boil macaroni till it is tender, line a mould with it, fitting it in closely. Make a mince of any kind of meat, raw or cooked; season with sweet herbs, butter, pepper, chopped eschalot, and a couple of eggs; fill the mould with this and boil for twenty minutes. Serve with white sauce No. 10 put around the macaroni.

MACARONI AND GRATED CHEESE

Take a quarter of a pound of macaroni, break into lengths, and throw it into cold water to soak, an hour or so after breakfast. Boil it an hour, take it out of the pot and put in the bottom of the pan a layer of the boiled macaroni and then a layer of grated cheese; strew over the top a teaspoonful of salt and some lumps of butter as big as a nutmeg. Then fill up the pan with new milk and bake until browned on top, but never let it get dry; it is better to put water in, if your milk has given out, than to let it get the least dry. This is a rich dish when well made, but a poor one if badly made, and served dry.