It is wrong to soak dry vegetables. If they are of good quality, and the produce of the year, they need only be put into a saucepan with enough cold water to completely cover them, and with one oz. of salt per five quarts of water.
Set to boil gently, skim, add the aromatic garnish, quartered carrots, onions, with or without garlic cloves, and a faggot, and set to cook gently with lid on.
Remarks.—If the vegetables used are old or inferior in quality, they might be put to soak in soft water; but this only long enough to swell them slightly, i.e., about one and one-half hours.
A prolonged soaking of dry vegetables may give rise to incipient germination, and this, by impairing the principles of the vegetables, depreciates the value of the food, and may even cause some harm to the consumer.
[275—BRAISED VEGETABLES]
Vegetables to be braised must be first [blanched], cooled, pared, and strung.
Garnish the bottom of a saucepan with [blanched] pork-rind, sliced carrots and onions, and a faggot, and cover the sides of the utensil with thin slices of bacon. Lay the vegetables upon the prepared litter, and leave them to sweat in the oven for about ten minutes with lid on. The object of this oven-sweating is to expel the water. Now moisten enough to cover with white stock, and set to cook gently.
This done, drain, remove string, and cut to the shape required. Lay them in a sautépan, and, if they are to be served soon, cover them with their reduced stock from which the grease has been removed.
If they are prepared in advance, simply put them aside in suitable basins, cover them with their cooking-liquor, which should be strained over them, boiling, and without its grease removed, and cover with buttered paper.