Peel and put them in boiling milk, (water will do, but it is not as good.) When boiled tender, take them up, salt them, and turn a little melted butter over them.
Scrape and put them in boiling water, with a table spoonful of salt to a couple of dozen. When boiled tender, (which will be in about two hours,) take them up, salt and butter each one.
Summer squashes, if very young, may be boiled whole—if not, they should be pared, quartered, and the seeds taken out. When boiled very tender, take them up, put them in a strong cloth, and press out all the water—mash them, salt and butter them to your taste. The neck part of the winter squash is the best. Cut it in narrow strips, take off the rind, and boil the squash in salt and water till tender—then drain off the water, and let the pumpkin steam over a moderate fire for ten or twelve minutes. It is good not mashed—if mashed, add a little butter.
104. Cabbage and Cauliflowers.
Trim off the loose leaves of the cabbage, cut the stalky in quarters, to the heart of the cabbage—boil it an hour. If not boiled with corned beef, put a little salt in the water in which they are boiled. White cauliflowers are the best. Take off the outside leaves, cut the stalk close to the leaves, let them lie in salt and cold water for half an hour before boiling them—boil them fifteen or twenty minutes, according to their size. Milk and water is the best to boil them in, but clear water does very well. Put a little salt in the pot in which they are boiled.
Cut the white part of the stalks off, and throw it away—cut the lower part of the stalks in thin slices if tough, and boil them eight or ten minutes before the upper part is put in. Lay the remainder compactly together, tie it carefully in small bundles, and boil it from fifteen to twenty minutes, according to its age. Boil a little salt with them, and a quarter of a tea spoonful of saleratus, to two or three quarts of water, to preserve their fresh green color. Just before your asparagus is done, toast a slice of bread, moisten it with a little of the asparagus liquor, lay it in your asparagus dish, and butter it—then take up the asparagus carefully with a skimmer, and lay it on the toast, take off the string, salt it, and turn a little melted butter over the whole.