When still quite green and tender, the ears of maize or Indian corn are very good boiled and served as a vegetable; and as they will not ripen well in this country unless the summer be unusually warm and favourable, it is an advantageous mode of turning them to account. Strip away the sheath which encloses them, and take off the long silken fibres from the tops; put the corn into boiling water salted as for asparagus, and boil it for about half an hour. Drain it well, dish it on a toast, and send it to table with melted butter. The Americans, who have it served commonly at their tables, use it when more fully grown than we have recommended, and boil it without removing the inner leaves of the sheath; but it is sweeter and more delicate before it has reached so advanced a state. The grains may be freed from the corn-stalks with a knife, and tossed up with a slice of fresh butter and some pepper and salt, or served simply like green peas. Other modes of dressing the young maize will readily suggest themselves to an intelligent cook, and our space will not permit us to enumerate them.
25 to 30 minutes.
MUSHROOMS AU BEURRE.
(Delicious.)
Cut the stems from some fine meadow mushroom-buttons, and clean them with a bit of new flannel, and some fine salt; then either wipe them dry with a soft cloth, or rinse them in fresh water, drain them quickly, spread them in a clean cloth, fold it over them, and leave them for ten minutes, or more, to dry. For every pint of them thus prepared, put an ounce and a half of fresh butter into a thick iron saucepan, shake it over the fire until it just begins to brown, throw in the mushrooms, continue to shake the saucepan over a clear fire that they may not stick to it nor burn, and when they have simmered three or four minutes, strew over them a little salt, some cayenne, and pounded mace; stew them until they are perfectly tender, heap them in a dish, and serve them with their own sauce only, for breakfast, supper, or luncheon. Nothing can be finer than the flavour of the mushrooms thus prepared; and the addition of any liquid is far from an improvement to it. They are very good when drained from the butter, and served cold, and in a cool larder may be kept for several days. The butter in which they are stewed is admirable for flavouring gravies, sauces, or potted meats. Small flaps, freed from the fur and skin, may be stewed in the same way; and either these, or the buttons, served under roast poultry or partridges, will give a dish of very superior relish.
Meadow mushrooms, 3 pints; fresh butter 4-1/2 oz.: 3 to 5 minutes. Salt, 1 small teaspoonful; mace, half as much; cayenne, third of saltspoonful: 10 to 15 minutes. More spices to be added if required—much depending on their quality; but they should not overpower the flavour of the mushrooms.
Obs.—Persons inhabiting parts of the country where mushrooms are abundant, may send them easily, when thus prepared (or when potted by the following receipt), to their friends in cities, or in less productive counties. If poured into jars, with sufficient butter to cover them, they will travel any distance, and can be re-warmed for use.
POTTED MUSHROOMS.
Prepare either small flaps or buttons with great nicety, without wetting them, and wipe the former very dry, after the application of the salt and flannel. Stew them quite tender, with the same proportion of butter as the mushrooms au beurre, but increase a little the quantity of spice; when they are done turn them into a large dish, spread them over one end of it, and raise it two or three inches that they may be well drained from the butter. As soon as they are quite cold, press them very closely into small potting-pans; pour lukewarm clarified butter thickly over them, and store them in a cool dry place. If intended for present use, merely turn them down upon a clean shelf; but for longer keeping cover the tops first with very dry paper, and then with melted mutton-suet. We have ourselves had the mushrooms, after being simply spread upon a dish while hot, remain perfectly good in that state for seven or eight weeks: they were prepared late in the season, and the weather was consequently cool during the interval.