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.