Take fresh, purple egg-plants of a middling size; cut them in slices a quarter of an inch thick, and soak them for half an hour in cold water, with a teaspoonful of salt in it. Have ready some cracker or bread crumbs and one beaten egg; drain off the water from the slices, lay them on a napkin, dip them in the crumbs and then in the egg, put another coat of crumbs on them and fry them in butter to a light brown. The frying pan must be hot before the slices are put in—they will fry in ten minutes.
You may pare them before you put them into the frying pan, or you may pull off the skins when you take them up. You must not remove them from the water until you are ready to cook them, as the air will turn them black.
STUFFED EGG-PLANT.
Cut the egg-plant in two; scrape out all the inside and put it in a saucepan with a little minced ham; cover with water and boil until soft; drain off the water; add two tablespoonfuls of grated crumbs, a tablespoonful of butter, half a minced onion, salt and pepper; stuff each half of the hull with the mixture; add a small lump of butter to each and bake fifteen minutes. Minced veal or chicken in the place of ham, is equally as good and many prefer it.
STRING BEANS.
Break off the end that grew to the vine, drawing off at the same time the string upon the edge; repeat the same process from the other end; cut them with a sharp knife into pieces half an inch long, and boil them in just enough water to cover them. They usually require one hour's boiling; but this depends upon their age and freshness. After they have boiled until tender and the water boiled nearly out, add pepper and salt, a tablespoonful of butter and a half a cup of cream; if you have not the cream add more butter.
Many prefer to drain them before adding the seasoning; in that case they lose the real goodness of the vegetable.
LIMA AND KIDNEY BEANS.
These beans should be put into boiling water, a little more than enough to cover them, and boiled till tender—from half an hour to two hours; serve with butter and salt upon them.
These beans are in season from the last of July to the last of September. There are several other varieties of beans used as summer vegetables, which are cooked as above.