ITALIAN RECIPES
INTRODUCTION
About the cooking of Vegetables.
Vegetables should be well washed in cold water to remove insects and dust; if not fresh gathered, leave them some time in cold water, and remember that they take longer to cook than fresh ones. Green vegetables must be put into salted water (one tablespoonful of salt to every two quarts of water) and rapidly cooked over a brisk fire in an open sauce-pan until they are tender. All green vegetables should be removed from the water as soon as cooked, and be well drained before adding the seasoning.
About Sauces.
So much depends on sauces that only the best ingredients should be used in making them. Rancid or impure oil or bad butter will ruin sauces and salads. Both butter and oil should always be tasted before buying, as good cookery is impossible unless they are perfectly fresh and good in every way; butter must be added to sauces in small bits, or it will form a greasy line. To skim sauces, take the sauce-pan off the fire and put in a teaspoonful of cold water, which will make the grease rise. Remember that wine increases the taste of salt, so when wine is used in a sauce put in very little salt until after the wine has been added.
About Eggs.
Eggs must be quite fresh, if they taste of straw the sauce will be spoiled. They should therefore be broken one at a time into a saucer and examined before using. A pinch of salt added to the whites of eggs makes them whisk better, and none of the yolk must be allowed to get mixed in.
About Spices.
The following is a good recipe for the spices so necessary in cooking: Half an ounce of cloves, two ounces of nutmeg, half an ounce of sweet basil, half an ounce of white pepper, two ounces of cinnamon, one quarter of an ounce of dried bay leaves, half an ounce of thyme. Pound well together, then pass through a sieve, and put them into a bottle, or box, hermetically closed to preserve the perfume.