Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving / A Treatise Containing Practical Instructions in Cooking; in the Combination and Serving of Dishes; and in the Fashionable Modes of Entertaining at Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

by Mary F. Henderson

Egg-plant.

Cut the plant into slices less than half an inch thick, without paring off the skin; then sprinkle pepper and salt between the parts, and cover with a plate; let them remain an hour, then dip each slice separately first into beaten egg, then into fine bread or cracker crumbs. Sauté them to a light-brown in hot lard or butter.

Cabbage To Boil.

Cabbage is best boiled and served with corned beef; otherwise boil a small piece of pork with it. Always boil with it a piece of a red pepper. A little bunch of small red peppers, costing five cents, will last a long time for cooking cabbage, making pickles, etc.

Remove the outside damaged leaves, and cut the cabbage into halves (or, if very large, into quarters), so as to better cook the inside stalk; put it into the boiling water, with the corned beef or pork and the small red pepper. It will take the cabbage from half to three quarters of an hour to be well cooked. Drain the cabbage well, serving it with the meat in the centre of the dish.

Cabbage Stewed.

Shred two small cabbages coarser than for cold slaw; parboil them with a small piece of red pepper added to the boiling water; then pour off the water, and add three or four table-spoonfuls of vinegar, a small piece of butter, and a large-sized ladleful of stock from the stock-pot; cover the saucepan closely, and let the cabbage simmer gently for half an hour; season with a little red pepper, if it needs more, and salt.

To Boil Corn on the Cob.

At the Saratoga Lake House there is a third specialty of good things. The first is the fried potato, the second is the fresh trout, the third is boiled corn, which is served as a course by itself. The corn is boiled in the husk. The latter imparts sweetness and flavor to the corn, besides keeping it moist and tender. The unhusked corn is put into salted boiling water, and when done, and well drained, some of the outside husks are removed, and the corn is served, with the remaining husks about it; or, the cobs may be broken from the husks just before sending them to table, which would save this trouble afterward.