Scrape the stalks; let them stand in cold water for half an hour; tie them again into a bundle and make them uniform in length; put them into salted boiling water and cook about twenty minutes or until tender, but not so soft as to be limp. Place the asparagus on buttered toast and remove the string. Serve with the asparagus, but separately, plain melted butter, a white, or a Hollandaise sauce. Cold boiled asparagus is served as a salad with plain French dressing (see page [375]) or with cold Béarnaise sauce.
ASPARAGUS TIPS
Cut the asparagus stalks into pieces about an inch long, and as far down as tender. Cook them in salted boiling water. Drain and stir into them just enough white sauce to well coat them.
CABBAGE
Cabbage. Four vegetables are the result of the cabbage plant by cultivation. As the rose changes its character under the hand of the floriculturist, so it is with cabbage at the hand of the gardener. First is the cabbage, which is the leafy bud that stores up food for a flower the next year. Cauliflower. Second, the cauliflower, which is a cluster (corymb) of forced cabbage flowers.
Brussels sprouts. Third, Brussels sprouts. The leaves are picked off, and small buds form along the stem; and fourth, kohlrabi, which is the leaves turned into a fleshy tuberous-like vegetable.
Kohlrabi. In these results two of the phases, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, are much esteemed, and are given rank with the best vegetables, while cabbage and kohlrabi have little favor, and are considered coarse and vulgar foods. The cabbage, however, if properly cooked, will be found an exceedingly palatable vegetable, which very closely resembles cauliflower.
BOILED CABBAGE
If this receipt is exactly followed, this much-despised vegetable will be found very acceptable, and its odor will not be perceptible through the house. Cut the cabbage into good-sized pieces, take off the outside leaves, and cut away the hard core. Wash it well in two changes of water, and place the pieces, open side down, on a colander to drain. Have a very generous amount of water in a large saucepan or pot; let it boil violently; add a tablespoonful of salt and one quarter teaspoonful of baking soda; put in the cabbage, one piece at a time, so as to check the boiling as little as possible. Let it cook for twenty-five minutes uncovered and boiling rapidly all the time. Push the cabbage under the water every five minutes. Turn it into a colander and press out all the water. Put into a saucepan one tablespoonful of butter, a heaping teaspoonful of flour, one half teaspoonful of salt and a dash of pepper; add slowly one half cupful of milk, and stir till smooth; then add the cabbage. Cut it into large pieces with a knife, and mix it lightly with the sauce. If the cabbage is free from water the sauce will adhere to it and form a creamy coating.
This receipt of Catherine Owen has been found most satisfactory.
CABBAGE WITH CHEESE
(Very Good.)