Motherly talks with young housekeepers / embracing eighty-seven brief articles on topics of home interest, and about five hundred choice receipts for cooking, etc.

by Mrs. H. W. Beecher

VEGETABLES.

Much care in selecting vegetables is necessary, but still more in preparing them for the table. It is to be regretted that so little attention is given to this. Half the enjoyment that should be derived from the abundance of the best varieties which our farms and markets offer in every summer season is lost by unskillful cooking. So evident is this fact, that it appears quite important to call the particular attention of young housekeepers to this part of their duty. We are so much in earnest, and deem this part of their labors so worthy of extra care, that no doubt those who think us quite too particular and whimsical in our inculcations of extreme neatness in household management will find the same grounds for objection here. We would suggest that those who feel inclined to raise these objections should overlook everything and every place about their houses, and attend with their own hands to all that ought to be done for one month. We imagine that, should they do this, their experience of the beauty of great cleanliness, and the added luxury and pleasure of their table comforts, would justify our teachings.

Of course it is only those who raise vegetables themselves who can enjoy in the highest degree the pleasure of eating them. No luxury of this kind, peas, corn, beans, salads, etc., can ever be had in perfection when gathered overnight and brought to the market or the store, lying for hours it may be before they are used. But even after such exposure and waste of the finer flavors, they can be made more palatable by proper cooking.

Almost all vegetables are better steamed than boiled, as all the juices are secured by this method; particularly is this true in cooking corn and peas. A large kettle half filled with boiling water, a steamer fitting closely in the top of the kettle, and the cover fitting as closely to the steamer, answers very well when there is no better way. But there are now in market various kinds of steamers for cooking, which profess to make it a very convenient mode of preparing food. The “Peerless,” one of the best cooking-stoves we have ever known, has a large steamer of the size and shape of a wash-boiler, with two perforated compartments in which to put the various articles to be cooked, and we have found it exceedingly convenient for steaming all kinds of vegetables. We have elsewhere mentioned the “Rumford Boiler,” the “Warren Cooker,” etc. A large amount of corn—for those who can gather sweet corn right from the stalk are not likely to be satisfied with a small mess—can be placed in one part; peas in a dish, all seasoned, set beside the corn; potatoes, beets, cauliflower, each in separate dish, can find a place in this large steamer, and cooked without losing any of their richness, yet, all being in one large receptacle, less room is occupied on the stove than when each article is put in a separate kettle.

Corn.—Like peas and most summer produce, corn should be used as soon as plucked. Husk, silk, and put into boiling water as soon as possible after it is brought from the garden. Let it boil twenty minutes, or, if large kernels and cob, thirty.

The small early corn that will not cook in fifteen or twenty minutes is too old, or wholly worthless for cooking. As soon as the corn is done, put it on the plates with a napkin under, and send it to the table hot. If you prefer it cut from the cob, as soon as it is cooked cut it off, and to three pints of corn put one spoonful of butter, with pepper and salt to suit your taste; put in but a little at first and then taste (always remember that in seasoning you can add if needed, but cannot easily take away), add a cup and a half of good cream, or if you must use milk instead, put in half a spoonful more butter. Have boiling water in the under part of your farina-kettle, and pour your corn into the upper. Set over the fire till just ready to boil, then dish and send to the table hot.

Another Way.—With a thin, sharp knife, cut the corn from the cob before cooking, being careful not to cut so closely as to take the horny point that fastens the kernel to the cob. Put the corn into the farina-kettle as above directed, with a little salt, pepper, two cups cream, one spoonful butter, or two cups sweet milk and two great spoonfuls of butter. Be sure and scrape all the milk from the cob when you have cut off the kernels, or squeeze it out with your hand. It adds more to the richness of the dish than you would at first imagine. Set the kettle over the fire and let it boil fifteen minutes. It will take less time to cook than when boiled on the cob.

Boiling Potatoes.—To boil potatoes well requires more attention than is usually given. They should be well washed, and left standing in cold water an hour or two, to remove the black liquor with which they are impregnated, and a brackish taste they would otherwise have. They should not be pared before boiling; they lose much of the starch by so doing, and are made insipid. Put them into a kettle of clear cold water, with a little salt, cover closely and boil rapidly, using no more water than will just cover them, as they produce a considerable quantity of fluid themselves while boiling, and too much water will make them heavy. As soon as just done, instantly pour off the water, set them back on the range, and leave the cover off the saucepan till the steam has evaporated. They will then, if a good kind, be dry and mealy. This is an Irish receipt, and a good one.

Another Way.—Put them, with skins on, into a kettle of hot water; let them come just to the boiling point, and pour in a cup of cold water, and, as the Irish say, the boiling is “backed.” Repeat this till the potato is tender. The object is to keep the water just on the verge of boiling, but check it by a little cold water till the potato is done.

To Boil New Potatoes.—When fresh dug take the small potatoes not quite ripe, wash clean, then rub the skin off with the hand—never use a knife—and put them into boiling water with a little salt; boil quickly; when done, drain dry and lay into a dish, spreading a little butter over them, or boil some new milk, put in a great spoonful of butter, and thicken with a little flour wet smooth with milk. When the potatoes are cooked and laid in the dish pour this dip over them. This is very nice.