I cook the small windsor-beans, as well with as without their skin, by the same process and with the same attentions which I observe in dressing green peas.
I make an excellent soup-maigre, with large preserved peas which are equally good for a meat soup. As to asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers, &c. they are dressed in the usual way after having been washed, &c. Green peas, beans, French beans, and all kinds of vegetables may be three-fourths boiled, seasoned at the same time, as is done when intended for immediate use, put into bottles or other vessels when cool, corked, &c. and allowed one half hour’s boiling in the water-bath. By these means vegetables will be preserved and quite ready, which may be made use of in an instant, without any other care than to warm them; and there are also many instances in which these vegetables may be eaten cold. In this way all difficulties may be removed in travelling by land or water.
§ XLVIII.
Spinage and Succory.
I dress spinage and succory as usual, in either vegetable or meat soup. Each bottle of a litre, contains two or three dishes, either of spinage, or succory according to their strength. When I want to make use of a part only I re-cork the bottle which I keep for another day.
§ XLIX.
Vegetable Soups.
Having emptied a bottle containing a litre of preserved Julienne, I add two litres of boiling water with a little salt, and I have a dish for twelve or fifteen persons.
As well as a Julienne, a coulis de racines, a soup of lentils, carrots, onions, &c. being well prepared, furnishes with the greatest economy, excellent dishes in an instant.
All farinaceous substances, such as oatmeal, rice, spelt, semoulia, vermicelli, and in general every thing that may be formed into a paste, nutritive and easy of digestion, may be prepared and seasoned with either vegetable or meat soup, and even with milk, before they are made to undergo the preserving process, in order to facilitate the use of them at sea and in armies at a moment of necessity.