To preserve or give colour in cookery many good dishes are spoiled; but the rational epicure, who makes nourishment the main end of eating, will be content to sacrifice the shadow to enjoy the substance. As the fishmonger often suffers for the sins of the cook, so the cook often gets undeservedly blamed instead of the greengrocer.
1102. To Cleanse Vegetables of Insects
Make a strong brine of one pound and a half of salt to one gallon of water; into this, place the vegetables with the stalk ends uppermost, for two or three hours: this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom of the water.
1103. Potatoes
Most people esteem potatoes beyond any other vegetable, yet few persons know how to cook them. The following will be found to be excellent methods of cooking this delicious esculent.
1104. To Boil Potatoes
Put them into a saucepan with scarcely sufficient water to cover them. Directly the skins begin to break, lift them from the fire, and as rapidly as possible pour off