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Classic
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page 169
VEGETABLES.
Vegetables of all kinds should be thoroughly picked over, throwing out all
decayed or unripe parts, then well washed in several waters. Most vegetables,
when peeled, are better when laid in cold water a short time before cooking.
When partly cooked a little salt should be thrown into the water in which they
are boiled, and they should cook steadily after they are put on, not allowed to
stop boiling or simmering until they are thoroughly done. Every sort of culinary
vegetable is much better when freshly gathered and cooked as soon as possible,
and , when done, thoroughly drained, and served immediately while hot.
Onions, cabbage, carrots and turnips should be cooked in a great deal of water,
boiled only long enough to sufficiently cook them, and immediately drained.
Longer boiling makes them insipid in taste, and with too little water they turn
a dark color.
Potatoes rank first in importance in the vegetable line, and consequently should
be properly served. It requires some little intelligence to cook even so simple
and common a dish as boiled potatoes. In the first place, all defective or green
ones should be cast out; a bad one will flavor a whole dish. If they are not
uniform in size, they should be made so by cutting after they are peeled. The
best part of a potato, or the most nutritious, is next to the skin, therefore
they should be pared very thinly, if at all; then , if old, the cores should be
cut out, thrown into cold water salted a little, and boiled until soft enough
for a fork to pierce through easily; drain immediately, and replace the kettle
on the fire with the cover partly removed, until they are completely dried. New
potatoes should be put into boiling water, and when partly done salted a little.
They should be prepared just in time for cooking, by scraping off the thin
outside skin. They require about twenty minutes to boil.
TO BOIL NEW POTATOES.
Do not have the potatoes dug long before they are dressed, as they are never
good when they have been out of the ground some time. Well wash them, rub
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