Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1915 — TO PREPARE AND USE VEGETABLES [ARTICLE]

TO PREPARE AND USE VEGETABLES

AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT EXPERTB GIVE REBULTB OF STUDY AND EXPERIMENT. ON CHOOSING AND CLEANING Care Must Precede the Process of Cooking—Try Combinations —Some Suggestions on the Proper Way of Serving. (Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) Careful choosing, sorting and cleaning of vegetables must precede any process of cookery. Medium-sized vegetables are always to be preferred to the overlarge. Food plants retarded in normal growth are liable to be tough and corky, while those having abundant moisture and sunlight and making normal growth are crisp, tender and well flavored. The shorter the time and journey between garden and table the better for green plants. It is wiser not to gather vegetables while wilted or otherwise showing; the effects of the midday sun, but rather to pick them after the dew has evaporated in the morning, or in the cool of the late afternoon. Wilted vegetables can never be wholly satisfactory, but may be improved by careful washing and removal of Jnferior portions, and then soaking in cold water, or with salad plants by wrapping in a damp cloth and keeping in a cool place. The soaking of vegetables in cold water to freshen them probably extracts a little of the valuable salts which they contain. When they are blanched in hot water or parboiled still more mineral matter is lost. If boiled in considerable water of which no use is made, some of the soluble saline matter is extracted, and wasted. This waste may be avoided by using the water for soup, etc. Often it is convenient and wise to cook a double portion of a vegetable and serve part of it a second day in a different form. This should not be attempted in warm weather unless a refrigerator is available, as the vegetables may spoil. Ordinarily a vegetable well salted while cooking and drained and cooled quickly and kept covered in a cold place will keep 24 or 48 hours in cool weather. Enough potatoes may be cooked to serve as plain boiled or mashed today, while the firmer ones can be reserved to broil or grill in slices, fry, or cream the next day. When gas is the fuel this is worth while, for it takes 30 minutes to boil a pot of fresh potatoes and only ten minutes to reheat them. Most vegetables are lacking in fat, so we add fat in the form of meat, butter, oil of cream when preparing them for the table, or* we serve them with fat meats, etc. As far as the need of the human body goes, it makes little difference whether this fat is in cheap or in expensive form, whether the vegetable is cooked with fat or dressed with butter, cream or salad oil. Good olive oil and thick cream cost about the same, but the oil keeps better, and hence always may be available. Better results often are obtained by combining cream with vegetables than by using butter and milk costing quite as much. Whenever a vegetable dish, other than dried beans, peas, or other legumes, cooked in some form, is to be the principal part of a meal, it is easily possible, as well as reasonable to increase its protein food value by the addition of milk, cheese, or eggs. Skim milk may be heated uncovered until considerable water has evaporated, then little or no thickening is needed for a soup or cream sauce made with it

Do Not Hesitate to Experiment With Combinations. Though only a few are common on most tables, there 'are many combinations of vegetables which have proved satisfactory, and no one need hesitate to experiment with others. In general, it Is safe to combine a starchy vegetable with a succulent one, or one lacking in flavor with another that Wll give relish. For example, cooked celery is agreeable when mixed with creamed potato. Green corn with potatoes and onion, with the addition of milk, etc., makes a chowder which many consider as good as fish. Potatoes boiled and cut in slices or cubes may be used to extend more expensive or more highly flavored vegetables in salads. For instance, out-of-season- string beans or out-of-season new celery. Potatoes with onions or white turnips make a more agreeable soup for some palates than the stronger vegetables alone. | Carrots often are more palatable cut in dice and blended with green peas than served alone. Large white beans may be served •in a tomato sance with onion and green or red sweet peppers, or both. Mint, parsley, sweet peppers, onions, etc., may be added in small portions to many vegetables to give a new flavor when the usual methods of serving have become monotonous. While overdone vegetables are not desirable, underdone ones are often even less appetising; therefore it is wise to start cooking green vegetables in season andr stop the process as soon as the plant is tender, drain and*

then reheat quickly with seasoning hist before serving. Moat time tables in cook books do not take Into consideration the variations in time required for the same kind of vegetables at different ages. As a general rule the more mature or "older” the vegetable the longer the necessary cooking period. A small scrubbing brush is essential for washing all vegetables that have grown in the earth, and should be kept ’in a convenient place, and for this purpose only. A small, sharp knife point is needed for the removal of eyes from potatoes and small blemishes from any vegetables. A wire basket is convenient to hold greens, string beans, or even potatoes, while ,cooking, as thus they are less likely to adhere to the bottom of the kettle, and often it is easier to remove the basket than to drain off the water. A potato masher of strong, continuous wire, the two ends inserted in a wooden handle, is inexpensive and fully as satisfactory as a more costly style. Cooking Terms From France. A few of the terms indicating the use of vegetables may be of service in studying books arranged by chefs: A la —According to, or in the style of. Au Gratin —With browned crumbs, as of bread; sometimes with cheese. Bouquet of Herbs —A sprig each of several kinds, as marjoram, parsley, celery leaf, savory, thyme. Creole or West Indian —With tomatoes, often also with peppers, onions and mushrooms. Jardiniere —Mixed vegetables. Macedoine —A medley or mixture of vegetables, often with meat Maigre—Without meat, as vegetable soup. Prlntainiere —A garnish of spring vegetables. Puree —Material mashed through a strainer. Roux—Flour browned in butter. Souffle —A puff; something inflated or swollen, as by beaten white of egg. Suggestions for Serving. Soups—One of the best ways to use left-over vegetables is in soups. A cupful of cooked cauliflower with some of the water in which It was cooked and an equal amount of milk and a slight thickening of butter and flour will provide a cream of cauliflower soup. If the vegetable already has white sauce with it, reduce it with milk to the right consistency, season and strain, and the soup is ready. A good tasting soup can be made with an onion, the trimmings of a bunch of celery and the outside leaves of a head of lettuce, all cut up fine and cooked in a little water and butter or other suitable fat When tender add skim or whole milk, thicken with a little flour or some one of the granular breakfast cereals which cook quickly, season and serve. If preferred, the milk and cereal may be cooked separately, added to the vegetables, and all boiled up together. A puree is half way between a cream soup and mashed vegetables; it is sometimes a thick soup, but oftener strained vegetables made soft with milk or stock and butter, and served < with meats, for Instance, a puree of split peas, dried lima beans or cowpeas. .