COOKERY FOR LICENSED VICTUALLERS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 800, 6 July 1905, Page 23

COOKERY FOR LICENSED VICTUALLERS.

(By “ Cuisinier,” in the

L.V. Gazette.”)

THE COOKING OF VEGETABLES. « Gann °t be too explicit in giving directions for cooking. The only safe > plan is to take nothing for granted, and to assume that the reader is a tyro in the art. J. he cookery books are great sin- - ners in this respect, and go far too much 3 upon the presumption that their readers t are experienced cooks. In replies for the cooking of vegetables I think that this is particularly the case. An the majority of books the cook is rarely told whether to pub the vegetables into cold or boiling water, with the result, that > manv a good dish is. spoiled, while such ’ term J a ® blanch” and “refresh” are constantly made use of, to the bewilderment and confusion of the young cook. Io clear up the latter difficulty at once (t ay C>T e - say wherever the term blanch is used in cookery, it means to place anything on the fire in cold water until it boils, and, after straining it off. to plunge it into cold water for the purpose of rendering it white; while “ refresh or ■“ refraichir,” meanstopass tmough cold water after cooking in order to preserve the .colour. It may be taken as an almost universal rule that vegetables should be cooked in boiling water. There are, however, a few exceptions, such as potatoes, which, when old, should be placed in cold water, and when medium-aged in lukewarm water. New x lO es follow the geneial rule, and should be put into boiling water Jerusalem artichokes should be treated m the same way as potatoes - according to their age. ~ * S important in cooking vegetables that a good colour should be preserved. As hard water—such as London water spoils the colour of green vegetables, a little carbonate of soda should be added to the boiling water before the vegetables are put m. An important rule, which should never be neglected, is to leave the saucepan uncovered. If the steam is shut in the colour of the vegetables will be spoiled. Where there is an open fire it is impossible to do this in case of smoke getting in, and nothing is more unpleasant than smoky vegetables. Under such circumstances the lid • must be placed half-open, so that the steam may escape and yet the smoke not be drawn m. Vegetables should always be boiled in plentv of water and they should boil ven fast. __ If the quantity of water is ‘ - ar fK the x ™ oment vegetables are put m the pot the water goes off the boil L iTI ls important that the water should boil all the time. Another reason for having a large quantity, of water L? W • S1 ? la11 quantity the unpleasant smell which green vegetables give to water becomes concentrated, and consequently intensified. Green water should b V o J ir ° d do F n -the kitchen sink, as the effect of so doing would probably ermeate every room in the house if smelb .J* 1S always best to pour it down an outside sink or drain. The smell may be greatly modified bv boiling ° f br6ad al ° ng With the

un°?J. d is ° ften sim P l y warmed up m the frvmg-pan, making a greasy dish which few stomachs can digest It is much more palatable treated as folthen : xT Grea . se , a small pudding basin, then throw in browned breadcrumbs, and turn the basin about so that these may adhere equally to the sides. Press the cabbage with a wooden spoon through a wire sieve and season it with pepuer, salt, and nutmeg. Stir in about one ounce of butter and an egg well beaten up. Having mixed these ingredients thoroughly, fill the basin with them and bake ma moderate oven for twenty minutes. Turn, it out on to a very hot dish fvnd serve with brown sauce. To make the sauce, melt two ounces of butter in a small saucepan and add one ounce of flour, stirring until it is of a brown colour. Then add sufficient boiling stock to render it of a creamlike constituency and season to taste with salt and pepper’ there are many ways of serving up cold potatoes. The following will be found a

.good one. Cut the potatoes into slices. Make a sauce with a tabiespooniul of gravy or good stock, an ounce of giated cheese, an ounce and a half of butter, the juice of half a lemon, sale, peppei, nutmeg, and the well-beaten yokes of two eggs. Whisk these ingredient., over the fire until they thicken or are near boiling point. Place a layer of the sliced potatoes on a fireproof dish, mask with some of the sauce, and so on in alternate layers until all the potatoes and sauce are used up. Sprinkle grated cheese and browned breadcrumbs over the top layer of sauce. Bake for half an hour, and serve hot.

Haricot beans, left over from the previous day, make excellent croquettes. Mash the beans with a fork, or rub them through a wire sieve, season with finelychopped onion, pepper, and salt, and add sufficient breadcrumbs to permit of them being moulded easily. Shape them eitnei into balls or small round cakes. Dip them into a beaten egg and then mtobreadcrumbs, and fry in deer* hot fat until they are of a good brown colour. In conclusion, I may say that root vegetables should be tah.n of veiy sparingly by people who have a tendency to put on fat. while they should be shunned altogether by gouty, rheumatic, and diabetic people. But all green vegetables may be eaten freely, and, indeed, should always form a considerable poi tion of everyone’s dietary, except, of course, in those few cases where they are found to disagree with the stomach.