From the 1905 book, New England Cookbook distributed “Compliments of Metropolitan Coal Company,” Boston.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Most of the recipes chosen for this article are quite normal for any age. Do remember though, that cooking with these recipes was a chore given your coal stoves and in most cases lack of running hot water.

VI—VEGETABLES.

—VEGETABLES SHOULD BE FRESH.
—HOW TO WASH AND PRESERVE.
—BOW TO COOK WELL, AND IMPORTANCE OF’ SO DOING.
—SUITABLE POTS FOR COOKING VEGETABLES.
—VEGETABLES SUITABLE TO CERTAIN MEATS.
—SIXTY RECIPES FOR COOKING VEGETABLES.

ALL vegetables should be used when fresh as possible. Wash them thoroughly, and allow them to lie in cold water until ready to be used.

Great care must be taken to remove gravel and insects from heads of lettuce, cabbage, and cauliflower.

To do this, lay them for half an hour or more in a pan of strong brine, placing the stalk ends uppermost. This will destroy the small snails and insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom.

Strong-flavored vegetables, like turnips, cabbage, and greens, require to be put into a large quantity of water. More delicate vegetables, such as peas, asparagus, etc., require less water.

As a rule, in boiling vegetables, let the water boil before putting them in, and let it continue to boil until they are done. Nothing is more indigestible than vegetables not thoroughly cooked.

Just when they are done must be ascertained to a certainty in each particular case, without depending upon any general directions.

Never let boiled vegetables stand in the water after coming off the fire; put them instantly into a colander over a pot of boiling water, and let them remain there, if you have to keep them back from the table.

An iron pot will spoil the color of the finest greens; they should be boiled by themselves in a tin, brass, or copper vessel.

Potatoes are good with all meats. Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens, and cabbage belong with boiled meats; beets, peas, and beans are appropriate to either boiled or roast.

RECIPES.

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Boiled White Potatoes.—Peel off a strip about a quarter of an inch wide, lengthwise, around each potato. Put them on in cold water, with a teaspoonful of salt in it. Let them boil fifteen minutes, then pour off half the water and replace it with cold water.

When the edge of the peel begins to curl up they are done. Remove them from the pot, cover the bottom of a baking-tin with them, place them in the oven, with a towel over them, for fifteen minutes, leaving the oven door open. Then serve with or without the skins.

The use of cold water in boiling potatoes, as in this recipe, is exceptional. Hot water is generally used, but for this purpose cold seems preferable.

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Fried Sweet Potatoes.—Choose large potatoes, half boil them, and then, having taken off the skins, cut the potatoes in slices and fry in butter, or in nice drippings.

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Broiled Tomatoes.—Cut large tomatoes in two, from side to side, not from top to bottom; place them on a gridiron, the cut surface down; when well seared, turn them and put on butter, salt, and pepper; then cook with the skin side down until done.

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Fried Tomatoes.—Cut the tomatoes in slices without skinning; pepper and salt them well; then sprinkle a little flour over them and fry in butter until browned.

Put them on a hot platter; then pour milk or cream into the butter and juice, and when this is boiling hot, pour it over the tomatoes.

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Baked Sliced Tomatoes.—Skin the tomatoes, slice in small pieces;
- spread a thick layer in the bottom of a pudding dish;
- cover with a thin layer of bread-crumbs, and sprinkle salt, pepper, and a few small pieces of butter over them;
- add another layer of tomatoes, then of crumbs, etc., until the dish is filled;
- sprinkle over the top a layer of fine rolled crackers;
- bake one hour.

Canned tomatoes, put up whole, may be used nicely this way.

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Succotash.—Take ten ears of green corn and one pint of Lima beans; cut the corn from the cob, and stew gently with the beans until tender. Use as little water as possible.

Season with butter, salt, and pepper—milk, if you choose.

If a few of the cobs are stewed in the succotash, it will improve the flavor, as there is great sweetness in the cob.

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Boiled Asparagus.—Scrape the stems of the asparagus lightly, but make them very clean, throwing them into cold water as you proceed.

When all are scraped, tie them in bunches of equal size; cut the hard ends evenly, that all may be of the same length, and put into boiling water.

Prepare several slices of delicately browned toast half an inch thick. When the stalks are tender, lift them out and season with pepper and salt.

Dip the toast quickly into the liquor in which the asparagus was boiled, and dish the vegetable upon it, the points, or the butts, meeting in the centre of the dish.

Pour rich melted butter over it, and send to the table hot.

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Potato Hillocks.—Whip boiled potatoes light with a little butter and milk, and season with salt and pepper.

Beat in a raw egg, to bind the mixture; shape into small conical heaps, set in a greased pan in the oven, and as they brown, glare with butter. The oven must be very hot.

Slip a cake-turner under each hillock and transfer to a hot platter.—Marion Harland.

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Potato Pie.—Pare and cut four good-sized potatoes into dice, cover them with boiling water, boil ten minutes, drain.

Add to them one tablespoonful chopped parsley, one of chopped ham and one of chopped onion. Season with salt and pepper and turn into a baking dish.

Add one teaspoonful of baking powder and a half of salt to one pint of flour, mix and add sufficient milk to make a soft dough.

Roll out and cover the top of the baking dish, just as you would an ordinary pie.

Brush with milk and bake in a quick oven twenty minutes. Serve hot with cream sauce.—Mrs. S. T. Rorer.

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Stuffed Onions,—Select large onions, the Spanish variety preferred, and cook them in a steamer until tender, but not broken. Let them cool, then cut off a slice from the top and scoop out the inside, leaving not more than two or three layers.

Chop the part removed, and chop with it some sweet green pepper (one teaspoon for each onion). Into the onion cups put several boiled chestnuts (shelled), and fill the spaces with the chopped mixture. Add a teaspoon of butter and a little salt, and stand the onions in a pan of water.

Bake until very soft, and when nearly done cover the top with buttered cracker crumbs and return to the oven until the crumbs are crisp. When the crumbs are crisp, have ready a tomato sauce and pour it over them on the serving dish.—Mrs. Lincoln.

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Baked Egg-plant.—BoiI them till somewhat tender, in order to remove the bitter flavor. Then slit each one down the side, and take out the seeds.

Have ready a stuffing made of grated cracker, butter, minced herbs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and beaten yelk of eggs.

Fill with this the cavity left by the seeds, and bake the plants in a hot oven. Serve with well-seasoned gravy poured around them in the dish.

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Boiled Onions.—Skin them carefully and put them to boil; when they have boiled a few minutes, pour off the water add clean cold water, and then set them to boil again.

Pour this away also, and add more cold water, when they may boil till done.

This change of waters will make them white and clear, and very mild in flavor. After they are done, pour off all the water, and dress with a little cream, salt, and pepper to taste.

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Fried Squash.—Pare the squash, cut in slices, dip in egg seasoned with pepper and salt, then into cracker dust, and fry to a nice brown.

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Stewed Celery.—Clean the heads thoroughly; take off the coarse, green, outer leaves;
- cut the stalks into small pieces, and stew in a little broth;
- when tender, add some rich cream, a little flour, and butter enough to thicken the cream.

Season with pepper, salt, and a little nutmeg, if that is agreeable.

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SIDEBAR: (a cutout from a newspaper which someone placed in the cookbook; year unknown)

LIGHT BREAKFAST IS BEST.

“True vegetarianism is not altogether wise for the rushing and bustling American” says Mrs. S. T. Rorer, in the Ladies Home Journal. “Experiments, however, are limited to a very narrow range. Our so-called food specialists are single-eyed on the meat question, for they are, universally, meat-eating men.

Then, too, there is a tremendous lack of knowledge as to how to select the proper meat substitutes and how to cook them.

A vegetable diet does not mean potatoes and green vegetables, These do not contain nitrogen. A person fed upon such food would soon become unable to follow his daily rounds. Peas, beans, lentils and nuts served alone, or mixed with starchy foods, as hominy and rice, will give a sustaining power not obtainable by a meat diet.

The Japanese, who do, in their country, the work performed here by horses, are practically vegetarians; their muscles are well and evenly developed and their strength uniform.

In summing up, then, it would be better for the American, especially the indoor worker, to eat meat at the principal meal of the day—dinner—either at noon or night.

Even a laboring man, after the long sleep and rest of the night, wherein the muscles have regained themselves, does not need a heavy meat breakfast. Fruit, a cereal with milk or cream, a, bit of toast, an egg and a cup of coffee are quite sufficient.

END SIDEBAR

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Boiled Hominy.—Soak one cupful of fine hominy over night in three cupfuls of water, and salt to taste;
- in the morning turn it into a quart pail;
- then put the pail into a kettle of boiling water, cover tightly, and steam one hour;
- add one teacupful of sweet milk, and boil fifteen minutes additional, then serve hot.

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Macaroni with Tomatoes.—Have water boiling in a large saucepan;
- throw into it macaroni, broken, but not too short;
- let it cook twenty to thirty minutes, pour over it some cold water, and strain it quite dry;
- cut an onion into small dice, throw it into cold water and squeeze it dry in a cloth;
- put some olive oil, butter, or clarified fat into a saucepan;
- the oil, of course, is best. Throw into it the onion, and let it rook, shaking occasionally, until the onion is almost melted sway.

Have some cooked tomatoes ready to add to this sauce. If it is too thick, add some cold water by teaspoonfuls at a time. Let all simmer for ten minutes longer.

Sprinkle some grated cheese over your macaroni, which must be piping hot, in a dish. Pour the sauce over this and serve.

A quarter of a pound of macaroni makes a large dish, and takes about a third of a can to half a can of tomatoes.

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Mock Fried Oysters.—Scrape one bunch of salsify, and boil until tender; mash through a colander, add one beaten egg, a small piece of butter, salt and pepper to taste; drop by the spoonful into hot lard and fry brown.

VII.—SALADS AND SAUCES.

—SALADS DEFINED.
—HOW DRESSED, COMBINED, AND SERVED.
—SAUCES DEFINED.
—THEIR USES AND COMPOSITION.
—HOW TO PREPARE INGREDIENTS FOR SALADS.
—WHAT VEGETABLES TO EMPLOY.
—FRESHNESS, EXCELLENCE, ETC.
—THIRTY-SIX RECIPES FOR SALADS AND SAUCES.

UNDER the head of salads all preparations of uncooked herbs or vegetables is placed. They are usually dressed with salt, vinegar, oil, and spices. Sometimes they are combined with meat or shell fish, as chicken, veal, lobster, etc. They are used chiefly as relishes with other food.

Sauces are generally used to impart a relish to articles of food. Sometimes vegetables are employed as the basis of sauces, but they are compounded chiefly of savory condiments, that they may add zest to eating.

Meat or fish used in salads should not be minced, but rather picked apart, or cut in pieces of moderate size.

Cabbage, celery, asparagus, cauliflower, water-cress, and all kinds of lettuce are the vegetables best adapted for use in salads. They must be used when quite fresh and crisp, and all the ingredients used in their dressing must be of the best quality and flavor.

All condiments are in some sense sauces, but the term is usually confined to those which are the result of compounding a variety of articles.

RECIPES.

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Coldslaw.—With a sharp knife, or, better, with a knife made for the purpose, cut up into fine shavings a firm head of cabbage; sprinkle with as much salt and pepper as you deem necessary.

Beat up the yelk of one egg, add a lump of butter the size of a walnut, a gill of cream, the same quantity of vinegar, a tablespoonful of sugar, an even teaspoonful of mustard, and a pinch of bruised celery seed.

Heat these condiments together, without boiling, and pour over the sliced cabbage; then toss it with a fork until thoroughly mixed. Allow time for it to cool before serving.

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Maryland Coldslaw.—Halve the cabbage and lay it in cold water for one hour; shave down the head into small slips with a sharp knife.

Put in a saucepan a cup of vinegar, and let it boil;
- then add a cup of cream, with the yelks of two eggs, well beaten;
- let it boil up, and pour over the cabbage.

As soon as the cabbage is cut it should be sprinkled with a little salt and pepper.

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Potato Salad, No. 2.—Cut up three quarts of boiled potatoes, while hot, into neat pieces;
- add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a tablespoonful of chopped onion, a teaspoonful of pepper, and one of salt;
- also add a cupful of oil, and mix;
- then add a cupful of warm stock, a wineglassful of vinegar (from the mixed-pickle bottle);
- mix the ingredients together carefully, and do not break the potatoes any more than is absolutely unavoidable.

Set the whole in the ice-box and serve cold. The onion and parsley may be omitted, and boiled root celery added, or a little stalk celery chopped fine.

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Chicken Salad.—Boil a small chicken until very tender.

When entirely cold, remove the skin and fat, cut the meat into small bits, then cut the white part of the stalks of celery into pieces of similar size, until you have twice as much celery as meat.

Mix the chicken and celery together; pour on Slade’s Salad Cream, and stir all thoroughly. Cold veal used in place of chicken will also make a very excellent salad.

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Chicken Salad, No. 2.—Take three chickens, boil until very tender; when cold, chop them, but not too fine; add twice the quantity of celery cut fine, and three hard-boiled eggs sliced.

Make a dressing with two cups of vinegar, half a cup of butter (or two tablespoonfuls of oil), two eggs beaten, with a large tablespoonful of mustard, saltspoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, tablespoonful of pepper, or a little cayenne pepper.

Put the vinegar into a tin pan and set in a kettle of boiling water.

Beat the other ingredients together thoroughly and stir slowly into the vinegar until it thickens. Cool it and pour over the salad just before serving.

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Molasses Sauce. — One cupful of molasses, half a cupful of water, one tablespoonful of butter, a little cinnamon or nutmeg (about half a teaspoonful), one-fourth of a teaspoonful of salt, three tablespoonfuls of vinegar.

Boil all together for twenty minutes. Juice of lemon can be used instead of vinegar.— NEW COOK BOOK: Miss Maria Parloa. Estes & Lauriat, Publishers.

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Fruit-Syrup Sauce.—One cup fruit-syrup, one-half cup sugar, one teaspoonful corn-starch, one teaspoonful butter.

Use the syrup from apricots, peaches, cherries, quinces, or any fruit you prefer. The amount of sugar will depend upon the acidity of the fruit.

Mix the cornstarch with the sugar, add the syrup, and boil five minutes. Add butter last.—THE PEERLESS Cook Book: Mrs. D. A. Lincoln. Roberts Brothers, Publishers.

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Lobster Sauce. — One small lobster, four tablespoonfuls of butter, two of flour, one-fifth of a teaspoonful of cayenne, two tablespoonfuls of lemon-juice, one pint of boiling water. Cut the meat into dice. Pound the “coral” with one tablespoonful of the butter. Rub the flour and the remainder of the butter to a smooth paste. Add the water, pounded “coral” and butter, and the seasoning. Simmer five minutes and then strain on the lobster. Boil up once and serve.—NEW COOK BOOK: Miss Maria Parloa. Es/es & Lczuriat, Publishers.

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Green Tomato Sauce.—Cut up two gallons of green tomatoes;
- take three gills of black mustard seed,
- three tablespoonfuls of dry mustard,
- two and a half of black pepper,
- one and a half of allspice,
- four of salt,
- two of celery seed,
- one quart each of chopped onions and sugar,
- and two and a half quarts of good vinegar,
- a little red pepper to taste.

Beat the spices and boil all together until well done.

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Chili Sauce.—Take ten pounds of ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced;
- two pounds of peeled onions chopped fine;
- seven ounces of green peppers finely chopped, without the seeds;
- six ounces of brown sugar;
- four ounces salt;
- a pint and a half of vinegar.

Boil all together in a porcelain-lined kettle for several hours, until thick as desired.

Put up in tight cans or jars, and use with soups and gravies.

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Asparagus Sauce.—Take a dozen heads of asparagus; two teacupfuls drawn butter; two eggs; the juice of half a lemon; salt and white pepper.

Boil the tender heads in a very little salt water. Drain and chop them.

Have ready a pint of drawn butter, with two raw eggs beaten into it; add the asparagus, and season, squeezing in the lemon juice last.

The butter must be hot, but do not cook after putting in the asparagus heads. This is a delightful sauce for boiled fowls, stewed fillet of veal, or boiled mutton.

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Lemon Sauce.—One-half a cupful of butter, one cupful of sugar, yelks of two eggs, one teaspoonful of corn-starch.

Beat the eggs and sugar until light; add the grated rind and juice of one lemon.

Stir the whole into three gills of boiling water until it thickens sufficiently for the table.

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Vanilla Sauce.—Put half a pint of milk in a small saucepan over the fire; when scalding hot add the yelks of three eggs, and stir until it is as thick as boiled custard.

Remove the saucepan from the fire, and when cool add a tablespoonful of extract of vanilla and the beaten whites of two eggs.

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Venison Sauce.—Mix two teaspoonfuls of currant jelly, one stick of cinnamon, one blade of mace, grated white bread, ten tablespoonfuls of water.

Let the whole stew till thoroughly cooked, when done serve with venison steak.

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Lobster Sauce, No. 2.—Break the shell of the lobster into small pieces. Pour over these one pint of water or veal-stock and a pinch of salt; simmer gently until the liquid is reduced one-half.

Mix two ounces of butter with an ounce of flour, strain the liquid upon it and stir all, over the fire, until the mixture thickens, but do not let it boil.

Add two tablespoonfuls of lobster meat chopped fine, the juice of half a lemon, and serve.

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Plain French Dressing.—A plain French dressing is made simply of salt, pepper, oil, and vinegar. Three tablespoonfuls of oil to one of vinegar, saltspoon heaping full of salt, an even saltspoonful of pepper mixed with a little cayenne.

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Mayonnaise Sauce.—Work the yelks of two raw eggs to a smooth paste, and add two saltspoonfuls of salt, half a saltspoonful of cayenne, a saltspoonful of dry mustard, and a teaspoonful of oil.

Mix these thoroughly and add the strained juice of half a lemon.

Take what remains of half a pint of olive oil and add it gradually, a teaspoonful at a time, and every fifth teaspoonful add a few drops of lemon juice until you have used two lemons and the half-pint of oil.

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Mayonnaise Sauce, No. 2.—Rub the yelks of three hard. boiled eggs with the yelk of one raw egg to a smooth paste; add a heaping teaspoonful of salt, two saltspoonfuls of white pepper, and two saltspoonfuls of made mustard.

Mix thoroughly and work a gill of oil gradually into the mixture, alternated with a teaspoonful of vinegar, until you have used three tablespoonfuls of vinegar.

Should the sauce appear too thick, add a wineglassful of cream.

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Boiled Egg Sauce.—Add to half a pint of drawn butter sauce two or three hard-boiled eggs, chopped.