VEGETABLES

In the vegetable kingdom the cereals form a very important part of our diet, by supplying chiefly the carbohydrates or heat giving matter. Another nutritious group termed pulse, are those which have their seed enclosed in a pod. The most familiar are peas, beans, and lentils; peas and beans are eaten in the green or unripe state as well as in the dried. Vegetables included in the pulse group are very nourishing if they can be digested, they contain a large amount of flesh forming matter, usually a fair amount of starch, but are deficient in fat. Peas and beans also contain sulphur and tend to produce flatulence when indulged in by those of weak digestion. Lentils contain less sulphur, and do not produce this complaint so readily.

The more succulent vegetables include tubers, as potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, leaves, stems, and bulbs, as cabbages, spinach, celery, and onions, roots and flowers, as carrots, parsnips, and cauliflower. These are very valuable on account of the mineral matter, chief of which are the potash salts, so necessary to keep the blood in a healthy condition.

Care should be taken in cooking vegetables not to lose the salts. Steaming is preferable to boiling, by preserving the juices, though it does not tend to improve the color of green vegetables. A little lemon juice added to the water in which new potatoes are boiling improves their color. Mint is sometimes cooked with new potatoes. To secure a good color in vegetables when cooked, careful cleaning and preparation before cooking is essential. Earthy roots, such as potatoes, turnips, and carrots, must be both well scrubbed and thoroughly rinsed in clean water before peeling. From all vegetables, coarse or discolored leaves and any dark or decayed spots should be carefully removed before cooking.

Potatoes should be peeled thinly, or, if new, merely brushed or rubbed with a coarse cloth to get the skin off. Turnips should be thickly peeled, as the rind in these is hard and woody. Carrots and salsify, unless very old, need scraping only. After the removal of the skin, all root vegetables (except those of the onion kind) should be put in cold water till wanted. Potatoes, artichokes, and salsify especially, must not remain a moment out of water after peeling, or they will turn a dark color, and to the water used for the two last, a little salt and lemon juice should be added in order to keep them white.

Root vegetables should be boiled with the lid of the pan on, green vegetables should be boiled with the lid of the pan off, for the preservation of the color.

Baked Parsnips

½ cupful Crisco

5 parsnips

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and wash parsnips and cut into two lengthwise, and steam for one hour. Remove from fire, lay in greased baking pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, spread Crisco over top and bake slowly till tender. Serve hot.

Brussels Sprouts with Crisco

½ cupful Crisco

2 baskets brussels sprouts

½ cupful grated cheese

Trim sprouts and cook them in boiling salted water till tender, drain and dry on clean cloth. Heat Crisco hot, then add sprouts, and fry until very hot. Turn them into hot vegetable dish, sprinkle cheese over them and serve immediately.

Sufficient for one dish.

Colcannon

3 tablespoonfuls Crisco

½ lb. cold cooked potatoes

½ lb. cold cooked cabbage

1 onion

Salt and pepper to taste

Chop onion and cabbage and mash potatoes. Put into frying pan with Crisco and fry few minutes adding seasonings. Turn into Criscoed fireproof dish and brown in oven.

Lentils and Rice

3 tablespoonfuls Crisco

½ cupful lentils

½ cupful milk

½ cupful water

1 teaspoonful curry powder

1 small onion

1 tablespoonful lemon juice

1 cupful boiled rice

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash lentils and soak them in milk twelve hours. Melt Crisco, slice onion and fry a pale brown, add curry powder, milk, water, seasonings, and lentils, simmer two hours and add lemon juice just before serving. Serve with rice.

Corn Fritters

1 tablespoonful melted Crisco

1 can crushed corn

1 cupful flour

1 teaspoonful baking powder

2 teaspoonfuls salt

¼ teaspoonful white pepper

3 tablespoonfuls milk

Put corn into bowl, add Crisco, salt, pepper, flour, baking powder, and milk. Mix well and drop in spoonfuls on a Criscoed griddle. Fire brown on both sides. These fritters are a palatable accompaniment to roast chicken.

Sufficient for twelve fritters.

Corn, Okra and Tomatoes

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco

2 tablespoonfuls sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

6 ears corn

6 okra pods

6 tomatoes

2 cupfuls water

Cut corn from cob, put into saucepan, cover with water and bring to boil. Scald and skin tomatoes and cut okra into cross sections half inch long. Add both to corn with Crisco and seasonings. Stir and cook until tender. Serve hot.

Curried Cauliflower

4 tablespoonfuls Crisco

1 cauliflower

1 sliced onion

1 dessertspoonful curry powder

1 tablespoonful lemon juice

¼ teaspoonful salt

1 cupful stock or water

Boil cauliflower in boiling salted water till tender, drain, then divide into small flowerets. Fry onion in Crisco a few minutes, then add curry powder, lemon juice and stock or water. Simmer fifteen minutes, then strain into clean saucepan. Add cauliflower and salt and simmer fifteen minutes. Serve hot.

Creamed Potatoes au Gratin

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco

1 quart peeled and diced potatoes

2 cupfuls milk

1 tablespoonful flour

1 cupful grated cheese

1 teaspoonful salt

¼ teaspoonful white pepper

Few breadcrumbs

Cut potatoes in about 1½-inch pieces, then boil carefully in boiling salted water. When done, drain, and pour into Criscoed fireproof dish. Blend Crisco and flour in saucepan over fire, add milk, stir till boiling, then add cheese and seasonings. Pour over potatoes; grate a little cheese over top, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bake five minutes in hot oven.

Eggplant en Casserole

4 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco

1 large eggplant

3 small onions

2 garlic cloves

3 tomatoes

1 green pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice eggplant into thin slices, then slice onions, garlic, tomatoes and pepper quite thin. Arrange them, alternately, in a Criscoed casserole, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper. Pour in melted Crisco and cover. Cook over slow fire or in moderate oven till the eggplant is tender. Serve hot or cold.

Fried Parsley

Crisco

1 bunch parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash, pick and dry the parsley; put into frying basket and immerse in hot Crisco fifteen seconds or until crisp. Drain and sprinkle with salt and pepper. It should be a nice green color. If it turns black it has been too long in the fat.

Green Peas a la Maitre d’Hotel

4 tablespoonfuls Crisco

1 quart shelled peas

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoonful lemon juice

2 sprigs mint

1 tablespoonful chopped parsley

1 teaspoonful sugar

Shell peas and throw into plenty boiling water containing a teaspoonful of salt, sugar, and mint; boil fast until tender, then drain. Mix lemon juice with Crisco and parsley; stir this among peas, reheat them, and serve at once.

Jerusalem Artichokes

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco

1 lb. artichokes

2 tablespoonfuls flour

1 yolk of egg

2 teaspoonfuls lemon juice

1½ cupfuls milk

2 tablespoonfuls cream

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoonful chopped parsley

¼ cupful vinegar

1 pint boiling milk

Wash and scrape artichokes, and throw each one in cold water containing vinegar; when all are done, rinse in water and put into boiling milk, add cupful of boiling water and teaspoonful of salt. Boil quickly with lid off, pierce with fork to know if done. Lift into hot dish and cover with sauce. Blend Crisco and flour in saucepan, over fire, add milk, salt and pepper, and cook five minutes. Remove from fire, add egg beaten with cream and lemon juice, pour over artichokes and sprinkle parsley over top.

Mushrooms au Gratin

4 tablespoonfuls Crisco

14 large mushrooms

1 egg

Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste

1 tablespoonful chopped parsley

2 tablespoonfuls chopped cooked meat

2 tablespoonfuls breadcrumbs

½ cupful stock

1 tablespoonful chopped suet

Beat up egg, add suet, breadcrumbs, meat, parsley, and seasonings. Wash and remove centers from mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, and red pepper, also place tiny piece of Crisco in each. Then put heaping teaspoonful of forcemeat in each one, and cover with crumbs. Lay on Criscoed tin, add stock, and bake fifteen minutes. Serve on hot dish with gravy poured round.

Sufficient for fourteen mushrooms.

New Potatoes a la France

3 tablespoonfuls Crisco

2 lbs. new potatoes

2 sprigs mint

1 teaspoonful salt

1 tablespoonful chopped parsley

1 tablespoonful lemon juice

Wash and scrape potatoes. With round vegetable cutter scoop out from potatoes a number of little balls like marbles; boil these till tender in water, to which have been added salt and mint. Drain, add Crisco, parsley, and lemon juice. Toss them about gently in pan a few minutes, and serve on hot dish.

Potato Pone

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco

1 generous cupful grated raw sweet potatoes

1 cupful molasses

1 cupful milk

1 teaspoonful powdered ginger

½ teaspoonful powdered cinnamon

½ teaspoonful salt

1 tablespoonful chopped candied orange peel

½ cupful sugar

Grate potatoes or put them through meat chopper, add molasses, sugar, milk, Crisco, salt, spices, and orange peel. Mix well, turn into Criscoed fireproof dish and bake in moderate oven till firm.

Sufficient for one small pone.

Savory Lentil Dish

4 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco

1 cupful lentils

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs parsley

1 chopped onion

Salt, pepper, and powdered mace to taste

1 cupful boiled rice

1½ cupfuls highly seasoned tomato sauce

Wash lentils and soak in plenty of cold water four hours. Put into boiling salt water, add bay leaf, parsley, seasonings and cook till tender. Chop and fry onion in 3 tablespoonfuls of Crisco, add lentils, rice and remainder of Crisco, stir and allow to get hot. Turn into hot dish and pour over tomato sauce.

Stuffed Beets

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco

6 beets

2 green peppers

2 tablespoonfuls breadcrumbs

½ teaspoonful onion juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Watercress

Select 6 smooth even-sized beets and boil in boiling salted water until tender. Peel, remove root end and remove center, leaving shell about half inch thick. Remove stems and seeds from peppers; cover peppers with boiling water ten minutes. Dice them with scooped out beet, add Crisco, breadcrumbs, and seasonings. Mix and divide into beet shells, dot with Crisco and bake in moderate oven twenty minutes. Serve garnished with watercress.

Sufficient for six beets.

Stuffed Eggplant

3 tablespoonfuls Crisco

3 small eggplants

½ cupful breadcrumbs

1½ cupfuls stock

½ cupful chopped cooked chicken or veal

1 egg

Salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste

½ cupful white wine

Criscoed crumbs

1 tablespoonful flour

1 tablespoonful sherry

Cut eggplants in halves and scoop out inside, leaving shell half inch thick. Soak ½ cupful breadcrumbs in ½ cupful stock ten minutes, then add cooked chicken, 2 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco, egg, well beaten, and seasoning of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Divide this forcemeat into eggplants, sprinkle Criscoed crumbs on top, set them in greased pan, pour in rest of stock and white wine and bake half hour in moderate oven. Serve on hot dish with following sauce.

Put 1 tablespoonful Crisco and 1 tablespoonful flour into saucepan and blend over fire, add sherry and 1 cupful liquor from pan in which they were baked, and cook five minutes.

Sufficient for three eggplants.

Stuffed Potatoes

(Kate B. Vaughn)

2 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco

6 large potatoes

2 tablespoonfuls grated cheese

1 yolk of egg

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash six well shaped white potatoes and rub skin with Crisco. Bake until tender, cut slice off one end, and with a teaspoon remove all potato from shells. Mash the potato, adding Crisco, cheese, seasonings, and egg yolk. Refill shells and bake fifteen minutes. Serve hot on napkin.

Sufficient for six potatoes.

Viennese Carrots

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco

1 bunch carrots

1 tablespoonful flour

½ teaspoonful sugar

2 tablespoonfuls vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoonful chopped parsley

1 cupful cooked peas

Scrape carrots, cut in small pieces, and boil till tender in boiling salted water. Blend Crisco and flour together in saucepan over fire, stir in 1 cupful water in which carrots were cooked, boil five minutes, then add sugar, seasonings, vinegar, parsley, peas, and carrots; simmer ten minutes and serve hot in vegetable dish.