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172 VEGETABLES. |
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a handsome garnish and a beautiful breakfast dish. They should be washed before using, but handled delicately. The pods also are good and make excellent pickle, and are a fine substitute for capers in making sauce.
Boiled Sea Kale—To each 1-2 gallon of water allow 1 table-spoonful of salt; wash the kale well and cut away the worm-eaten pieces and tie it into small bunches, or throw it loosely into boiling water salted in the above proportion ; take it out, drain, untie the bunches, or dip it up with a perforated ladle and serve with plain butter or cream, which should be hot, and poured over. Sea kale may be parboiled and stewed in brown gravy. It will then take about 1-2 hour altogether. Boil 15 or 20 minutes. Different kinds of salads may be boiled together.
To Dress Cucumbers,—Three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, 4 ta-blespoonfuls of good cider vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Let the cucumbers be gathered early in the morning while the dew is on them, and then drop them into cold water and kept in a cool, damp place, then have ready a bowl of cool, clean water, pare the cucumbers and drop them in the water; when done, draw the water off and put in a supply of fresh, then cut the cucumbers up in thin, round slices until reaching the bitter end, which should be rejected; then pour cold'water on the cucumbers several times, then put them in a cold dish, then pour the vinegar over them first, then the oil, then pepper and salt and put them in the refrigerator or in a cool vessel with water in it. This can be eaten with anything and at any meal. If the salt is added before the vinegar it will cause the fruit to wilt. Cucumbers should have 1-3 onions cut up with them to have them in perfection, and if they can be set on ice it is best to cut them up in the morning in a bowl of water and set them on the ice until about to be used, then pour the water off and season with vinegar, &c. The oil can be left out if desired.
Stewed Cucumbers.—Three large cucumbers, flour, butter, rather more than 1 pint of good gravy ; cut the cucumbers lengthwise the size of the dish they are to be served in; empty them of their seeds and put them into boiling water with a little salt and let them simmer for 5 minutes, then take them out, place them in another stew pan with the gravy and let them boil over a brisk fire until they are done. Should these be bitter add a lump of sugar, carefully dish them, skim the sauce, pour over the cucumbers and serve; cook 20 minutes.
Cucumbers a la Poulette.—Take 2 or 3 middle-sized cucumbers, salt, vinegar, 1 spoonful of butter, flour, 1-2 pint of broth, 1 teaspoonful of minced parsley, a lump of sugar, the yolks of 2 eggs, pepper and salt to taste. Pare and cut the cucumbers into slices of |
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