Science in the Kitchen Part 27

STEAMED SQUASH.--Prepare the squash, and steam until tender. Mash and season as for baked squash.

THE PUMPKIN.

DESCRIPTION.--When our forefathers came to this country, they found the pumpkin growing in the Indian cornfields, and at once made use of it. Although as food it did not supply what its handsome exterior promised, yet in the absence of other fruits and relishes, of which the exigencies of a new country deprived them, they soon found the pumpkin quite palatable; and the taste, cultivated through necessity, has been handed down through generations, until the pumpkin stewed and baked in pies, has become an established favorite.

_RECIPES._

BAKED PUMPKIN.--Wash the pumpkin well on the outside, divide into quarters if small, into sixths or eighths if large; remove the seeds but not the rind. Bake as directed for squash. Serve in the rind, dis.h.i.+ng it out by spoonfuls.

STEWED PUMPKIN.--Select a good, ripe pumpkin, and cut in halves; remove the seeds, slice halfway around, pare, cut into inch pieces, put over the fire in a kettle containing a small quant.i.ty of boiling water, and stew gently, stirring frequently until it breaks to pieces. Cool, rub through a colander, and place where it will just simmer, but not burn, until the water is all evaporated and the pumpkin dry. Pumpkin for pies is much richer baked like squash, and rubbed through a colander after the skin has been removed.

DRIED PUMPKIN.--Pumpkin may be dried and kept for future use. The best way is first to cut and stew the pumpkin, then spread on plates, and dry quickly in the oven. Dried in this manner, it is easily softened, when needed, by soaking in a small quant.i.ty of water, and is considered nearly as good as that freshly stewed.

TOMATO.

DESCRIPTION.--The tomato, or "love apple," as it was called in the early part of the century, is a native of South America and Mexico. It was formerly regarded as poisonous, and though often planted and prized as a curiosity in the flower garden, it has only within the last half century come to be considered as a wholesome article of diet.

Botanically, it is allied to the potato. It is an acid fruit, largely composed of water, and hence of low nutritive value; but it is justly esteemed as a relish, and is very serviceable to the cook in the preparation of soups and various mixed dishes.

PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Tomatoes to be served in an uncooked state should be perfectly ripe and fresh. The medium-sized, smooth ones are the best. To peel, pour scalding water over them; let them remain for half a minute, plunge into cold water, allow them to cool, when the skins can be easily rubbed off. Tomatoes should always be cooked in porcelain or granite ware; iron makes them look dark, and being slightly acid in character, they are not wholesome cooked in tin vessels.

Tomatoes require cooking a long time; one hour is needed, and two are better.

_RECIPES._

BAKED TOMATOES.--Fill a pudding dish two thirds full of stewed tomatoes; season with salt, and sprinkle grated crumbs of good whole-wheat or Graham bread over it until the top looks dry. Brown in the oven, and serve with a cream dressing.

BAKED TOMATOES NO. 2. Wash and wipe a quant.i.ty of smooth, even-sized tomatoes; remove the stems with a sharp-pointed knife.

Arrange on an earthen pudding or pie dish, and bake whole in a moderate oven. Serve with cream.

SCALLOPED TOMATOES.--Take a pint of stewed tomatoes, which have been rubbed through a colander, thicken with one and one fourth cups of lightly picked crumbs of Graham or whole-wheat bread, or a sufficient quant.i.ty to make it quite thick, add salt if desired, and a half cup of sweet cream, mix well, and bake for twenty minutes. Or, fill a pudding dish with alternate layers of peeled and sliced tomatoes and bread crumbs, letting the topmost layer be of tomatoes. Cover, and bake in a moderate oven for an hour or longer, according to depth. Uncover, and brown for ten or fifteen minutes.

STEWED CORN AND TOMATOES.--Boil dried or fresh corn until perfectly tender, add to each cup of corn two cups of stewed, strained tomatoes, either canned or freshly cooked. Salt to taste, boil together for five or ten minutes, and serve plain or with a little cream added.

TOMATO GRAVY.--Heat to boiling one pint of strained stewed tomatoes, either canned or fresh, and thicken with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little water; add salt and when thickened, if desired, a half cup of hot cream. Boil together for a minute or two and serve at once.

TOMATO SALAD.--Select perfectly ripe tomatoes, and peel at least an hour before using. Slice, and place on ice or in a cool place. Serve plain or with lemon juice or sugar as preferred.

TOMATO SALAD NO. 2.--Use one half small yellow tomatoes and one half red. Slice evenly and lay in the dish in alternate layers. Powder lightly with sugar, and turn over them a cupful of orange juice to a pint of tomato, or if preferred, the juice of lemons may be used instead. Set on ice and cool before serving.

BROILED TOMATOES.--Choose perfectly ripened but firm tomatoes of equal size. Place them on a wire broiler, and broil over glowing coals, from three to eight minutes, according to size, then turn and cook on the other side. Broil the stem end first. Serve hot with salt to season, and a little cream.

TOMATO PUDDING.--Fill an earthen pudding dish with alternate layers of stale bread and fresh tomatoes, peeled, sliced, and sprinkled lightly with sugar. Cover the dish and bake.

STEWED TOMATOES.--Peel and slice the tomatoes. Put them into a double boiler, without the addition of water, and stew for an hour or longer. When done, serve plain with a little sugar added, or season with salt and a tablespoonful of rather thick sweet cream to each pint of tomatoes. If the tomatoes are thin and very juicy, they may be thickened with a little flour rubbed smooth in a little cold water. They are much better, however, to stew a longer time until the water they contain is sufficiently evaporated to make them of the desired consistency. The stew may also be thickened, if desired, by the addition of bread crumbs, rice, or macaroni.

TOMATO WITH OKRA.--Wash the okra, cut off the stem and nibs, and slice thin. For a quart of sliced okra, peel and slice three large tomatoes. Stew the tomatoes for half an hour, then add the okra, and simmer together for half an hour longer. Season with salt and a little cream.

EGG PLANT.

DESCRIPTION.--The egg plant, a vegetable indigenous to the East Indies, is somewhat allied in character to the tomato. In shape, it resembles an egg, from which fact it doubtless derives its name. It ranks low in nutritive value. When fresh, the plant is firm and has a smooth skin.

_RECIPES._

SCALLOPED EGG PLANT.--Pare a fresh egg plant. If large, divide in quarters, if small, in halves, and put to cook in boiling water. Cook until it can be easily pierced with a straw, and drain in a colander.

Turn into a hot dish, and beat with a silver fork until finely broken.

Measure the egg plant, and add to it an equal quant.i.ty of graded bread crumbs, a little salt, and a tablespoonful of thick sweet cream. Lastly, add one well beaten egg. Put in an earthen pudding dish, and brown in the oven until the egg is set, and the whole is heated throughout but not dry.

BAKED EGG PLANT.--Wash and cook whole in boiling water until tender. Divide in halves, remove the inside with a spoon, taking care not to break the skin. Beat the egg plant smooth with a fork. Season with salt and cream, and if desired, a stalk of celery or a small slice of onion very finely minced, for flavor. Put back in the skin, sprinkle the top with bread crumbs, and brown the outside uppermost in the oven.

CUc.u.mBER.

DESCRIPTION.--The cuc.u.mber is a native of Southern Asia, although it is quite commonly cultivated in most civilized countries. It formed a part of the dietary of the Israelites when in Egypt, where it grew very plentifully. The ancient Greeks held the cuc.u.mber in high esteem, and attributed to it wonderful properties.

The cuc.u.mber is not a nutritious vegetable, and when served in its raw state, as it so generally is, dressed with salt, vinegar, pepper, and similar condiments, it is an exceedingly indigestible article. If it is to be eaten at all, it should first be cooked. It may be pared, divided in quarters, the seeds removed, and cooked in a small quant.i.ty of water until perfectly tender, and served on toast with an egg sauce or a cream sauce; or it may be prepared the same as directed for Escalloped Egg Plant.

SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER.

DESCRIPTION.--The vegetable oyster plant, sometimes called purple goat's-beard, or salsify, is indigenous to some portions of Great Britain. The long, slender root becomes fleshy and tender under cultivation, with a flavor, when cooked, somewhat resembling that of the mollusk for which it is named. On this account, it is much esteemed for soups. A variety of the plant grows near the line of perpetual snow, and forms the princ.i.p.al article of fresh vegetable food in the dietary of Kurdistan.

PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Select fresh and unshriveled roots, wash and sc.r.a.pe well, dropping into cold water as soon as cleaned, to prevent discoloration. If the roots are covered with cold water for a half hour or more before sc.r.a.ping, they can be cleaned much easier. Use a porcelain-lined kettle, for cooking, as an iron one will discolor it and injure its flavor. From twenty minutes to one hour, according to age, is required to cook it tender.

_RECIPES._

SCALLOPED VEGETABLE OYSTERS.--Boil two quarts of sliced vegetable oysters in about two quarts of water until very tender. Skim them out, and fill a pudding dish with alternate layers of crumbs and oysters, having a layer of crumbs for the top. To the water in which they were boiled, add a pint and a half of thin cream, salt to taste, boil up, and thicken with a heaping tablespoonful or two of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold cream. Pour this over the oysters and crumbs, and bake a half hour. If this is not enough to cover well, add more cream or milk.

Stewed tomatoes are a nice accompaniment for escalloped vegetable oysters.

STEWED VEGETABLE OYSTERS.--Wash, sc.r.a.pe, and cut into slices not more than one half inch in thickness. Put into a small quant.i.ty of boiling water and cook until tender. If a large quant.i.ty of water is used, the savory juices escape, and leave the roots very insipid. When tender, pour in a cup of rich milk and simmer for five or ten minutes; add a little flour rubbed smooth in milk, and salt if desired; boil up once, and serve as a vegetable or on slices of nicely browned toast. If preferred, a well-beaten egg may be used in the place of flour.

GREEN CORN, PEAS, AND BEANS.

DESCRIPTION.--Corn, peas, and beans in their immature state are so nearly allied to vegetables, that we give in this connection recipes for cooking green corn, green beans, and green peas. A general rule applicable to all is that they should, when possible, be cooked and eaten the day they are gathered, as otherwise they lose much of their sweetness and flavor. For corn, select young, tender, well-filled ears, from which the milk will spurt when the grain is broken with the finger nail. Beans and peas are fresh only when the pods are green, plump, snap crisply when broken, and have unshriveled stems. If the pods bend and appear wilted, they are stale. Corn, peas, and beans are wholesome and nutritious foods when thoroughly cooked and sufficiently masticated, but they are almost indigestible unless the hull, or skin, of each pea, bean, or grain of corn, be broken before being swallowed.

_RECIPES FOR CORN._

BAKED CORN.--Select nice fresh ears of tender corn of as nearly equal size as possible. Open the husks and remove all the silk from the corn; replace and tie the husks around the ears with a thread. Put the corn in a hot oven, and bake thirty minutes or until tender. Remove the husks before serving.

BAKED CORN NO. 2.--Sc.r.a.pe enough corn from the cob (as directed below for Corn Pulp) to make one and a half quarts. Put into a baking dish, season with salt if desired, add enough milk, part cream if convenient, barely to cover the corn, and bake in a hot oven twenty-five or thirty minutes.