Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book

The Jerusalem Artichoke is a tuber, something like the potato ; but as it contains no starch, it is not mealy. Peel and throw at once into cold water and vinegar to preserve the color. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, watch closely, and take them out as they become soft, for if left in longer they will harden again. Serve with a white sauce. Jerusalem artichokes may be used as a salad, or they may be pickled. Globe Artichokes. — These are thick, fleshy-petalled flowers which grow on a plant that resembles the thistle. The thickened receptacle and scales of the involucre form the edible portion. Soak the artichokes, cut off the outside leaves, trim away the lower leaves and the ends of the others. Cook in boiling salted water, with the tops downward, half an hour, or until the leaves can be drawn out. Drain, remove the choke, and serve with drawn butter. Mushrooms. Peel the top and stalk, break in small pieces, place them in a stewpan, sprinkle slightly with salt and pepper, and let them stand half an hour, until the juice is drawn out. Stew the mushrooms in the juice and a little butter until tender, add cream to cover, and when the cream is hot serve on toast. Mushrooms are considered difficult of digestion. They are a fungous grow^th, and have a woody odor and a meaty flavor. They are used largely in sauces. Unless familiar with the difference between the edible and the poisonous mushrooms, it is safer to use the canned mushrooms, or to obtain the fresh at a reliable market. The Boston Cook Book. The eatable mushroom first appears very small, and of a round button shape, on a short underground stalk. At this stage it is all white. It grows rapidly, and soon the skin breaks around the base of the button, which there spreads like an umbrella, and shows underneath a fringed fur of a fine salmon-color, which changes to a chocolate and then to a dark brown color, when the mushrooms have attained some size. They are in perfection before the last change.The skin should peel easily. Those with yellow or white fur, and which grow in low, damp shady places, should be avoided. The good mushrooms spring up in open sunny fields in August and September. Do not trust to any written description, but search the fields with some one who can unerringly distinguish them. The common puff-ball, when white and hard, though not so delicate as the mushroom, makes a palatable dish. It should be peeled with a silver knife, cut in slices half an inch thick, dipped in crumbs and egg, or in a batter, and fried. Serve at once. Winter Squash. If the shell be soft, peel the squash, remove the seeds, and steam or cook in boiling salted water. If the shell be hard, split the squash, remove the seeds, and steam or boil until soft. Scrape out the soft part from the shell, mash, and season to taste. A pint of squash needs one tablespoonfull of butter, a few grains of pepper, half a teaspoonful of sugar, and salt to taste. Squash may be baked in the shell, then mashed, and seasoned as above.