Take three or more eggs, according to the number of guests and the available sprue, beat yolks and whites separately, and add a little milk and butter, or, better still, some cream. Mix in the asparagus, just warm in a saucepan, and send up in a deep dish with a border of fried bread ; or send up on cushions of fried bread, as buttered eggs are sent up. BEANS. 321 French, or Haricot Beans. This vegetable is particularly useful, because it can be eaten at three periods of its development. It can be grown as a forced vegetable very easily, and it bears perfectly the process of being preserved in a tin at two of these periods ; whilst in its third period it requires mere storage to be ready for cooking at any time. French Beans. When quite young and tender French beans are to be cut in the usual slices, cooked in boiling water, drained from the water, and a little piece of butter placed in the dish with them ; or if they are to be served as a dressed vegetable, after boiling and draining a ' Poulette sauce ' is to be mixed with them Flageolets. This is the second stage of French beans, i.e. when the pod is no longer eatable, and the bean inside is fit to be eaten as green peas are. The same mode of cooking as for green peas can be adopted. When the flageolets are canned, or preserved in tins, it is desirable to wash and dry them before cooking. Haricots. This is the third stage of the French bean : it has been allowed to complete its maturity, has been shelled and allowed to dry naturally. Y 322 BEANS. Before cooking dry haricot beans, they must be steeped in water overnight, and put on in fresh cold water. The time required to make them tender de- pends on the more or less hard state in which they are. Those bought at shops may be more than one year old, or may be over-dried. It is well therefore to experiment on a few beans. If no experiment has been made and the beans prove to be not soft enough to receive the savoury part of their treatment, the judicious cook will not attempt to send them to table that day. Let it be clearly understood that the beans must be made quite tender by soaking and boiling. When quite tender the water is to be drained from them, and a little good dripping and flour, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkle of pepper are to be stirred in, and the beans are to be allowed to absorb the fat, and just assume a slight colour before serving. At the last moment, add some chopped or powdered parsley. Windsor Beans. When young and tender these beans are to be cooked in boiling water with a little salt, drained and dried in a cloth, and served with parsley and butter stirred in, or with a rich parsley and butter sauce handed round. When old, these beans must have the tough outer skin removed ; and then they must be warmed again with a sauce, or made into a thick puree for garnishing a dish of cutlets. CA ULIFLO WER. 323 It is usual to send up boiled bacon or pig's face with Windsor beans. Lentils. If fresh, cook them in boiling water and proceed as for peas or beans. If dry, soak ; and cook in cold water as haricot beans. Cauliflower.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Take three or more eggs, according to the number of guests and the available sprue, beat yolks and whites separately, and add a little milk and butter, or, better still, some cream. Mix in the asparagus, just warm in a saucepan, and send up in a deep dish with a border of fried bread ; or send up on cushions of fried bread, as buttered eggs are sent up. BEANS. 321 French, or Haricot Beans. This vegetable is particularly useful, because it can be eaten at three periods of its development. It can be grown as a forced vegetable very easily, and it bears perfectly the process of being preserved in a tin at two of these periods ; whilst in its third period it requires mere storage to be ready for cooking at any time. French Beans. When quite young and tender French beans are to be cut in the usual slices, cooked in boiling water, drained from the water, and a little piece of butter placed in the dish with them ; or if they are to be served as a dressed vegetable, after boiling and draining a ' Poulette sauce ' is to be mixed with them Flageolets. This is the second stage of French beans, i.e. when the pod is no longer eatable, and the bean inside is fit to be eaten as green peas are. The same mode of cooking as for green peas can be adopted. When the flageolets are canned, or preserved in tins, it is desirable to wash and dry them before cooking. Haricots. This is the third stage of the French bean : it has been allowed to complete its maturity, has been shelled and allowed to dry naturally. Y 322 BEANS. Before cooking dry haricot beans, they must be steeped in water overnight, and put on in fresh cold water. The time required to make them tender depends on the more or less hard state in which they are. Those bought at shops may be more than one year old, or may be over-dried. It is well therefore to experiment on a few beans. If no experiment has been made and the beans prove to be not soft enough to receive the savoury part of their treatment, the judicious cook will not attempt to send them to table that day. Let it be clearly understood that the beans must be made quite tender by soaking and boiling. When quite tender the water is to be drained from them, and a little good dripping and flour, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkle of pepper are to be stirred in, and the beans are to be allowed to absorb the fat, and just assume a slight colour before serving. At the last moment, add some chopped or powdered parsley. Windsor Beans. When young and tender these beans are to be cooked in boiling water with a little salt, drained and dried in a cloth, and served with parsley and butter stirred in, or with a rich parsley and butter sauce handed round. When old, these beans must have the tough outer skin removed ; and then they must be warmed again with a sauce, or made into a thick puree for garnishing a dish of cutlets. CA ULIFLO WER. 323 It is usual to send up boiled bacon or pig's face with Windsor beans. Lentils. If fresh, cook them in boiling water and proceed as for peas or beans. If dry, soak ; and cook in cold water as haricot beans. Cauliflower.

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