Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Asparagus, Ragout of. — Take the tender parts of boiled asparagus ; mince some parsley and young onions with a few leaves of lettuce ; put them in a saucepan with butter, a little water, salt and pepper, a little nutmeg, and a pinch of flour; simmer, stirring occasionally until done. Scald the asparagus in this, and serve very hot with croutons of fried bread and egg sauce. Asparagus Tips as Pease. — Take off about two inches of the head-ends of the asparagus ; cut them into pieces about the size of pease, and put them into a saucepan with some cold salt and water. Let them boil about ten minutes ; then take them out, drain them, melt a piece of butter the size of an egg in a saucepan, and place them in it. Shake the saucepan over the fire for a few minutes ; then sprinkle a dessert-spoonful of flour Beans, Boston Beans, Lima over it, and a small teacupful of boiling water, pepper and salt to taste, and pour over the asparagus the beaten yolks of two eggs, mixed with four table - spoonfuls of new milk. Let all simmer gently for five or ten minutes, then serve. Time, half an hour. Allow a hundred for a tureenful. Beans, Boston Baked. — Pick over the beans, rejecting all imperfect ones ; soak them overnight ; in the morning parboil them till the skins crack open, dip them from the kettle with a perforated skimmer into a glazed earthen pot, salt to taste. Put in the top of the pot a piece of fat salt pork with the rind scored, cover with water, put on a cover of dough or tin, and bake in an oven not very hot for six hours. If the oven is of brick they may be put in at night and remain till morning. Butter or suet may be used instead of pork. Sometimes a table - spoonful of molasses is put in when the salt is added. Beans, Creamed. — Soak a pint of beans in cold water overnight. In the morning put them on the range in enough slightly salted water to cover them, and let them boil steadily until they are broken to pieces and not a whole bean remains. They may simmer all day without injury to them, care being taken to renew the water as fast as it boils away. One hour before the meal for which they are destined, rub the beans through a colander ; add to the pulp thus formed a white sauce. This is made by cooking together a tablespoonful of butter and one of flour, pouring a large cupful of milk over them, and stirring until thick and smooth. Mix the bean -pulp thoroughly with this sauce, and, last of all, add two well-beaten eggs ; pepper and salt to taste. Beat all hard for a minute, turn into a buttered puddingdish, sprinkle fine bread-crumbs over the top, and bake in a hot oven until lightly browned. Serve at once. Bean Croquettes. — One cupful of dried white beans, four table-spoonfuls of bread - crumbs — those of wholewheat bread are the best ; one tablespoonful of butter, one heaping teaspoonful of minced onion, parsley, and sweet-marjoram, one table-spoonful of salt, and a little pepper. Soak the beans all night in cold water. In the morning boil until tender, drain them, and mash smooth. If you wish, you can rub them through a colander, thus ridding them of the husks. Mix with them the other ingredients. Flour the hands, make the mixture into oval balls, dip them in raw egg, roll them in fine crumbs, and fry them in deep fat, like other croquettes. Beans, Lima, and Green Corn. —