Virginia Cookery-book

Prepare the walnuts as for pickle, then pound them in a marble mortar or an iron pot, and boil them, with vinegar, garlic, and spices to your taste. Boil in an iron pot : it makes them black; strain and bottle for use. Put the walnuts away in a jar, covered with vinegar. It furnishes an excellent condiment for stews, fish, etc. Walnut Catsup, No. 2. Made from walnut-shells without cooking. Three gallons of walnut -shell juice, seven pounds of salt, eight ounces of ginger, eight ounces of shallots, eight ounces of garlic, eight ounces of horseradish, one quart of essence of anchovies, one quart of vinegar, and two pounds of sugar. Cucumber Catsup. No cooking required. Three large cucumbers peeled and grated, one handful of horseradish scraped and cut into thin little bits, one onion peeled and chopped up fine, one pint of cider vinegar, one teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of black pepper. Six tiny pods of dwarf Cayenne pepper add to the flavor and look pretty. Mix all the ingredients together. Put the catsup in widemouthed bottles, cork, seal, and keep in a dry place. Worcestershire Sauce. Take one gallon ripe tomatoes, wash and simmer them in three quarts of water, boil down, and strain through a sieve. When all is drained add two table-spoonfuls of ginger, two of mace, two of whole black pepper, two of salt, one of cloves, one of Cayenne. Let them simmer in the juice until reduced to one quart ; pour in half a pint of best vinegar; pour the whole through a hairsieve; bottle in half -pint bottles, cork down tightly, seal, and keep in a cool place. CHAPTER XL VEGETABLES. Artichoke. — Asparagus. — French, or Snap Beans. — Lima Beans. — Beets. — Carrots.— Cabbage. — Cabbage Pudding, No. 1. — Cabbage Pudding, No. 2.— Cauliflower and Broccoli.— To Boil Com on the Ear.— To Stew Com. No. 1.— To Stew Corn, No. 3.— To Fry Corn. —To Bake Corn.— To Cook Dried Corn.- To Cook Cucumbers. — Cymlings, or Summer Squash. — To Bake Egg-plant. — To Fry Egg-plant.— Grits, or Small Hominy.— To Bake Grits.— Fried Grits. — To Boil Hominy.— Macaroni. — Okra. — Onions. — Onions ft la CrSme.— To Boil Old Potatoes.— To Boil Irish Potatoes.— To Steam Potatoes. — Mashed Potatoes. — ^Baked Potatoes. — Fried Potatoes for Dinner. — Sweet Potatoes. — Irish Potatoes Roasted. — Parsnips.— Green Peas.— Dried Peas or Beans. — To Boil Rice. — A Colored Cook Tells how to Dress Rice.— Baked Rice.— To Fry Salsify.— To Stew Salsify.— To Bake Salsify.— To Stew Spinach. — To Broil Tomatoes.— To Bake Tomatoes.— To Stew Tomatoes. —Forced Tomatoes.— Turnips.— Turnip-tops.— Baked Tumips. — Com and Tomatoes. — ^Tomatoes with Eggs. Artichokb. There are two kinds of artichoke used as vegetables. The first was frequently seen on the tables of the rich in old Virginia, rarely now. It is a thistle-like plant, and the part brought to table is the cone-shaped head, the bottom, as it is called, being considered a great delicacy. To prepare them for food trim off the outside leaves neatly, and boil in salt-and-water until tender. If young half an hour will be time enough. Serve in a covered dish, with accompaniment of a boat of creamed butter sauce. Special little cups should be set at each cover for the sauce, to which individuals add at pleasure pepper, salt, and vinegar. Each person pulls out the choke for himself and dips the edible part into his cup of sauce. VmOINIA COOKEBT'BOOK, 121 Another way of serving artichokes is to send them to table raw^ just as we do radishes. To eat them this way they must be gathered when very young and tender, cut through the bottom into quarters, and the choke removed. Thus they are accounted delicious, having the flavor of a fine nut. The sauce used is usually one of pepper, salt, vinegar, and olive oil.