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Vegetables (Good vegetables carefully)

Good vegetables, carefully dressed, are wholesome, easy of digestion, and tend to purify the blood. In foreign countries they are frequently served as separate dishes, and constitute a distinctive part of the dinner. Here they are generally served with the meat. Vegetables may be cooked in a variety of ways, and the recipes for preparing them are given under their respective headings. As to general rules, the reader is referred to the PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY, page liii. In boiling vegetables, some most important points must not be forgotten, and those are, to boil them exactly the proper time, to take them out of the water the moment they are sufficiently cooked, to drain them, and keep them hot. If underdone, they are indigestible; if overdone, their appearance is spoilt and their flavour lost. On this account it is necessary to calculate as exactly as possible how long they will take, and when they will be needed, so that they may be sufficiently cooked just when they are wanted. These calculations must be regulated by the age, freshness, and size of the vegetables. Summer vegetables are in perfection only when they are freshly gathered and properly matured. There is an exception to this rule, however, artichokes being improved by being kept two or three days. But it is not always that vegetables can be procured in this condition. For advice as to the best way of keeping them, see VEGETABLES, KEEPING OF.