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Some Kitchen Kinks: Place

Add the quart of boiling water and the pepper. Place the saucepan where its contents will simmer for two hours. Taste to see if salt enough; if not, add salt.

This method of cooking new shelled beans gives a savory and substantial dish.

Green Lima Beans. -Cover 1 quart of the shelled beans with boiling water. Place on the fire where they will boil up quickly, then draw back where they will just simmer until done. When tender pour off a part of the water. Season the beans with a teaspoonful of salt and 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of butter.

Or drain the water from the beans.

Put the butter in a saucepan with 1 tablespoonful of flour. Stir over the fire until smooth and frothy, then add the beans and stir over the fire for five minutes. Draw back and add half a pint of water, meat stock, or milk. Simmer ten minutes. If liked, a teaspoonful of fine herbs may be added a few minutes before serving.

It will take from forty-five to sixty minutes to boil the beans sufficiently.

Dried Beans. -All dried beans require the same preliminary treatment, no matter how they are to be finally cooked and served. Look them over carefully to remove all dirt and pebbles, then wash clean. Soak them overnight in plenty of cold water. In the morning pour off the water and put them in a stewpan with cold water enough to cover them generously. Let them come to the boiling point in this water, then drain. If the beans are old and hard, for each quart put a piece of soda about the size of a large bean in the water in which they are soaked overnight, also in the first water in which they are boiled.

The scalded and drained beans should be put back in the stewpan and covered generously with boiling water. Add 1 tablespoonful of salt for 1 quart of beans. They should now cook slowly, with the cover partially off the stewpan until they have reached the required degree of tenderness. For stewed and baked beans the cooking must stop when the skins begin to crack. For beans served with a sauce they should cook until perfectly tender, but they must not be broken or mushy. For purées and soups they should be cooked until very soft.

Purée of Dried Beans.

Cook 1 quart of beans in water until very soft, then drain well (saving the water) and rub through a purée sieve. Put 1 pint of the strained beans in a stewpan with 2 tablespoonfuls of butter or savory drippings, 1 teaspoonful of sugar, 1 teaspoonful of salt, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of pepper, and hot milk enough to make the purée like thick mush. About half a pint of milk will be right. Cook in the double boiler for one hour, stirring often and adding more milk if too dry.

Heap the purée in the center of a hot platter. Garnish with a circle of fried sausages, pork chops, mutton chops, or any fat meat. The purée may be served as a vegetable, with any kind of meat. A soup may be made with the water in which the beans were cooked and the remainder of the strained beans.

Dried Beans Saute.

Cook the beans until tender, but not broken. Drain off the water and save it for soup. For 1 quart of beans put 3 tablespoonfuls of savory drippings or butter in a large-bottomed stewpan. When the fat is hot pat in the drained beans, which have been seasoned with a tablespoonful of salt and half a teaspoonful of pepper. Cook over a hot fire for fifteen minutes, frequently turning the beans over with a fork. Cover and let them cook for half an hour where they will not burn. If the beans are liked moist add a cupful of meat broth, milk, or water before putting them to cook for the last half hour.

This dish may be made more savory by frying a tablespoonful of minced chives, shallot, or onion in the butter or fat before adding the beans.

A tablespoonful of fine herbs may also be added to the beans to make them more savory.

Dried Beans with Sauce.

The well-cooked and drained beans may be moistened with any good sauce and cooked for half an hour.

Dried Beans in Salad.

Season the cooked and drained beans with any of the salad dress- APPENDIX ings described elsewhere and serve as a salad.

Baked Beans.

Cook the dried beans gently until the skins begin to break, then drain off the water. Put a layer of beans in a bean pot or deep earthen dish, and on this layer, in the center of the dish, place a piece of salt pork ("streak of fat and streak of lean") having the rind side up, using for 1 quart of beans a half pound of pork; the rind should be scored. Fill up the dish with the beans and add seasonings and water to cover the beans. The simplest seasoning is 1 tablespoonful of salt and half a teaspoonful of pepper to a quart of beans. Mix the salt and pepper with the water. If liked, a tablespoonful of mustard may be added as well as a tablespoonful or more of molasses and an onion. Instead of the pork a piece of salt or fat beef or mutton may be employed. In this case there should be from 12 to 2 pounds of the meat per quart of beans. If fresh meat be used, add more salt to the beans. If, on the other hand, salt meat is used, probably 1 teaspoonful of salt will be enough.

When mutton is employed trim off every particle of the skin.

Bake the beans in a very moderate oven for eight or ten hours. Add a little boiling water from time to time, but never enough to bring the water beyond the top of the beans. Any kind of bean may be baked in this manner. However, the small pea bean is the best for "Boston baked beans." The Lima and large white beans are best for the deep earthen dish. Do not cover the beans while baking.