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Some Kitchen Kinks: Vegetables

Flavoring Vegetables, Herbs, Spices, Etc.

Many flavorings are used in meat dishes, some of which are familiar to all cooks-onions, carrots, turnips, and garlic being perhaps the most widely known. Butter, too, may be regarded as one of the most common seasonings, and of course makes the dish richer. Meat extract is also used for flavoring many meat dishes and other foods, as are also, though less commonly, similar extracts made from clams or other "sea food." The following list includes these with various others, a number of which it is convenient to keep always on hand:

Onions, carrots, green peppers, parsnips, turnips, tomatoes, fresh, canned or dried; celery tops and parsley, either fresh or dried; sage, savory, thyme, sweet marjoram, bay leaf, garlic, lemon rind, vinegar, capers, pickles, olives, currant jelly, curry powder, cloves, pepper corns, celery seed, meat extract, Chili sauce, pepper sauce or some similar hot or sharp sauce, and some kind of good commercial meat sauce. Some hints regarding the use of such flavorings follow:

Flavor of Fried Vegetables. Most of the stews, soups, braised meats, and pot roasts are very much improved if the flavoring vegetables which they contain, such as carrots, turnips, onions, celery, or green peppers, are fried in a little fat before being cooked with the meat. This need not complicate the preparation of the meat or increase the number of utensils used, for the meat itself is usually seared over in fat, and the vegetables can be cooked in the same fat before the browning of the meat.

Onion Juice. - Cookbooks usually say that onion juice should be extracted by cutting an onion in two and rubbing the cut surface against a grater. Considering how hard it is to wash a grater, this method has its drawbacks. Small amounts of juice may be obtained in the following simpler way: Peel the onion and extract a few drops of juice by pressing one side with the dull edge of a knife.

Green Peppers. - The flavor of green peppers gives an acceptable variety. The seed should always be removed. The peppers should be chopped and added to chopped meat or other meat dishes.

Meat mixed with bread crumbs may be baked in the pepper shells and the stuffed peppers served as a separate dish.