Chicory with Cream

Pick eight chicory heads, suppress all the green leaves, wash well, and cut the bottoms into a cross; plunge into boiling salted water, and let cook for twenty-five to thirty minutes; refresh, drain, press out all the moisture, and pick over carefully to remove any small straws or other impurities that may be found among the leaves, then chop up finely. Heat some butter in a saucepan, put in the chicory, and dry it over a brisk fire for ten minutes without ceasing to stir; add a heaping tablespoonful of flour, some salt, nutmeg, sugar and rich cream; when very hot and ready to serve incorporate four ounces of fresh butter. If to be served as a vegetable pour it into a vegetable dish, and surround with bread croutons (No. 51) fried in butter.