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Summer Squashes
Cook them whole; when tender, if large, skin and remove the seeds; if small, this will not be necessary ; drain and press the water out with a plate; then put them in a stew-pan, and season well with butter, pepper, and salt, and a tablespoon of cream.
A method rather than a formula, and the whole of it turns on getting the water out. Summer squash is about 95 percent water, and the difference between a good dish and a pale puddle is the pressing step.
- The hinge: press hardThe recipe's own instruction is to drain and press the water out with a plate. In practice, set the squash on a plate, lay a second plate on top and leave it weighted for a few minutes. Squash that has not been pressed will thin the butter and cream in the pan.
- What "summer squashes" meantIn an 1870s American kitchen this is the pattypan (scallop) squash and the yellow crookneck, harvested young with soft rind and undeveloped seeds. Zucchini works but is a later arrival to American cooking; it behaves the same way here.
- Cooking wholeBoiling whole keeps water out of the flesh, which is the point. Twelve to twenty minutes in salted water for a small squash, longer for anything the size of a grapefruit; a skewer should meet no resistance. Steaming is better still and drains faster.
- Stew-panA lidded pan of the period, in modern terms a saucepan or a wide skillet with a cover. A wide pan helps here, since you want any remaining moisture to evaporate quickly.
- Season wellThe recipe gives no quantities beyond the tablespoon of cream, and "season well" invites a generous hand. As a modern starting point, about 2 tablespoons butter and a good half teaspoon of salt for four medium squashes, plus the cream to bind.
- Finish over heatThe recipe does not say to mash, but letting the squash cook a minute or two in the pan after the butter goes in will drive off any last moisture. Add the cream off the heat or at a bare simmer.
- YieldFour medium summer squash, about 1.5 lb, serves four as a side dish.
Summer squash is one of the genuinely American vegetables in a book like this: Cucurbita pepo was cultivated across North America long before European contact, and the scalloped pattypan and crookneck were already common garden crops in the colonies. Nineteenth-century American cookbooks often treat it this way, boiled and mashed with butter, and frequently warn about the water. The Home Cook Book was compiled in the 1870s from contributions by Chicago women and reads more like a collection of neighbours' habits than a systematic manual. What the entry assumes is a kitchen garden: squash picked small and young, cooked the day it is cut, with no need to specify a variety because the cook already knew what was in the row.