French Way Of Cooking Green Peas

For three pints of full-grown but tender green peas, cut a pound of bacon into small squares, boil it in water ten minutes to extract some of the salt; then pour off the water and let it brown slightly; wash the peas, and with your hand, whilst they are in the water, work into them a piece of butter the size of an egg; put them in a stew-pan with the fried bacon, a teacupful of cold water, three green-topped onions and a bunch of parsley, with a teaspoonful of brown sugar and a little black pepper; simmer them gently for half an hour, or until they are cooked, but not broken; add a very little water, if they should become too dry; when done, stir in them a teaspoonful of flour mixed with a small piece of butter and two tablespoonsful of cream beaten with the yolk of an egg; take out the onions and parsley, boil up and serve.

Green Peas

15o 1 them - if very young, half an hour - if full grown, about three-quarters; drain them through a cullender, turn them into a vegetable dish, with butter the size of an egg and a little salt When peas are a little old, they are improved by putting a couple of teaspoonsful of sugar into the water they are boiled in.

String Beans

Top and tail them, pulling off the strings in the process; cut them up (holding a dozen at a time in your hand) diagonally into pieces the third of an inch in length, throw them in cold water as you cut them; when all are done, wash them, put them over the fire in boiling water. They require fully two hours' boiling, and if old, much longer; when very soft, drain them through the cullender, throw them back in the pot, add salt, butter, a little dust of flour and a couple of tablespoonsful of cream; give a boil up and serve; or you may put them in a vegetable dish, with only butter and salt, if you prefer it.

Cauliflower

Wash it very clean and put it whole into a kettle of boiling water, with a little salt; if young and tender, twenty minutes will cook it; if older, it will require a longer time; try it with a fork through the centre of the stalk; drain it well and serve with drawn butter poured over it.

Cabbage

For boiling, use young, loose heads; cut them in half, wash very clean, and boil and serve as cauliflower, with drawn butter poured over.

Cold Slaw

Shave very fine half a small solid head of cabbage; melt in a pan a piece of butter the size of an egg, stir in it a heaping teaspoonful of flour; when perfectly smooth, add half a pint of milk, with an egg beaten in it; stir over the fire until very thick and beginning to boil, then set it off and stir in the cabbage; when thoroughly incorporated with the sauce, add a little salt and half a cup of cold vinegar, stir well until all mixed, put it in the dish you will serve it in, dust a little pepper over the top and set away. It should be made half an hour before dinner.

Stewed Cabbage

You may use for this the coarser parts of cabbage that are too poor for cold slaw. Cut the cabbage up rather coarsely, chop it a little and put it over the fire with boiling water, stew it for fifteen minutes, then drain off the water, add milk to cover and stew it until very tender (about ten or fifteen minutes will do it); then stir in it a tablespoonful of butter mixed to a paste with a heaping teaspoon of flour, give a boil up, add pepper and salt and serve. This is an excellent dish.