Put the meat in a bowl, add, in small portions, two and a half ounces of butter, stirring continually with a potato masher. When this is well mixed, add slowly the whites of two eggs and mix well. Season with half a teaspoon of salt, a little nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Place for one hour on ice, then add half a pint of whipped cream. Fill the mushrooms with this forcemeat. Set the mushrooms in a buttered pan, place them in the oven with good bottom heat, cover the top with buttered paper (but in a way that the paper will not touch the forcemeat) and bake till the forcemeat is firm to the touch. Serve with cream sauce.

Boiled Okra

Wash young okra and cut the spears in slices about half an inch thick. Have boiling in a porcelain saucepan enough salted water to almost cover the okra. Drop in the slices, cover and boil gently till tender, which will be in from twentyfive to forty minutes. The water will be almost boiled away. To a quart of okra stir in a heaping tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of vinegar, and, if you like it, a dash of catsup and cayenne. Serve hot. This vegetable is oftenest eaten with chicken.

Fried Okra With Ham. A Louisiana Dish

In a porcelain saucepan fry half a pound of minced boiled ham in a tablespoon of butter and add two minced onions. When browned add two dozen sliced spears of okra. Stir constantly until the okra browns. Add one teacup of tomatojuice, allow it to simmer down until all the juice is absorbed and the vegetables begin to brown again, when the okra will be done. Serve in a vegetable dish.

Cooking Onions

Baked Onions

Peer white onions and have a Boston bean pot for their baking. Put a layer of onions in the pot and sprinkle in half a teaspoon of salt and lay in a tablespoon of butter. Add half a cup of boiling water. Repeat this layer with the salt and butter, and as many times as you wish to make the quantity of onions. Set the cover of the pot on tight and bake in a moderate oven four or five hours. The closed pot does not allow the fumes to escape and annoy people, and no one knows you are cooking a most wholesome vegetable. Onions may be cooked this way without water or butter, in their own juice. Do not have the oven too hot.

Boiled Onions

Peel goodsized white onions, taking off the thick outer skin. Lay in cold water half an hour, and then put them in a tin saucepan of boiling water. Boil ten minutes, then pour off the water and cover again with fresh boiling water. Add a little salt. Boil until tender enough to allow a straw to run through. When done, turn out carefully into a colander. Lift each one with a spoon and lay into a hot vegetable dish. Sprinkle over each a good deal of salt and pour over a small quantity of melted butter; no pepper.

Creamed Onions

Peel the onions, cover with salted boiling water and cook till they are quite tender all through. Onions of average size commonly take one hour or at times one hour and a half to cook through thoroughly. Pour off the water that remains much will have boiled away and add enough sweet cream to rise through the onions and half cover them. Boil up and taste. If they need salt, add a little. Take each onion separately from the saucepan and lay it in the serving dish in order to keep its form perfect. Pour over the hot cream and serve.

Spanish Onions Stuffed

A New Orleans Dish remove the hearts from the onions. Boil the outer part fifteen minutes, taking care they remain firm. Fry the minced hearts of the onions in a tablespoon of butter. Add one teacup of crackercrumbs and one teacup of sweet cream, a teaspoon of celery seed, a dash of cayenne pepper, and half a teaspoon of salt. Beat in one egg. Stuff the outer parts of the onions with this, lay in a baking dish, spread over the top any stuffing you have left, and pour around the onions one cup of sweet milk. Then bake slowly onehalf hour.

Cooking Parsnips

Boiled Parsnips

Select mediumsized parsnips. Scrape and lay them in cold water for half an hour. At the end of that time, pour off the water. Put them in a saucepan. Cover with boiling water, slightly salted. Keep covered with water while boiling, and add more water when needed. Boil the parsnips very tender, which will take one hour or more. When done, lay in a hot dish. If they are large, split them lengthwise. One way of dressing parsnips is to sprinkle each parsnip separately with salt and pepper, and pour over a quantity of melted butter.

Another is to sprinkle them with pepper, and pour over drawn butter, which is made as follows: One heaping tablespoon and a half of butter, one heaping tablespoon and a half of flour mashed together in a small saucepan. Pour over one teacup and a half of hot water and stir to dissolve. Salt to taste. Set this saucepan in another containing water. Let the mixture come to boil. Stir constantly until it thickens, keep very smooth, and have just thick enough to pour easily. Pour over the parsnips, and serve.

Fried Parsnips

Split and scrape parsnips. Lay them in cold water for half an hour. Put in a saucepan of boiling water, and boil until tender. When done, drain. Roll crackers very fine, and season with red pepper and salt. Beat one egg with one tablespoon of water. Dip the parsnip in the egg, and roll in the cracker. Fry them a light brown and serve in a hot dish.