The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1901-05-30
COOKING SPRING VEGETABLES.
A Few Suggestions That VIII Make
the Process Vastly More
Successful.

This is the period of the spring vege-
table, and few persons realize how
much the delights of the season may
be increased by additional care in the
preparation of those foods, which are
never quite so good as they are just
at this period. Possibly the peas now
in the market have a greater delicacy
OF taste than any other springtime
product, and they are at least regarded
along with the spring lamb as the gas
tronomic symbol of the early summer
months, says the New York Sun.
The French, who are proverbially
capable Of adding a delicate foreign
taste to vegetables without destroying
their OWE flavor, cook peas in a man
ner that has never been generally
adopted here. The average American
housewife would shudder at the
thought of combining onions with the
savory spring peas, but the French
cooks do that, and the result is better
than the American prejudiced against
the onion in nearly every form would
care to admit. This process of cook
ing peas combines also with the onion
the outside leaves of a head of lettuce.
The peas are inclosed in these, and into
the center of them is put one small
spring onion; when they are served
the combined flavor of the lettuce and
the onion asserts itself delightfully."-,
but in no way destroys the natural
taste of the peas. That flavor seems
indeed to be emphasized by the COM
bination with the other vegetables.
The Poles have a way of cooking as
paragus that occasionally appears on
the New York bills of fare, although
the process rarely represents the gem
uine foreign method. Asparagus is
boiled in the usual way, but sprinkled
after it has been put on the plate with
finely grated toast. The originators
of this dish use a kind that corresponds
more accurately to the New York idea
of zwieback. After this has been
grated OF the green ends of the vege-
table the drawn butter is poured over
it, and the flavor of the bread adds u
spice to the natural taste of the vege-
table. Another Polish popularity Of
serving asparagus appears when it is
eaten cold. Then the French dress
ing is made, not with oil, but rich
cream, and this is an agreeable variety
when asparagus is served as a salad.
Even the commonplace spinach is
capable of a treatment that makes it
very different from the mushy, gritty
dish commonly served. The French
and English are the two common
terms in description of the ordinary
way of serving spinach, but certain
ly neither of them is a libel on the
nation. What is known as the French
method produces a pulpy mass of
chopped up green leaves. AS hat FASH
ion is followed here, nothing could
more successfully deprive the vegeta-
bic of all taste and flavor.
The cook who prepares the leaves in
this way regards it as a particular deli
cacy and a sign of unusual facility in
her occupation. She is usually SO we'll
satisfied with this accomplishment
that she rarely takes the precaution
to wash the sand and dust out of the
leaves. Pretentious bungling could not
go further than this preparation Of
spinach, which destroys the real quail
ties of the food.
The English method is that which
serves the leaves whole and in this
way preserves more of the taste and
really makes the vegetable worth eat
ing. It, of course, requires the pre-
liminary are in cleansing the leaves
of all foreign substances, which few
cooks are willing to take. This meth
cd of cooking spinach can be made
very much better by the addition of
the inevitable spring onion, which as
serts itself very modestly and seems,
as in the case of the peas, to bring out
the best quality of the original vege-
table.