Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1938-08-27
The Market
Basket
YOU LIKE THEM
bly,
Bureau of Home Economics, U. 5.
Department of Agriculture

YOU LIKE THEM
| Thanksgiving may have its roast
| turkey and cranberry sauce: Easter,
it's baked ham or spring lamb; and
July Fourth it's fried chicken and
watermelon. But late August is the
open season for vegetable plates.
True, vegetable plates are not a
| part of hoary tradition. Common
sense, not sentiment, prompts this
| custom. Tired summer appetites ask
for variety, freshness, interest. Mar
kets and gardens are overflowing
with the answer-vegetables.
June and July have their vegetable
| specialties, but both months together
| cannot compete with the wide variety
and large quantities offered in late
| August. In color alone, vegetables
range from the deep crimson of the
beet, through the golden yellow of
sweet corn and the delicate green of
the cucumber, to the snowy whiteness
of cauliflower heads. The large pur-
pie eggplant or huge, green head of
T cabbage is found next to basket of
Lilliputian black-eyed peas; and
straight, crisp celery stalks border on
smooth, round, red tomatoes. Perfecs
building blocks for summer vege-
table plate. Taking it al and all it's
more a question of where to stop
than where to begin.
!. At other seasons, construction of a
perfect vegetable plate may be mat
ter of training and expert skill. In
late August thoughtful planning and
care in preparation are sufficient.
Well take the vegetable plate, as
you like it-not for the sake of the
vegetables, but of the man. And for
that reason we'll welcome a strip or
two of crisp bacon, a bit of frizzled
dried beef, few tablespoons of zest-
full sea food, or a handbook or fat
back seasoning. Vegetable plate isn't
a diet-its a meal.
|. You will want to choose vegetables
at the height of their season, for then
| they are cheapest and best. You will
want to make use of what your gard
(: en- has to offer.
/ Experts of the Bureau of Home Eco
Monies do not know your market, nor
your garden. But through crop and
weather reports from the U S. De.
partment of Agriculture they are able
to make an intelligent forecast as to
what may be plentiful in various Sec
tons of the country.
Four good vegetable plates are sug-
gested. Among them they are design
ed to fit the garden conditions of the
country as a whole. Each of the four
has a dozen or more possible varia-
tons. The thousand and one pos
hin q finnc wake
vegetable plate planning most fasci-
mating.
Plate No. l. Starts with corn-on-
the-cob, Chevy, juicy, sweet. Next
baked, stuffed tomato-red, tart.
easy to eat. Stuff with what you
will. The men folks may like we'll
| seasoned hamburger or diced pieces
of yesterdays roast. Macaroni and
cheese is another favored possibility.
Use plnety Of very dry bread crumbs
80 the tomato juices won't ooze out
al over the plate. Next come shred
ded green snap beans, topped with
Slices of hard cooked egg. Spinach
doesn't have a monopoly on egg slices.
The flavor of the beans may be en-
livened by cooking with little finely
minced onion. Or perhaps you will
prefer buttered onions as a fourth
vegetable.
Sweet corn, always at it's best when
fresh from the garden, should be sim
mered but a short time, seldom longer
than 10 to Is minutes, for the great
est tenderness Shred the beans be-
fore cooking. A mechanical shredder
is handy, but the sharp point of a
oil xxyi11 ookn fine Gifts
Don't use soda in the cooking water
as it's destructive to the vitamln con-
tent of the beans and makes surfaces
soft and mushy. It's best to depend
upon short cooking time in an open
kettle to retain satisfactory color
Plate No. II. This time let's start
with shelled beans or black-eyed peas
cooked with hammock or fat back.
Along side of the peas or beans add A
serving of fried okra, which has
been panned in a little fat, but with
out water, and comes out in delicately
Drowned, round, green slices with lit
tie O fthe gumbO texture. Next sonl'c
scalloped green cabbage or kale and
two or three slices of deep-red picked
beets.
Plate No. III. Begin with stuffed
green pepper. Again let the stuttln9
p.ease the cooks fancy. She'll prob
ably consult the refrigerator for left
overs before she decides. If she finds
as much as a piece of salt pork the
solution is simple. The salt pork
diced and crisped by frying, IS SUR
red into well-seasoned bread crumbs,
moistened withtomato or some LETT
over gravy. Top with golden brown
buttered crumbs or grated cheese 10
be melted in the oven. Next to the
pepper come two large, round slices.
of crispy, brown fried eggp- ant, ana
then a generous helping of succotash.
It's best made of green lima beans
with whole kernels of freshly cook
ed sweet corn, but there are many
other interesting possibilities. But
tered sliced, quartered or small whole
carrots are the fourth vegetable ON
this plate. If you like, add zest by
seasoning the carrots with a very few
chopped mint leaves. Parboil the
green pepper shells for to minu-
ties before stuffing to help make the
pepper tender and at the same time
guard against overlooking the con-
re