Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

Many persons think them much dearer than beans or peas, not knowing that they swell three or four times their size when soaked in water before cooking them. They are prepared like dry beans in every way. A _purée_ of lentils is excellent with almost every kind of meat, and it also makes a good potage. It has all the nutritive qualities of the bean. _Lettuce._--Cos lettuce, cabbage lettuce, butter lettuce, curled Silesia, white or green lettuce, etc. Besides being served as salad, all the above, when properly dressed, make an excellent _entremet_. _To prepare._--Take off the outer leaves, that is, all those that are too green or too hard, then clean and wash well, but without cutting it off, or without detaching the leaves. To stew lettuce, select hard heads, so that they can be cleansed without detaching the leaves. When cleaned, drop the heads in boiling water and a little salt, boil about five or ten minutes, according to how tender the lettuce is, and drain dry. _Stewed._--When cleaned and prepared, sprinkle on the top of each, salt, pepper, and a little grated nutmeg; then tie each head with a string. Place in a stewpan two or three slices of bacon, put the heads of lettuce in, season with two sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, a bay-leaf, and a clove, also salt and pepper; cover with water, and simmer about two hours in an oven; then take them from the pan, drain, pressing on them to extract all the water, and put them on a dish, the top upward. Have butter in a stewpan, and on a good fire; when melted, sprinkle in it a teaspoonful of flour, stirring with a wooden spoon; subdue the fire, add a little milk, and stir and simmer ten minutes longer; take from the fire, mix in the beaten yolks of two eggs, pour it on the lettuce, which you have kept warm, and serve. _Another way._--When prepared, chop it fine. Put in a stewpan, for four heads of lettuce, three ounces of butter, and set it on the fire; when