The New England Cook Book, or Young Housekeeper's Guide: Being a Collection of the Most Valuable Receipts; Embracing all the Various Branches of Cookery, and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner

in the water. 96. _Salads_, Should be fresh, and put in cold water, for half an hour before they are eaten. Cucumbers, to be healthy, should not be picked longer than a day before they are eaten, they should be kept in cold water, and fifteen or twenty minutes before they are eaten, pare and slice them, into fresh cold water. 97. _To Stew Mushrooms._ Peel and put them in a sauce pan, with just enough water, to prevent their burning to the bottom of the pan. Put in a little salt, and shake them occasionally. When they have stewed about twenty minutes, put in a little butter, pepper, and salt; a little wine and cloves improve them. They should be stewed very slowly, and taken up as soon as seasoned, turn them on buttered toast. 98. _Egg Plant_, Should be cut in slices, about half an inch thick, between every slice sprinkle a little salt, let them lay two hours before cooking, then scrape off the salt and fry them till brown in lard. 99. _Celeriac._ This is an excellent vegetable, but it is but little known. The stalks of it, can hardly be distinguished from celery, and it is much easier cultivated. The roots are nice boiled tender, and cut in thin slices and put in soup, or meat pie, or cooked in the following manner, and eaten with meat. Scrape and cut them in slices, and boil them, till perfectly tender, then take them up sprinkle on a little salt and stew them in a little milk four or five minutes, turn them into a dish, and put in a little butter. 100. _Salsify or Vegetable Oyster._ The best way too cook it, is to cut it in slices, and dip it into an egg and fine bread crumbs, fry it in lard. It is very good boiled, and then stewed a few moments in milk, and a little butter put on it, or cut in slices, and fried in butter, made like that for oyster pancakes, substituting milk for the juice of the oyster. 101. _Tomatoes,_