The Right Way to Cook Vegetables

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 27, 1911

The Right Way to Cook Vegetables

THE title of this article infers that there is a wrong way to cook vegetables, and so there is, though this fact is usually ignored by the average cook. Even those who are very particular about preparing other foods, are often unaccountably careless in the cooking of vegetables. There is quite as much difference between a properly and an improperly cooked vegetable as there is between a good and a poor loaf of bread.

Most vegetables do not possess a high nutritive value, and they might be omitted from our dietary were it not that they supply the necessary bulk, and give a desirable variety to our food. From a nutritive point of view, vegetables are chiefly valuable because of the organic salts which they contain. These salts are in a form easily assimilated by the body, and are particularly beneficial to anemic persons.

In the ordinary method of cooking vegetables (boiling in a large quantity of water, and then pouring off the liquid when the vegetable is done), these valuable organic salts are largely lost. The vegetable is left in a watery, tasteless condition, and requires liberal seasoning to make it at all palatable. It is possible, with care, to cook vegetables in such a way that the organic salts and also the distinctive flavor of the vegetable may be retained. To do this the vegetable should either be steamed, baked, or boiled in so small an amount of water that there will be little or none to pour off when the cooking is completed.

Great care should be taken to allow sufficient time for the cooking of such vegetables as peas, French beans, beets, and turnips. Peas and beans are frequently served quite hard, when they would be not only more wholesome, but much more palatable, if cooked an hour longer.

The common practise of using soda to preserve the color of green vegetables is a harmful one. The same desirable effect may be obtained by adding a teaspoonful of sugar to the water in which the vegetable is cooked.

The following suggestions will be found helpful:—

BAKED POTATOES.—Select uniform-sized potatoes, wash well, and dry. Place in a moderate oven. Bake one hour. Just before serving, prick them to allow the steam to escape, and they will be quite ready. Serve with brown sauce.

BAKED CABBAGE.—Chop the cabbage fine, and cook in boiling water for twenty minutes in as small an amount of water as possible. Cover closely. To one quart of this cooked cabbage add one-half cup of water, in which has been dissolved a dessert-spoonful of nut butter and the juice of one lemon. Bake in a covered dish until the cabbage is thoroughly done. Season with salt to taste.

VEGETABLE MARROW.—Peel and cut into slices a nice, fresh, vegetable marrow. Lay it in a steam-cooker, and leave until tender. Serve with white sauce. Marrow steamed in this way is very sweet and delicious.

CAULIFLOWER WITH TOMATO SAUCE.—One large cauliflower, two cups tomatoes, one tablespoonful flour, one tablespoonful nut butter. Trim the leaves and waste from the cauliflower, place in a steamer, and steam until done (about one hour). Prepare tomato sauce by heating the strained tomato to boiling. Add a salt-spoonful of salt; thicken with the flour rubbed smooth in a little water. Add the nut butter to the sauce, and then turn it over the cauliflower. Serve hot.

SPINACH.—Select crisp, fresh spinach. Look over carefully, wash, and steam until done. Season, and serve hot. In steaming vegetables it is necessary to keep up a good fire, as the water in the lower vessel should be kept actively boiling throughout the process of cooking.

It would be well to state that the coarser vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, beets, cabbage, and parsnips, should be avoided by those who are troubled with slow digestion. Of all vegetables the potato is perhaps the most easily digested; and of all methods of cooking potatoes, baking is the best. Many persons can take baked potatoes with impunity who can not eat them without discomfort when prepared in other ways.—Australian Good Health.