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Hodge Podge Vegetables

Directions concerning Garden Things


MOST people spoil garden things by over-boiling them.  All things that are green should have a little crispness, for if they are over-boiled, they neither have any sweetness or beauty.

From The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, by Mrs. Glasse

To dress Beans, Carrots, Potatoes, Peas and Cauliflower

Prepare new vegetables:  For beans, always throw some salt into the water, and some parsley, nicely picked. Carrots should be scraped very clean, when they are enough, rub them in a clean cloth, then slice them into a plate. If they are young spring carrots, half an hour will boil them; if large, an hour; but old Sandwich carrots will take two hours. For potatoes, you must boil them in as little water as you can, without burning the sauce pan. Cover the sauce pan close, and when the skin begins to crack they are enough. You may boil the carrots, beans and potatoes together in spring water and salt. Cook the peas and cauliflower separately. Season with a coffee cup each of butter, cream and water from the cooked vegetables, boiled quickly together with chives.

Adapted from Day’s Bureau of Recipe Research

Hodge Podge  A modern version

A dinner of new vegetables

String beans                
Cauliflower
Carrots                    
1 cup butter
Potatoes                
1 cup cream
Peas                    
1/4 - 1/2 cup chives, chopped

Use about 3 lbs vegetables, total.
Cook beans, carrots, and potatoes together in boiling salted water. Cook the peas and cauliflower in boiling salted water. Drain and combine vegetables. Melt butter, add warmed cream and chives and pour over vegetables.

From Peas upon a Trencher, a Cookbook Compiled by the Ladies of the Living History Association, Wilmington, Vermont