But no! For the most part, his
vegetables are boiled, and when the best part of the food constituents and
all the flavour have been extracted, he dines off a mass of indigestible
fibre--mere waste matter--and allows the "broth" to be thrown down the
sink, with the consequence that many vegetarians are pale, flabby
individuals who succumb to the slightest strain, and suffer from chronic
dyspepsia.
The remedy is simple. Treat vegetables as you used to treat meat. Bake or
stew them in their own juice. (See recipe for Vegetarian Irish Stew.) At
the least, steam them. A little of the valuable vegetable salts are lost
in the steaming, but not much. Better still, use a double boilerette. A
very little water is put into the inner pan and soon becomes steam, so
that by the time the vegetable is cooked it has all disappeared.
No exact time can be given for cooking vegetables, as this varies with age
and freshness. The younger--always supposing it has just come to
maturity--and fresher the vegetable, the quicker it cooks.
It should not be forgotten that orthodox cooks put all green and root
vegetables, except potatoes, to cook in _boiling_ water. This rule should
not be neglected when steaming vegetables--the water should be fast
boiling.
I will conclude with a few remarks about preparing greens, cauliflowers,
etc. The general practice is to soak them in cold salted water with the
idea of drawing out and killing any insects.
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