Okie's Kitchen

Cooking Vegetables Hints (Vegetables)

These vegetable cooking hints came from the Wrought Iron Range Company Cookbook that was printed around the 1930s or mid 1930s and given out with the Model CB Wrought Iron Range.

Do not peel such vegetables as potatoes, turnips, parsnips and carrots in very warm water, even in cold weather, nor allow them to set on the range for a time before boiling. Potatoes, particularly, may thus be spoiled before cooking, and cannot be restored to proper condition. The damage is done. Young potatoes, parsnips, and carrots should always be scraped, not peeled. Young vegetables should never be allowed to biol too long. Tomatoes and beets are readily peeled by scalding. The thin skin may then be slipped off without trouble.

Tuber and root vegetables, especially potatoes, should not be pared several hours before cooking, and allowed to stand; but, if prepared for even a short time before cooking, they should always be kept submerged in cold water until time for cooking, to prevent discoloration. After they are cooked, they should be immediately drained to prevent them from absorbing the water and becoming soft and unwholesome. Potatoes, especially, should immediately be salted to render them dry and mealy, allowing them to more readily absorb further seasoning, if added.

~1930s Home Comfort Cookbook