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Parsnips.

Are to be cooked just in the same manner as carrots; they require more or less time, according to their size; therefore match them in size, and you must try them by thrusting a fork into them as they are in the water; when this goes easily through, they are done enough:  boil them from an hour to two hours, according to their size and freshness.  Parsnips are sometimes sent up mashed in the same way as turnips.

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Carrots.

Let them be well washed and scraped—­an hour is enough for young spring carrots; grown carrots will take from an hour and a half to two hours and a half.  The best way to try if they are done enough, is to pierce them with a fork.

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Turnips.

Peel off half an inch of the stringy outside—­full grown turnips will take about an hour and a half gentle boiling; try them with a fork, and when tender, take them up, and lay them on a sieve till the water is thoroughly drained from them; send them up whole; to very young turnips, leave about two inches of green top; the old ones are better when the water is changed as directed for cabbage.

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To mash turnips.

When they are boiled quite tender, squeeze them as dry as possible—­put them into a sauce pan, mash them with a wooden spoon, and rub them through a colander; add a little bit of butter, keep stirring them till the butter is melted and well mixed with them, and they are ready for table.

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Turnip tops.

Are the shoots which grow out, (in the spring.) from the old turnip roots.  Put them in cold water an hour before they are dressed; the more water they are boiled in, the better they will look; if boiled in a small quantity of water, they will taste bitter; when the water boils, put in a small handful of salt, and then your vegetables; they are still better boiled with bacon in the Virginia style:  if fresh and young, they will be done in about twenty minutes—­drain them on the back of a sieve, and put them under the bacon.

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French beans.

Cut off the stalk end first, and then turn to the point and strip off the strings; if not quite fresh, have a bowl of spring water, with a little salt dissolved in it, standing before you; as the beans are cleansed and trimmed, throw them in; when all are done, put them on the fire in boiling water, with some salt in it; when they have boiled fifteen or twenty minutes, take one out and taste it; as soon as they are tender, take them up, and throw them into a colander to drain.  To send up the beans whole, when they are young, is much the best method, and their delicate flavour and colour is much better preserved.  When a little more grown, they must be cut lengthwise in thin slices after stringing; and for common tables, they are split, and divided across; but those who are nice, do not use them at such a growth as to require splitting.