ARTICHOKES, JERUSALEM, BOILED, PLAIN.—­The artichokes must be first washed and peeled, and should be treated like potatoes in this respect.  They should be thrown into cold water immediately, and it is best to add a little vinegar to the water.  If the artichokes are young, throw them into boiling water, and they will become tender in about a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes.  It is very important not to over-boil them, as they turn a bad colour.  If any doubt exists as to the age of the artichokes, they had better be tested with a fork.  Immediately they are tender they should be drained and served.

Old artichokes must be treated like old potatoes, i.e., put originally into cold water, and when they come to the boiling point allowed to simmer till tender; but these are best mashed.  When the artichokes have been drained, they can, of course, be served quite plain, but they are best sent to table with some kind of sauce poured over them, such as Allemande sauce, Dutch sauce, white sauce, or plain butter sauce.  They are greatly improved in appearance, after a spoonful of sauce has been poured over each artichoke, if a little blanched chopped parsley is sprinkled over them, and a few red specks made by colouring a pinch of bread-crumbs by shaking them with a few drops of cochineal.

Another very nice way of sending artichokes to table is to place all the artichokes together in a vegetable-dish, and, after pouring a little white sauce over each artichoke, to place a fresh-boiled bright green Brussels sprout between each.  The white and green contrast very prettily.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES, FRIED.—­Peel and slice the artichokes very thin; throw these slices into smoking hot oil in which a frying-basket has been placed.  As soon as the artichokes are of bright golden-brown colour, lift out the frying-basket, shake it while you pepper and salt the artichokes, and serve very hot.  They can be eaten with thin brown bread-and-butter and lemon-juice, and form a sort of vegetarian whitebait.

ARTICHOKES, MASHED.—­These are best made from old artichokes.  They must be rubbed through a wire sieve, and the strings left behind.  It is best to mash them up with a little butter, and a spoonful or two of cream is a very great improvement.

ASPARAGUS, BOILED.—­Cut the asparagus all the same length by bringing the green points together, and then trimming the stalks level with a sharp knife.  Throw the asparagus into boiling salted water.  Time, from fifteen to twenty-five minutes, according to thickness.  Serve on dry toast, and send butter sauce to table separate in a tureen.

BEANS, BROAD, PLAIN BOILED.—­Broad beans, if eaten whole, should be quite young.  They should be thrown into boiling water, salted.  They require about twenty minutes to boil before they are tender.  Serve with parsley and butter sauce.

BROAD BEANS, MASHED.—­When broad beans get old, the only way to serve them is to have them mashed.  Boil them, and remove the skins, then mash them up with a little butter, pepper, and salt, and rub them through a wire sieve, make them hot, and serve.  You can if you like boil a few green onions and a pinch of savoury herbs with the beans, and rub these through the wire sieve as well.  This dish is very cheap and very nourishing.  Very young beans, like very young peas, are more nice than economical.