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Cooked Vegetables

A collection of general directions and cooking times for boiling common vegetables in salted water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chapel, Inie Gage, Mrs. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 68,474 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cooked Vegetables

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scrub vegetables that grow beneath the ground in cold water with a small brush before cooking.

  2. Use one tablespoonful of salt to two quarts of water.

  3. Keep the water at a full boil and do not let it boil long before the vegetables are put in.

  4. Plunge vegetables in a kettle of boiling water, well covered.

Cook by type

  1. Boil carrots, green beans, celery and turnips one hour, cooking with boiling water.

  2. Boil cabbage, onions and beets one hour; cook beets in their skins.

  3. Cabbage is best cooked uncovered to eliminate strong odors.

  4. Leave beet stems on to avoid bleeding; serve beets buttered or as pickles.

  5. Boil spinach, turnip tops and curly kale one-half hour.

  6. Add a small quantity of water to conserve salts.

  7. Drain and mince greens, then season with butter or drippings.

  8. Boil cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, peas and summer squash one-half hour.

  9. Cook tomatoes one-half hour without adding water.

  10. Season tomatoes with salt, pepper, a little sugar and butter.

  11. Bake Hubbard squash two hours; split open and remove seeds.

  12. When the squash is half done, dust with salt, sugar and pepper, and cut into serving pieces with a little butter on each.

Finish and serve

  1. Never let vegetables stand in the water after coming off the fire; if not ready, place in a colander over boiling water.

  2. Drain all vegetables as soon as tender, season with salt and pepper, and serve hot with butter or sauce.

  3. Reduce the water to be thickened for sauce or drain and serve with butter or milk sauce.

By Chapel, Inie Gage, Mrs. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Sugar + oniontop 36% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together15,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and pepper share little aroma chemistry, yet 19,401 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Salt
Seasons the cooking water and the finished vegetables.
Butter (in the method)
Adds richness and a smooth coating to the cooked vegetables.

The step that matters

Never let vegetables stand in the water after coming off the fire. Vegetables keep cooking in their own residual heat, so they turn soft and dull in colour if left in hot water. Draining them as soon as they are tender, or holding them over boiling water, keeps their texture and colour.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Mustardbetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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