enough in about
ten minutes, if boiled in plenty of water: if the spinage is a little
old, give it a few minutes longer. When done, strain it on the back of a
sieve; squeeze it dry with a plate, or between two trenchers; chop it
fine, and put it into a stew-pan with a bit of butter and a little salt:
a little cream is a great improvement, or instead of either some rich
gravy. Spread it in a dish, and score it into squares of proper size to
help at table.

_Obs._--Grated nutmeg, or mace, and a little lemon-juice, is a favourite
addition with some cooks, and is added when you stir it up in the
stew-pan with the butter garnished. Spinage is frequently served with
poached eggs and fried bread.

_Asparagus._--(No. 123.)

Set a stew-pan with plenty of water in it on the fire; sprinkle a
handful of salt in it; let it boil, and skim it; then put in your
asparagus, prepared thus: scrape all the stalks till they are perfectly
clean; throw them into a pan of cold water as you scrape them; when they
are all done, tie them up in little bundles, of about a quarter of a
hundred each, with bass, if you can get it, or tape (string cuts them to
pieces); cut off the stalks at the bottom that they may be all of a
length, leaving only just enough to serve as a handle for the green
part; when they are tender at the stalk, which will be in from twenty to
thirty minutes, they are done enough. Great care must be taken to watch
the exact time of their becoming tender; take them up just at that
instant, and they will have their true flavour and colour: a minute or
two more boiling destroys both.

While the asparagus is boiling, toast a round of a quartern loaf, about
half an inch thick; brown it delicately on both sides; dip it lightly in
the liquor the asparagus was boiled in, and lay it in the middle of a
dish: melt some butter (No. 256); then lay in the asparagus upon the
toast, which must project beyond the asparagus, that the company may see
there is a toast.

Pour no butter over them, but send some up in a boat, or white sauce
(No. 2 of No. 364).

_Sea Kale_,--(No. 124.)

Is tied up in bundles, and dressed in the same way as asparagus.

_Cauliflower._--(No. 125.)

Choose those that are close and white, and of the middle size; trim off
the outside leaves; cut the stalk off flat at the bottom; let them lie
in salt and water an hour before you boil them.

Put them into boiling water with a handful of salt in it; skim it well