This section is from the book "The Cook's Decameron", by W. G. Waters. Also available from Amazon: The Cook's Decameron.
Ingredients: Asparagus, butter, nutmeg, salt, suprême sauce (No. 16), gravy, lemon, Parmesan.
Cut some asparagus into pieces about an inch long and cook them in boiling water with salt, then drain and put them into a sauté pan with one and a half ounce of melted butter and sautez for a few minutes, but first add salt, a pinch of nutmeg, and a dust of grated cheese. Pour a little suprême sauce over them, and at the last add a little gravy, one ounce of fresh butter, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Ingredients: Brussels sprouts, butter, pepper, stock,
Bechamel sauce, Parmesan, croûtons.
Take off the outside leaves of half a pound of Brussels sprouts, wash and boil them in salted water. Let them get cool, drain, and put them in a pie-dish with two ounces of fresh butter, a quarter pint of very good stock, a little pepper, and a dust of grated Parmesan. When they are well glazed over, pour off the sauce, season with three table-spoonsful of boiling Bechamel sauce (No. 3), and serve with croûtons fried in butter.
Ingredients: Beetroot, white sauce, Parmesan, Cheddar.
Boil a beetroot till it is quite tender, peel it, cut into slices, put it in a fireproof dish, and cover it with a thick white sauce. Strew a little grated Parmesan and Cheddar over it. Put it in the oven for a few minutes, and serve very hot in the dish.
Ingredients: Beans, stock, a bunch of herbs, Béchamel sauce.
Boil one»pound of broad beans in salt and water, skin and cook them in a saucepan with a quarter pint of reduced stock and a bunch of herbs. Drain them, take out the herbs, and season with two glasses of Béchamel sauce (No. 3).
Ingredients: Cabbage or greens, anchovies, salt, butter, parsley, gravy, Parmesan.
Boil two cabbages in a good deal of water, and cut them into quarters. Fry two anchovies slightly in butter and chopped parsley, add the cabbages, and at the last three tablespoonsful of good gravy, two tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan, salt and pepper, and when cooked, serve.
Ingredients: Cauliflower, butter, onions, parsley, lemon, Espagnole sauce.
Blanch a cauliflower and boil it, but not too much. Cut up a small onion, fry it slightly in butter and chopped parsley, and when it is well coloured, add the cauliflower and finish cooking it, then take it out, put it in a dish, pour a good Espagnole sauce (No, 1) over it, and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Ingredients: Cauliflower, or broccoli, gravy, lemon, salt, eggs, butter.
Break up a broccoli or cauliflower into little bunches, blanch them, and put them on the fire in a saucepan with good gravy for a few minutes, then marinate them with lemon juice and salt, let them get cold, egg them over, and fry in butter.
Ingredients: Cauliflower, butter, Parmesan, Cheddar, Espagnole, stock.
Boil a cauliflower in salted water, then sautez it in butter, but be careful not to cook it too much. Take it off the fire and strew grated Parmesan and Cheddar over it, then put in a fire-proof dish and add a good; spoonful of stock and one of Espagnole (No. I), and put it in the oven for ten minutes.
Ingredients: Cauliflower, butter, stock, forcemeat of fowl, tongue, truffles, mushrooms, parsley, Espagnole, eggs.
Break up a cauliflower into separate little bunches, blanch them, and put them in -butter, and a quarter pint of reduced stock. Make a . forcemeat of fowl, add bits of tongue, truffles, mushrooms, and parsley, all cut up small and mixed with butter. With this mask the pieces of cauliflower, egg and breadcrumb them, fry like croquettes, and serve with a good Espagnole sauce (No. 1).
Ingredients: Celery, stock, ham, salt, pepper, Parmesan.
Cut all the green off a head of celery, trim the rest. Cut it into pieces about four inches long, blanch and braize them in good stock, ham, salt, and pepper. When cooked, drain and arrange them on a dish, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and Cheddar, and add one and a half ounce of butter, then put them in the oven till they have taken a good colour, pour a little good gravy over them and serve.
Ingredients: Same as No. 163, eggs, bread crumbs, tomatoes.
Prepare a head of celery as above, and cut it up into equal pieces. Blanch and braize as above, and when cold egg and breadcrumb and sautez in butter. Serve with tomato sauce.
Ingredients: Cucumber, butter, cheese, gravy, salt, cayenne.
Cut a cucumber into slices about half an inch thick, boil for five minutes in salted water, drain in a sieve,' and fry slightly in melted butter, then strew a little grated Parmesan over it, and add a good thick gravy, put it into the oven for ten minutes to brown, and serve as hot as possible.
Ingredients: Cucumber, cream, salt, Bechamel sauce, butter, Parmesan, cayenne pepper.
Cook a cucumber as in No. 165, braize it for five minutes, add to it a good rich Bechamel (No. 3), mixed with cream and grated Parmesan. Spread this well over the cucumber, and put it into the oven for ten minutes, keeping the rounds of cucumber separate, so as to arrange them in a circle on a very hot dish. Care should be taken not to cook the cucumber too long, or it will break in pieces, and spoil the look of the dish.
 
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