Dried vegetables are now sold, and are very convenient for making soups in winter, or where there is no garden. They consist chiefly of strips of carrot, turnip, etc. Soak these for an hour or more in cold water, drain them off, and then boil them in some clear stock, No. 1 or No. 2. (See No. 10.) This makes a good Julienne soup. They will generally be tender with twenty minutes' boiling.

A good quantity of dried vegetables can be soaked in cold water, then boiled in water slightly salted, then drained, and served as vegetables in a dish.

When this is the case, add a spoonful of chopped fresh parsley to them a minute before draining them off: this will be sufficient to blanch the parsley. Mix in a good-sized piece of butter. The dish can be rubbed with garlic and the vegetables tossed together.

Tinned Vegetables

Nearly every kind of vegetable is now preserved in tins. Of these, the most useful are macedoines (a medley) and green peas. Macedoines, with some stock and extract of meat in the house, make soup at a moment's notice. They also make, equally quickly, a German salad. (See German Salad.) They make an excellent garnish, when served up, say, in the centre of a dish of cutlets, or with cold fowl and aspic-jelly for supper. Green peas should be only just made hot through, with a few fresh mintleaves, if possible. This is a very great improvement. Add a saltspoonful of mixed sugar and salt, equal quantities. The peas must, of course, be drained off.

It is a great convenience to have a few tins in the house.