BOUND THE TABLE

ture of oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt, and perhaps a little mustard. However, the process of eating an artichoke, either raw or plainly boiled, is such that many people would think it tedious, and perhaps not very elegant ; wherefore professors of cookery have invented other ways of dressing this vegetable, the chief point of which consists in dressing only the eatable part of each artichoke, so that it may be eaten with a fork, as are carrots or potatoes.

The process of removing from an artichoke the uneat- able part is a very easy one when you know it ; but the simple word “ trim ” is hardly sufficient to explain it to the uninitiated. What is meant by trimming an artichoke is this : Cut off the stalk close ; turn the arti- choke bottom upwards, and cut it in four, six, or eight “ quarters,” as you would an orange ; take each quarter, and remove with a knife the embryo stamens which are at the core ; then cut off all the leaves, leaving only an eighth of an inch of the outside one ; this must be done in a slanting direction, for as the leaves approach the core there is more to eat on them. Lastly, pare the outside of each quarter neatly. All these operations must be done expeditiously ; and as each quarter is done it must be put into a basin of cold water with the juice of a lemon squeezed in it.

When the artichokes are all trimmed they should be taken out of the basin and thrown into a saucepan full of boiling water, with salt and the juice of half a lemon ; and when they are nearly cooked — say in fifteen or twenty minutes — they should be drained and put back again into the basin of cold water and lemon juice.

They are now ready for dressing; and ten minutes before serving, having drained and dried them in a cloth, you can proceed to dress them in any of the following forms :

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1. Flour or dip eacli piece in batter, and fry it a light colour, serving it either alone or with other fried things.

2. Make a sauce with flour, butter, water, pepper, and salt ; toss the pieces of artichokes in it till warmed, and add, just before sending up to table, the yolks of one or two eggs beaten up with the juice of a lemon.

3. Fry some chopped onions in butter, and put in the pieces of artichoke ; toss them in the saucepan for ten minutes, and serve with the juice of a lemon, adding a little grated nutmeg, and salt and pepper if necessary. To be dressed in this way they should be boiled previously for ten minutes only.

4. Dispose the pieces of artichoke on a well-buttered silver dish. Strew plentifully over them a mixture of bread crumbs and finely-minced mushrooms and parsley, with a very little chopped shallot or garlic. Add pepper and salt, and a little more butter, and put the dish into the oven for ten minutes. Brown the top with a sala- mander, and serve. Previous boiling is not imperative ; but when it is dispensed with the dish should remain longer in the oven, say about half an hour. Oil may be used instead of butter.

5. Artichokes are also used as garnitures, and to form with other vegetables the ragouts called jardiniere, &c. ; and in order to have them all the yearround forthis purpose they can be preserved by the following process : Having “ trimmed” them as above, boil them as for present dress- ing, but for five or ten minutes only. Drain and dry them in a cloth, then string them on twine, and hang them up in a free current of air to dry. The pieces of artichoke should not touch each other. When they are thoroughly dry they can be put away, and kept like dried mushrooms in jars or paper bags. But in the