14 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



revelation to those who have only the ordinary English 

 idea of the vegetables that are worth growing. 



Geleriac is an excellent vegetable, not very common in 

 England, and, when carefully cooked, with a good brown 

 sauce, forms a valuable contribution to the winter supply. 

 One of the constant difficulties in the management of a 

 house, whether large or small, where the vegetables are 

 grown and not bought, is that the gardener brings them La, 

 and the cook throws them away into a corner of the scullery 

 or into the pig-tub. Only last summer a gardener from a 

 large place in the neighbourhood said to me while walking 

 round my small garden : ' What ! you grow Cardoons ? 

 I took in beautiful ones last year, but they were never 

 used ; the cook said she didn't know how to cook them.' 

 The following is a good receipt : — The length of time 

 Cardoons require in cooking depends on age and size, and 

 varies from half an hour to three or four hours. Scrape 

 the stalks, and pull off aU that is thready outside. Cut 

 them into bits about four or five inches long, or longer if 

 served in a long narrow dish with marrow on toast at each 

 end. As you cut them, throw them into a basin full of 

 water, into which you put a little flour to keep them a 

 good colour. When all are prepared, have ready a large 

 crockery stewpan with boiling water, herbs, a httle salt 

 and pepper, and a good-sized piece of raw bacon. The 

 rind of the bacon should be cut in httle bits, but not so 

 small as to get mixed with the Cardoons. Boil the whole 

 slowly, and prepare a brown sauce apart vsdth weU- 

 flavoured stock. Thicken this with flour (burnt to a light- 

 •coffee colour), butter, and a httle sherry. Let it simmer 

 for two hours, skimming it weU. Strain it half an hour 

 before serving. 



The American Cranberries, so generally and so cheaply 

 sold in London, are very pretty and very nice if well stewed 

 in a crockery saucepan with water and sugar ; a small 



