152 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
ous, are very repugnant, and should not be used. But 
the dangerous mushroom is the one affected by “Flock.” 
Mushrooms should be gathered free from grit; if at 
all gritty they require washing, which spoils them. All 
large mushrooms should be peeled before they are cooked ; 
the skin of the cap parts freely from the flesh, but the 
skin of the stem must be rubbed or scraped off. The 
gills should not be removed as they are the most deli¬ 
cate meat of the mushroom, but if the mushrooms are 
old and intended for soup the gills should be scraped 
out with the view of getting rid of their darkening 
influence in the soup. In the case of small button 
mushrooms, which can not be readily skinned, they 
should be rubbed over with a soft cloth dipped in vin¬ 
egar, so as to remove the outer part of the skin. While 
the stems may be retained with the buttons, they should 
always be removed from the full-grown mushrooms. 
Mushrooms should always be served hot, and they 
should be eaten as soon as cooked. In the case of baked 
mushrooms and others prepared in a somewhat similar 
way they should be covered in the oven by an inverted 
dish, soup plate, basin, or the like, and if possible brought 
to the table in this way and without the cover removed. 
Set the tin upon a mat or cold plate upon the table, then 
uncover and serve on hot plates. By this means the 
delicious aroma is preserved. 
Baked Mushrooms.—Peel and stem the mushrooms, 
rub and sprinkle a little salt on the gills, and lay the 
mushrooms, gills up, on a shallow baking tin and put a 
small piece of butter on each mushroom. Place an 
inverted saucer or deep plate over them in the tin, and 
put them into a brisk oven for about twenty minutes. 
Then take them out and serve upon a hot plate, without 
spilling any of the juice that has.collected in the middle 
of each mushroom. Send to table and eat at once. 
This is the common way of cooking mushrooms, and by 
