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Show a """- .. J Asparagus Should Be J 5 Cooked Without Delay ' (Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) WNU Service. Asparagus toughens and loses flavor very rapidly if allowed to stand. It should therefore be cooked as soon as possible after it is cut In cities, this is not easy, but it Is a good plan to buy asparagus on the same day it is to be used, rather than a day or so beforehand, as Is often done with other oth-er vegetables. To prepare asparagus for cooking, trim off any tough ends, brush carefully, care-fully, and scrape oft the larger scales. Wash so as to remove all sand and particles of earth which may have lodged under the scales. Fresh, tender, ten-der, home-grown asparagus does not need scraping. Cook in slightly salted water, either whole, or cut up In inch lengths. Very young asparagus, cut up, may require only five to ten minutes' cooking; 20 or 25 minutes at most should be enough. Season with salt, pepper, butter, but-ter, and a little cream, If you have it. Let stand in a warm place a few minutes, min-utes, and then serve, either as it is or on toast. Hollandaise or white sauce may accompany the asparagus, or mayonnaise or french dressing. Cooked asparagus may be added to soups, stews, or tegetable salad. It may also be used in making scalloped dishes, -croquettes, fritters, vegetable loaf, or timbales. A very good combination combi-nation Is asparagus scalloped with spaghetti. Asparagus with new diced creamed potatoes is also excellent, or asparagus with peas. Smaller amounts of asparagus can be used for these dishes than when the asparagus constitutes con-stitutes the chief vegetable. An asparagus as-paragus omelet is delicious for luncheon. |