Action Cook Book

Globe Artichokes. Avoid ones with any trace of purple flower.

Gooseberries. Go for Sussex-grown ones. Some varieties are very sour, but are excellent for jams and jellies.

Grapes. Endless varieties from countless countries. Unless you are an expert, go for the dark ones (same for cherries). Colmar is a type of grape grown in many places. The English Colmar is a superb dessert grape. Belgian and South African Colmar are almost as good. Small seedless grapes from various Mediterranean countries are a treat, unless you enjoy chewing the pips, and eating them, too, as they do in most grape-growing areas.

Grapefruit. Keep well. Buy heavy ones, they will be juiciest.

Green Beans. Must snap when broken and should be moist inside. Fry some chopped bacon and a diced red pepper (don’t use the seeds). When cooked, add vinegar and sugar in about equal quantities. Some cooks add mustard or pepper sauce to this recipe. When sugar has dissolved, pour this over cooked beans. Mix well. Serve. (Wax beans are the yellow ones.)

Greengages. A member of the plum family. Unless you know someone who grows them you will be best advised to buy French ones. South African are quite good.

Green Peppers (Capsicums, Pimentoes or Sweet Peppers). Are a large firm vegetable, sometimes red, according to how long they are left to grow. Remove all the seeds, which are very peppery; the flesh can be eaten raw. In the Middle East they favour their green peppers scorched. In England they are generally stuffed with meat and rice, and cooked in a moderate oven. A simple way, however, is to quarter them, remove seeds, brush with oil and bake for 15 minutes at Regulo 4 (350° F.).

Japanese Artichokes are small twisted ones. Treat just like Jerusalem artichokes.

Jerusalem Artichokes are strange relatives of the sunflower, and have a delicate earthy taste. They are tricky to peel, so go for the smoothest ones. Boil or steam them until tender (30 minutes?), then peel them, roll in butter, serve. Another popular way is to sieve the skins away from purée after cooking, using the purée for soup, or adding cream and butter before serving as a vegetable. They can be eaten raw.

Kale. A rather tough cabbage-type vegetable with a taste resembling the spinach family. Gardeners should try ‘Asparagus Kale’.

Leeks. Suspect any that are too carefully manicured. Small, even-sized ones are better in flavour than the very large ones. Leeks are superb braised in butter or stock. Serve them with a sauce (e.g. cheese), or make a leek-and-potato soup with a dash of cream. This latter is very good served chilled.

Lemons. Bad skins do not always indicate bad fruit, but the skin is a valuable item in kitchen and bar.

Lettuce. Buy fresh, sprightly ones that haven’t been standing in water to revive them. Don’t buy ones that already have the outer leaves removed, they are probably ancient. Ask for a ‘Webbs Wonder’, which is an especially crisp variety. Imported lettuces are just as good as home-grown, providing they are fresh. Gardeners might like ‘Webbs Wonder’, too.

Limes. These are less common than lemons. The juice is exquisite—iced lime juice (sweetened as you want) is a drink of the gods.

Loganberries are the big brothers of the raspberry. They are much more interesting for my money, especially to serve raw with cream and sugar. Nowadays you only see them in country towns.

Lychees are a soft juicy fruit with a flavour of roses. Discard the parchment-like outer skin, eat the soft flesh uncooked.

Mandarins. Just like tangerines. You either like them, or you don’t. (See Oranges.)

Mangoes. Wildly expensive, but eaten fresh a sensation. Not to be confused with the tinned variety which is not sensational at all.

Marrow. A tough, tasteless vegetable that wins prizes at garden shows.

Medlars. Strange, stunted, apple-like fruit eaten when soft and seeming over-ripe. Worth trying, if only as a curiosity.

Melons

Cantaloupe. Go for those with thick, closely woven ‘netting’ with yellow or yellow/green between netting pattern. Tender orange inside. It should have a rich smell. Imported—expensive until summer. Don’t cut more than a few minutes before serving, even to cool.

Tiger Melon. Is very similar, but with a smooth skin. A real Tiger Melon is even better than a Net Cantaloupe.

Honeydew. White rind is immature, it should be cream-colour. Flesh is more like that of a watermelon and so they are cheaper than the above varieties. Go for the ones from Spain, sometimes marked ‘Elche’. On South African honeydews, ‘Geest’ is the label to search for. ‘Prince of Wales’ is another superb mark.

Charentais. Sent from France, are the kings of the melon world, although some gourmets go for Afghan ones. They are almost never cheap, but they are worth paying for—highly scented, sweet and pungent.

Watermelon. Very watery flesh. Beware of damaged ones as they rapidly deteriorate.

Mushrooms. Sensational whatever their size, shape or colour. The very light underside shows a very young mushroom, but gigantic plate-sized mushrooms have their place in cooking too. Try them all, and keep some in a dark place in the kitchen, but never in the refrigerator—they hate cold. Cultivated mushrooms do not need peeling. Sometimes wild mushrooms appear in the shops, but the real gourmet will stalk the choicest varieties with a good textbook in one hand.

Mustard and Cress is a mass of tiny green leaves on thin stalks, that looks like something out of a science-fiction film. It is really rape, and is useful for decorating hot or cold dishes, e.g. roast poultry, sliced galantine, or baked sole.

Nectarines. A superb type of plum. You must try one. South African ones in winter (see Food in Season section).

Onions.See pages 254-5.

Oranges. There are three different types of orange. There is the China or sweet orange—that’s the ordinary orange as we know it. There is the Seville, which is a bitter orange for cooking with duck, pork, etc., and for making marmalade. Lastly, there is the mandarin, which is a small, flattened, loose-skinned type of orange that originated in China thousands of years ago. There are several varieties of mandarin—tangerine, satsuma and clementine—some of them have no pips. When buying ordinary oranges, choose the thin-skinned, smooth ones. Heaviest are best. Israel oranges are exceptionally good, particularly the real Jaffa. Outspan is a selection from the South African crop, and Navel is the choicest variety when the Spanish crop takes the stage. In January and February both Seville oranges and Aylesbury ducks are in the shops. Like all citrus fruits, oranges will give you more juice if heated before squeezing.