There are comparatively few housewives who know that many vegetables are better for being cooked in the oven than by the ordinary method of boiling.

Beets, carrots, and parsnips, as well as other roots, may be cooked in the oven for a long time very slowly in closed vessels, subjected to the same degree of heat that is required in roasting meat, from 300 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Green vegetables, peas, beans, and the like, are very deliciously cooked in this way.  They retain a very much finer flavor than when subjected to the customary heat of the stove in an open vessel or when boiled.

When the heat is properly regulated, all kinds of fruit and vegetables may be cooked in the oven, in vegetable dishes – china, porcelain, or stoneware – open or covered.  The watery kinds require very little water.  The drier kinds may have little water added.

The steam generated at the higher heat to which the outside of the vessel is subjected raises the temperature within the covered vessel only to about the boiling-point; and while the vessel may not be steam-tight lest it burst, yet it may be sufficiently tight to retain the aromatic oils which should not be carried off, thus assuring the full flavor.

Reference:

Judd, Edith (1896, June). How To Cook Vegetables. The Household, XXIX(6), 22. Retrieved from VictorianTimes.us http://victoriantimes.us/antique-recipes/how-to-cook-vegetables. ^

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