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Asparagus with Parmesan
Boil two dozen heads of asparagus in the ordinary way; then allow it to get cold, and dip the edible ends in yolks of eggs; now roll in grated Parmesan cheese, then in egg and bread crumbs, and fry in hot fat. Serve with white sauce. Probable cost, 2s.
A Victorian way of turning leftover boiled asparagus into a fried savoury. The success of it rests entirely on the spears being properly dry and properly cold before they meet the egg.
- "Boil in the ordinary way"The recipe gives no time, and asparagus of the period was generally boiled far longer than we would now. Modern spears want 3-5 minutes in well-salted water depending on thickness, then a plunge into iced water to stop the cooking and fix the colour.
- Dry them thoroughlyThis is the hinge. Wet asparagus will not hold egg yolk, and the coating slides off in the fat. Drain the cold spears on a cloth and pat them dry before dipping.
- The double coatingYolk is thick and sticky, which suits it to the first layer that has to grip the Parmesan. The second dip is simply "egg", presumably whole and beaten, then breadcrumbs. Chilling the coated spears for 20 minutes before frying makes them far less likely to shed.
- "Edible ends"Only the tips and upper stalk are coated; the woody bases would be trimmed or snapped off. Trim to whatever length of the spear is genuinely tender.
- Frying temperatureHot fat here means around 350-375F. Below that the crumbs absorb grease; above it the Parmesan in the coating scorches and turns bitter. Fry in batches of a few, 1-2 minutes, until just golden.
- White sauceA plain flour-and-butter bechamel of the period, made with milk and seasoned with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg or lemon. Keep it thin enough to pour; a stiff sauce fights the crisp coating.
- Cost and yield"2s." is two shillings, a note of period expense rather than a modern guide. Two dozen spears serves four as a first course or savoury, or two as a light lunch.
Asparagus was a luxury crop in late-Victorian Britain, grown on light sandy ground in Kent, Norfolk and around Evesham, and available only for a short spring season, which is why a book of this kind offers several ways of dressing up whatever was left from yesterday's dinner. Parmesan was already a standard English store cupboard item by the 1890s, imported in whole drums and grated as needed; recipe writers of the period treated it less as an Italian cheese than as a general savoury seasoning, scattered over macaroni, soups and fried croutes alike. The practice of coating cold cooked vegetables in egg and crumb and frying them belongs to the same thrifty impulse that produced croquettes and rissoles from cold meat.