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Vegetable Marrows, Fried
Boil the marrows in the ordinary way till they are tender but quite firm. Let them get cold, and cut them into slices. Brush them over with egg, dip in finely-grated bread-crumbs, and fry till they are lightly browned. Serve very hot. The remains of cooked marrow may be served in this way.
A frugal way to use up boiled squash, and the technique still works — provided the marrow is dry enough to take a coating.
- What a marrow isVegetable marrow is a summer squash harvested large, essentially an overgrown courgette. A large zucchini, 1–2 lb, is the nearest substitute; peel it and scoop the seedy core if it has gone spongy.
- "Tender but quite firm" is the hingeMarrow is mostly water and collapses fast. The recipe boils the marrows whole and slices them only after they are cold, so timing depends on size; take them out while still firm enough to slice cleanly — anything soft enough to yield to a spoon will disintegrate in the pan.
- Dry it before it coolsDrain the pieces and leave them spread on a rack or a towel, not stacked in a bowl. Surface moisture is the reason egg-and-crumb coatings slide off; the recipe's instruction to let them get cold before slicing helps as much as the drying does.
- Slice thicknessAbout half an inch. Thinner slices go limp inside the crust before the crumbs colour.
- Egg and crumbsOne beaten egg loosened with a teaspoon of water coats plenty of slices. "Finely-grated bread-crumbs" means dry crumbs from stale bread, not the coarse fresh kind. Season the crumbs — boiled marrow is very bland.
- FryingShallow-fry in about a quarter inch of oil or clarified butter at around 350–375F, two to three minutes a side. Do not crowd the pan; drain on paper and salt immediately.
- Yield and servingOne large marrow gives a side dish for four. Serve straight from the pan, as directed — the crust softens within minutes. A wedge of lemon or a spoonful of tomato sauce is welcome against the mildness.
Vegetable marrow was a fixture of the British kitchen garden through the nineteenth century, valued because it cropped heavily and kept for weeks in a cool shed, and it appears in Victorian cookery books far more often than in modern ones. Cassell's places this among the plainest of vegetable treatments, and its last line is the point of it: the egg-and-crumb fry was a common household rescue for cooked vegetables left from an earlier meal, a way of turning yesterday's boiled marrow into something with texture and a fresh dish's appearance. It belongs to an era when re-serving leftovers respectably was a recognised branch of the cook's craft rather than an afterthought.