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Boiled Beets
This root is excellent as a salad, and, as a garnish for other salads, it is very important on account of its beautiful bright color. In cleansing it before boiling, take care not to break the skin, or it will lose its color and become sickly-looking. Remove it from the saucepan carefully, peel and trim nicely. Serve, cut in slices, with melted butter in a tureen. Large beets take from two to three hours to boil.
A method recipe rather than a measured one: the whole point is keeping the beet intact so the colour stays in the root instead of bleeding into the water.
- The hinge: don't cut the beetLeave at least an inch of stem and the whole taproot attached, and scrub rather than scrape. Any nick in the skin lets the pigment (betanin, which is water-soluble) leach out, giving pale beets and red water.
- Cooking timeTwo to three hours suits the large field beets of the period. Supermarket beets of 2-3 in. across take 30-45 minutes at a simmer; a thin skewer should meet no resistance at the centre. Test rather than trust the clock.
- Acid in the waterA tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice per quart helps hold the colour and firms the flesh. It is not in the original but costs nothing.
- PeelingSkins slip off under cold running water once the beets have cooled a few minutes. Rubber gloves save stained hands; the stain on a wooden board is very hard to shift.
- "Melted butter in a tureen"In books of this vintage melted butter usually means a sauce rather than simply liquefied butter -- butter worked smooth with a little flour and hot water, thickened over low heat. Plain warm butter with salt and pepper is the modern equivalent, served alongside so the slices are not swamped.
- Roasting insteadWrapped in foil at 400F for 45-60 minutes gives a sweeter, less watery beet by the same principle -- nothing cut, nothing lost.
- YieldReckon one medium beet per person as a side, two if they are small. Cooked beets keep four or five days refrigerated and are better cold in salad the next day.
- Don't waste the greensThe leaves trimmed off before boiling are worth cooking like chard, with oil and garlic. The book assumes the root only.