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Parsnips Browned under Roast Meat
Boil the parsnips until tender, according to the directions given above. Drain well, sprinkle a little salt and pepper over them, put them in the dripping-pan under the joint they are to accompany, and let them remain until they are nicely browned. Send them to table in a dish by themselves, with two or three round the meat as a garnish.
A side dish that costs nothing extra: parboiled parsnips finish in the fat dripping from the roast. The whole method depends on having the meat raised above the pan so the fat falls onto the vegetables.
- The hinge: fat must reach themSet the joint on a rack over the roasting tin and lay the parsnips in the tin underneath, not alongside the meat. If the meat sits directly on the pan there is nothing for the parsnips to brown in, and they will simply dry out.
- Parboiling timeThe "directions given above" refer to the book's earlier boiling instructions, not given here; boil in water until a knife enters easily. As a modern guide, whole medium parsnips take about 15-20 minutes, thick batons 8-10. Stop while they still hold their shape; fully soft parsnips collapse in the pan.
- Cut them evenlyHalve or quarter lengthways so the pieces are roughly finger-thick. Modern parsnips are often large enough to have a woody core, which is worth cutting out of the thick end.
- Dry before they go inDrain well, then leave them in the colander a couple of minutes to steam off. Surface water keeps them from taking colour in the fat.
- Oven temperatureThe recipe sets no temperature; the parsnips simply share whatever heat the roast is getting. Anything in the usual roasting range will brown them; allow roughly 25-35 minutes, turning once so both cut faces colour.
- If the pan is crowdedParsnips packed tightly against each other steam rather than brown. Use a second tin with a few spoonfuls of the drippings if there is no room under the joint.
- YieldAbout 1 1/2 lb of parsnips serves four as a side, with two or three of the best-coloured pieces held back to ring the meat as the recipe directs.
Cooking vegetables in the drippings under a roast is one of the oldest economies of the English kitchen, dating from the era when meat turned on a spit before the fire with a pan set beneath to catch the fat; the same logic produced Yorkshire pudding and dripping-roast potatoes. Parsnips were a staple sweetener and starch in Britain and colonial America before the potato largely displaced them, and their sugar content is what lets them caramelise readily in hot fat. The instruction to send the parsnips to table in a dish of their own, with two or three arranged around the joint, is a matter of presentation as much as economy.