Of roots
Cut carrots and parsnips to the length of a finger, and of much the same thickness; boil them till half done in water, put them into a stew pan with small bits of ham, chopped parsley, and shalots, pepper and salt, a glass of wine and broth; let them stew slowly until the broth is reduced pretty thick, and add the squeeze of a lemon when ready to serve. For maigre, instead of ham, use mush-rooms, and make a mixture beat up with yolks of eggs and maigre broth. Celery is done much the same, only it is cut smaller. If these roots are to be served in a boat for sauce, boil them tender in the broth pot, or in water, cut them into the desired length, and serve with a good gravy or white sauce.
A simple braise of root vegetables in wine and broth, with a meatless variation. The only real technical hazard is the egg-yolk finish in the maigre version.
- The hinge: the egg liaisonFor the meatless version, the yolks beaten with broth must go in off the heat, or into liquid below a simmer, and be stirred until it thickens. If it boils it will scramble and the sauce will break into grains.
- "Maigre"A lean or fast-day dish, without meat — for Lent and Fridays. "Maigre broth" in period books is a meatless broth, usually of roots and herbs (sometimes fish); mushroom trimmings, leek, onion and parsley make a good one.
- ShalotsShallots. Two or three, finely chopped, is right for a pound or so of vegetables.
- "A glass of wine"A wineglass in period books is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz, though usage varies, so anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup. The recipe does not say which wine; white suits the vegetables, and the broth need come no more than halfway up them.
- "Boil them till half done"Five to seven minutes in salted water for finger-thick batons, until a knife enters with resistance. They finish in the wine and broth, which is where the flavour comes from.
- Reducing "pretty thick"Uncovered, over low heat, until the liquid glazes rather than pools — 15 to 20 minutes. Parsnips give up more sugar than carrots and will catch if the pan goes dry, so keep a little broth in reserve.
- CeleryThe recipe does not say why celery should be cut smaller. If your celery is stringy, cut it into 2-inch lengths and shorten the initial boiling to two or three minutes.
- Served "in a boat"A sauceboat. In that form this is an accompaniment for boiled or roast meat, not a dish in its own right.
- YieldAbout a pound of prepared roots and a small handful of ham serves four as a side.
Recipes "of roots" occupy a modest place in English cookery books, where carrots, parsnips and celery were cheap winter staples rather than delicacies, and the usual advice was simply to boil them. What suggests a French-influenced tradition here is the vocabulary and method: maigre, the reduction of broth to a glaze, the yolk-and-broth liaison. Maigre cookery — dishes without meat, for the fast days that the Church calendar still imposed on much of Europe — generated a whole parallel repertoire, and the substitution here of mushrooms for ham, with eggs supplying the richness that the ham would otherwise give, is a clear example of how it worked. The finishing squeeze of lemon is doing what a splash of vinegar does in a modern glazed-carrot recipe: cutting the sweetness the parsnips release as they reduce.