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Vegetable Oyster Soup
1 large vegetable oyster 1 pint milk, or 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream 1/2 tablespoon flour 2 tablespoons butter, if cream is not used 1 1/2 teaspoons salt Put the vegetable oyster into boiling water for two minutes, then put it into cold water, scrape off the skin, and cut into small dice. Put it to cook in one pint of cold water. Cook slowly till tender. Rub half of the oyster through a colander. Then put the water in which the oyster was cooked, the diced oyster and the oyster pulp, and the milk, or milk and cream, all together in a double boiler. If the ingredients do not make one quart, add water to make one quart. Heat to boiling, and thicken with the flour stirred smooth with a little cold water. Stir in the butter and salt.
"Vegetable oyster" is salsify, a long tan taproot whose cooked flavor was thought to resemble oysters. The recipe is a plain root-and-milk soup, thickened barely at all, and it depends on gentle heat rather than technique.
- Finding the rootSalsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) turns up at farmers' markets and in some produce sections in autumn and winter; black salsify, or scorzonera, works the same way. Choose firm roots without soft ends.
- Quantity"One large vegetable oyster" is imprecise, and a single root will not carry a quart of soup. Reckon on about 1 lb of trimmed roots, which is roughly two to three large ones or one supermarket bunch.
- DiscolorationCut salsify browns quickly, like an artichoke. Drop the diced root into water with a squeeze of lemon while you work, or peel and dice directly into the pot of cold cooking water.
- The two-minute blanchThe brief boil and cold plunge loosen the skin so it scrapes off with a knife back rather than a peeler. Do not extend it or the outer flesh softens and comes away with the skin.
- Cooking timeDiced salsify simmers tender in 20 to 30 minutes depending on thickness. It should yield fully to a fork; underdone salsify tastes woody and stays that way in the milk.
- Why the double boilerMilk thickened with flour scorches readily over direct heat. If you have no double boiler, use a heavy saucepan over low heat and stir often; the soup only needs to reach a simmer, not a hard boil.
- ThickeningHalf a tablespoon of flour to a quart of liquid gives almost no body: chowder-thin, not creamy. If you want a fuller soup, double or triple the flour and expect a noticeably different dish.
- Butter and saltThe butter is stated as a substitute for the richness of cream; if you use the milk-and-cream option, leave it out or add only a small knob. A teaspoon and a half of salt for a quart is on the assertive side \fadd half, taste, then finish.
- YieldAbout one quart, serving four as a first course.