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Young Carrots
Ingredients.
One bunch of Spring Carrots.
One ounce of Butter.
One teaspoonful of Castor Sugar.
Half a pint of Stock.
A tablespoonful of chopped and parboiled Parsley.
Wash and scrape the carrots, boil them in water with a little salt for about ten minutes, put them into cold water, and dry them in a cloth. Now put them into a saucepan with the stock, butter, and sugar, and boil gently for half an hour; then boil them fast till the stock is reduced to glaze, sprinkle in the chopped parsley, and serve, with the glaze on them. ( 181 )
A classic glazed carrot, written for a cook with good stock on hand. The only real pitfall is the total cooking time, which suits the coarse market carrots of 1900 rather than the slim ones sold today.
- The hinge: watch the reduction, not the clockThe dish succeeds or fails at the moment the stock thickens to a syrup and coats the carrots. Once it looks glossy and clings, stop — a few seconds beyond that and the sugar catches and turns bitter.
- Cut the cooking timeTen minutes' blanching plus thirty minutes' gentle boiling plus a fast reduction will reduce modern spring carrots to mush. Blanch two to three minutes, then simmer in the stock 10-15 minutes until barely tender before raising the heat to glaze.
- Half a pintAn Imperial half-pint is 10 fl oz, about 1¼ US cups. Use a wide pan so it reduces quickly; a narrow one keeps boiling long after the carrots are done.
- Castor sugarSuperfine or caster sugar. Ordinary granulated works identically here since it dissolves in the stock; a teaspoon is about 4 g.
- A bunch of spring carrotsReckon roughly 1 lb of young carrots with the tops trimmed, which serves four as a side. Leave them whole if finger-sized, halve lengthwise if thicker, so they cook evenly.
- Parboiled parsleyOlder cookery books call for this; a few seconds in boiling water sets the green and softens the raw edge. It is optional; chopped raw parsley added off the heat gives a fresher result.
- The stock does the workWith only butter, sugar and stock, a weak or salty commercial broth shows immediately. Use a good unsalted chicken or veal stock, and salt only after the reduction, when the seasoning has concentrated.
Glazing vegetables in stock, butter and a little sugar until the liquid reduces to a shining film is standard French practice — glacer — and its appearance in an English cookery book shows how thoroughly professional English kitchens had adopted French method. The particular appeal of the dish depended on seasonality: "spring carrots" meant young carrots pulled small and sweet early in the year, welcome in a country still eating stored winter roots for much of the year. The instruction to blanch, then refresh in cold water and dry in a cloth is the same discipline a restaurant kitchen uses today, keeping colour bright and letting the final glazing be done to order rather than in advance.