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Salad of Asparagus Tops
1 pint of asparagus tops The rule for French dressing Boil the tops in salted boiling water for fifteen minutes, drain, throw into cold water, and let stand until ready to Then dry carefully with a soft napkin, put them into the salad dish, pour over the French dressing; let stand about ten minutes, and serve. use.
A simple cold asparagus salad that stands or falls on how the spears are cooked and dried. The original timing belongs to an era of thicker, tougher asparagus.
- Fifteen minutes is far too longModern asparagus tips need 2-4 minutes in salted boiling water, depending on thickness, and should still have some resistance. Fifteen minutes gives olive-drab, collapsing spears.
- The cold water is the pointPlunging straight into cold or iced water stops the cooking and fixes the green colour. Do not skip it, and do not let the tips sit in the water longer than it takes to cool them through.
- Dry thoroughlyThis is the hinge of the dish. Water clinging to the spears thins the dressing and makes it slide off; pat them dry on a towel and let them air a few minutes before dressing.
- "Asparagus tops"The tender upper third of the spear, tips plus two or three inches of stalk. A pint here is a volume measure, and the weight it corresponds to will vary with how tightly the tops are packed; the recipe gives no indication of how many it serves.
- The French dressingIn books of this period the term generally means a plain vinaigrette of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, commonly around three or four parts oil to one of vinegar, though period versions differ and some include mustard or paprika. The book's own rule is not given here; if it is a simple unemulsified mixture, expect it to separate and to need a second stir before pouring.
- Ten minutes' standingLong enough for the dressing to season the spears, short enough that the acid does not dull the green. Dress at the table if the salad must wait.
Asparagus arrived in a short spring-to-early-summer season and was treated as something of a luxury, which is why only the tops are used here and the coarse lower stalks are quietly assumed to have gone elsewhere. "French dressing" in American cookbooks of the period simply meant oil, vinegar and seasoning in the French manner, as against the boiled or cooked dressings then common in American kitchens; the sweetened orange-red bottled product that later took the name is a twentieth-century development.