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Purée of Sorrel (Covering about ten minutes)
covering about ten minutes. Then drain in a colander, turn into a chopping tray, and chop very fine. It cannot be too fine. Then put in a saucepan with two tablespoonfuls of butter, salt and pepper to taste. Stir until very hot. Have ready at hand a heated dish, arrange it on small squares of buttered toast. Heap the spinach on each square. Place a hard boiled egg on top of each and sèrve.
The page begins mid-sentence: the missing opening instructed the cook to wash the sorrel and boil it in a covered pan for about ten minutes. Note also that the text slips into calling it "spinach" halfway through — nineteenth-century books treated the two as interchangeable in this preparation, and either leaf works.
- Quantity to start withNo weight is given. Sorrel collapses drastically, so reckon on 1 lb of leaves for two to three servings, or about 2 lb to fill four squares of toast generously.
- Ten minutes is too longSorrel wilts and turns to a soft khaki purée in two to three minutes with only the water clinging to the washed leaves. Cook until collapsed, then drain.
- Drain hardSorrel holds a great deal of liquid and this purée is meant to sit on toast. Press it in the colander with the back of a spoon, or the toast will be sodden before it reaches the table.
- Chopping"It cannot be too fine" is the hinge of the recipe — a well-cooked sorrel purée should be almost smooth. A few pulses in a food processor after draining does the work of the chopping tray, though the texture is better if you chop by hand.
- Pan materialSorrel is high in oxalic acid and reacts with bare aluminium, cast iron and unlined copper, taking on a metallic taste and a grey cast. Use stainless steel or enamelled cast iron.
- Two tablespoonfuls of butterThat is 1 oz, and it is not excessive — sorrel is sharply acidic and the butter is what makes it palatable. A spoonful of cream or a little more butter is a common addition and will soften the sourness further.
- The eggsHard-boiled eggs here are whole, halved or quartered on top of each square, not chopped. Eight to ten minutes from boiling gives a set but not chalky yolk; cool them under running water so they peel cleanly.
- ServingEverything must be hot at once. Toast the bread and butter it last, warm the dish, and have the eggs cooked and peeled before the sorrel goes into the saucepan — the purée goes cold quickly once spread thin.
Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) was a common kitchen-garden green in Britain, France and America, valued for the sharp lemony acidity that oxalic acid gives the leaf; French cookery in particular built a set of dishes on it, from soupe à l'oseille to the sorrel sauce served with shad and salmon. The pairing with hard-boiled egg and buttered toast, as here, is a familiar treatment, the fat of yolk and butter balancing the acid. The drift into calling the finished purée "spinach" may reflect how far spinach had become the default green in English-language cookbooks by the time this book was compiled, though that is an inference from a single page. Sorrel is today mostly a garden and farmers' market vegetable rather than a supermarket one; the leaves wilt quickly after picking, which is likely part of the reason.