Beetroot
The Greeks held the beet in such esteen that they used to offer it to Apollo at Delphi on silver, and they preferred its leaves to lettuce. The leaves are hardly ever used now unless they may be so in Brabant, where in Flemish cookery-and these Flemings were good judgesthey took the place of spinach, which belongs to the same family. We make use only of the root now, and that Beignet but little save for the manufacture of sugar. After the potato it is the most nourishing of all the roots, but its taste is mawkish when cooked, and it is not valued except for salads. Beetroot and Spanish onion make a capital winter salad; so also beetroot and celery or beetroot and celeriac. Even to green salads, as the cabbage lettuce, a slice or two is a welcome addition.
BEIGNET is one of those words abounding in the French kitchen, and more there than in the kitchen of any other country-which seem to defy explanation. All we can say of it is that it means a fritter.