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Parsley, Fried (for Garnishing)
INGREDIENTS.-Parsley, hot lard or clarified dripping. Gather some young parsley; wash, pick and dry it thoroughly in a cloth; put it into the wire basket of which we have given an engraving, and hold it in boiling lard or dripping for a minute or two.
Directly it is done, lift out the basket, and let it stand before the fire, that the parsley may become thoroughly crisp; and the quicker it is fried the better. Should the kitchen not be furnished with the above article, throw the parsley into the fryingpan, and, when crisp, lift it out with a slice, Wire Basket. For this recipe a wire WIRE BASKET. light and handy, and may be used for other similar purposes besides that just described.
A garnish, not a dish: whole sprigs dropped briefly into hot fat until they turn dark green and brittle. The whole thing hinges on the parsley being bone dry before it goes near the fat.
- Dry it properlyAny water left on the leaves will spit violently and the parsley will steam rather than crisp. Wash, then dry between cloths or spin in a salad spinner and leave to air a while; the sprigs should feel papery-dry at the stem.
- Fat and temperatureThe recipe calls for lard or clarified dripping; any fat with a high smoke point works. No temperature is given, but somewhere around 350-360F suits: hot enough that the sprigs stop sizzling within seconds, not so hot that they blacken.
- "A minute or two" is too longCurly parsley crisps in about 10 to 20 seconds and turns bitter and brown-black beyond that. With a modern pan, watch the colour, not the clock.
- The wire basketThe illustrated basket is a frying basket for lowering food into hot fat. A spider skimmer or a small strainer with a heatproof handle does the same job; the point is being able to lift everything out at once.
- "Before the fire"This means a warm, dry spot near the range so the sprigs finish drying and set crisp. Draining on paper somewhere warm achieves the same; do not cover them, or they go limp.
- A sliceAn old term for a flat slotted lifter, what would now be called a skimmer or fish slice.
- Which parsleyCurly-leaf holds its shape and shatters pleasantly; flat-leaf fries flatter and darker. Use young sprigs with fine stems, as older stalks stay tough.
- Yield and useA large handful of sprigs shrinks to very little. Fry it at the last moment and scatter over fried fish, cutlets, or croquettes, where it was the conventional finishing touch.
Fried parsley belongs to the nineteenth-century British habit of finishing a fried dish with something else fried: whitebait, fillets of sole and veal cutlets were commonly sent to table with a heap of dark green, brittle sprigs. It cost almost nothing and took seconds. The engraving of the wire basket is characteristic of Beeton's household books, which were heavily illustrated with kitchen equipment; the text itself notes the basket "may be used for other similar purposes" than frying parsley. The garnish faded as deep-frying moved out of the domestic kitchen, though fried herbs are still used similarly in some traditional fish cookery and in Italian and Middle Eastern cooking.