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Beets
Wash the beets thoroughly and remove the leaves, being very careful not to break off the little fibers and rootlets which retain the juices and coloring matter. Use plenty of water in cooking. Should the beets be tough and withered, soak them for twenty-four hours in plenty of cold water before trying to cook them. Try with a fork, and when tender drop them into a pan of cold water and slip off the skins with the hands. If small, serve whole. If large, slice those to be used immediately, place in a dish and season with salt, pepper, and butter or butter substitute or savory fat. A teaspoon of sugar may be added also if the beets are not naturally sweet enough. Set them over boiling water to heat thoroughly and serve hot, with or without vinegar. The cold beets left over may be covered with vinegar and used as pickles.
A method rather than a formula: the whole point is keeping the beet sealed so its color and sugar stay inside. Everything else follows from that.
- The hinge: do not cut the beetTwist or trim the leaves an inch above the crown and leave the tail root and rootlets attached. Any cut surface bleeds color and sweetness into the water, which is why peeling happens after cooking, not before.
- No time is givenBoil in plenty of water, as the recipe directs: roughly 25-35 minutes for beets under 2 inches, 45-60 minutes for medium, and an hour or more for large old roots. Test with a fork at the thickest point, not at the tip.
- The cold-water plungeDropping the hot beets into cold water cools them enough to handle while the skins still slip off under the thumb. Don't let them sit and go stone cold. Wear gloves or accept stained hands.
- The 24-hour soakThis is for old storage beets that have gone limp, and it does rehydrate them. Soak in the refrigerator rather than on the counter, and change the water once.
- Butter substitute or savory fatPeriod shorthand for margarine, or for rendered bacon fat, beef drippings or poultry fat kept in a crock. Any of these still works; bacon fat and a splash of cider vinegar suits beets well.
- Reheating over boiling waterA double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Gentle heat keeps sliced beets from drying out or turning to mush the way direct heat does.
- The leftover "pickles"Beets covered with vinegar and refrigerated are a quick refrigerator pickle, good for about a week. They are not preserved and must not be treated as shelf-stable canned goods.
- YieldRoughly two pounds of trimmed beets will serve four as a side dish.