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How to Cut Radishes for a Garnish
Cut a thin slice from the leaf end of each; cut off the root end so as to leave it the length of the pistil of a flower. With a small, sharp knife score the pink skin, at the root end, into five or six sections extending half-way down the radish; then loosen the skin above these sections. Put the radishes in cold water for a little time, when they will become crisp, and the points will stand out like the petals of a flower.
A knife exercise rather than a dish, and the only real variable is how long the cut radishes sit in cold water. Everything else is patience with a paring knife.
- The hinge: the cold soakThe petals do not open because of the cutting but because the loosened skin flexes outward as the flesh takes up water and stiffens. The book says only "a little time" in cold water; in practice half an hour or so is usual.
- "The length of the pistil of a flower"The root end is cut off so that only a short stub of the tapered root is left projecting, standing as the flower's centre.
- Which radishThe book assumes the small round red globe radish sold in bunches, which is still the standard supermarket type. Long French breakfast radishes will fan rather than open into a rosette; daikon and black radishes are too large for this cut.
- The knifeA short, thin paring knife or a bird's beak knife. Score just through the red skin and a hair into the white flesh — cut too deep and the sections snap off in the water instead of curling.
- Loosening the skinSlide the blade tip under the top edge of each scored section and lift it slightly away from the flesh. This is what gives the water somewhere to work; skipping it leaves you with a scored radish that stays shut.
- Holding and servingCut radishes keep in cold water in the refrigerator for a day, though they lose some snap. Drain well before they go on the plate.
- Trimming the leaf endThe thin slice from the leaf end takes off the tops and leaves a flat end, which would also let the radish sit upright. Cut it level rather than at an angle.
Carved vegetable garnishes belong to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century American table, when a plain platter was thought unfinished and cookbooks devoted whole pages to radish roses, turnip cups, celery curls and lemon baskets. Janet McKenzie Hill's Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing Dish Dainties (first published 1899) came out of the Boston Cooking School world, where such touches were taught as part of a young woman's competence rather than as professional flourish. The technique itself is older than the printed instructions; what is distinctly period here is the assumption that the reader owns a small sharp knife and has the time to use it on a bunch of radishes.