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Carrots and Parsnips: Onions
ONIONS. 659. TO STEW.-Peel six large onions; fry gently of a fine brown, but do not blacken them; then put them into a small stewpan with a little weak gravy, pepper, and salt; cover and stew gently for two hours. They should be lightly floured at first. 660. TO ROAST. - They should be done with all the skins on; they cat well alone, with only salt and cold butter, or with roast potatoes or beet-roots. 661. SPANISH ONIONS. - TO STEW. -Boil four onions, and when done scoop out the middle, and fill them with forcemeat; fry them a light brown, and make a rich gravy and pour over them. This makes a good corner dish. 662. TO FRY ONIONS FOR STEAKS, HERRINGS, &c. -Peel the onions, cut them in slices, fry them in the fat from the steak, &c., which ought to be fried first and kept hot the while. They are usually served in the same dish with the steak or fish.
CELERY. 663. TO STEW.-Wash six heads, and strip off the outer leaves; T LAVER. either halve or leave them whole, according to their size; cut into lengths of four inches; put them into a stewpan with a cup of broth or weak white gravy; stew till tender; then add two spoonfuls of cream, and a little flour and butter, seasoned with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and simmer all together.
ASPARAGUS. 664. To BOIL.-Clean the asparagus, and cut all of a length, then boil till the tops are quite tender; have ready a toast to place them on, and serve while hot. A little mint boiled with asparagus is a great improvement to its flavour. Time, about twenty minutes. 665. ASPARAGUS SERVED AS PEAS.--A variety may be made in the mode of serving asparagus, by cutting up the tender parts into small pieces, and when boiled with a sprig or two of mint till nearly done (half the usual time); they should be dried in a cloth, and finished up as young peas, adding a very little sugar, butter, and a little flour dredged over them.
VEGETABLE-MARROW. 666. TO BOIL OR STEW. -This excellent vegetable may be boiled till tender; then divide it lengthways into two, and serve it up on toast, accompanied by melted butter; or when nearly boiled, divide it as above, and stew gently in gravy like cucumbers. Care should be taken to choose young ones not exceeding six inches in length. Time, from half an hour to one hour. 667. TO MASH. - When too old and large to send to table as above, they should be cut in quarters, the seeds taken out, and boiled till tender; then drain the water from them through a colander, mash them with a little pepper, butter, and salt, and serve on a buttered toast.
A run of plain Victorian vegetable cookery, most of it still sound. The main adjustments are cooking times, which are long throughout, and the assumption that a well-flavoured meat gravy is always on hand.
- The two-hour onionsStewing floured, browned onions for two hours in weak gravy is not an error — it is the point. They collapse into a soft, sweet, almost jammy mass. Keep the heat very low and the pan covered, and top up with stock if it dries; a modern heavy pan on the smallest burner, or a 300F oven, holds the temperature better than a Victorian hob.
- "Weak gravy" and "weak white gravy"These mean thin, unthickened cooking liquor from roast meat or a light stock — not the thick brown sauce sold under the name today. Use a light chicken or veal stock, or vegetable stock, diluted if it is concentrated.
- Roast onions in their skinsThe book gives no temperature or time, and does not say the onions go in an oven. In a modern oven, whole unpeeled onions take about an hour to an hour and a half at 375-400F depending on size; they are done when a skewer slides through without resistance. The skins char and are discarded.
- Stuffed Spanish onions"Forcemeat" here is a seasoned mixture of breadcrumbs, suet or butter, herbs and often minced meat. Parboil the onions until just yielding, hollow them, stuff, then brown — frying stuffed onions whole is awkward, and browning them in the oven is more manageable.
- Fried onions in steak fatStill the best method, but the timing is backwards for modern practice: onions want 15-20 minutes to soften and colour, longer than a steak needs to rest. Start them first in a separate pan, then finish them in the steak fat after the meat comes out.
- Asparagus in twenty minutesFar too long for asparagus as it is sold now. Modern spears are thinner and younger; 3-5 minutes in boiling salted water, or until the thickest part just gives, is enough. Serving on toast is the standard presentation throughout these entries.
- Asparagus "as peas"Cut the tender parts into pea-sized lengths and boil 2 minutes, then finish in butter with the flour dredge. This is a genuinely good way to use the middle sections of thick spears once the woody ends are snapped off.
- Vegetable marrowThis is a summer squash, close to what is sold as a large courgette or marrow; young ones under six inches, as instructed, are courgettes. At that size they need 8-12 minutes steamed, not the half hour to hour given here, which suits only a genuinely mature marrow with tough flesh.
- CelerySix trimmed heads is a great deal of celery — enough for eight or more. Halve the quantity for a family dish. Braise 25-35 minutes until a knife meets no resistance before adding the cream and butter-flour thickening.