Sea Kale
668. This must be boiled very white, and served on toast like asparagus and vegetable-marrow. White sauce may be poured over it. Time for boiling, from half an hour to three-quarters. 669. TO STEW BROWN.-Boil the kale, as above; then drain it, and simmer slowly in a stewpan, with from half a pint to one pint of rich and well-seasoned clear gravy, for twenty minutes, and serve. LAVER. 670. This is a plant that grows on the rocks near the sea in the west of England, and is sent in pots prepared for cating. Set it in a dish over a lamp, with a bit of butter, and the squeeze of a Seville orange; stir it till hot. It is eaten with roast meat, and is supposed to be a great sweetener of the blood. It is seldom liked at first, but people become extremely fond of it by habit.
ARTICHOKES. 671. TO DRESS.-Trim a few of the outside leaves off, and cut the stalk even; if young, half an hour will boil them; they are better for being gathered two or three days first. Serve them with melted butter, in as many small cups as there are artichokes. Time nearly an hour. 672. ARTICHOKE BOTTOMS. - If dried, they must be soaked, then stewed in weak gravy, and served with or without forcemeat in each. Or, they may be boiled in milk, and served with cream sauce; or added to ragouts, French pies, &c.
Three separate vegetable entries run together here, all built on the same Victorian assumption that a green thing should be boiled until it surrenders. Modern timings are much shorter, and the seasoning notes are the part worth keeping.
- Boiling time is the main thing to ignoreSea kale is a blanched stem, closer to celery or asparagus than to cabbage, and needs 8-12 minutes in salted water depending on thickness. The half hour to three-quarters given here reduces it to grey threads.
- "Boiled very white"Sea kale is grown under pots or mounded earth to keep it pale, and browning was considered a fault. A squeeze of lemon in the cooking water and a lid kept off helps hold the colour; a stainless or enamelled pan rather than iron matters more than anything else.
- White saucePresumably a plain flour-and-butter b\7ichamel, on the usual proportions of about 1 oz butter, 1 oz flour and half a pint of milk, seasoned with salt, white pepper and a scrape of nutmeg. Hollandaise or melted butter serves the same purpose.
- The brown stew"Rich and well-seasoned clear gravy" is most likely a reduced clear brown stock rather than a thickened pan gravy. The pint here is the imperial 20 fl oz, so half a pint is 10 fl oz. Twenty minutes of simmering after boiling will overcook the kale, so blanch it only briefly if you follow this route.
- LaverThis is Porphyra, the red seaweed sold in Wales and the West Country as laverbread, still available in tubs and tins. It arrives already boiled to a dark purée, so the instruction is simply to reheat it with butter and acid, not to cook it further.
- Seville orangeA bitter marmalade orange, in season roughly January to February. Out of season, use two parts lemon juice to one part sweet orange juice for a similar sharpness.
- Chafing dish over a lampThe "dish over a lamp" is a table chafing dish. A small heavy pan over low heat does the job; laver scorches quickly and should only be warmed through.
- Globe artichokesTwenty-five to forty minutes covered simmering suits a medium globe artichoke; it is done when a base leaf pulls away cleanly. The advice to gather them two or three days ahead reflects garden produce, not shop artichokes, which are already several days old.
- Artichoke bottomsThese are the trimmed, fuzz-free bases with leaves and choke removed. Dried ones have effectively vanished from trade; frozen or tinned artichoke bottoms need no soaking and only a few minutes in stock or milk.
- YieldAllow 6-8 oz of sea kale per person, one artichoke each, and about 2 oz of prepared laver as a relish beside roast lamb or mutton.