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To Fry Herbs, as in Staffordshire
701. Clean and dry a good quantity of spinach leaves, two large handfuls of parsley, and a handful of green onions; chop the parsley and onions, and sprinkle them among the spinach; set them all on to stew with some salt, and a bit of butter the size of a walnut; shake the pan when it begins to grow warm, and let it be closely covered over a slow stove till done enough. It is served with slices of broiled calf's liver, small rashers of bacon, and eggs fried; the last on the herbs, the others in a separate dish.
A regional greens dish despite its name: nothing here is fried except the eggs and bacon. The herbs are stewed down in their own moisture with a scrap of butter.
- "Fry" means wiltThe spinach and herbs cook in the water clinging to their leaves, with the lid on and the heat very low. No fat is added beyond the butter, and browning is a fault, not the goal.
- Quantities"A good quantity" of spinach means far more than looks reasonable, since it collapses to a fraction of its bulk; the recipe fixes no weight and no number of servings, so a couple of pounds of leaves is a modern guess rather than the author's. A bit of butter the size of a walnut is usually reckoned about 1 oz (2 tablespoons).
- Green onionsThese are scallions or spring onions, the whole thing including the green tops, not shallots and not dry bulb onions. A handful is roughly one bunch, chopped fine.
- A slow stoveThe lowest burner setting, or a diffuser under the pan. The recipe gives no time, only 'till done enough'; spinach dressed this way needs no more than a few minutes, and long cooking dulls the colour of the parsley.
- Drain before servingThe pan will hold a good deal of green liquor. Tip it off or press the herbs in a sieve, otherwise the fried eggs sit in a puddle.
- Calf's liverOrder it from a butcher; supermarket liver is usually lamb's or pig's, both stronger. Cut slices no more than 1/2 inch thick and cook them briefly — liver taken past faint pink inside goes grainy and dry.
- AssemblyThe original is precise about this: the herbs go on the platter with the eggs laid on top, and the liver and bacon are handed round separately.