No. 2767

Parsnip Cakes Fried in Butter

Galettes de Panais Frites au Beurre

Cut three pounds of young parsnips in six or eight pieces, according to their size, after they have been peeled and washed; boil them in water with salt and butter; when cooked drain off well, then pound and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Press this pulp forcibly through a sieve, incorporate a little butter, then leave to cool. Divide the preparation into two-inch diameter balls, roll these in flour, flatten to half an inch in thickness and fry in clarified butter; drain and dress on napkins with fried parsley on top.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A straightforward parsnip croquette from Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894). The whole success of it lies in getting the purée dry enough to hold a shape.

Dry the puréeParsnips hold a great deal of water, and a wet purée will slump in the pan or drink up butter. After draining, return the pieces to the dry pan over low heat for a few minutes to steam off moisture before mashing, and add butter sparingly.
Quantity and yieldThe recipe gives no yield. Three pounds of parsnips will lose perhaps 15-20 per cent in peeling, and the resulting pulp should make a dozen or so cakes at the stated size, depending on how much moisture is driven off.
Young parsnipsThe instruction is deliberate. Large winter parsnips develop a woody core that will not pass a sieve; if only big ones are available, quarter them lengthwise and cut the core away.
"Press through a sieve"A drum sieve or a food mill gives the smooth texture intended. A food processor is best avoided, as over-working root purees can turn them pasty.
Two-inch balls, half-inch thickThat flattens to roughly a three-inch disc. Chill the shaped cakes for twenty minutes before flouring so they firm up and hold together in the fat.
Clarified butterSpecified because whole butter's milk solids scorch at frying heat. Clarified butter or ghee at around 350F browns the cakes in three to four minutes a side; a neutral oil with a spoon of butter added works if you have no clarified.
Fried parsleyDry the sprigs thoroughly and drop them into the hot butter for ten to fifteen seconds only, until they stop sputtering and turn dark green. Wet parsley will spit violently.
NapkinsThe period habit of dressing fried food on a folded linen napkin on the serving dish. Paper towel to drain, then a warm platter, achieves the same end.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer was for many years chef at Delmonico's in New York, and The Epicurean is essentially that kitchen's working repertoire written out at length, French nomenclature and all. Galette simply means a flat round cake, used in French cookery for everything from pastry to these vegetable patties, and the technique here is the standard croquette method applied to a root rather than to potato or chestnut. Parsnips were far more prominent on nineteenth-century American tables than they are now: cheap, sweetened by frost in storage, and a staple winter vegetable. Ranhofer's decision to sieve, enrich and fry them is characteristic of the restaurant's approach, which was to take homely produce and give it the full apparatus of the French kitchen.