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Carrots and Peas, Francaise
Scrape, pare and thoroughly clean eight of the smallest carrots obtainable; then slice them into quarter-of-an-inch thick pieces, and place in a saucepan with two branches parsley, two very small onions, half teaspoon salt, two saltspoons white pepper, a teaspoon sugar, half ounce butter and half pint white broth or hot water. Mix well and let gently cook for five minutes on the range; then place the pan in the oven for twenty-five minutes. Remove, take up the onions and parsley, add half pint cooked, hot, green peas, with half ounce good butter; gently mix while heating for half minute. Pour into a hot dish, sprinkle a teaspoon chopped parsley over and serve.
A straightforward braise-and-glaze of young carrots finished with peas. The measurements are Edwardian restaurant shorthand, and the oven temperature is left entirely to the cook.
- The unitsHalf a pint is one cup; half an ounce of butter is one tablespoon. A saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so two saltspoons of white pepper is half a teaspoon tamely measured, and worth reducing if your pepper is freshly ground.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given; the recipe leaves the oven entirely to the cook's judgement. A moderate oven, around 350F, is a reasonable modern reading, but it is an inference rather than the book's instruction. The pan should barely bubble, not boil dry.
- "Branches" of parsleyWhole sprigs, stem and all, added for flavour and lifted out before serving, as the recipe directs. Parsley stems are commonly said to carry more flavour than the leaves.
- White brothA light unbrowned stock, traditionally veal or chicken, made without roasting the bones. A mild chicken stock is the nearest supermarket equivalent; water works, but the dish leans much harder on the butter and sugar.
- Use a lidded ovenproof panThe recipe moves straight from range to oven, so it needs a saucepan or small braiser that can do both. Cover it, or the cup of liquid will be gone well before twenty-five minutes are up.
- Carrot size and timingTwenty-five minutes assumes genuinely small, tender carrots cut into quarter-inch coins. Modern storage carrots cut the same way may be soft in fifteen; test rather than trusting the clock, and finish uncovered if liquid remains so it reduces to a glaze.
- The peas go in cookedThey are only warmed through for half a minute at the end. Peas subjected to a long braise lose their bright colour, which may be why the recipe cooks them separately.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; eight small carrots and a cup of peas would serve about four as a side dish.
This is from Alexander Filippini's The International Cook Book (1906), written by a longtime Delmonico's man who spent his career translating French restaurant practice for American households. "Fran caise" here is probably best read as signalling the classic French treatment of young vegetables: a shallow braise in stock with butter, a pinch of sugar and aromatics that are removed before serving. The sugar is not a sweetener so much as a tool for building glossiness. Carrots and peas did appear together on tables of the period, when both were among the first fresh vegetables of the season, and the combination survived into the twentieth century largely through canned and frozen versions that bear little relation to this one.