Salsify is considered to taste like oysters, and is served in scallop shells, as Mock Oysters. The Salsify is well boiled, cut in slices, slightly mashed, and warmed up in white sauce. Now fill the shells, sprinkle the Salsify with breadcrumbs and a little grated cheese, and brown the surface in the oven. “Wyvern’s” Salsify. — Take one quart of water, a tea- spoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of vinegar, and four ounces of melted beef dripping, and stir all over the fire till boiling. Cut two pounds of Salsify into two and a half- inch lengths, and put it in. Slowly simmer for half an hour, the stewpan not quite closed, adding a tablespoonful of flour✪ Wyvern’s Salsify to the water to whiten the Salsify. Drain 358 SALSIFY the Salsify, and set it in a cold place or on ice to fret cold. Before serving arrange the roots neatly in a dish, sprinkle them with a few drops of tarragon vinegar, and garnish with watercress. Hand Sauce d’Argenteuil in a boat. For this sauce (which is excellent with cold Asparagus, and indeed with many cold vegetables), pound three hard-boiled yolks of egg to a paste, and work into it a sherryglassfnl (half a gill) of salad oil, a teaspoonful of mustard, a saltspoonful of pepper and one of salt. Mix thoroughly, and add a table- spoonful of cold veloute, finishing with a teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar and a dessertspoonful of minced parsley. Serve very cold. Scorzonera can be dressed in exactly the same way. SCORZONERA. It is a mistake to call Scorzonera black Salsify and to imagine that it is Salsify when two years old. The plants are quite different, although the roots are similar in shape. Scorzonera is a sort of Viper’s Grass, and the name comes from the old French word scorzon and the Catalonian scurzon, a serpent. The Scorzonera Hispanica of our gardens was much used in Spain as a cooling medicine in cases of snake-bite. It is sown in April, and the roots must be taken up in the following November. In America Scorzonera is a favourite vegetable, and is called the Oyster Plant from its taste. English cooks make a great mistake when they scrape and peel Scorzonera raw. This makes the dark roots “ sweat ” and turn black, but if they are simmered in the proportion of two pounds of Scorzonera to a quart of boiling salted water, they peel easily and remain perfectly white. The roots must not be divided before boiling, and it is necessary to try with a wooden skewer when they are done, as metal turns them black. Scoi’zonera is good when boiled, left to cool, mashed with a wooden spoon to a smooth paste and moistened with milk. The fibres are taken out, the Scorzonera covered with bread- crumbs, and baked in the oven. Or Scorzonera can be made into a puree by rubbing it through a sieve after boiling and SCORZONERA 359 served garnished with little bits of the boiled root. Or it can be fried in batter like Salsify. Scorzonera soup is considered to taste like oyster soup. SEAKALE. ✪ Scorzonera

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Salsify is considered to taste like oysters, and is served in scallop shells, as Mock Oysters. The Salsify is well boiled, cut in slices, slightly mashed, and warmed up in white sauce. Now fill the shells, sprinkle the Salsify with breadcrumbs and a little grated cheese, and brown the surface in the oven. “Wyvern’s” Salsify. — Take one quart of water, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of vinegar, and four ounces of melted beef dripping, and stir all over the fire till boiling. Cut two pounds of Salsify into two and a halfinch lengths, and put it in. Slowly simmer for half an hour, the stewpan not quite closed, adding a tablespoonful of flour to the water to whiten the Salsify. Drain SALSIFY the Salsify, and set it in a cold place or on ice to fret cold. Before serving arrange the roots neatly in a dish, sprinkle them with a few drops of tarragon vinegar, and garnish with watercress. Hand Sauce d’Argenteuil in a boat. For this sauce (which is excellent with cold Asparagus, and indeed with many cold vegetables), pound three hard-boiled yolks of egg to a paste, and work into it a sherryglassfnl (half a gill) of salad oil, a teaspoonful of mustard, a saltspoonful of pepper and one of salt. Mix thoroughly, and add a tablespoonful of cold veloute, finishing with a teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar and a dessertspoonful of minced parsley. Serve very cold. Scorzonera can be dressed in exactly the same way. SCORZONERA. It is a mistake to call Scorzonera black Salsify and to imagine that it is Salsify when two years old. The plants are quite different, although the roots are similar in shape. Scorzonera is a sort of Viper’s Grass, and the name comes from the old French word scorzon and the Catalonian scurzon, a serpent. The Scorzonera Hispanica of our gardens was much used in Spain as a cooling medicine in cases of snake-bite. It is sown in April, and the roots must be taken up in the following November. In America Scorzonera is a favourite vegetable, and is called the Oyster Plant from its taste. English cooks make a great mistake when they scrape and peel Scorzonera raw. This makes the dark roots “ sweat ” and turn black, but if they are simmered in the proportion of two pounds of Scorzonera to a quart of boiling salted water, they peel easily and remain perfectly white. The roots must not be divided before boiling, and it is necessary to try with a wooden skewer when they are done, as metal turns them black. Scorzonera is good when boiled, left to cool, mashed with a wooden spoon to a smooth paste and moistened with milk. The fibres are taken out, the Scorzonera covered with breadcrumbs, and baked in the oven. Or Scorzonera can be made into a puree by rubbing it through a sieve after boiling and SCORZONERA served garnished with little bits of the boiled root. Or it can be fried in batter like Salsify. Scorzonera soup is considered to taste like oyster soup. SEAKALE.

Records on this page

Wyvern’s SalsifySorrelScorzoneraSeakale

Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book