Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Sorrel. — Sorrel is an acid-leaved root largely used on the Continent to make soups, sauces, and salads. Where the taste for it has been acquired, it is considered a pleasant accompaniment to young meat. Sometimes, when sorrel alone is considered too acid, a mixture of equal parts of spinach and sorrel is served. Sorrel grows wild, and may be had for the plucking, and gathered thus is very good; nevertheless, as the flavour of cultivated sorrel is much superior to that of wild sorrel, every garden should contain a few plants. The most useful variety is the broad-leaved sorrel, which is easily propagated either by seed or di-vision of the root. This root, like that of rhubarb, will stand almost any amount of ill-usage. The seed is very small, and must be only slightly covered with earth. The young plants may be thinned to from three to six inches apart ; but if they are left crowded no great harm will be done, as they must eventually be transplanted. Spring-sown sorrel may be gathered the next autumn; during the following season it will afford several cuttings. Sorrel and Eggs (sec Eggs and Sorrel) . Sorrel for Garnishing Meat.— Pick three poimds of fresh green sorrel, wash it in several waters, and drain it thoroughly. Put it into a good-sized saucepan -with a tea-spoonful of salt and a quart of boiling water, and let it boil quickly till tender, turning occasionally to prevent the lower leaves burning to the bottom of the pan. Drain it well, then chop it till very small. Work an ounce of flour into an ounce and a haK of butter, and stir the mixture quickly over the fire for three minutes. Put in the sorrel, and add, a little at a time, half a pint of strong stock. Stir the sorrel over the fire for fully twenty minutes. Beat two eggs .with three table-spoonfuls of milk, stir this quickly into the sorrel, and in four or five minutes it will be ready for serving. Time, a quarter of an hour to boil the sorrel. Sorrel Fried in Batter. — Make a small quantity of frying-batter [sec Batter for Frying Vegetables). This will be better if made an hour or two before it is wanted. Take the middle leaves only of the sorrel, wash them in two or three waters, drain them thoroughly, ■ and trim them neatly. Dip them in the batter, and fry them in hot fat till crisp and brown. Serve on a hot dish, garnished with parsley. Time to fry, three or four minutes. Sorrel, Lamb Ragout with {see Lamb Ragout with tSorrel). Sorrel, Puree of (to serve with cutlets, roast veal, &c.). — Wash half a peck of fresh green sorrel in several waters ; pick away the stalks, and boil it with half a pint of water till tender, then di-ain it thoroughly. Slice two large onions, and fry them in butter till they turn yellow ; dredge a little flour upon them, and add half a pint of gravy, a small lump of sugar, a pinch of grated nutmeg, and a little pepper and salt. Stir the sorrel over a gentle fire for twenty minutes, and afterwards rub it patiently through a hair sieve. It may be served in the centre of a dish, with cutlets round it, or as an accompaniment to roast veal, lamb, or mutton. Time to boil the sorrel, a quarter of an hour. Sufficient for three or four persons.