The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-04-30
Serving Asparagus.

paragus as one of the very best spring
time foods; owing to its peculiar miner
ais it is vegetable well calculated to help
in eliminating the waste of the system
and the woman who feeds family does
we'll to serve it on her table as often as she
can. Somehow in the markets asparagus
is always high. 1t should not be so, but
nevertheless it is.
There are not a great many ways OF
serving asparagus, but there is a choice
among them, for they differ radically and
cooks dispute about them.
Unlike potatoes, asparagus ought not
to be prepared for cooking until the mo-
ment it is needed. Its freshness seems to
evaporate, and its flavor to lose it's deli
cacy and become harsh and acrid. It
should be kept perfectly cold in refrig-
orator until used, but not standing in
water-a common practice; neither should
it rest upon the ice.
ASPARAGUS PLAIN BOILED.
When asparagus is to be served plain
boiled, scrape the stalks with a sharp
knife, so as to remove the pellicute,
which has been in contact with the
ground; lay them in cold water as ready !;
cut the stalks into equal length, say six
or eight inches, and tie into punches of a
dozen each. Put them into plenty of
boiling sailed water. Be careful that they
do not over cook as that toughens the
vegetable and moreover often deprives it
of the delicate mineral matters which
render it valuable as q special diuretic
food. Twenty minutes ought to be
enough.
a proper proportion of salt is quarter
of an ounce to quart of water for from
thirty to forty sticks of asparagus.
The really satisfactory cooker for aspar-
agus has drainer which fits into the
boiler and enables you to lift the punches
out without bruising and breaking the
delicate heads and rendering them
mashed, sodden and unsightly.
1t is in regard to the bringing OF it to
the table that authorities differ. Some
hold to the esirability of serving aspara.
gus on toast, and some denounce it.
There are also two opinions as to pouring
of sauce over it. One gastronomist says:
Asparagus, after having been well
drained, should be served in a hot dish
on the bottom OF which is placed heated
napkin neatly folded. The object of
serving the asparagus on a napkin is to
insure perfect draining; the napkin alb
serbs whatever water may still cling to
the stalks.
stIn some unenlightened districts as
paragus is served on a layer of toast.
which fulfils the same object as the
napkin and absorbs the water. If you
do find asparagus served on toast, do not
offer to eat the toast, any more than you
would offer to eat the napbin?''
Nevertheless many enlightened diners
consider the toast richly moistened and
seasoned from the asparagus, as dainty
as the stalks themselves.
r i
to eat plain boiled asparagus with the
fingers. Take up the stalks, dip the
head IN the sauce you have taken on
your plate and bite off as much of the
head and stalk as yields readily.
SAUCE FOR BOILED ASPARAGUS.
White hollandaise is the best sauce to
serve with plain boiled asparagus; it is
easy TO prepare.
Put the yolks of two eggs into a skillet
or any vessel you can place in boiling
water. Add cup of the water in which
the asparagus has been boiled, and beat
well with a whisk; add. bit by bit,
tablespoonful of butter, and salt to taste;
put in a pinch of nutmeg, and the Juice
of half lemon. Stir until it thickens,
but do not let it curdle.
ASPARAGUS SOUP.
have always found very nutritive and
palatable the soup made by this formula:
After cutting the tender tips to serve as
petits pois cut the rest of the stalks up
and boil in boiling sailed water until
tender. Bring to boil three pinrs of
new milk and stir into this teaspoonful
of -four and as much butter that have
been blended together: Rub the aspara-
gus through colander and add to the
milk; simmer about quarter of an hour.
stirring often. Put some crontons in the
bottom of the soup tureen; just before
lifting from the fire stir three tablespoon
fuls of cream into the soup; it must not
boil after the cream is added.
EMMA L. MCLAGAN.