COOKERY FOR LICENSED VICTUALLERS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 801, 13 July 1905, Page 23

COOKERY FOR LICENSED VICTUALLERS.

(By “Cuisinier,” in “ L.V. Gazette.”) The ancients w-”2 well acquainted with asparagus, and I—>ew how to appreciate its merits. The most famous asparagus beds of antiquitv were at Ravenna, in the soil of . wK’-h locality it greatly thrived. The giant asparagus of Argen-

teuil would look small beside that of Ravenna, for Pliny the Elder tells us that three sticks of the latter, cut at the proper season, turned the scale at 18 ounces.

Each year, as the time of the regular and natural season of asparagus returns, the question invariably arises of the nutritive value of this vegetable, so beloved by epicures and gourmets. Doctors differ on the subject, but on what question were they ever agreed? Some say it should be forbidden to gouty and rheumatic subjects, to bilious persons, and to those who suffer from their liver or their spleen; others recommend it to the same class of people as a remedy. My own firm belief, founded upon many years of observation and experience, is that asparagus ought to be freely eaten by the people I have described, and especially by those who are subject to derangements of the kidneys. A friend of mine, who is of a bilious constitution, was forbidden by his doctor to partake of it, but, impelled by a longing for the forbidden vegetable, he ate it daily throughout the whole of last season, and was entirely free from biliousness during the whole of that time.

The first good quality of asparagus is that of stimulating the normal secretions of the human body, of being beneficially diuretic and cleansing, and essentially cooling to the system. From the very fact of its cleansing properties, it occasions a most disagreeable odour. Yet this very odour has its use, for if the person eating it suffers from any albuminous trouble, such as diabetes, no disagreeable smell will be caused. Hence the use of asparagus becomes an easy and certain way of identifying at once persons suffering from ailments due to albumen. Asparagus is also an excellent sedative, acting directly on the heart in a safe and gentle manner. All the evil that is said about asparagus is nothing but calumny. Concurring in the opinion expressed by a long succession of illustrious gourmets, I say that it is the Empress of Vegetables. My reason for saying so is perhaps very much like that of the epicure who was arguing with one of his friends that, from every point of view, as a vegetable it was perfection. “How do you make that out?”'asked the other. “How do I make that out? Why, because I’m so fond of it,” replied he, with a hearty laugh, as he piled another liberal helping on his plate. The propei' way to eat asparagus is simply to take it between the forefinger and thumb by the extreme end of the stalk, dip. the tender green nortion delicately in a little melted butter sauce, which should be poured on your plate, and then conveying it to your mouth, relishing it slowly, while you lay the hard part of the stalk on the opposite side of the date, and repeating the operation as often as possible. The best sauce for asparagus is pure melted butter, and seasoned with pepper, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

Regarding the cooking of this delicate vegetable, Sir Henry Thompson says: “ A hint about boiling asparagus is worthy of mention, since the proper method is rarely followed by English cooks. Asparagus of the' stouter sort, always when of the giant variety, should be cut of exactly equal lengths, and boiled, standing the heads exposed in a deep saucepan. Nearly two inches of the heads should be out of the water—the steam sufficing to cook them—as they form the tenderest part of the plant; while the hard stalky part is rendered soft and succulent by the longer boiling which this plan permits. Instead of the orthodox twenty minutes allotted to ordinary asparagus, lying horizontally in the English manner, which half-cooks the stalk and over-cooks the head, diminishing its flavour and conisstence, a period of thirty or forty minutes on the rJan recommended will render fully a third more of the stalk delicious, while the head will be properly cooked by the steam alone. One reason why it is not uncommon to have the best produce of the fields of Argenteuil insufficiently ap preeiated here, and our own asparagus preferred, is that the former is rarely

sufficiently cooked at English tables.’ It should be added to the above that the asparagus must be loosely tied in small bundles, and the boiling water in which it is placed should be slightly salted.. It should be laid in cold water for some time before cooking. It may he served on toast, with the stalks outwards, or sent to table on a hot folded napkin. In buying asparagus choose bunches which have the cut end fresh and the heads straight. If the cut end is brown and dry, and the heads bent on one side, the asparagus is stale.