[Sca-cooks] Beets (was Eggplant)

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach ekoogler1 at comcast.net:
>I just checked the version in Madge Lorwin's book, and it also says 
>to "chop the beets".  I have always made the pie using the roots, as 
>she indicates in her redaction.  She bases hers on statements from 
>Gerard's "Herbal".  The first part, which she quotes, acknowledges 
>the use of the leaves in salads, even giving a recipe for doing so. 
>Then she quotes him as saying, "But what might be made of the red 
>and beautiful root (which is to be preferred before the leaves, as 
>well in beautie as in goodness) I refer unto the curious and cunning 
>cooke, who no doubt when hee had the view there, and is assured that 
>it is both good and wholesome, will make thereof many and divers 
>dishes, both faire and good."

I dunno. That sure sounds to me like he's suggesting something new to 
his reading public, relying on skilled and adventurous cooks and 
diners to prove his point, which is that the roots are good to eat. 
Which, if it was common knowledge, he might not need to state in that 
way...

But from that quote alone, I could see it going either way.

>   Lorwin goes on to state, "And beets were used in mnay ways by 
>cooks, including beet-root salads, both hot and cold."

Platina's standard salad of winter vegetables (I think it's for 
onions, really, but he says you can use other stuff, too), is 
especially good done with beets, but he doesn't seem to mention them 
specifically at all. Of course, that's more than a hundred years 
before Gerard.

Adamantius