[Sca-cooks] Beets and backfiles was Beets

[david friedman]

Huette writes:

>david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
>wrote:

...

>  > >>From Marx Rumpolt, 1581:
>>  >
>>  >7. Green salad/ that is small and young/ red
>>  >beets cut small/ and tossed thereover/ when
>>  the
>>  >salad is prepared/ and the red beets are
>>  >cooked and cooled.
>
>I am of two minds over this recipe.  It does say
>green salad.  However, the last part talks about
>cooking and cooling the beets, which I don't
>think has to be done with the greens.  Why cook
>something that doesn't need cooking?d  To me,
>this indicates the root, which does need cooking.

C. Anne Wilson says "The Romans grew beet, mallow and orache for the 
seek of their green leaves, which were boiled in pottages ...  ." Le 
Menagier has "Take your cress and parboil it with a handful of 
chopped beet leaves, and fry them in oil, " Al Baghdadi has cooked 
beet leaves in Adasiya.

>  > >21. Take white beet (according to Hopf #378)
>>  >stems/ peel and poach then in water/ prepare
>>  it
>>  >with oil/ vinegar and salt.
>
>Again, two minds.  It says stems, but it also
>says to peel.

Perhaps the inner stems taste better? I would take it that "stem" 
isn't quite the same thing as "greens"--it's just the rib part of the 
greens.

>  > >29. Red beet salad/ when they are cooked/ so
>>  cut
>>  >them small/ long or diced/ season it with oil/
>>  >vinegar and salt/ may make it sweet or sour.
>
>This is more clearly the beet root, IMHO.

I think you would have to know how the word translated "diced" is 
used in other recipes. One could read that as "cut the leaves into 
long portions or chop them to dice sized pieces."

>  > >39. Take sugar (sugar beet!)/ season it and
>>  >scrape it/ so they turn white/ poach then
>>  >in water/ and cool/ season it with vineger/
>>  oil
>>  >and salt. You can also serve them raw/ if they
>>  >are clean and well peeled or scraped.
>
>To me, this indicates the root also.

Again, I don't think you can tell. Does anyone know if sugar beet 
root is edible raw?

>  > >3. Red beets preserved with small cut
>>  >horseradish/ anise/ coriander/ and a little
>>  >caraway/ special if the beets are cut/
>>  marinated
>>  >in half wine and half vinegar.
>
>This is a very traditional German way of
>preserving beet roots.  In reading this, I see
>the ancestor of the current modern German recipes
>for serving beet roots.

Certainly possible.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/