[Sca-cooks] harvard beets done right

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach caointiarn:
>  > Also sprach Kirsten Houseknecht:  what, if i may inquire, is a "Harvard
>Beet"?<
>Andamantius answered:
>>  Harvard beets are boiled beets, sliced, diced, or shredded, in a  sauce
>made from their cooking liquid, thickened with cornstarch or  arrowroot,
>with a little butter swirled in.<
>
>Well no wonder you dislike them!  You have been making them wrong!  {if I
>may be so bold}  In a saucepan mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1.5 teas. cornstarch 1/4
>cup vinegar, and 1/4 cup water..bring to a boil, let simmer to thicken, then
>add approx. 1 pound beets  {I use canned}  Bring to a boil again,allow the
>beets to heat through, and add 2 Tabs butter and serve.

I think it's the thickened sauce I object to, actually. I've never 
made them, and my description was based on the commercial products. 
The sweet-and-sour aspect (which is clearly represented in the recipe 
whose link I posted) doesn't bother me, per se.

I've sometimes broken down and simply washed the sauce away. It's 
just not something I like on beets. I'm a huge fan of the veggie 
itself: I like them pickled, roasted, peeled, sliced, and served in 
an herby vinaigrette is probably my favorite, and they make a yummy, 
if fluorescent hot pink, French Fry. I'd probably like them baked 
like a potato with butter or sour cream, or even in a Lombardy tart. 
I love both the chilled, thin variety of borscht as much as the 
heartier, hot version with beef shank and other vegetables. I love 
beet horseradish.

It's just the gluey stuff I'm not big on, and while I realize a 
homemade dish is presumably less glutinous (and more buttery) than 
the crap available in jars, I've simply never bothered to make 
Harvard beets myself, because the other things you can do with them 
are so wonderful and don't remind me of the crap in jars. Unfair, 
maybe, but what can I say?

I'd rather reserve cornstarch for Chinese cooking, except when making 
something like lemon meringue pie...

Adamantius

-- 
  "Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
	-- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry 
Holt, 07/29/04