[Sca-cooks] Pickled beets, et al.

[Phlip]

Been noting with interest the various comments on beets, and have a few
comments.

I don't notice the "dirt" taste some of you are referring to- beets are one
of my favorite vegetables. Is there any chance the beets you had, or
possibly first had, weren't properly cleaned? Or, possibly unpeeled? I've
noticed that sometimes, with some folks, a first bad taste of something will
henceforth make the taster taste the bad taste from association, whether or
not the original bad flavor is there. And, Margali doesn't notice it either-
she tends to be very sensitive to any strong flavor. It's a constant
friendly argument between us about whether she's into bland, or my taste
buds are burned out (I love spicy foods ;-)

As far as preparing them, I can definitely understand why Adamantius doesn't
like harvard beets- the commercial preparations are pretty miserable, and I
suffered through many a nasty harvard beet in my many meals at boarding
schools. OTOH, I've found I like them, if home made.

My favorite way to cook fresh beets is to chop them up, stems, leaves,
roots, and all (after cleaning, of course- I leave the skins on, usually)
and put them in a pot with a splash of water and butter, and let them slowly
cook until everything is tender. Haven't done that often around here,
though, because Margali likes the roots, but not the greens and stems, and
I'll often give her the roots and indulge on the stems and leaves myself.
Got a batch I did, leftovers, in the fridge, though, and I think I'll have
them for lunch tomorrow.

One of the recent recipes I "discovered" was the "agraz" in "Ein Buch von
Guter Spise", Alia Atlas' translation.

35. Ein agraz (An agraz )
  Nim holtze epfele und peterlin und bezzin. und stoz ez zu sammene und
drücke
  uz. daz die petersilie ein wenic zuvar. daz heizzet auch agraz.
  Take wood apples and parsley and turnips and pound it together and press
it
  out, that the parsley colors a little. That is also called Agraz.

Upon discussion with Adamantius, he had said that he'd thought that the
"turnips" was a mistranslation, and actually beetroot was meant. I wondered,
because it said to color it with parsley, so I shredded raw beets, chopped
apples, mixed them up, added cider vinegar (didn't have any verjuice at the
time- an earlier recipe says,

" 32*. Wilt du machen einen agraz (How you want to make an agraz)
  Nim wintriubele und stoz sur ephele. diz tu zu sammene. menge ez mit wine.
und
  drüches uz. dise salse ist gut zu scheffinem braten und zu hüenren. und zu
  vischen. und heizzet agraz.
  Take grapes and pound sour apples. Add this together. Mix it with wine and
  squeeze it out. This sauce is good for roasting sheep and hens and fish
and is
  called Agraz . ( Agraz is a sour broth from immature fruit, often called
  verjuice.). "

so I felt the addition of a sour substance like vinegar was appropriate,
both for flavor and for liquid content). I then took parsley and chopped
that, using it as a color contrast with the bright beets- tasted very, very
good, and really brightened up that course. Can see at least forty-eleven
variations that could be done, including using the turnips as Atlas
specified, but I like it this way.

In SE Ohio, one of the commonest ways to serve beets was pickled with eggs.
You'd hard boil and shell the eggs, and put them into a glass jar or other
non metal container, with canned or cooked beets (sliced or small whole or
large chunked is really a matter of personal preference) and such spices as
I'm in the mood for- usually peppercorns, occasionally various fresh herbs,
in season- and maybe some thinly sliced onion, then either just pour cider
vinegar over them, and lid them and keep them in the fridge, or make sure
the whole thing is hot and can them with hot cider vinegar. Either way, both
the eggs and the beets are very tasty, and the eggs take on the color of the
beets. We have a couple jugs in the fridge now, since we haven't been
canning. In a recent batch, I added about 1/4 by liquid volume of balsamic
vinegar, and like that real well- adds a bit of richness and body, but I
think just using balsamic alone would be overpowering.

And, of course, there are the various ways to pickle just beets, as
mentioned here. Think I might try one of the pickling herb blends- I've just
always made up my own combos of herbs when I've pickled- never tried the
commercial blends. Caraway does really nice things in a batch of pickled
beets, if anyone wants to try adding that ;-)

And, Adamantius? Finally found the copy of Florence Lin you gave me. Think
I'll be doing several different pickles in the next couple of weeks ;-)

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....