Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Burdock root

[Kim]

Greetings to the list,

I am Lady Ciar from the Shire of Harrows Cross, in Avacal.  I have just 
started Society cooking in the last couple years after taking some 
courses from Maitress Anne-Marie d'Ailleurs (wonderful teacher!) at a 
cooking Ithra we had up here.

Sorry for the late reply, but I am just catching up on the posts for the 
weekend.  I see no one has replied to this question yet, so I will 
delurk and take a stab at it as we grow burdock in the garden and eat it 
regularly.  Burdock is also know as gobo in Japanese.  It must be soaked 
in water first to remove the bitterness or aku (like some egg plant). 
Typically we cut it up in thin long narrow pieces on the mandolin and 
soak it in cold water.  The water will take on a blackish hue and that 
is what makes the root bitter.  I believe we soak our overnight with a 
couple changes of water.  Once it is soaked it has a nice kind of nutty 
flavour.  It can be par boiled and frozen.

We like it sautéed with bacon with a touch of  soy sauce (light) and 
chilli oil to taste.  This dish is called kipura gobo (I think I spelt 
that right).  Or we make tempura fitters with the gobo and shredded 
carrots mixed with batter and dropped by the chopstickful in the hot 
oil.  My mother also likes stewing bigger pieces in a soy sauce/dashi 
base with other vegetables, like lotus root, taro root and bamboo shoots.

Hope this helps.
Ciar

>From: Samrah <auntie_samrah at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Burdock root (was FW: [mellowbellies] For the
>	disappointed)
>To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>Message-ID: <20050521215209.90480.qmail at web52207.mail.yahoo.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>Ok.  I've been staying out of this thread, but I'll give, what does one do in the kitchen with burdock root?  Herbally, I know it is really good for filtering out bad stuff (like prescription drugs you are allergic to*), but it is really bitter and how you actually eat the stuff is beyond me.  It was evil enough in tea with lots of sugar to get rid of jaundice....
> 
>Samrah
>