Cooking Salsify

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 104, 20 June 1941, Page 46

Cooking Salsify

Dear Aunt Daisy, Only another mere man here! The lady who writes Your Garden and Mine in The Listener, last spring recommended salsify very highly. So I had a go at growing it, and now want to know how to cook it-J.7.M. (Christchurch). Warmest greetings to another man for contributing to our Page. Salsify is indeed very nice, and I’m sure you will be glad you planted it. Cook it just like a parsnip, either whole or cut lengthwise, or even in rings, when it will look, as well as taste, like oysters. You know it is called the oyster plant. Then, it it is boiled fairly soft, strain it; and have ready a really good white sauce, made with butter. Into this, put the rings or pieces of salsify, and leave it to finish cooking, and to flavour the sauce thoroughly, Some people like to put an asbestos mat under the pot, while others let it stand in a covered casserole in the warm oven. It is lovely with grilled steak! Here is another recipe: Wash the salsity, cook it, then strain, cut into rounds, dip in batter and fry. ft makes a good breakfast dish, and really does taste like oysters. Another lady from Taihape said that salsify is very rich in health-giving vitamins, and gave one of two suggestions for using it. She also says, "never peel salsity, but just scrape it lightly. When making the white sauce, add a little of the water it was boiled in." For a delicious tea dish, cook and cut into small pieces. Make a rich creamy sauce, thickened with wholemeal, stir in the salsity, and make very hot. Serve on buttered toast, and sprinkle a little finely chopped parsley on the top, and a speck of cayenne -pepper. Then again, she says, that salsify, having an oyster flavour, is nice made into fritters, especially if you add a little oyster flavoured soup powder to the batter. Make it just the same as oyster fritters, either chopping the cooked salsify into small bits or short pieces, Fry in boiling fat till a golden colour, and gerve with chipped potatoes and lemon juice. OYSTER PATTIES.-It is very nice used as a filling for oyster patties, made as follows: Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and stir in 2 tablespoons of flour (whole-

meal is good). Then add 7 teacup of milk, simmer gently 5 to 10 minutes, then season with salt and a little cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice of vinegar, 1% teaspoon sugar, a little finely chopped parsley. Add 1 cup of cooked salsify, which has been chopped into smallish pieces. Fill the patty case, and garnish with parsley. Sometimes I add a little oyster powder to the sauce, and it is hard to distinguish it from real oyster filling.