Quotes from The Virago Book of Food: The Joy of Eating
MAY BYRON
d. 1936
PARSNIPS FRIED TO LOOK LIKE TROUT (Yorkshire, 1769)
Take a middling sort of parsnips, not over thick, and boil them as soft as you would do for eating; peel, and cut them in two the long way. You must only fry the small ends, not the thick ones. Beat two or three eggs, put to them a tablespoonful of flour, dip in your parsnips, and fry them a light brown in butter. Have for your sauce a little vinegar and butter.
Pot -Luck
The Lean Kitchen by Jan Steen (1650 - 1655)
I have a similar recipe for a mock whiting made from cucumber - we tried it one night and it did not taste at all like fish, though also not particularly like cucumber - more just fried. Parsnip, I suspect, would also not fool anyone. Fascinating recipe though.
ReplyDeleteIt boggles the mind, doesn't it! But oh god, at least parsnip has some 'oomph' to it...cucumber not so much. Brave of you to give it a go though!
DeleteI like parsnips, and trout is hard to find sometimes... Not. But fun to read! It reminds me of that recipe for a mock apple pie made with saltines (but not apples).
ReplyDeleteOoh, not just saltines...there's a recipe out there that uses Ritz crackers. Perhaps that's the posh version! I have no idea how that works but there has to be a lot of subliminal thinking going on there, Audrey.
Delete