<sf> wrote:

> Nobody "scrapes" cultured asparagus these days.... even if it's green.

Here is one such nobody "scraping" it. And it is even green.

<http://video.msn.com/dw.aspx?mkt=en-us&from=truveo&vid=95557bc6-2cf6-4aa9-94e1-f3617880a1eb>

Victor

<sf> wrote:

> I can't think of any reason to peel asparagus.

Here is a quote from _The French Chef_ by one Julia Child. And she is
speaking of green asparagus. With white, it is doubly true, as without
peeling it is literally inedible.

Victor

<quote>
Preparing fresh asparagus for cooking.
The French method of cooking asparagus is to peel it, tie it in bundles,
and plunge it into a very large kettle of rapidly boiling water. Peeled
asparagus cooks more quickly than unpeeled asparagus, retains its
maximum color and texture, and can be eaten all the way down to the
butt. The object in peeling is not just to remove the skin, but to
shave off enough of the tough outer part at the lower end so that the
moist flesh is exposed, and the whole spear is tender from tip to butt.
Peeling add considerably to preparation time, but you will find the
results spectacularly successful not only gastronomically but visually,
as whole long spears are wonderfully dramatic on a platter.
</quote>

On Mar 6, 10:31*am, "James Silverton" >
wrote:
> *sueb *wrote *on Thu, 6 Mar 2008 10:24:01 -0800 (PST):
>
> *s> On Mar 6, 5:18 am, "James Silverton"*s> > wrote:
>
> *??>> *sf *wrote *on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:57:39 -0800:
> *??>>
> * ??>>>> I really can't be bothered scraping thick
> * *s> I trim a lot of my vegetables before cooking. *What do you
> *s> do with the core of a cauliflower? *With the parsley stems?
> *s> With cucumber skins? There's always some waste.
>
> I eat pieces of caulflower core raw. It's slightly spicy and
> quite good for dipping if cut into strips. For chopped parsley,
> I use the whole thing and I never peel cucumbers for salads. A
> small caveat about cucumbers: there is a Chinese stir fry recipe
> that uses chunks of peeled cucumber and I don't always include
> the skin when grating for an Indian Raita.
>
> James Silverton
> Potomac, Maryland
>
> E-mail, with obvious alterations:
> not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

Most cucumbers that are sold in grocery stores in the US have heavily
waxed skins. I never peel cucumbers that I grow myself, but I have no
desire to eat wax. And I have even less desire to spend time washing
vegetables with soap to attempt to remove the wax.

Different strokes, I guess.

Susan B.

On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:39:40 GMT, blake murphy >
wrote:

>On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:25:28 GMT, hahabogus > wrote:
>
>>Sheldon > wrote in news:f9fc57e8-f703-4ccd-a529-
:
>>
>>> I can't be bothered with one at a time snapping
>>
>>I snap the thickest one then line the rest up and cut the bundle to match
>>lengths.
>
>obviously, sheldon's time is much more valuable than yours.
>

Both seem to be obsessed with uniformity.

--
See return address to reply by email
remove the smile first

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 23:56:19 +0100, (Victor Sack)
wrote:

><sf> wrote:
>
>> Nobody "scrapes" cultured asparagus these days.... even if it's green.
>
>Here is one such nobody "scraping" it. And it is even green.
>
><http://video.msn.com/dw.aspx?mkt=en-us&from=truveo&vid=95557bc6-2cf6-4aa9-94e1-f3617880a1eb>
>

American asparagus is mainly the tender green part, so no need to
peel. However, I'll try peeling the white end this Spring and see if
it makes a difference. If it does, then I'll make asparagus soup or
souffle with it.

--
See return address to reply by email
remove the smile first

On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:06:34 -0800, sf wrote:

>On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:39:40 GMT, blake murphy >
>wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:25:28 GMT, hahabogus > wrote:
>>
>>>Sheldon > wrote in news:f9fc57e8-f703-4ccd-a529-
:
>>>
>>>> I can't be bothered with one at a time snapping
>>>
>>>I snap the thickest one then line the rest up and cut the bundle to match
>>>lengths.
>>
>>obviously, sheldon's time is much more valuable than yours.
>>
>
>Both seem to be obsessed with uniformity.

thank god neither is a mohel.

your pal,
blake

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 14:04:11 -0800 (PST), -bwg >
wrote:

>blake murphy wrote:
>> On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 10:28:27 +0100, "Giusi" >
>> wrote:
>>
>> ><sf> ha scritto nel messaggio
>> .. .
>> >> On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:06:25 -0500, margaret suran
>> >> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >>>I believe that the American Green Asparagus are grown for American Taste
>> >>>and ease of cooking and eating them.
>> >>
>> >> I guess you've never harvested asparagus in a cow pasture.
>> >> Americans prefer their asparagus "wild"... not sheltered and pampered
>> >> the European way.
>> >
>> >Wild asparagus with its extremely short season is very highly prized and
>> >costs a bundle in the marketplace. This is Europe.
>> >
>> >There are not many cow pastures in Manhattan, I think.
>> >
>>
>> there are, but they're very exclusive and there's a hefty cover charge
>> to get in.
>>
>
>What about the sheep meadows?
>

those are for, well, sheep. not people you want to be associated
with.

your pal,
blake

"Victor Sack" schrieb :
> <sf> wrote:
>
>> I can't think of any reason to peel asparagus.
>
> Here is a quote from _The French Chef_ by one Julia Child. And she is
> speaking of green asparagus. With white, it is doubly true, as without
> peeling it is literally inedible.
>
> <quote>
> Preparing fresh asparagus for cooking.
> The French method of cooking asparagus is to peel it, tie it in bundles,
> and plunge it into a very large kettle of rapidly boiling water. Peeled
> asparagus cooks more quickly than unpeeled asparagus, retains its
> maximum color and texture, and can be eaten all the way down to the
> butt. The object in peeling is not just to remove the skin, but to
> shave off enough of the tough outer part at the lower end so that the
> moist flesh is exposed, and the whole spear is tender from tip to butt.
> Peeling add considerably to preparation time, but you will find the
> results spectacularly successful not only gastronomically but visually,
> as whole long spears are wonderfully dramatic on a platter.
> </quote>

Agree completely. However, she should have mentioned to add some
lemon juice to the water.

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner

margaret suran wrote:
> Victor Sack wrote:
>
>>
>> And here is something interesting for Margaret and other Manhattan
>> denizens: <http://nymag.com/restaurants/recipes/inseason/30612/>.
>>
>>
>> And
>> <http://www.labellecuisine.com/Articles/asparagus__the_royal_vegetable.htm>
>>
>>
>> Victor
>
>
> I believe that the American Green Asparagus are grown for American Taste
> and ease of cooking and eating them. They have little or no resemblance
> to the European white Asparagus that I remember. The taste is
> completely different and much more of its stem can be eaten. The
> European ones have little edible stem. We used to eat the "heads" and
> scrape off whatever "meat" we could by pulling the Asparagus stem, which
> was very woody, through our teeth, to scrape off every edible bit.
>
> I have a feeling that what I just wrote is not very enlightening. (

Made perfectly good sense to me. I can still remember the first time I
say someone eating white asparagus. !! The pulling through the teeth
was a surprise but it did work.

It's been quite a while since I had European white asparagus but as I
remember it, the taste was quite different from our home-grown green
type. However this may be a function of the way it is grown rather than
a different asparagus. Our family asparagus 'patch' consists of 3-5
places that have self-seeded. One usually triesto remember to check the
patches when driving home from town.


--
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

On Mar 3, 1:15 pm, -bwg > wrote:
> Has anyone ever tried roasting white asparagus? How'd it turn out? I
> roast green asparagus all the time, but I've never done it with the
> white ones. In fact, I've never cooked white asparagus before. I can
> go ahead and try roasting it on my own, but at $1.50/lb I dont want to
> waste them.
>
> Thanks
> -bwg

Here's a follow up on my original posting. The white asparagus were
grown in Peru and were on sale for $1.49/lb at Dominick's in Chicago.
I bought about 2 pounds. They did not need peeling--in fact it was
posible to eat them raw and unpeeled almost down to the stem ends. The
piece I tasted raw was quite nice just like that. They were very
brittle and quite a few stems broke on the way home. I decided not to
roast any. I cut off about the bottom inch, tied them into 2 bundles
and placed both with a big handful of kosher salt in about 4 quarts of
fast boiling water and left them for 6 minutes. Then I drained them
and plunged them into cold water until they were not still hot or
steaming. Tasted just like that they were pleasantly crisp, slightly
bitter (I've never noticed bitterness in green asparagus) and a
somewhat more vegetal than the green. The tips had a slightly firmer
texture than green, and the ends were slightly more crisp. Overall--
enought different from green asparagus to warrant buying and eating
occasionally, but not worth a hefty premium over the green. My end
use for them is in vinaigrette, by the way.

Oh, they go well with early Archie Shepp, For for Trane and The New
York Contemporary Five.

-bwg
I want the frim fram sauce with the au sun`fay
With chifafa on the side