In my heart, I could not have started this silly project with anything but the most mocked meal of the whole English literature. Every Jane Austen's fan has quoted and made a meme or a joke of this infamous sentence, pronounced by no other than Mr. Collins, the unsensible and unagreable cousin of our beloved Bennet sisters:
“What a superbly featured room and what excellent boiled potatoes! Many years since I’ve had such an exemplary vegetable. To which of my fair cousins should i compliment the excellence of the cooking?"
To be fair to the poor cousin Collins, what now may seem one of the dullest and uninspiring side dishes, in 1813 - year of publication of Pride and Prejudice - potatoes were just starting to be considered a common vegetable suited for the needs of the working class, while by the end of the 18th century it was still considered a somewhat exotic food.
But how were these exemplary vegetables cooked in the early 1800s?
Well, since we can't ask the Bennet's cook, we might look for the answer in The New Art of Cookery by Richard Briggs, first published in 1788. This is the recipe he quotes:
Boiled Potatoes
‘Wash them very clean, put them into a sauce-pan, nearly cover them with cold water, put in a little salt, cover them close, and boil them very gently, but look at them often; when the skins begin to break try them with a fork, and if they are done strain the water from them, cover them close to steam for a few minutes, then peel them and put them in a dish, with melted butter in a boat.
You might have noticed that this recipe... doesn't say much.
So, we might at least try to add a couple of condiments that could suit both our and the Bennets taste, using ingredinets easy to find even in 1813.
Salmoriglio
The easiest way to spice up boiled potatoes is a very simple italian infused oil, made with olive oil, finely chopped parsley, a couple of garlic cloves (whole), salt and white vinegar.
Vegetable gravy
A super tasty and vegan sauce. You will need: 3 carrots, 1 big onion, 1 big leek, a rosemary branch, oil, red wine and a small pan.
Wash and chop all the vegetables and put them in a small pan with enough oil to cover half of them in height, and the rosemary (whole). Let them fry for a couple of minutes, when they are softer and darker, add a little red wine (one quarter of a glass) and let them boil untill the wine has reduced. Remove the rosemary and blend the rest with an immersion blender untill you get a silky gravy.
This extremely simple recipe is only the beginning of this little experiment, I hope you will have as much fun as I'm having just thinking about the next few recipes.
In the meantime, take care, be safe and keep reading!
Ester
References:
How the Potato Changed the World
