Johnson declared it legitimate to call it, is subjected in urban as well as rural saucepans. Dumas properly prescribes : ‘ Faites les cuir croquantes dans I’eau et le sel, et les servez toutes chaudes sur une serviette plice qui egoutte leur eau. ’ There- fore, though fully cooked, the asparagus should yet preserve a certain crispness or solidity. It should be served on a folded napkin, and not on toasted bread previously soaked in the water in which it has been boiled — firstly, because this bread does not influence the asparagus ; secondly, because. 330 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY not being eaten, it is mere waste ; and thirdly, because, being soaked, it fails in what we believe to have been its original object, when applied dry, as alone it ought to be, namely, to suck up as a sippet the superfluous liquid. In France asparagus is eaten either with butter or with oil, and people sometimes show strong preference for one or the other. Fontenelle js related to have had a strong liking for asparagus accommodated with oil. His friend, the Abb6 Terrason, on the contrary, liked to eat the asparagus with butter. The latter came one day to Fonte- nelle and invited himself to dinner. Fontenelle, knowing the preference of his guest for buttered asparagus, made, as he said, a sacrifice of half of what he had appointed all for himself ; the Abbe was to have his share in butter, the host the remaining half with oil. Shortly before they were going to sit down to dinner, the Abbe grew very ill, and was seized with an apoplectic fit. Thereupon Fontenelle rose quickly, and, running towards the kitchen, called out : ‘ All the asparagus with oil now — all with oil !’ In culinary works a long list of special preparations of asparagus is generally found, but as they mostly begin with boiled asparagus, the difi'erences consist in the additions or the finishings only, and are mostly unimportant. Practi- cally the shoots are eaten in two forms — hot, with butter sauce, allemande or Dutch sauce, or cold with oil and vinegar. Some eat them hot with gravy, but the practice is rare. When the green shoots are cut into short slices, as long as thick, they are called asjjaragus peas — in French, more appropriately, asparagus en petits pois. For the pro- duction of such chopped asparagus sprue asparagus is to be used. The word ‘ sprue,’ used as an adjective, requires interpretation. It ordinarily signifies scoria3 or clinkers ; sprue asparagus therefore, probably, are such as are unfit for service as entire shoots, and have to be cut up to hide their previous mutilation. A select luxury is Asparagus Points PEAS AND CHICK PEAS 331 Gi'avy. Fried Asparagus involves the upper two inches, or less, which are boiled, egged, crumbed, and fried. Several ragouts made with asparagus possess no specific features. Green Peas. G-reen peas, the unripe fruit of Pisiom sativum, contain about 80*5 per cent, of water, 5'75 per cent, of nitro- genized albuminous — to speak strictly, leguoninous — sub- stance, 0-5 per cent, of fat, no sugar, but 10-86 per cent, of other carbo-hydrates, some woody fibre, and 0-8 per cent, of ash. In the ripe peas the water sinks to 14-3 per cent., the leguminous nitrogenized matter rises to 22-63 per cent., and starch and related bodies to 53-24 per cent. The green peas are much more digestible than the ripe in any form.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Johnson declared it legitimate to call it, is subjected in urban as well as rural saucepans. Dumas properly prescribes : ‘ Faites les cuir croquantes dans I’eau et le sel, et les servez toutes chaudes sur une serviette plice qui egoutte leur eau. ’ Therefore, though fully cooked, the asparagus should yet preserve a certain crispness or solidity. It should be served on a folded napkin, and not on toasted bread previously soaked in the water in which it has been boiled — firstly, because this bread does not influence the asparagus ; secondly, because. not being eaten, it is mere waste ; and thirdly, because, being soaked, it fails in what we believe to have been its original object, when applied dry, as alone it ought to be, namely, to suck up as a sippet the superfluous liquid. In France asparagus is eaten either with butter or with oil, and people sometimes show strong preference for one or the other. Fontenelle js related to have had a strong liking for asparagus accommodated with oil. His friend, the Abb6 Terrason, on the contrary, liked to eat the asparagus with butter. The latter came one day to Fontenelle and invited himself to dinner. Fontenelle, knowing the preference of his guest for buttered asparagus, made, as he said, a sacrifice of half of what he had appointed all for himself ; the Abbe was to have his share in butter, the host the remaining half with oil. Shortly before they were going to sit down to dinner, the Abbe grew very ill, and was seized with an apoplectic fit. Thereupon Fontenelle rose quickly, and, running towards the kitchen, called out : ‘ All the asparagus with oil now — all with oil !’ In culinary works a long list of special preparations of asparagus is generally found, but as they mostly begin with boiled asparagus, the differences consist in the additions or the finishings only, and are mostly unimportant. Practically the shoots are eaten in two forms — hot, with butter sauce, allemande or Dutch sauce, or cold with oil and vinegar. Some eat them hot with gravy, but the practice is rare. When the green shoots are cut into short slices, as long as thick, they are called asparagus peas — in French, more appropriately, asparagus en petits pois. For the production of such chopped asparagus sprue asparagus is to be used. The word ‘ sprue,’ used as an adjective, requires interpretation. It ordinarily signifies scoria or clinkers ; sprue asparagus therefore, probably, are such as are unfit for service as entire shoots, and have to be cut up to hide their previous mutilation. A select luxury is Asparagus Points PEAS AND CHICK PEAS Gi'avy. Fried Asparagus involves the upper two inches, or less, which are boiled, egged, crumbed, and fried. Several ragouts made with asparagus possess no specific features. Green Peas. G-reen peas, the unripe fruit of Pisiom sativum, contain about 80*5 per cent, of water, 5'75 per cent, of nitrogenized albuminous — to speak strictly, leguoninous — substance, 0-5 per cent, of fat, no sugar, but 10-86 per cent, of other carbo-hydrates, some woody fibre, and 0-8 per cent, of ash. In the ripe peas the water sinks to 14-3 per cent., the leguminous nitrogenized matter rises to 22-63 per cent., and starch and related bodies to 53-24 per cent. The green peas are much more digestible than the ripe in any form.

The spirit of cookery