1966 WDEC - Asparagus

Apparently I am not alone in liking asparagus (picture by cyclonebill via Wikimedia), which according to the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery is (or was, at least in 1966) the fifth most popular vegetable in the U.S. Another import to the country, asparagus grows wild in the eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia, known to the editors of the WDEC as Asia Minor. The WDEC is very keen on asparagus as a "symbol of pleasant eating." If our own love of the vegetable is not enough to motivate the reader, one may consider that in Europe, "it is considered the most luxurious of vegetables, fit for a king."

Unfortunately, the recipes are much more pedestrian, perhaps reflecting their recollection that "Perhaps the most popular way of serving asparagus is boiled and hot, with either hot butter or hollandaise sauce, or cold, with a vinaigrette sauce."

The result is a menu dominated by cream and cheese - asparagus broiled with cheese, broiled with ham and cheese, scalloped with cheese, scalloped with mushrooms and cream, and so on. There is a dish of garlic-cooked asparagus served under fried eggs and a decent-looking simple green sauce, but nothing special or unknown to me.

So, since we're past the prime season for asparagus here, it's on to aspic, a section I've been waiting for.