Parsnips Stewed Brown, 1856

 From Walsh's A Manual of Domestic Economy (1856): To Stew Carrots Parsnips Brown.

It's not quite the 'bread and butter' challenge, but it is another recipe we tried last Sunday. 

I had the last of my parsnip harvest already scraped and sliced in the freezer, so there was a little cheating in that I started by boiling the cut pieces rather than boiling the vegetables whole before cutting them. Per the instructions, I strained the parnsips after they grew tender (which was probably more than 30 minutes--it took a while to get the stove going), along with the salt, pepper, and Worcester sauce. I didn't have any mushroom ketchup at add. The gravy was quite thick and barley coated the parsnips, so I added an equal amount of water, which thinned the gravy sufficiently to stew the parsnips. I let this simmer for about 30 minutes. At that point, I should have removed the parsnips and thickened the gravy into a sauce with butter and flour; however, with how thick the gravy started, I thought instead to simply reduce the gravy back to its original consistency. Instead, the gravy seemed to get thinner the longer I cooked it, until when we served it the parsnips were fairly swimming in a thin, broth-like gravy.

Parsnips, Scotch collops, and the leftover apples all simmering.

Finished meal (with apple charlotte and whipped cream).

The flavor was fine: the parsnips varied a little in their consistency, but were overall perfectly adequate. I'm pretty excited to have found a parsnip recipe that isn't just "fry or mash with butter", so I'll likely use this one again. I intend to get the sauce consistency better, and maybe make some mushroom ketchup for the next attempt. I also intend to make my own gravy, and follow the instructions for thickening the gravy into a sauce at the end.