10. La maniere de faire composte

10. La maniere de faire composte
[10. Honey-Glazed Vegetables];
Early French Cookery: Sources, History,Original Recipes and Modern Adaptations
D. Eleanor Scully & Terence Scully
272-273

10. Honey-Glazed Vegetables
In the section of his food recipes that the Menagier de Paris entitles "Other Incidental, Minor Things" (Autres menues choses qui ne sont de necessite), the bourgeois author provides directions for preserving nuts in honey and spices, and lists other edibles that can be preserved in the same way. Among these is a series of vegetables: turnips, carrots, squash, parsley root and fennel root. The recipes he gives here call for cooking these vegetables in water and honey; they contain a warning to avoid overcooking.
The author describes these honeyed vegetables as confiture, and states that you may make a sauce of them (rather like a compote) for which he offers a very long, procedurally complicated and time-consuming recipe. This combines as ingredients twelve different spices (!), nuts, raisins, honey, horseradish root, red cedar, wine, and vinegar or grape juice. Preparing this sauce would be a chore indeed for a fifteen-year-old novice housewife.
While it is unclear whether these vegetables were used as vegetable accompanying a meal or as a sweet with the sauce, the Menagier's recipe does afford us an alternative way of preparing the vegetables.

Imperial Ingredient Metric Directions

1 lb choice of vegetables: 500 g

turnips Peel turnips, cut into smaller pieces.

carrots Preferably new baby carrots, scrubbed; or larger carrots, pared & sliced.

squash Slice squash in half, remove seeds & peel; cut into slices.

fennel root Peel outer skin of fennel root, slice; remove hard centre core.

parsley root Peel parsley root & cut into slices.

Cook all vegetables in a medium pot in as little water as possible: bring to a boil & cook until almost tender.

4 tbsp honey 60 mL Stir in honey & reduce heat. Simmer until liquid has almost evaporated. Shake pan to ensure the honey has coated all the vegetables.

Garnish sprigs of parsley or fennel or saffron threads Garnish & serve.

Imperial	Ingredient	Metric	Directions
1 lb	choice of vegetables:	500 g
	turnips		Peel turnips, cut into smaller pieces.
	carrots		Preferably new baby carrots, scrubbed; or larger carrots, pared & sliced.
	squash		Slice squash in half, remove seeds & peel; cut into slices.
	fennel root		Peel outer skin of fennel root, slice; remove hard centre core.
	parsley root		Peel parsley root & cut into slices.
Cook all vegetables in a medium pot in as little water as possible: bring to a boil & cook until almost tender.
4 tbsp	honey	60 mL	Stir in honey & reduce heat. Simmer until liquid has almost evaporated. Shake pan to ensure the honey has coated all the vegetables.
Garnish	sprigs of parsley or fennel or saffron threads		Garnish & serve.