Hop Sprouts (Jets de Houblon)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-quart wide saucepan
• •10-inch heavy skillet
• •Large washing bowl and colander
• •Slotted spoon or fine-mesh skimmer
• •Warmed oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Snap the tender shoots

   Take each hop shoot near its base and bend it gently until it breaks at its natural tender point, just as you would asparagus. Keep the supple tips and discard the fibrous ends. Do not square them all with a knife before testing one; the breaking point moves from shoot to shoot. If a trimmed stem still bends like string rather than snapping, break it again higher up. Ça se rattrape now, but not after cooking.

   A generous pile will shrink after trimming. The discarded ends are not waste caused by carelessness; removing them is the technique that makes this rare vegetable worth serving.
2. 2

   Wash in several waters

   Put the tender shoots in a large bowl of cold water and move them gently with your fingers. Lift them into a colander rather than pouring out the bowl, because grit settles underneath. Repeat with fresh water at least twice more, until the bottom of the bowl is perfectly free of soil and leaf fragments. Drain well without crushing the tips.

3. 3

   Fry the comb croûtons

   Cut each bread slice in half to make four neat rectangles. Along one long edge of each piece, cut three narrow notches to form the traditional comb shape. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium heat; when the foam settles, fry the croûtons on both sides until deep gold and crisp at the edges, about 3 to 4 minutes. Lift them onto a rack. If the butter blackens before the bread colours, lower the heat, wipe out the bitter specks, and continue with a little of the measured butter. Do not ask burnt butter to behave itself.

4. 4

   Poach the eggs gently

   Bring the poaching water to the barest tremble in a wide saucepan. Crack each egg into a small cup, then slide in two at a time, keeping the water below a boil. Poach for about 3 minutes, nudging any wandering white toward its yolk with a spoon, until the whites are set and the yolks remain soft. Lift the eggs into a bowl of cool water while you cook the second pair. If a white feathers, do not discard the egg; trim its ragged skirt after poaching and the crown will still be handsome.

5. 5

   Boil the hop shoots

   Discard the poaching water and rinse the saucepan. Add the 8 cups of fresh water, lemon juice, and salt, preserving the original proportion of half a lemon for each quart of water. Bring it to a full boil, add the hop shoots, and cook uncovered until tender but still distinct, usually 3 to 6 minutes depending on their thickness. Bite one at 3 minutes: it should yield cleanly without collapsing or leaving a string between your teeth. If the lower ends remain fibrous while the tips are tender, lift out the batch and cut another small piece from the bases. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Finish with butter

   Lift the shoots into a colander with a skimmer, leaving their cooking water in the saucepan, and reserve 2 tablespoons of that water separately. Wipe the croûton skillet clean, then add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the reserved cooking water over medium-low heat. Swirl until they unite into a light, glossy emulsion, add the drained shoots, and turn them gently for about 30 seconds. If the butter separates into an oily puddle, add another teaspoon of hot cooking water and toss again. The emulsion will come back together.

7. 7

   Build the crown

   Mound the buttered jets de houblon lengthwise on a warmed oval platter. Slip the poached eggs back into the lemon cooking water off the heat for 20 to 30 seconds, then lift and blot them carefully. Set the four eggs in a crown around the shoots and place one comb-shaped croûton between each pair. Spoon the remaining butter emulsion over the shoots without wetting the croûtons. Serve at once, while the bread is crisp and the yolks are ready to become the sauce. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Hop shoots have a genuinely brief spring season. Choose tight, crisp stems that snap cleanly, whether they are ivory or green; opened leaves and rubbery bases mean the shoots have gone too far.
• •There is no honest preserved equivalent for jets de houblon. Outside their season, thin white asparagus can take the same lemon-water, egg, and croûton service, but it becomes an asparagus dish and should be named accordingly.
• •Use firm, day-old white bread for the croûtons. Fresh soft bread drinks the butter and sags, while slightly stale bread fries to a crisp shell and keeps enough tenderness inside for the egg yolk.
• •The source permits butter, cream, or velouté as finishes. Butter is chosen here because the poached yolks provide the final richness; adding cream as well would bury the clean, faint bitterness that makes hop shoots distinctive.
• •A bière de garde from the Nord is the natural glass beside this platter. Its malt rounds the vegetable's bitterness without dragging another region's larder onto the table.

Advance Preparation

• •The shoots may be snapped and washed up to 4 hours ahead. Wrap them loosely in a damp towel and keep them cold so the fine tips do not dry out.
• •The croûtons may be fried up to 3 hours ahead and kept uncovered at room temperature. Return them to a dry skillet for 1 minute if they lose their crisp edges.
• •The eggs may be poached up to 1 hour ahead and held in cool water. Rewarm them for 20 to 30 seconds in the hop-shoot cooking water just before building the crown.
• •Do not cook or butter the hop shoots ahead. Their narrow window between tender and collapsed is the dish, not brigade scaffolding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 245g)