Chef Joost
Aardappelgratin
A French name, a Dutch potato, and a Sunday table: aardappelgratin is what happens when a frugal kitchen borrows richness and behaves as if it had always belonged.
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Schorseneren in Witte Saus
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The root Dutch cooks called kitchen-maid's sorrow becomes winter asparagus at the table: black salsify, patient peeling, white sauce, nutmeg, and one forgotten vegetable refusing to be forgotten.
Side Dishes
Dutch
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
30 min
Active Time
30 min cook•1 hr total
Yield4 servings
In my grandmother's second notebook, schorseneren appear with a little warning in the margin: hands eerst invetten, grease your hands first. That is not poetry. Black salsify bleeds a sticky white milk when you peel it, and the old Dutch nickname was keukenmeidenverdriet, kitchen-maid's sorrow, for obvious reasons. A root that punishes the impatient has always been a very Dutch sort of vegetable.
But let me tell you a secret. The thing hidden under that muddy black skin is pale, gentle, and almost elegant, though I don't use that word at my own table without supervision. The name schorseneer comes through French from scorzonera, tied to old Mediterranean names for the plant and its supposed power against snakebite. The Dutch, being practical, ignored the snake and noticed dinner. They called it winterasperge, winter asparagus, because when the fields were bare and proper asparagus was months away, this root gave the same long pale tenderness in a colder season.
The method is the lesson. Acidulated water keeps the peeled roots from browning, a quiet simmer keeps them intact, and the witte saus, white sauce, must be simple enough to let the vegetable speak. Butter, flour, milk, a little cooking liquid, nutmeg. Hou het altijd simpel. If you make the sauce too rich, you bury the root after rescuing it from the earth. That would be bad manners.
Black salsify, Scorzonera hispanica, entered northern European kitchen gardens widely in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, after earlier medicinal fame in southern Europe for its supposed use against venomous bites. In the Netherlands it became a winter root vegetable, often served with witte saus and nutmeg, and acquired household nicknames such as keukenmeidenverdriet because its latex stains hands and knives during peeling. Its modern label as a vergeten groente, forgotten vegetable, says more about twentieth-century shopping habits than about Dutch memory; older home kitchens never entirely let it go.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
black salsify (schorseneren)
Quantity
1kg
lemon
Quantity
1
halved
vinegar or extra lemon juice
Quantity
2 tablespoons
salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
butter
Quantity
40g
plain flour
Quantity
40g
whole milk
Quantity
300ml
warmed
salsify cooking liquid
Quantity
150ml
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
white pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
parsley (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| black salsify (schorseneren) | 1kg |
| lemonhalved | 1 |
| vinegar or extra lemon juice | 2 tablespoons |
| salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| butter | 40g |
| plain flour | 40g |
| whole milkwarmed | 300ml |
| salsify cooking liquid | 150ml |
| freshly grated nutmeg | 1/4 teaspoon |
| white pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| parsley (optional)chopped | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Large bowl for acidulated water
- •Vegetable peeler
- •Medium saucepan
- •Whisk
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the water
Fill a large bowl with cold water and squeeze in the lemon halves, then add the vinegar or extra lemon juice. Keep another pan of salted water ready for cooking. The acid is not decoration; peeled salsify browns quickly in the air, and this bath keeps it pale enough to deserve its winter-asparagus nickname.
- 2
Peel the roots
Rub a little oil on your hands or wear gloves, then scrub the salsify under cold water. Peel each root, cut it into lengths of about 6cm, and drop the pieces straight into the acidulated water. The sticky milk will cling to knife and fingers. Accept this calmly. Keukenmeidenverdriet was not invented by people with clean cuffs.
If the roots are very thin, peel them gently with a vegetable peeler rather than shaving them down to nothing. You bought a vegetable, not a pencil. - 3
Simmer until tender
Lift the salsify from its soaking water and place it in the pan of salted water. Bring to a gentle boil, then lower to a steady simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until a knife enters easily but the pieces still hold their shape. Save 150ml of the cooking liquid before draining; it carries the root's quiet sweetness into the sauce.
- 4
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stir in the flour, and cook for two minutes until it smells faintly nutty but has not browned. Whisk in the warm milk little by little, then whisk in the reserved cooking liquid. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
- 5
Season and combine
Season the sauce with nutmeg, white pepper, and salt. Fold in the drained salsify gently, so the pale pieces stay whole under their white coat. Let everything sit over low heat for two minutes, just long enough for root and sauce to agree with each other.
- 6
Serve simply
Spoon the schorseneren into a warm shallow dish and scatter with parsley if you use it. Serve beside boiled potatoes, ham, roast chicken, or a plain omelette. I prefer it most with something modest, because the root has done enough work getting here.
Chef Tips
- •Buy firm, straight roots with no soft spots. Thick ones are easier to peel, thin ones cook faster, and both are good if they feel heavy for their size.
- •The season is late autumn through winter. If someone offers tired salsify in high summer, the calendar is already warning you.
- •Use freshly grated nutmeg if you can. Dutch white sauces have lived with nutmeg for centuries, and the pre-ground dust rarely remembers why.
- •To make the dish ahead, keep the cooked salsify and sauce separate. Roots sitting too long in sauce can turn soft, and softness is not tenderness.
Advance Preparation
- •The salsify can be peeled, cut, and held in lemon water for up to 2 hours before cooking.
- •Cooked salsify can be refrigerated for 1 day; make the sauce fresh or reheat it gently before folding the roots through.
- •Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated and reheat best in a covered pan over low heat with a spoonful of milk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 320g)
Calories
300 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
640 mg
Total Carbohydrates
42 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
9 g
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