Changing tastes – what’s new is old.

One of the stories we tell ourselves is that, if you look in a cookbook from a previous era, you will find vegetables cooked much longer than we would no countenance. There’s the lamentable tendency to shake our heads and tut about the fate of the poor veggies.

And it’s true, you can certainly find that. In our 1866 edition of Mrs Beeton’s Book of household management, you will find this recipe for spinach in the English style:

TO BOIL SPINACH (English Mode).
1155- Ingedients.—2 pailfuls of spinach, 2 heaped tablespoonfuls of salt, 1 oz. of butter, pepper to taste.
Mode.—Pick the spinach carefully, and see that no stalks or weeds are left amongst it; wash it in several waters, and, to prevent it being gritty, act in the following manner:— have ready two large pans or tubs filled with water; put the spinach into one of these, and  thoroughly wash it; then, with the hands, take out the spinach, and put it into the other tub of water (by this means all the grit will be left at the bottom of the tub); wash it again, and, should it not be perfectly free from dirt, repeat the process. Put it into a very large saucepan, with about 1/2 pint of water, just sufficient to keep tho spinach from burning, and the above proportion of salt. Press it down frequently with a wooden spoon, that it may be done equally; and when it has boiled for rather more than 10 minutes, or until it is perfectly tender, drain it in a colander, squeeze it quite dry, and chop it finely. Put the spinach into a clean stewpan, with the butter and a seasoning of pepper; stir the whole over the fire until quite hot; then put it on a hot dish, and garnish with sippets of toasted bread.
Time.—10 to 15 minutes to boil the spinach, 5 minutes to warm with the butter.
Average cost for the above quantity, 8d.
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable.—Spring spinach from March to July; winter spinach from November to March.
Note.—Grated nutmeg, pounded mace, or lemon-juice may also be added to enrich the flavour; and poached eggs are also frequently served with spinach: they should be placed on the top of it, and it should be garnished with sippets of toasted bread

1888 edition available at Google books, here

Moreover, Marion Harland’s  1882 Common sense in the household: a manual of practical housewifery (online here) recommends an even longer time, 15 to 20 minutes, and in her in her 1884 Cookery for beginners: a series of familiar lessons for young housekeepers she calls for it to be cooked for 45 minutes.

But it turns out that it depends on which cookbook, and how old.

Elizabeth Raffald, in 1806 (The experienced English housekeeper: for the use and ease of ladies …)  has a much shorter boiling time:

To stew Spinage.

WASH your spinage well in several waters, put it in a cullendar, have ready a large pan of boiling water, with a handful of salt, put it in, let it boil two minutes, it will take off the strong earthy taste, then put it into a sieve, squeeze it well, put a quarter of a pound of butter into a tossing pan, put in your spinage, keep turning and chopping it with a knife until it be quite dry and green, lay it upon a plate, press it with another, cut it in the shape of sippets or diamonds, pour round it very rich melted butter, it will eat exceeding mild, and quite a different taste from the common way.

Looking further back, in an edition of Hannah Glasse’s Art of cookery, from 1796, we find the following directions for spinach, very much as we would cook it now.

Stewed spinage and eggs
PICK and wash your spinage very clean, put it into a saucepan with a little salt, cover it close, shake the pan often; when it is just tender and whilst it is green throw it into a sieve to drain, lay it in your dish…

A 1784 edition is more explicit

To dress spinach
PICK it very clean, and wash it in five or six waters; put it in a sauce-pan that will just hold it, throw a little salt over it, and cover the pan close. Don’t put any water in, but shake the pan often. You must put your sauce-pan on a clear quick; fire. As soon as you find the greens are shrunk and fallen to the bottom, and that the liquor which comes out of them boils up, they are enough. Throw them into a clean sieve, to drain, and just give them a little squeeze. Lay them in a plate, and never put any butter on it but put it in a cup.

This is not to say that no one in the the late 18th century cooked the stuffing out of spinach, but it does point out the unwisdom of thinking we know what we’ll find when we peer at the past through the window of cookbooks.

I’ll let Marion Harland have the last word on spinach, with advice that is good even today…

Boiled Spinach.

In respect to quantity, spinach is desperately deceitful. I never see it drained after it is boiled without bethinking myself of a picture I saw many years since, illustrative of the perils of innocent simplicity. A small (lucky) boy and big (unlucky) one have been spending their holiday in fishing. While the former, well satisfied with the result of his day’s sport, is busy putting up his rod and tackle, the designing elder dexterously substitutes his own string of minnows for the other’s store of fine perch. The little fellow, turning to pick it up, without a suspicion of the cruel cheat, makes piteous round eyes at his fellow, ejaculating, “How they have shrunk!”

A young housekeeper of my acquaintance, ordering a spring dinner for herself and husband, purchased a quart of spinach. When it should have appeared upon the table, there came in its stead a platter of sliced egg, she having given out one for the dressing. “Where is the spinach?” she demanded of the maid of all work. “Under the egg, ma’am!” And it was really all there.

Moral.—Get enough spinach to be visible to the naked eye. A peck is not too much for a family of four or five.