Letters to the Editor
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winter, winter
What a delight! I'm a native of the Deep South, in exile for the past five years in northern Indiana. I laughed out loud at Nobles' description of winter, of the resignation and slothful retreat indoors, of the pointless wanderings through the deserted shed of the farmer's market.
Last week, I went to Easter vigil. In the snow. With frost-throttled crocuses. The temperature here lingers in the freezing range, but after reading all about asparagus, I now have at least some small reason to believe that spring might just come again.
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I hate this article.
I don't know why, I just hate it. I guess I could figure it out and explore the reasons behind my dislike, but it doesn't seem worth the effort. Just, yuck. I wish this woman had more important things to think and write about.
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Asparagus? Two months straight?
Phoebe Nobles' pee must stink something awful!
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Some of my favorite preparations:
1) Stovetop - use a ridged grill pan, heat it very hot. Place the asparagus on there dry, it will blacken in stripes (you did set it across the ridges?). Turn it once to the opposite side.
Top it very lightly with just a tiny sprinkle of Kosher salt, a drizzle of good balsamic, some citrus zest, and shavings of good Parmesan.
2) Steamed - make an aioli with mayonnaise and a good spicy mustard. Dip the asparagus spears in that. Eat with your fingers - it's good for you!
3) Asparagus and good bacon like each other - render the bacon most of the way, toss in the cut up asparagus, drop in your just shy of al dente fettuccine, add some good Parmesan, a healthy crack of black pepper, a few red pepper flakes, and a drizzle of good olive oil.
And any other way you can think of. Asparagus is your friend.
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Spargel
I miss living near Schwetzingen, which I think may be the little town in Germany Ms. Nobles was referring to.
For the entire month of May every restaurant has ein pfund of asparagus with a variety of sauces -- Maltaise as well as the more traditional Hollandaise for example. In addition, there are two types of asparagus soup, asparagus mousse, and asparagus souffles.
The only difference is that Schwetzingen's asparagus is always the thick, white asparagus rather than the green.
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ASPARAGUS!
OK, asparagus is my secret vegetable vice.
I love it.
As a kid, growing up in rural north central Illinois, we used to go across the two lane blacktop in front of our acreage to the cow pasture opposite and harvest wild asparagus for dinner. That spot is now the driveway of a fire station on a four lane concrete road.
Now I live for the days when the menu at my weekend job features asparagus sautéed in Gallic butter or my own asparagus stir fry at home.
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Genetics and smell
The smell of your urine after eating asparagus is more complicated. Some people produce methyl mercaptan and others don't. However it's the ability to detect the smell is also genetically determine. Some people can smell it and others can't even if their urine stinks.
http://www.studentbmj.com/back_issues/0800/education/277.html
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What's with the green type?
What a lovely article.. made me crave asparagus right here and now! However I would go for the white variety, far more popular here in France, in all its fleshy gloriousness. When it's really fresh, so much more to rejoice upon! Hate the pee smell though...
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Schwetzingen is the city in Germany with the Spargelfrau
When we lived in Germany, Schwetzingen (not far from Heidelberg) was the destination of choice during the asparagus season. Why? For the simple fact that asparagus was rightfully acknowledged as one of the best fruits of the season, and all the regional citizens knew that their eating habits would change for three months: Asparagus this, asparagus that.
Nothing comes close to the asparagus at the B&B / restaurant Gasthof zum Hirsch, in Horrenberg (outside Wiesloch, near Schwetzingen), where the chef, Alfons Keller, can prepare a ravaging dinner with his region's incredible asparagus crop. We here in the USA don't know what white, thick, tasty, meaty asparagus is really like on the Old Continent. The Hirsch will change your life.
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White, violet tips, or green
The asparagus you are refering to are of the white variety with white or
violet tips which are growing in sandy soils and tips only come out in the open. Much more work to harvest than the green
variety. Therefore more costly and have not the same usage than the green ones.
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Spargel
As others have pointed out, the German stuff is white, thick, and in my experience not especially interesting if you're used to the thin green kind. It looks like a plate of little sex toys. Too many times it was fibrous and bland. It still provided a ferocious pee odor, though.
Frozen (green) asparagus is probably the saddest thing in the world, except for canned which is too frightening for me to even try, but I would imagine it's slimy, mushy, and salted to death. I have half a bag of spears in the freezer that I should probably just throw away because there's no way I'm going to finish it. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it in the dead of winter when it probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
I can't wait for the grilled-vegetable craze to end: let's take nice crunchy fresh veg and make them into charred mush. bleah. Maybe done right they're OK, but I don't think I've had any that were. A brief steam is all my spargel needs!
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Off to buy some fresh asparagus!
Dip a raw stalk into the yellow of a soft boiled egg-yummm!
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What's more important than good asparagus?
Phoebe Nobles made me laugh twice before coffee. She made me think about asparagi I have loved and of the terrible "asparagus pudding" my relatives serve. And she understands my fear of white asparagus. What other vegetable can you eat with your fingers on formal occasions? There's something naughty/sexy about that.
The LW who wishes Nobles would write about more important things--well--this essay was written without knowing we'd all be sitting around watching footage of another mass murder on the day it was published in Salon. LW, do you only think weighty thoughts? Do you never muse on the mundane? You might question Salon's decision to print essays on "unimportant" topics, but do you really need to pick on the author for having such thoughts and writing about them so charmingly?