Poke Stalks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the poke shoots thoroughly in cold water for 1 hour.
Tie the shoots in bundles like asparagus.
Cook and serve
Place the bundles in a kettle of boiling water.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt and boil for 45 minutes.
Drain the shoots and place them on buttered toast with the heads all facing the same way.
Cover with drawn butter and serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Young poke shoots
- Form the main vegetable; long boiling softens their fibrous stems until they are tender to eat.
- Drawn butter
- Adds fat and richness, coating the shoots and carrying flavor across the dish.
- Buttered toast
- Gives the shoots a soft, buttery base that holds them and soaks up extra butter.
The step that matters
Boil for the full 45 minutes. Fibrous shoots need enough time in boiling water for their tough stems to soften fully. Cutting the boil short leaves them chewy, while the bundles keep their shape when cooked evenly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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