Sounds so good! We always had radishes when I was young, and we had butter. Now I have good salt! Lovely article.
1
My German-born parents always had radishes in the garden. For Saturday family lunch we 1st licked them, then dunked them in a pile of salt on our plate and ate them, usually accompanied by various salamis or other cold cuts on bakery rye or pumpernickel. Will be sure to plant my pea and radish seeds tomorrow. And will try the butter. But what is "excellent" coarse kosher salt. Can someone provide a brand name that might be mail-ordered. {the salt looks flaky, like Maldon, in the article's picture.]
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Gabrielle Hamilton is a terrific writer, and of course this is a lovely essay. My father ate thinly sliced radishes on pumpernickel with a thick slather of sour cream -- However, this article highlights my longing for the days when the Sunday magazine had a full page of recipes. Obviously this shift (made years ago) reflects an editorial decision, and no, I am not deprived of food information from the Times: I get chatty newsletters about "what to cook this week", and I can always scan through the Times' archives. But I really treasured those long-ago Sundays when the magazine brought you a thoughtful essay about food, and then several (not one) recipes that accompanied it.
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I think the insight and candor of admitting that fussing with the dish was about her ego, not the food, is wonderfully refreshing to read. I wish more chefs of Ms. Hamilton's level would honor their food and try less to wow diners with their vision or creativity. Noble as those virtues are, they are not why everyone goes out to dinner. The ego on the plate can be exhausting and unappetizing.
8
Mmmm. Think I have to pop some radish seeds in a pot in the greenhouse today.
I love the bit after the recipe (!) that asks, "Did you cook this?"
4
I grew up eating radishes with sweet butter and salt--and have continued to do so for over 60 years. My family background is Russian and Roumanian--nothing to do with France, but that was the only way (except in salads) we ate fresh, crisp ridishes--and still do, with the same joy.
2
What a lovely article! What a wonderful evocation of one of my favorite childhood dishes!
For me, however, there is one missing ingredient: a fresh French baguette.
Your article gave me great pleasure. Thank you!
For me, however, there is one missing ingredient: a fresh French baguette.
Your article gave me great pleasure. Thank you!
4
I am from Denmark. it was a stable there too. Often with just salt. But we also sliced them on thin pieces of buttered rye bread or French bread. I have loved hem ever since. AND I was always quite amazed when my friends hardly knew what radishes were.
[A poor people's delicacy! and happily so.]
[A poor people's delicacy! and happily so.]
3
My father and I would eat radishes simply with salt. They'd be kept in the refrigerator in cold water, and were always crisp--though we'd eat them within a day of buying them!
4
Same here. Still eat them this way every day I can.
My father showed me how to check the size-readiness of radishes in our victory garden, how to carefully pull them out without breaking stems of leaves, how to dust off between thumb and middle finger, how to taste when only slightly warm from the earth. Out there you didn't need salt or butter. But when you brought them inside, salt and butter made very delicious additions.
Thanks for this wonderful paean to the radish.
Thanks for this wonderful paean to the radish.
2
From my 13-year-old daughter: is this a parody of food writing?
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Delicious writing, indeed, and food philosophy as well.
10
You missed the best part and the fourth ingredient, you must have a split toasted baguette which should be smeared with the butter when it cools, and then you add the radishes and salt. It's the only way to have this. My grandmother in Brittany prepared this for us, delicious.. and of course for dessert she'd give us a piece of chocolate on butter smeared on baguette.
5
I wonder if your father is offering this delightful treat in his restaurant?
There was always a bit of magic there too.
There was always a bit of magic there too.
1
Radishes with butter are the best appetizer I can think of.
2
When I was a young child in Paris, back in the 1960s, the nuns served radishes and butter at lunch at my school. We cut the tip off the radish, cut a cross deep into but not all the way through the ball of the radish, and inserted as much butter as we could into the crevices. Heaven.
6
Gosh I just love your writing!!! And, I've eaten your radishes at the bar in Prune, and they are so great! You are the best new addition to the NYT! Thank you. I've been a fan of your writing and your food since around 1999 when I first heard of you!
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They are wonderful served as described here. They are also amazingly good cooked on low heat with just a knob of butter and salt and a little water. Poke with a knife for tenderness. They turn pink and taste a lot like new potatoes. Ok. Maybe a twist of pepper.
3
Wow - a flashback to University days (Simon Fraser) in the late 60's, being invited to a home of staff who lived communally in a wonderful old house near Oak Street in Vancouver...these houses have all been torn down to make room for a very flashy Cancer Agency building ;-) In any case, one of the things we had was radishes with sweet butter and salt. Jan Visscher was the name of the sweet man who turned me on to this so I guess Dutch people know about it too. I just happen to have bought very beautiful radishes today so....here I go.
2
Years ago, either in experimentation or simply because we were out of butter I tried a soft cheese with radishes and have never gone back to butter. Something mild and a little salty like a budget friendly d'Affinois works beautifully. To me this has a little more character than butter but still does not overwhelm the radish.
2
Every June I teach a kid's farmer's market tour and class. One of the first things we do when we get back to the kitchen and out of the hot sun, is pull out the bunch of radishes we just bought, rinse and trim them and get out the good butter and salt. Most of the kids have never even seen a radish, but they almost unanimously fall for the combo of crisp, peppery, creamy, fatty and salty. It's such a pleasure to see their faces as they discover this incredibly simple treat. Oh and the parents come along too, and they also flip over the radish snack!
4
A heartfelt YES to radishes+butter+salt. And.....
French breakfast radishes are best.
If you grow your own or get some really fresh at a farmer's market, the green tops quickly sauteed in olive oil are great.
French breakfast radishes are best.
If you grow your own or get some really fresh at a farmer's market, the green tops quickly sauteed in olive oil are great.
1
Also an element of the classic German "Biergarten" spread! Wunderbar, indeed.
4
Thank you for bringing back memories of my mother, who learned to eat her radishes this way in Paris in the 1930s.
3
My Mum, too.
Butter, salt & radishes is the classic way.
Butter, salt & radishes is the classic way.
I began growing French breakfast radishes about three years ago after many spring's feasting on the Champion variety. They are amazing and I just picked up a new packet of seeds last weekend that I hope to plant this weekend. My Mom used to serve thin sliced radishes with butter and watercress on quarters of rye toast to accompany a platter of sauteed shad roe and bacon. For me that meal spelled spring. I love to sprinkle Maldon salt on my radishes and swipe them thru Finlandia sweet butter.
4
This is wonderfully pretentious, and I mean that as a compliment. I like a good grocery store, too, but the comparison to a farmers' market, where some truly excellent radishes may be found, is needless.
2
Thank goodness for Gabrielle Hamilton, whose clear eyed, simple, delicious cooking is an ideal in the face of all the tiresome fads we chefs have to suffer. She remains my favorite NYC chef, and Prune my favorite restaurant. What a nice writer, too.
4
I love Hamilton. But, sorry, this counts as a recipe? C'mon.
8
Peg,
Yes, to people who "aren't in the know", it is a recipe.
Yes, to people who "aren't in the know", it is a recipe.
2
Wow, this was beautiful! Radishes are usually too spicy for me, I always give them to my radish-loving neighbor when I get them in the CSA bag. But after reading this ode to the radish, I'm going to try exactly what you suggest - I'm already in love with butter and salt. And France. Thank you for a wonderful read!
1
What a timely article! My husband got a bumper crop of radishes this year and we have been experimenting with different ways to prepare them, other than in salads. They are great in soft tacos, and last night we grilled them (yum.) Frying? And what about in a Asian stir-fry? Maybe, but I think we will definitely need to try this simple butter and salt. Sounds delicious, and we have plenty of radishes!
3
Enough. I am headed to the farmer's market. Hamilton's writing is so vivid and stimulating, I can practically taste the bite of the radish and silkiness of the butter.
2
I always get this at Prune! Keep cooking and writing, please!
4
I'm already looking forward to this dish when I dine at Prune again next Thursday, also the sweetbreads, neither of which are on today's menu (the one that appears online) but I-hope-I-hope-I-hope they will be next week.
1
Now that's what I call a meal !
1
This is wonderful food writing.
22
Radishes and salt. No need for butter at all. The 3rd ingredient in my house is fresh lime or lemon juice.
We make tons of different recipes with radishes of all kinds and shapes. The log thin ones, aka daikon, are a family favorite.
Grate radish in yogurt, with chopped fresh cilantro, chopped green chilies and seasoned with salt and pepper. You can also garnish with a seasoning of black mustard seeds popped in your oil of choice, fresh curry leaves.
We also love radish parathas, grated radish mixed in whole wheat flour, rolled into round flatbreads, roasted on an iron griddle, dab of butter or your favorite oil.
Cooked radish...with lentils...seasoned with sambhar powder, hint of tamarind or tomatoes, salt.
We make tons of different recipes with radishes of all kinds and shapes. The log thin ones, aka daikon, are a family favorite.
Grate radish in yogurt, with chopped fresh cilantro, chopped green chilies and seasoned with salt and pepper. You can also garnish with a seasoning of black mustard seeds popped in your oil of choice, fresh curry leaves.
We also love radish parathas, grated radish mixed in whole wheat flour, rolled into round flatbreads, roasted on an iron griddle, dab of butter or your favorite oil.
Cooked radish...with lentils...seasoned with sambhar powder, hint of tamarind or tomatoes, salt.
14
Butter makes it (the radishes), better !
3
And do not forgrt the ultimate radish sandwich...Wonder Bread, soft butter and sliced radishes...I have eaten for 70 years!
18
Yes !
1
I substitute a good bakery crusty bread. Otherwise divine!
1
Fifty years ago, in the Alpes Maritimes, an admirer of my mother's tried to seduce her daughter with radishes, butter and salt (and crayfish). He failed - but the memory of the lunch lives on.
9
We have an overabundance of wonderful salts and butters, but where or where did those glorious, spicy, mildy hot radishes that I grew up with in the 50's and 60's go to? I work in an upscale grocery and we source the majority of our produce from local growers. The radishes seem to be just for color and not for taste. Guess I will have to pull up some of my containers of tomatoes and plant a few to get what I am looking for.
15
Love them, since my German childhood!
So simple and satisfying, and these days easily available year-round. Still, they are best fresh from the garden or container.
So simple and satisfying, and these days easily available year-round. Still, they are best fresh from the garden or container.
10
This is such a delicious read. Thanks for really getting down to the core of what exciting eating is. Fancy miso butterscotch and agar agar are all great in their own contexts, but the finesse of simplicity speaks volumes.
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