Mark Bittman Two people taught me to love radishes, and neither was my mother. The first was Jean-Georges, who showed me that you could cook them, preferably in a little water and butter, until the water evaporated and the butter glazed. Good — though not, ultimately, as good as turnips, ever.
The second was my friend Charlie Pinsky, who, at least in spring or summer, would almost never invite me over without setting out a bowl of “breakfast” radishes — the long kind, pictured here (and the only kind universally sold here in Paris), along with some good cold butter, coarse salt, and baguette. This could happen at breakfast, lunch, or pre-dinner.
We’d sit and chat, and drink or not, and dip the radishes in salt, smear a little butter on the bread, and gobble ‘em down. I can’t do that without thinking of him, and although I haven’t asked him I’m thinking the practice came from the years when he spent a great deal of time in France. (Long before he produced tv shows with me in them, he produced the late great Pierre Franey.) Because as I sit here, dipping radishes in salt, watching a curtain of dark come down over the evening, I see it’s as natural as breathing. You don’t need the butter, really, or even the bread — though the salt is essential.
My mother, by the way, taught me to dip scallions in salt, and eat them the same way. To me, as an adult, that’s just too strong. But she’s still at it, thankfully.
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Nah, the salt isn’t essential either. I love radishes plain; the sting in a young radish is perfect alone.
— NelsonMy grandmother taught me to dip mushroom stems in salt–especially useful when you’re making stuffed mushroom caps and need a little something to munch on.
— MeghanI’m just now coming around to radishes and I have no idea what took me so long. I used to work for a guy who would bring in a container as a snack and I thought it was so…boring. Now I know the truth. They are really neat. And bite sized. And deliciously spicy.
I guess he was more interesting than I thought.
— Saint TigerlilyI never enjoyed radishes until I had them braised…oh my..I fell in love after the first bite!!!
— RJVery European, not just French. I’m German and growing up that was a staple at our dinner table in the summer. I missed it here in the US for the first years, the supermarket radishes were expensive and tasteless. Farmers Market radishes do much better on the taste front…
— Sillie_PMy mother taught me to do the dipped-in-salt thing with celery stalks. Dip the bottom of the stem, bite off, repeat. Always a very fresh wet surface for the salt to stick to.
Absolutely wonderful in hot weather with cold celery.
— pumpkin sparshottI love radishes too. Jack Bishop has a fabulous recipe for sesame-roasted radishes in his book “Vegetables Every Day.” I recommend it!
— RachelHere in Paris, I just bought a new “bouquet” at the Marche d’Aligre this morning. For me, they are the most noticeable and wonderful sign of spring arriving to the market.
I gave a recipe for braising for butter, stock and mint on my blog last week. But tonight I just had then with a bit of good mayo and a glass of rose.
http://www.lespetitpois.blogspot.com
Shira
— Shira SchnitzerIn my egoism, I thought my family, and more specifically my grandfather, was unique in blending cold radishes and butter. My sister and I still talk about this when the first of the year radishes are ready to pick.
— Double Di was just in paris and saw those lovely long radishes at the raspail market, and had them in salads for the first time. i love them! even though the round radishes here are stronger, it gave me a new appreciation for them too and i am enjoying them sliced super-thin on simple salads now.
— yasminThe ol’ radish sandwich is brilliant, too. Buttered bread, radishes, salt, maybe some chives, although the chives aren’t required. It’s radishes for the lazy, or perhaps the luncheon.
http://www.haleysuzanne.wordpress.com
— Haley W.Our family dipped both the radishes and the scallions in salt – but the butter was reserved for garlic scallions (fresh young garlic before the scapes form) on fresh rye bread with butter.
— BetiFrench? Mark – please! My Litvak bubba fed me radishes with sweet butter and salt on fresh pumpernickel almost seventy years ago and told me that she ate them as a girl in Tavrik in the 1880’s. I suppose you think schmaltz is polynesian.
— irvI love to nibble the ends off of scallions, dipped in salt. The root end (minus roots) is the sweetest, so then I cut off the part I bit and use the rest of the white, and the green, for cooking.
— chigalAnd here’s a plus– radishes are so easy to grow!! They’ll grow anywhere theres a little soil and moisture– I always accidentally spill a few seeds when planting my raised beds and radishes will sprout and grow in the woodchips between the beds. My late mother and her sisters loved sandwiches of sliced radish, butter, and plain white bread.
— ChuckRadish lover here. Please tell us what to do with the greens! I hate throwing them away. They must be good for something.
— ZedIt was my father, and perhaps my grandmother (who lived with us), who taught me the joys of consuming radishes and green onions dipped in salt. As a snack, appetizer, or even meal accompaniment, every time my father visits, I make sure I have some on hand for our talk sessions. Ohh, if I only had those little, individual porcelain salt trays my Grandmother used to put out . . . .
— LauraPS – my father is also a ’salt-on-apples’ guy – I have yet to acquire the taste for that!
The Red Cat in Chelsea provides radishes and salt as a bar snack. I had to restrain myself from eating the entire bowl. Contrary to some opinions, the salt is essential.
— JasonLove radishes in a butter and bread sandwich, and sea salt, of course. But speaking of dipping, how ’bout a stalk of rhubarb dipped into a small bowl of sugar. I was taught that as a child, and taught it to my children, now my grandchildren. About the only time they get sugar from me!
— sharonGeorges Blanc has a recipe for red radish soup with tapioca that also uses the radish tops.
— CurtisThe simplest and springier of soups…
— mikasoupe aux fanes de radis (radish greens soup):
In your soup pan, melt a bit of butter and slowly cook your radish greens in it until they’re tranlucid (3 min). Add water and one or two potatoes. Blend when cooked. That’s it. Or fancier, pour over toasted break and egg yolk with cream.
This sounds good – I’ve never heard of it or tried it – but I will.
— CynthiaThanks
I can recall going into the garden with the salt cellar as a kid, picking radishes, sorta-kinda wiping them clean, pinching off the tail, dipping the radish in salt and enjoying the heck out of the zippy snack. Learned about it the summer my Prussian grandmother visited. Radish/butter/salt sandwiches were also a favourite at the breakfast table. Well, still are.
Best radishes are of course no more than 5 minutes out of the ground.
— beth ehNo, the salt is not essential. In fact, it ruins the taste, as well as being unhealthy. No one who really knows how to cook ever needs to add salt. It is how poor cooks pass off tasteless food.
— Jonathan Katz