Peeling appeal

Although we have finally realized that yes, you can be too rich or too thin, most people feel they can never have too many kitchen gadgets. I am not one of those people: with remorse I have watched my cupboards and drawers slowly fill with thermometers, whisks, timers, 6 wine openers, crushers, peelers, choppers, and measuring utinsels. So it is with skepticism that I purchased—get this—a German asparagus peeler. (I am still trying to burn through the masses of Williams Sonoma gift cards I have received over the years, through either gifts or returns of useless gadgets or silly bottles of laundry spray, which you can easily and more economically make yourself.) Cooks Illustrated wrote that there was no reason for such a gadget, since you just buy thinner spears, or break off the woody ends of thicker spears. But breaking off the woody can be pretty wasteful in some cases, and let’s face it, thin spears of asparagus not only are not always in the store, and thin is not always the best. In fact, the thicker spears have more tender volume in proportion to the skin. Julia Child swore by peeled asparagus, and I have increasingly entrusted myself to her wisdom. And when I have prepared her dishes, or the Balthazar salad, the peeled asparagus not only looks beautiful but is perfectly edible all the way to the so-called woody end.
But last night was my own empirical test. I went to three stores to look for thick spears. I peeled half and left the other intact including the woody ends, but cutting off the slightly-concave end. I steamed them over hot water (include the peels in the cooking water to prevent flavor loss), and plated them with nothing but sea salt and pepper. They never made it the table. I sampled both, but devoured the peeled asparagus—so tender, so bright green. Even the woody end was edible. The unpeeled were another story. Tough and stringy, I cooked them a little bit longer with a few of the peeled as a control. But after a few minutes, the overcooked peeled asparagus was still edible (albeit as a puree); the unpeeled were paste in a still resilient fibrous shell.

So it looks like the peeler will stay, and whenever I want to take the easy way out, I look at my reflection in the window and my WWJD necklace, and the light above (dimmed MR-16s, actually) tells me that no, Julia would peel.