Rhubarb a harbinger of spring
“Hold ’er, Newt, you’re headed for the rhubarb!”
Halfway between calling the pass during a busy lunch service and the phrase just poured off my tongue.
I was immediately transported 40 years back to a time when my father would offer up the exact phrase with some frequency; not least of all when my nine-year-old body struggled with our ponderous lawn mower and I inadvertently cropped the rhubarb bush — literally the only plant that survived on our plot of land.
I learned all those years ago that what my dad meant by the phrase was a general caution or ‘look out, you’ve gone too far.’ And that is precisely what I meant that day as I watched the smoke rise from a toohot pan and winced as a handful of spaetzli was dumped in, only to be instantly charred and thrown out.
The exact origin is unclear, though the phrase likely hailed from Ozark farm country in the 1930s and seems to have an association with horse teams and the very real possibility of things going badly awry. As the colloquialism moved north, the pea patch was substituted for the rhubarb patch. And, voilà, the saying stuck. No one is exactly sure who Newt is, but once popularized by radio and recording artists such as Jimmie Davis, the gospel and country star and two-time governor of Louisiana, nobody has much cared to find out.
That service, after a few coaching expletives directed toward my line cook, I was gripped by the synchronicity of things. I had reflexively just pulled a phrase from my upbringing that mentions rhubarb and the very dish awaiting the now-incinerated spaetzli is an Elora hen dish garnished with rhubarb compote. What are the chances?
Among my most favourite foodstuffs, rhubarb is a harbinger of spring and is truly exceptionally versatile and hardy — did I mention mowing our family’s rhubarb bush? That sucker just kept coming back, no matter how poorly fostered.
Rhubarb is a perennial plant, similar in structure to celery that is, likewise, harvested for its fibrous stalks (the leaves are full of oxalic acid and are poisonous — so don’t eat those).
While rhubarb is not truly a fruit, it is most often prepared in that way: pies, jams and jellies among a cook’s favourite rhubarb preparations. In fact, rhubarb did not really enter the culinary arena until the 1700s when sugar became readily available to the common household, as it is tremendously tart in its natural state. This tartness leaves rhubarb open to more applications than are readily considered; except for Dianne Devitt’s sublime rhubarb pie, tart and savoury applications are my favourite ways to enjoy rhubarb.
In a culinary sense, I like to think of rhubarb as I would European gooseberries and will comp recipes of the like. The tartness makes a great pairing with barbecued meats, smoked chicken or grilled fishes.
Currently I am in love with preparing rhubarb with a little fresh ginger, some sherry vinegar ( just a little, rhubarb has a great deal of natural liquid which is released when cooked), a small amount of sugar and fresh thyme. Cook the whole mixture in a stainless-steel saucepan and then quickly pulse in a food processor for a delicious, savoury condiment.
And remember, no matter how you choose to prepare this wonder of spring, it is never complimented by burnt spaetzli.