The Book of Household Management by Mrs. Beeton

melted butter, No. 376. _Mode_.--Put into a saucepan a small quantity of water, slightly salted, and when it boils, throw in a good bunch of parsley which has been previously washed and tied together in a bunch; let it boil for 5 minutes, drain it, mince the leaves very fine, and put the above quantity in a tureen; pour over it 1/2 pint of smoothly-made melted butter; stir once, that the ingredients may be thoroughly mixed, and serve. _Time_.--5 minutes to boil the parsley. _Average cost_, 4d. _Sufficient_ for 1 large fowl; allow rather more for a pair. _Seasonable_ at any time. _Note_.--Sometimes, in the middle of winter, parsley-leaves are not to be had, when the following will be found an excellent substitute:--Tie up a little parsley-seed in a small piece of muslin, and boil it for 10 minutes in a small quantity of water; use this water to make the melted butter with, and throw into it a little boiled spinach, minced rather fine, which will have an appearance similar to that of parsley. [Illustration: PARSLEY.] PARSLEY.--If there be nothing new under the sun, there are, at any rate, different uses found for the same thing; for this pretty aromatic herb was used in ancient times, as we learn from mythological narrative, to adorn the head of a hero, no less than Hercules; and now--was ever fall so great?--we moderns use it in connection with the head of--a calf. According to Homer's "Iliad," warriors fed their chariot-steeds on parsley; and Pliny acquaints us with the fact that, as a symbol of mourning, it was admitted to furnish the funeral tables of the Romans. Egypt, some say, first produced this herb; thence it was introduced, by some unknown voyager, into Sardinia, where the Carthaginians found it, and made it known to the inhabitants of Marseilles. (See No. 123.) FRIED PARSLEY, for Garnishing.