Endive? Chicory? What is this?

[liuzhou]

I'm confused, Nothing new.

 

Today, I picked up some of what, when I think in English, I call "endive". In Chinese it is 苦菊 - kǔ jú which literally means "bitter chrysanthemum", something of a misnomer.

 

Anyway I got home and pondered. I often do. "What to do with this baby?" I've only every had it raw in salads or briefly stir-fried if the cook (usually me) was in an Eastern mood.

So I searched the interweb and, of course, this Aladdin's cave of knowledge her at eG for info or ideas or both. I only got more confused, 

 

It seems what I call endive and what you call endive and what I call chicory and what you call chicory may be at cross purposes or you may be thinking of something else altogether. Hopefully not chrysanthemum.

So, my burning curiosity prompts me to ask "What do you call this?"

 

[joesan]

 

In Italian cuisine, I think that's what's called puntarelle. It's part of the chicory family. 

 

The fleshy parts of the stem are cut into slivers and left in iced water until they curl. it's then made into a delicious, refreshing salad with a dressing of good olive oil, lemon juice and pounded anchovy (and a little crushed garlic to flavour the dressing). I can't recommend it highly enough!

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

41 minutes ago, joesan said:

It's part of the chicory family. 

 

So is endive.

[joesan]

I think, more correctly, endive is a part of the genus chicory. 

[rotuts]

I consider endive a smooth - leafed item , frequently kept out of the sun :

 

endive

 

but as you see from this pic on the R :

 

http://endive.com/how-to-pronounce-endive

[dcarch]

Escarole?

 

dcarch

[liuzhou]

10 hours ago, dcarch said:

Escarole?

 

which my trusty food dictionary informs me is endive!

[Baron d'Apcher]

"Curly endive" (Cichorium endivia).  It's what most in the US call chicory and is more or less unremarkable.  Like an unruly head of frisée.  

Escarole has wider, flatter leaves.

Puntarella is very different.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

1 hour ago, Baron d'Apcher said:

"Curly endive" (Cichorium endivia).  It's what most in the US call chicory and is more or less unremarkable.  Like an unruly head of frisée.  

Escarole has wider, flatter leaves.

Puntarella is very different.

 

There is a photo of puntarelle on the wiki page for endive, if you scroll down. I've not seen putarelle in person, but if the wiki photo of it is correct, what @liuzhouhas is indeed a different vegetable.

 

I call what liuzhou has curly endive, and yes, escarole is different too, at least in my understanding, and how it is marketed under that name here. The first image in this set of them, is what is sold as escarole here. There is much confusion, though, and not just 

on liuzhou's part. 

 

I use curly endive (or whatever it is?) in a soup inspired by Marcella Hazan's recipe for Escarole and Rice Soup, only use beans instead rice. I substitute a can of usually chickpeas, but I've also used pinto and cannellini beans, for the rice. I prefer escarole for this soup, but the curly endive is a fine substitute, if I can't find escarole. A tip from the original version in Marcella's book, "The Classic Italian Cookbook": soup can be made ahead, but stop at the step where you add the rice, because it will get mushy if stored in the soup. You can make the whole thing ahead if using beans. The leftovers in the bean version are good. I really like this soup with chickpeas, and have made it with rice, but it was just okay to me. An observation from me: I find that I don't need to simmer the escarole over fifteen minutes vs. the longer cook called for in both the original and the linked versions of the recipe. 

Edited April 14, 2017 by Thanks for the Crepes
sp (log)

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Baron d'Apcher said:

"Curly endive" (Cichorium endivia).

 

Yes, that is what I first thought. Then I made the stupid mistake of attempting to confirm my thinking and fell down a rabbit hole into several alternate universes at once. Every suggestion given above my dictionary says see endive  (in Chinese).

 

You too, mention that this endive is called chicory in the US. When I look up chicory I'm told to see endive again.

Just to confuse things even further, a literal translation of the Chinese name for endive (菊苣 - jú jù) is "Chrysanthemum Lettuce"!

 

Help!

 

P.S. When I was a kid, I won a prize at school for being the only brat in the class who could spell chrysanthemum. God knows why I could spell it. I don't think I knew what it meant! Still the party trick has finally come useful.