Title: baked-cheese-msg
Subject: Period baked cheese recipes.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, bake, cheese, oven, period, recipe, tart, pie

baked-cheese-msg - 3/8/07

Period baked cheese recipes.

NOTE: See also the files: cheese-msg, cheese-goo-msg, Cheese-Making-art, cheesemaking-msg, cheesecake-msg, dairy-prod-msg, pasta-msg, clotted-cream-msg, ovens-msg, camp-ovens-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with separate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the individual authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these messages. The  copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at this time. If  information  is  published  from  these  messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: Beth.Appleton at f4229.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Beth Appleton)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Appetizer-ish redaction/cheese tart
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1993 22:37:26

 Here is one of my redactions, which is handy for an 
 "appetizer" course.  It's good hot or cold...
 
Recipe from _A_Booke_of_Cookery_, by A.W., 1597
 
To make a Tarte of Cheese
 
Take good fine paste and drive it as thin as you can.  Then take cheese,
pare it, mince it, and braye it in a morter with yolks of Egs til it be
like paste, then put it in a faire dish with clarified butter, and put
it abroade into your paste and cover it with a faire cut cover, and so
bake it: that done, serve it forth.
 
     My redaction:
Ingredients:
 
  4 cups cheese, mixed cheddar & munster (just what I had around)
  6 egg yolks
I left out the butter because I didn't want to make it too greasy for
modern palates.  Perhaps it is necessary with a hard cheese.  I have 
 found that using whole eggs makes no discernable difference in taste 
 or texture.  This is a good way to use leftover cubed cheese from a 
 feast or purchase cheap grated cheese if you need lots of pies.  
 Interestingly, a higher proportion of cheese to egg will make it 
 "souffle".
 
Pastry:   (from Betty Crocker, with butter instead of shortening)
  1 cup flour
  1/3 cup butter
  2-3 tblsp cold water
 
Grated cheese, used food processor to mix with egg yolks.  
Bake for 30 min. at 350.
 A cut-out top-cover is nice to add a bit of flair.
     Gwenllian Cwmystwyth ferch Morfudd 
     Permission to reproduce for non-profit granted.  Please 
  send copies of any publication in which this appears to:
     Beth Appleton
     9015 Bryson
     Dallas, Texas  75238

 * Origin: Herald's Point * Steppes/Ansteorra * 214-699-0057 (1:124/4229)

From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 10:19:52 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Butter-oops

  This situation may have something in common with the recent
  fish-outside-of-Lent thread. I suspect one possibility might be that
  butter is something that the lower classes would have eaten whenever
  possible, while the rich, feeling that they had to resort to it on fish
  and/or fast days, might conceivably avoid it on those days when things
  like "greasy seme" of meat might be available.

On a mild tangent: here is a recipe I redacted that uses butter...  and note
that the call for cheese calls for a buttery sort of cheese.

	Tibor

Copyright Mark Schuldenfrei, 1995

Cheese and Saffron Tart	("Auter Tartus", Harleian MS 4016, #30)
Sources found in "Take a Thousand Eggs or More", Cindy Renfrow, 1991.

- -----
Cheese and Saffron Tart

  "30 Auter Tartus. Take faire nessh chese that is buttry, and par hit,
  grynde hit in a morter; cast therto faire creme and grinde hit togidre;
  temper hit with goode mylke, that hit be no thikker (th)en rawe creme,
  and cast thereto a litul salt if nede be; And thi chese be salte, caste
  thereto neuer a dele; colour hit with saffron; then make a large coffyn
  of faire paste, & lete the brinkes be rered more (th)en an enche of hegh;
  lete (th)e coffyn harden in (th)e oven; (th)en take it oute, put gobettes
  of butter in the bothom thereof, And caste the stuffe there-to, and caste
  peces of buttur there- vppon, and sette in (th)e oven with-oute lydde,
  and lete bake ynowe, and then cast sugur thereon, and serue it forth.
  And if (th)ou wilt, lete him haue a lydde; but (th)en thi stuff most be
  as thikke as Mortrewes."

I considered several cheeses, and decided that brie was soft as butter, and
unsalted pretty much.  I chose to use a commercial pie crust, instead of a
coffin, partially for time reasons, and partially because I figured most
folks would be more comfortable with a tart in modern form, than a cheese
and butter spread that you would have to scoop out of an inedible coffin.
I chose regular creme instead of heavy creme, since from what I understand,
modern whole milk is thinner than untreated milk, and heavy creme is
extremely heavy in comparison to anything but the thickest cream. I chose to
eliminate the bottom layer of butter, since a commercial pie crust has more
fats in it than a period coffin would.

1 vegetarian pie shell			1 lb brie (or a bit less, not more)
1/2 pint cream				1/8 stick butter
TBSP salt				pinch saffron

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cut the crust off the brie, and chop into
small bits.  Grind the saffron in the salt, and heat the cream in a little
saucepan over low heat.  Add the saffron, and stir, until the cream gets
just too hot to place a finger in, or you get enough bright yellow color.

Place the pie crust on an edged cookie sheet, or something that can catch
the drippings (if any.) Fill the pie crust with the brie, and pour much of
the cream/saffron mixture in it.  Do not overfill the crust.  Thinly slice
about 4 pieces of butter, and cut them in half, and place on the top of the
pie.  Place in the oven, and bake 30 minutes, or until a really nice brown
develops on the top of the pie.  It will still be loose on top.  Remove
carefully from the oven, and let cool until it sets.

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 11:38:46 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - Butter-oops

Mark Schuldenfrei wrote:
> On a mild tangent: here is a recipe I redacted that uses butter...  and note
> that the call for cheese calls for a buttery sort of cheese.
> 
>         Tibor
> 
> Cheese and Saffron Tart ("Auter Tartus", Harleian MS 4016, #30)
> Sources found in "Take a Thousand Eggs or More", Cindy Renfrow, 1991.

I find this recipe especially interesting for a several reasons: It is
just about the only period recipe I can think of, offhand, that uses the
"blind baking" technique generally used today for things like custard
pies. Also, it uses a height specification [probably] as a way to avoid
the effects of overcooking. We would use a combination of a timer and an
oven temperature control knob for this. I also like the offhand remark
that it should be thicker by a specific factor (as mortrews, which was a
pottage thick enough to stand up a spoon in it) if a lid is to be used,
as it will dry out less in the cooking.

All in all, a quite good example of some very sophisticated, albeit
different, technology.

Adamantius, finally giving away, after all these weeks, what really
excites him about this game...

From: "Sue Wensel" <swensel at brandegee.lm.com>
Date: 1 Jul 1997 11:23:50 -0500
Subject: SC - Cheese pie with horseradish recipe

There have been several requests for this recipe.  I've gotten permission to
send it from Mistress Graidhne ni Ruadh.  Unfortunately, I don't have any
documentation, but there are cheese tarts that are similar in structure.

I warn you, I am very bad about mearsuring by cups.

Cheese Pies

Crust (five batches make 50 bottom crusts and 36 top crusts):

This is redacted from Markham (I don't have the original here -- left it hat
home).

5 lbs of flour
1 lb of butter
a teaspoon or so of salt (fill the little well in a cupped hand)
enough room temperature water to stick the dough together

Mix the flour and salt.  Cut the butter into the flour until the butter is
well broken up.  Add water in small amounts until the dough sticks together in
a ball.  The final consistency of the dough should be slightly tacky/moist,
but not sticky.  For this quantity, you will need to mix with your hands. 
Don't worry about overmixing because the crust needs to be a little tough to
withstand the filling.  

Filling (Mistress Graidhne) (for one pie)

Several slices of bacon (omit for vegetarians)
About a pound (enough to fill a pie crust) of cheese, colby or colby-jack 
	works well.  Cheddar isn't bad.
several teaspoons of flour
6 eggs
a couple of teaspoons of horseradish
Salt

Brown the bacon and drain. Crumble into the bottom of the uncooked pie crust. 

Grate the cheese.  Mix the cheese with enough flour to very lightly coat.  Put
in the crust on top of the bacon.

Mix the eggs, salt, and horseradish together.  Dump on top of the cheese.  Be
careful, it will be *very* full.

Bake at 350 for about a half hour or until the cheese is melted and brown.

Derdriu Gilbride

Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 19:07:28 -0500
From: "catwho at bellsouth.net" <catwho at bellsouth.net>
Subject: SC - Favorite Egg Recipe

Well, this contains eggs (or at least the whites) but I love this!

White Torta

Platina book 8

Prepare a pound and a half of best fresh cheese, chopped especially
fine. Add twelve or fifteen egg whites, half a pound of sugar, half an
ounce of white ginger, half a pound of pork liquamen and as much fresh
butter. Blend in as much milk as you need. When you have blended this,
put it into a pastry crust rolled thin and put it all in a pan and set
it to bake on the hearth with a gentle flame. Then, to give it color,
put coals on the lid. When it is cooked and taken from the pan,
sprinkle ground sugar over it, with rosewater. 

The interpretation as found in Cariodoc's Miscellany although I think 
that we used all butter or either half butter half shortening instead 
of the lard.  

1 lb fresh cheese: ricotta
8 egg whites
2/3 c sugar
1/3 oz fresh ginger
1/4 lb lard
1/4 lb butter
1/2 c milk
10" pastry shell
~2 t sugar
1 t rosewater

Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Soften butter and lard together at room
temperature. Fold together cheese and egg whites, then add sugar,
minced ginger, lard and butter. Mix until fairly uniform. Add milk,
fill shell. Bake at 325deg. for 40 minutes. When oil separates, it is
done. Put under broiler to brown top lightly. Sprinkle sugar and
rosewater, spread on with spoon bottom. Cool until set.

This is a little less butter and lard than Platina suggests, but we
found it too fatty using his quantities.

Melbrigda

From: "Barbara Benson" <vox8 at mindspring.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Feast Experiments
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2002 12:22:43 -0500

Stefan asked a couple of questions & I will attempt to answer them to the
best of my ability.

> Can you post the original recipe translation?

A while back on this very list I requested info on anise dishes. His Grace
Caridoc was kind enough to post multiple recipies for me to choose from on
3/4/02 and this was one of them.
-Recipe for Oven Cheese Pie, Which We Call Toledan
-Andalusian p. A-64
-Make dough as for musammana and make a small leafy round loaf of it.
-Then roll it out and put sufficient pounded cheese in the middle.
-Fold over the ends of the loaf and join them over the cheese on all
-sides; leave a small hole the size of a dinar on top, so the cheese
-can be seen, and sprinkle it with some anise. Then place it in the
-oven on a slab, and leave it until it is done, take it out and use
-it, as you wish.

> Why did you choose those particular two cheeses? And why the mix of
> two cheeses?

First thing I did was go to the Miscellany and see what Caridoc had done. He
made small loaves and used feta. I wanted to make one per table about 8
inches across when finished & thought that feta would be cost prohibitive
and feta is a very strong cheese that not everyone likes. So, I thought
about cheeses that could be pounded and that melted pretty good. The soft
curd type cheeses were right out as well as the harder cheeses, so I
narrowed it down to semi-soft cheeses. I thought brie would be good but it
is VERY expensive & maybe a bit too soft & high fat. So I thought I would
use some brie for the flavor and a mild cheese that it would mix well with.
I started thinking about cheeses that melt well, are less expensive, and
easy to buy in bulk (at Sams). Queso for Melting fits the bill and is almost
a farmer's cheese. The other thought was Mozzerella but the fake stuff you
can buy cheap is mostly water and I think it would kill the pastry - and the
real stuff, while it is the food of the gods, is very expensive.

> How stretchy does this cheese end up getting? I'm wondering just how
> easy this dish is to eat without forks and with just a spoon and knife.
> Particularly if shared in a "mess". Sounds pretty messy to me. :-)

That is one of the other reasons I selected the queso cheese. It melts
beautifully but when it cools it firms up nicely. It also cuts perfectly
without any stretchieness or oozing (another drawback of mozzerella) it
actually slices better than most pies I have made. If you served it piping
hot out of the oven it would be a huge mess, but if you let it sit and cool
down at least 30 min then it congeals and slices just fine. Of course it is
tastier as an ooey gooey mess but there are other things in my feast that
need will not sit as well and will need the out of the oven and out the door
treatment more than it does.

> THLord Stefan li Rous

Sorry this has gotten so long, I am nothing if not thorough. I bet this will
teach you to ask me leading questions.

Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva

Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 13:58:58 -0800
From: "Nick Sasso" <grizly at mindspring.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Back in Period,	Naples 1460 Cheese Toast RE:OOP:
	Cheez Sammichez
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> -----Original Message-----
> Cheese toast/bruschetta:
>
> Brush Italian bread with olive oil and toast under broiler. Top with
> fresh mozzarella and Pasta Sprinkle from Penzey's. Bake at 400
> degrees until cheese melts.
>
> --Adela de Shea

To take this into a more historic context, Neapolitan Cusine c. 1460 to be
exact, you can use the following redaction.  Believe me that the cheese and
cinnamon are sublime.  If you use Kefalagraviera cheese (a harder one), it
is a specatcular variant.  Sorry I don't have the original text at hand.
I'll get it if someone wants it.  It's #94 in the Scully book.

Niccolo's Recipe
Serves 10 as appetizer

1 half loaf French Baguette, cut in 1/2" slices
1/2 pound (2 sticks) softened butter
2 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl Cinnamon
1/2 pound Fontina Cheese, thinly sliced

combine Sugar and cinnamon.  Brush bread with butter and toast/brown.  When
bread is browned, sprinkle lightly with cinnamon mixture, and top with a
piece of fontina cheese.  Place in moderate oven until cheese just melts;
serve quickly.

ORIGINAL TEXT & TRANSLATION
Scully, T. (2000).  Cuoco Napoletano - The Neapolitan Recipe
         Collection: a critical edition and English translation.
         Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.)

Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 09:10:33 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Adding to the melted cheese recipes ...
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Here's one from Sicily. Maybe it's OOP. Maybe not. I just acquired  
some caciocavallo, so I am going to try it.

Formaggio all'argentiera (Silversmith's cheese)

6 to 8 ounces caciocavallo cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1. Cut the cheese into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

2. In a large heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Smash the  
garlic cloves slightly and add to the oil, and cook until just beginning to turn golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the garlic and discard.

3. Place the cheese slices in a single layer in the oil. Raise the
heat and add the vinegar and sugar. Cook 1 to 2 minutes or until the  
cheese just begins to melt.

4. With a metal spatula, quickly turn the slices and sprinkle with the
oregano. Cook 1 to 2 minutes more or until the cheese is slightly melted
and bubbling around the edges. Transfer to serving dishes and serve hot.

Serve with good crusty bread, a green salad, and a bottle of red wine.

Gianotta

Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 08:14:47 -0700
From: Susan Fox <selene at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Adding to the melted cheese recipes ...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Yum!  cheese and garlic, what could possibly be bad?

Well, apparently that kind of cheese goes back that far.  Here's a cute
piccie from National Geo:

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0308/feature6/zoom2.html

Selene

Christiane wrote:

> Here's one from Sicily. Maybe it's OOP. Maybe not. I just acquired  
> some caciocavallo, so I am going to try it.
>
> Formaggio all'argentiera (Silversmith's cheese)
>
> 6 to 8 ounces caciocavallo cheese

Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:04:57 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Correction on Silversmith's Cheese recipe ...
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
	
In what I had posted a few days ago, I had called for too much sugar.  
Corrected recipe is below:

Formaggio all'argentiera (Silversmith's cheese)

6 to 8 ounces caciocavallo cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1. Cut the cheese into 1/2-inch-thick
slices.

2. In a large heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Smash the  
garlic cloves slightly and add to the oil,
and cook until just beginning to turn golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove  
the garlic and discard.

3. Place the cheese slices in a single layer in the oil. Raise the
heat and add the vinegar and sugar. Cook 1 to 2 minutes or until the cheese just
begins to melt .

4. With a metal spatula, quickly turn the slices and sprinkle with the
oregano. Cook 1 to 2 minutes more or until the cheese is slightly melted
and bubbling around the edges. Transfer to serving dishes and serve hot.

Gianotta

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	baked-cheese-msg	 of