chicken-msg - 3/20/08
Period and SCA recipes for chicken.
NOTE: See also these files: recipes-msg, birds-recipes-msg, fowls-a-birds-msg, butchering-msg, falconry-msg, roast-chicken-msg, chck-n-pastry-msg.
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Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: DDF2 at cornell.edu (David Friedman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Lothar and pot lucks
Date: 17 Nov 1993 01:10:06 GMT
Organization: Cornell Law School
motto at cbnewsf.cb.att.com (mary.rita.otto) wrote:
> I was thinking of bringing a roasted stuffed goose. Would that be
> alright (I'm avoiding turkey)? Does anyone know how it would be
> stuffed or trimmed in period? What spices would be used?
I don't seem to have any worked out goose recipes. Here are a couple for
chicken that might help a little:
Roast Chicken
Platina book 6
<See the file: roast-chicken-msg>
Chykens in Hocchee
Curye on Inglysch p. 105 (Forme of Cury no. 36)
Take chykens and scald hem. Take persel and sawge, with other erbes; take
garlec & grapes, and stoppe the chikenus ful, and see them in gode broth,
so that they may esely be boyled therinne. Messe hem & cast therto powdour
dowce.
3 1/2 lb chicken 3/4 oz = ~10 cloves garlic powder douce:
4 T parsley 1/2 lb red grapes 1 t sugar
1 1/2 t sage 2 10.5 oz cans conc. chicken 1/4 t mace
1 t marjoram broth + 2 cans water 1/4 t cinnamon
1 3/4 t thyme
Note that all herbs are fresh.
Clean the chicken, chop parsley and sage fine then mix with herbs in a
bowl. Herbs are fresh, measured chopped and packed down. Take leaves off
the fresh marjoram and thyme and throw out the stems, remove as much stem
from parsley as practical. Add garlic cloves whole, if very large halve.
Add grapes, and thoroughly but gently mix with the herbs. Stuff the chicken
with the herbs, garlic and grapes. Close the bird with a few toothpicks.
Place chicken in pot with broth and cook on stove top over moderate heat
1/2 hour, turn over, another 1/4 hour (in covered pot). Serve on platter
with powder douce sprinkled over.
--
David/Cariadoc
DDF2 at Cornell.Edu
From: jtn at nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Recipe for Drunken Chicken, etc.
Date: 3 Apr 1994 01:21:29 GMT
Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn.
Several people have asked for the "drunken chicken" and pynade recipes to which
Yaakov recently referred. Here they are. In each case, I've given several
14th (and in one case a 15th) century recipes for the same dish. _Curye on
Inglysch_ is a collection of 14th C English manuscripts; the two letter
reference for recipes from the collection identifies the manuscript, the
following number the recipe number within the collection, and the last number
the page on which it appears. The last version of pynade, from the Austin
collection, gives the page number in Austin, followed after a slash by the
page number (and quarter of page) in Cariadoc's collection.
Mawmenny Recipes (originals)
============================
Maumenee (Curye on Inglysch, DC 7, 45)
Wyn; braun of chapoun ipolled al to poudre, & soththen do thryn to boillen with
the wyn; alemauns igrounden al drughe & idon thryn, & poudre of clowes idon
thryn; alemauns ifried schulen beon idon thryn, & ther schal gret vlehs beon
igrounden, & sucre fort abaten the streynthe of the specerie; the colour shal
beon inde.
Maumene (Curye on Inglysch, DS 30, 68)
For to make maumene, tak the thyys other the flesch of the caponys. Sethe hem
& kerf hem smal into a morter & tak mylk of almandys wyth broth of fresch buf, &
do the flesch in the mylk or in the broth & do yt to the fyre, & myng yt
togedere wyth flour of rys othere of wastelys als charchant als the Blank de
Sure, & wyth the gholkys of eyryn for to make yt gholow, & safroun. & wan yt
ys dressyd in dysches wyth Blank de Sure, straw vpon clowys of gelofre & straw
vbon powder of galentyn, & serue yt forthe.
Mawmene (Curye on Inglysch, UC 25, 88)
Tak figges & reysnes & wasch hem in ale & braye hem wel in a mortere, & do
therto wyn, & braye the flesch on hennes or capounes & do therto. & do good
almound melk in a pot, & do therto thyn thynges, & stere wel togedere & make it
for to sethe. & coloure it with blod of a goot or of a pygg & lok it be sothe
& grounde & streyned, & put therto poudere of gyngere & of galyngale & clowes &
greyn de parys, & sesen it with sugre & salt it, & do it fro the feere.
Mawmenee (Curye on Inglysch, FoC 22, 102)
Take a potell of wyne greke and ii pounde of sugur; take and claryfye the sugur
with a quantite of wyne & drawe it thurgh a straynour in to a pot of erthe.
Take flour of rys and medle with sum of the wyne & cast togydre. Take pynes
with dates and frye hem a litell in grece other in oyle and cast hem togydre.
Take clowes & flour of canel hool and cast therto. Take powdour gynger, canel,
clowes; colour it with saundres a lytel yf hit be nede. Cast salt therto, and
lat it seeth warly with a slowe fyre and not to thyk. Take brawn of capouns
yteysed other of fesauntes teysed small and cast therto.
Mawmenny (Curye on Inglysch, FoC 202, 144)
Take the chese and of flessh of capouns or of hennes & hakke smal, and grynde
hem smale in a morter. Take mylke of almaundes with the broth of freissh beef
other freissh flessh, & put the flessh in the mylke other in the broth, and set
hem to the fyre; & alye hem with flour of ryse or gastbon, or amydoun, as
chargeaunt as the blanke desire, & with gholkes of ayren and safroun for to
make hit ghelow. And when it is dressit in dysshes with blank desire, styk
aboue clowes de gilofre, & strawe powdour of galyngale aboue, and serue it
forth.
Modern Comments
===============
Mawmenny is a popular dish, unique to Anglo-Norman cuisine. It appears
relatively frequently on surviving menus of elaborate feasts. It was often
served in the same dish (one side one, the other the other) with Blanc Desire
(sometimes called Blanc de Syry, later Blaundisorry).
There are really two different dishes here. One has a broth base; the other is
cooked in wine. I've made both, and prefer (my version of) the wine-based to
(my version of) the broth-based. There is also an obvious choice whether to
grind the meat or leave chunks. They appear most frequently to have ground it
all to gruel. I prefer discrete pieces of meat. This does not much influence
the flavor, but does affect how moderns respond to the dish. The first time I
made this, I didn't use any water, just wine. "Drunken chicken", my personal
name for this, refers roughly equally to the state of the dish if made diluted,
or the state of the diner if not.
Edited Version, with Modern Instructions
========================================
1 chicken 1/4 tsp cloves
2 c white wine + 1 c water 1 c sugar
1 1/4 c almonds 1/2 tsp ginger
5 oz rice flour 1/4 cup piolas
1. Cook chicken (either boil or roast).
2. Remove meat from skin and bones.
3. Grind almonds.
4. Combine wine, water, sugar, almonds, and rice flour. Heat.
5. Brown piolas.
6. Add spices and simmer briefly.
7. Add piolas.
8. Add chicken.
Medieval Recipes for Pynade
===========================
Pynite (Curye on Inglysch, DC 21, 47)
Wyn, sucre, iboilled togedere; gyngebred & hony, poudre of gynger & of clouwes;
ipiht with pynes gret plentee, & schal beon adressed in coffyns of flour of
chasteyns; the olour zolou wyth saffroun.
Pynade (Curye on Inglysch, DS 91, 79)
Tak hony and rotys of radich & grynd yt smal in a morter, & do to that hony a
quantite of broun sugur. Tak powder of peper & safroun & almandys, & do al
togedere. Boyl hem long & held yt on a wet bord & let yt kele, & messe yt & do
yt forth.
Pynade (Curye on Inglysch, UC 3, 83)
Tak wyn & peres & boyle hem togedere, & tak tosted bred & grynde hem alle
togedere & draw hem thorw a streynoure, & tak the thridde part of ceugre or
elles lyg hony & tak penes & fry hem in fresch gres. & tak al this togedere &
cast in a pot, & boyle it & force it vp with pouder peper, & salt it; & whan it
is dressed florsche it with hole maces & clowes & with mynced gyngere & serue
it forth.
Pynnonade (Curye on Inglysch, FoC 59, 109)
Take almaundes iblaunched and drawe hem sumdell thicke with gode broth other
with water, and set on the fire and seeth it; cast therto zolkes of ayren
ydrawe. Take pynes yfryed in oyle other in grece, and do therto white powdour
douce, sugur and salt, & colour it with alkenet a lytel.
Pynade (Two Fifteenth Century, H279 Leche Vyaundez iii, 34/59a)
Take Hony & gode pouder Gyngere, & Galyngale, & Canelle, Pouder pepir, &
graynys of parys, & boyle y-fere; than take kyrnelys of Pynotys & caste
ther-to; & take chyconys y-sothe, & hew hem in grece, & caste ther-to, & lat
sothe y-fere; & then lat droppe ther-of on a knyf; & ghif it cleuyth & wexyth
hard, it ys y-now; & than putte it on a chargere tyl it be cold, & mace
lechys, & serue with other metys; & ghif thou wolt make it in spycery, then
putte non chykonys ther-to.
Modern Comments
===============
This is almost candy. Without the chicken, it _is_ candy.
Edited Recipe, with Modern Instructions
=======================================
4 T honey 1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ginger 1/8 tsp grains of paradise
1/8 tsp galingale 2 T pinolas
1 tsp cinnamon 2 boneless chicken breasts
1. Brown pinolas.
2. Grind grains of paradise.
3. Boil all ingredients through grains of paradise.
4. Add pinolas.
5. Cook carefully until it sticks hard to a knife.
6. Chill and serve.
Enjoy!
-- Angharad/Terry
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Recipe for Drunken Chicken
Date: 5 Apr 1994 05:14:00 GMT
Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn.
Gabriela dei Clementini asks:
>Two questions, though. For those of us who are fairly period-cooking-
>illiterates (or maybe we just don't speak the same English up here ;-))--
>what are "piolas"?
A typo for "pinolas" (oops!), also spelled "pignolas", and sometimes
even "pigniolas".
> It sounds like they might be pine nuts?
Yup. Same things.
>Second, in your instructions for Pynade, #3 says "Boil all ingredients
>through grains of paradise." Many pictures flitted through my mind, but I
>thought it would just be easier to ask if this is a typo.... :-)
I meant: combine the ingredients beginning with the first in the list
and going on through the list until you have added grains of paradise
(but no further) in a pot and bring to a boil.
>Thanks for your help, and--again--thanks for the recipes!
You're most welcome!
-- Angharad/Terry
From: mujle at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Jennifer L Edwards)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Beer in cooking
Date: 7 Nov 1994 23:56:26 GMT
Organization: Educational Computing Network
Since this is an SCA net, and we are supposed to be a historical group. I
thought I might give a couple of period recipes
with beer (or ale) in them. They are both from Two Fifteenth Century
Cookery Books (circa 1420's). The first, I redacted, the second is found
is Duke Sir Cariadoc's "A Miscelleny".
Chykonys in Bruette
1 whole chicken
3 cups water
12 oz (1 can) beer or ale
1/2 tsp ground black pepper (preferably fresh ground)
2 tsp ground ginger
12 threads of Saffron (ground in 1 Tbs water)
4 Tbs bread crumbs
Cut chicken into pieces and place in a large pot. Add water, beer or ale,
pepper and ginger. Simmer until chicken is tender and falls off the bone.
Strain, saving the broth and remove the skin and bones from the chicken.
Return broth and chicken to the heat and bring to a boil. Add bread
crumbs and saffron and simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and serve.
This is from the Harleian MS 276 (#97).
Gwenhwyvar Lawen
March of Lochmorrow
Jennifer Edwards-Ring
Western Illinois University
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: ddfr at quads.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Subject: Re:Need Recipes
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 1994 14:40:09 GMT
This is Elizabeth of Demdermonde posting on Cariadoc's account.
"Help! we need recipes for an upcoming event....nothing fancy, just
filling (and good!)"--brighid & treise
Here are [two] recipes fitting your specifications; they are also
period. Don't feel that at your first shot at head cook you cannot
hope to make period food: there are a huge number of period recipes
out there, ranging from enormously complex to very simple, and these
are toward the simple end. What I have below is the period recipe
(or a straight English translation of it) first, followed by our
worked-out version. All have been done successfully at feasts I have
cooked. I suggest you try them out for dinner at home to see if you
like them. If you have any questions or for more recipes, email me.
All of these are published in the Miscellany which Cariadoc and I
sell, as well as lots more recipes and other stuff.
Icelandic Chicken
Icelandic Medical Miscellany p. 218/D1 (from a 15th century Icelandic
manuscript, but actually probably originally 13th c. southern
European)
Original: One shall cut a young chicken in two and wrap about it
whole leaves of salvia, and cut up in it bacon and add salt to suit
the taste. Then cover that with dough and bake like bread in the oven.
Our version:
5 c flour about 1 3/4 c water
1/2 lb bacon 3 lb chicken, cut in half
3 T dried sage (or sufficient fresh sage leaves to cover)
Make a stiff dough by kneading together flour and water. Roll it out.
Cover the dough with sage leaves and the sage leaves with strips of
bacon. Wrap each half chicken in the dough, sealing it. You now have
two packages which contain, starting at the outside, dough, sage,
bacon, chicken. Put them in the oven and bake like bread (325! for 2
hours). We find the bacon adds salt enough.
The part of the bread at the bottom is particularly good, because of
the bacon fat and chicken fat. You may want to turn the loaves once
or twice, or baste the top with the drippings.
Fricassee of Whatever Meat You Wish
from Platina book 6 (15th c. Italian)
Original: You make a fricassee from fowl or whatever meat you choose
in this way: in a pot with lard, close to the fire, put meat or birds
well cleaned and washed, whether cut up finely or in slices. Stir
this often with a spoon so that it does not stick to the side of the
pot; when it is nearly cooked, take out most of the lard and put in
two egg yolks beaten with verjuice and pour in juice and spices mixed
into the pot. To this dish add some saffron so that it is more
colorful. Likewise, it will not detract from the enjoyment of it to
sprinkle finely chopped parsley over the dish. Then serve it
immediately to your guests.
Our version:
1/4-1/3 c lard
fowl or meat: 1 lb boneless meat or chicken
2 egg yolks
2 T verjuice (or 1 T vinegar)
RspicesS: 1/4 t pepper
1/8 t cloves
1/4 t cinnamon
RjuiceS: 3 T chicken broth
8 threads saffron
1 T parsley
1/4 t salt
Cut up meat. Beat egg yolks with verjuice. In another small dish,
crush saffron into a little of the broth, then add the rest of the
broth and the spices. Chop parsley. Heat lard. Fry meat about 8
minutes, stirring often, then add egg yolk mixture and broth mixture.
Cook another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle parsley on top.
You may want to reduce liquid a good deal for feast quantities.
From: Dottie Elliott (10/4/95)
To: Mark Harris, sjohns at mail.utexas.edu, fischer at cse.unsw.edu.au
==> Moorish Chicken [from Duke CariadocÕs Miscellany)
[original recipe found in] Portuguese p. P-3
Cut up a fat hen and cook on a mild flame, with 2 spoons of fat, some bacon
slices, lots of coriander, a pinch of parsley, some mint leaves, salt and a
large onion.
Cover and let it get golden brown, stirring once in a while. Then cover hen with
water and let boil, and season with salt, vinegar, cloves, saffron, black
pepper and ginger. When chicken is cooked, pour in 4 beaten yolks. Then
take a deep dish, lined with slices of bread, and pour chicken on top.
[redaction by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook]
4 lbs chicken
2 T lard
5 strips bacon (3 1/2 oz)
1/3 c green coriander
1 t parsley
1/2 T mint
1/2 t salt
10 oz onion
2 1/2 c water
2 T vinegar
1/4 t cloves
8 threads saffron
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t ginger
4 egg yolks
6 slices bread (toasted)
Dismember chicken (thighs, legs, wings in two pieces, etc.), slice onion,
wash and coarsely chop parsley, mint, and coriander. Melt fat, fry bacon a
couple of
minutes, put chicken, herbs, salt, and onion into pot and fry uncovered about 10
minutes, cover and cook covered another 20 minutes. Add water, vinegar,
additional spices, bring to a boil and cook 45 minutes. Toast bread,
arrange toast in bowl. Break egg yolks, stir them in and remove pot from
heat, and pour into bowl with toast.
Note that this is a 15th-century Portuguese idea of an Islamic dish: a real
Islamic dish would not have the bacon!
[Clarissa's Notes: I use chopped, skinless, boneless chicken breasts when
making it for myself. For the feast, I also added skinless boneless thighs
and 20 drumsticks. It should be even more flavorful if you use a cut up
chicken or at least the chicken parts you like with the bones and skins
attached. It just takes up more storage space. I use fresh herbs. I do not
always add the egg yolks. Sometimes I add whole eggs instead or not add any
eggs at all. Eggs were used to provide thickening and to stretch the dish.
If the bones are there, this serves about 16. Without bones the same
weight serves more like 20. I use white wine vinegar. Add the vinegar and
spices to taste rather than trusting the recipe when you up the numbers for
more people.]
From: rmacdonald at microd.com
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 96 11:39:06 GMT
Subject: Re: one "pot" meal
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Here's one I have been known to do on occasion. It is a version of Cassolet, a
dish from southern France that dates way back, but I cannot document how far.
This version is designed for camping, using as many canned or dry components as
possible:
2 cans of white or navy beans
(if you want to be more authentic start from dry beans)
1 can chicken broth
1 cup cheap white wine
1 can chicken (or better duck if you can get some)
1-2 Carrots - diced
1 medium onion - diced
20-30 thin slices of pepperoni (I use commercially sliced and then dice further)
Marjoram
Garlic
Ground Black Pepper
Mix the chicken broth with the wine and the spices (to taste, also Italian
Seasoning may be add. I don't tell people how much spice to use, we all have
different tastes). Add the diced vegitables and bring to a boil. Cook the
vegitables until they begin to soften and then add the rest of the
ingreadients. Usually the whole cooking process can be done in 30-45 minutes
having a completed product that will serve 3-4 or 2 hungry fighters.
Other ideas: Breakfast sausage patty's may substitute for the pepperoni, duck
for the chicken. Lamb shanks may be added especially if making a larger batch.
It's basicly a bean soup/stew that almost anything you can find/catch/poach/
steal can be added to to increase flavor.
It is fairly fast, easy, and safely transported with little that can spoil.
In service to the society
--
Iain of Rannoch ~);^) (Found in Fiach Ogan, Trimaris)
From: "Martin G. Diehl" <mdiehl at nac.net>
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 1997 22:45:16 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - Vinegar/verjuice
Sharon L. Harrett wrote:
> Can anyone provide me with documentation on the methods of
> making vinegar or verjuice in period? I have many references to
> their use, but none on their manufacture.
>
> Ceridwen
One of my cookbooks "Renaissance Recipes (Painters and Food)" by
Gillian Riley, pub: Pomegranate Artbooks, ISBN: 1-56640-577-7 ,
96 pages, hbk. gives some information on verjuice and several recipes
use it.
[Partial quote] Verjuice: in Italian cooking is, in its simplest
form, the juice of sour green grapes, used as a condiment or cooking
medium. It can be boiled and fermented, and used throughout the
year. The equivalent in English cookery ... sour gooseberries, plums,
or acidic herbs such as sorrel. ...
The book suggests that bitter orange (found in the Spanish foods section
of a large supermarket) could be used as a substitute. One
recipe that was given was Chicken with Verjuice, "Amorsa"
1 medium chicken, jointed
4 oz. pancetta
1 lb. sour green grapes, gooseberries, or unripe green plums
fresh mint and parsley, chopped
salt, freshly ground black pepper, saffron to taste
Fry the chicken joints and diced bacon in olive oil until golden and
half cooked. Crush the grapes and strain through a sieve into a
casserole. Add the chicken; stir well to dissolve the brown bits and
simmer until tender. Season with black pepper and saffron, check
salt (pancetta may provide enough). Serve sprinkled with chopped
herbs.
Alas, although this lovely book does have a bibliography, specific
references are not given for each recipe.
I am,
Vinchenzio Martinus di Mazza,
- --
Martin G. Diehl
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 11:34:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: SC - Re: Lombard Rice (fwd)
Here, with Mistress Johanna's permission, is her recipe and redaction notes.
I've taken the liberty of reformatting them for clarity.
I've served this to modern people, and they LOVE it. I urge you to try this
one.
Tibor
Lombardy Rice Dish
The original recipe for this dish comes from Bartolomeo Scappi's
Opera,from Venice in 1570. I based my recipe on the English
translation that appears in Lorenza De'Medici's The Heritage of
Italian Cooking (Random House, New York:1990).
While the first line of the original recipe mentions both sausage and
egg yolks, I have omitted both. I couldn't decide what would be an
appropriate substitution for cervellate (brain sausage--apparently it
is available, just not locally) and there are no instructions on what
to do with the egg yolks. (You might wish to try adding hardboiled
egg yolks to the chicken filling, or as a garnish.) I have also
omitted geese. I use white chicken meat in my version.
The first time I tried this recipe, I attempted to mold it in a
fluted tube-cake pan without success. I've since discovered that it
works well in a lasagne pan, although I don't own one deep enough to
hold 3 layers. I have also successfully used large foil baking pans.
The dish is at its best hot from the oven with the rosewater
perfuming the air, but since Lorenza's variation of the recipe was
depicted in a picnic setting, I have also served it as a cold dish.
REDACTION:
1-1/2 Cups raw rice, cooked in chicken broth instead of water
4 boneless chicken breasts, cooked, cooled, and chopped (if you poach
the chicken breasts, you will have chicken broth!)
2 Cups shredded Mozzarella cheese (Approximately)
1/2 Cup shredded fresh Parmesean cheese (Approximately)
1 stick of melted butter
Cinnamon-sugar, as desired (mix cinnamon and sugar to taste)
Rosewater, as desired (can be bought in Indian grocery stores) (can
be omitted)
In a lasagne-sized pan or large casserole, spread a layer of cooked
rice. Sprinkle the rice layer with cinnamon-sugar, some of the
cheese and some melted butter.
Cover the spices and cheese with a generous layer of cooked chicken.
Then repeat with the cheese, spices and butter.
Add another layer of rice and repeat as desired. Your top layer
should be rice with cheese and spices and butter on top.
Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered until cheese melts and rice begins to
brown. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with rosewater and serve forth.
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 12:01:57 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: Lombard Rice (fwd)
Mark Schuldenfrei wrote:
> While the first line of the original recipe mentions both sausage and
> egg yolks, I have omitted both. I couldn't decide what would be an
> appropriate substitution for cervellate (brain sausage--apparently it
> is available, just not locally)
While cervelles, in culinary French, are indeed brains, I'm almost
positive that cervellate is not brain sausage. It is what they call a
boiling sausage, similar to a cotechino, usually made from a mixture of
pork and veal. There are still several Italian varieties of a sausage
called cervellato available, not to mention saveloy, the French
equivalent. Mostly they're along the lines of a cotto (rather than Genoa
or hard) salami. I suspect, based on some of the (admittedly modern)
recipes I've seen, that the sausage mixture was formed into a ball,
wrapped in some kind of wrinkly membrane like caul fat or calves' tripe,
tied up with string, and boiled, the whole thing looking vaguely
brainlike.
If you've ever seen a zampone, which is an Italian specialty (I've
forgotten the region if I ever knew) consisting of a boneless pig's foot
and hock, kinda like a lady's evening glove, stuffed with sausage meat
and smoked/air dried. The stuff inside is cervellato.
This being one of the few topics the Larousse Gastronomique is pretty
reliable on, you could probably get more info there.
Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 1997 11:08:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: rousseau at scn.org (Anne-Marie Rousseau)
Subject: SC - pomegranite chicken!
Hi all from Anne-Marie.
Wow! No less than seven requests for this recipe! OK, here it is. I got
the primary sources from Cariadoc's collection of medieval and
Renaissance cookbooks. The reconstructions are mine.
from _An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteeth Century_,
translated by Charles Perr.
Another Tabahajiyya (A37)
Cut the meat up small and fry with oil and salt, and when it is brown,
cooki ti until done with vinegar. Pound a handful of almonds or walnuts
and thrown them on and boil a while. Take pomegranate juice and dissolve
in it a lump of sugar to get ride of its tartness, and sprinkle with
cinnamon.
Anne-Marie's Pomegranite chicken:
3 chicken breasts, hacked to gobbets
1-2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
Salt the chicken chunks, and sautee in a hot skillet with the oil until
almost done and just starting to brown. Meanwhile, make the sauce:
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 T sugar
1/4 cup pomegranite syrup (from middle eastern grocers. If you can't find
the syrup, you can use the juice, but boil it for a lot longer, and omit
the water).
Boil these together in a small sauce pan to blend and dissolve the sugar.
When the chicken is almost done, throw on 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
(cider vinegar works too), the boiled sauce, and 3 T of pounded almonds.
Continue to simmer until the chicken has absorbed most of the liquid.
Serve on a bed of cous cous. (recipe below).
Soldier's Couscous (Kuskusu Fityani) (A55) [same source]
The usual moistened cous cous is known by the whole world. The Fityani is
the one where the meat is cooked with its vegetables, as is usual, and
when it is done, take out the meat and the vegetables from the pot and
put them to one side; strain the bones and rest from the broth and return
the pot to the fire; when it has boiled, put in the cous cous cooked and
rubbed with fat and leave it for a little on a reduced fire or the
hearthstone until it takes in the poper amount of the sauce; then throw
it on a platter and level it, put on top of it the cooked meat and
vegetables, prinkle it with cinnamon and serve it. This is called Fityani
in Marrakesh.
Anne-Marie's version of Soldiers Cous Cous
2 cups quick cooking cous cous
1 can Swansons veggie broth and 1 can water
4 T butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
Bring the broth and water to a boil in a good heavy pot with a tight lid.
Stir in the couscous and finish according to the directions on the box.
You can also leave the covered pot on the stove, with the burner tunred
off. In about 15 minutes, the water should be absorbed. Stir in the
butter over low heat until it is melted. Fluff with a fork and sprinkle
heavily with cinnamon.
Enjoy!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anne-Marie Rousseau
rousseau at scn.org
Seattle, Washington
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 97 13:34:01 -0600
From: "Stephanie Rudin"<rudin at okway.okstate.edu>
Subject: SC - Advice, please!
I am doing my first feast the first weekend of September and I am
trying to keep the costs down as much as possible. One of the recipes
I've chosen is from "The Original Mediterranean Cuisine" by Barbara
Santich. The recipe is given three ways, once in the original italian
(at least I think it's italian - going back to italian class in high
school almost 20 years ago), once in an english translation and once
in the author's redaction.
Di Limonia Di Polli (from Libro della Cucina)
Friggansi li polli con lardo e cipolle, e pestisi l'amido non mondo e
distemperesi col brodo de la carne de porco, e colisi, e cocansi con
li detti polli e spezie. E se non avessi amido, spessisi il brodo
colle tuorla d'ova; e quando sira presso l'ora del ministrare, metti
in quello succhio di limoni, o di lomie, o di cetrangole.
Limonia of Chicken
Fry chicken with salted pork fat and onions, and grind unblanched
almonds and combine with pork stock, and strain, and cook with the
chicken and spices. If you don't have almonds, thicken the liquid
with egg yolks; and when it is nearly time to serve the dish, add the
juice of lemons or bitter oranges.
So... my problem is that in the redaction, Santich calls for ground
ginger, pepper, salt (depending on saltiness of stock) and saffron. I
would prefer not to use the saffron because of the cost involved. (If
this were for only a few I wouldn't mind but we are planning for over
100 people and I don't think I can swing it.) Since the original
author only says spices, I don't have any clue what to substitute. I
am not familiar enough with period cooking to know what would taste
right and I am not familiar enough with saffron to know what the lack
of it will do to the recipe's flavor. The only thing I can think of
is that the recipe seems to lack garlic, but that might just be a
personal thing for me. Hence, I am throwing myself on the mercy of
the experienced cooks on this list. I welcome any advice you might
have.
Mercedes
rudin at okway.okstate.edu
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 97 15:55:46 -0600
From: "Stephanie Rudin"<rudin at okway.okstate.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Advice, please!
Sorry - I should have just gone ahead and added the author's redaction
on my first posting. Here it is.
Mercedes
rudin at okway.okstate.edu
Chicken in Lemon Sauce
1 KG (2 lbs) chicken drumsticks
or 800 G (just over 1 1/2 lbs boneless breasts)
2 onions, chopped
1-2 tblspns oil
1 cup ground, blanched almonds
2 cups chicken stock
1-1 1/2 tspns ground ginger
freshly ground pepper
salt (depending on saltiness of stock)
1/2 teaspoon pure saffron (threads)
infused in 1/4 cup hot stock
juice 1-1 1/2 lemons
Trim chicken pieces as necessary, pat dry. Heat oil in a wide shallow
pan (large enough to hold the chicken comfortably in one layer).
Lightly fry onions until soft, but do not allow them to colour. Add
chicken pieces and slowly seal on all sides, again without browning.
Place almonds in a food processor. Add hot stock and process for
about two more minutes. Using a course sieve, strain this almond milk
over the chicken, pressing down on almond residue to extract all the
liquid. The almond milk should have the consistency of thin cream; it
will thicken during cooking.
Add ground ginger and saffron seeped in stock, together with a good
grinding of pepper. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes (for breasts) or
30 minutes (for drumsticks). Reduce the lid and increase the heat to
boil the sauce down to a thick, creamy consistency. Add the juice of
1 lemon, taste, and if necessary add more lemon juice. The lemon
flavor should be distinct but not overpowering. Check for seasoning
and add a little salt if desired.
From "The Original Mediterranean Cuisine - Medieval Recipes for Today"
by Barbara Santich, Chicago Review Press, 1995.
From: Glenda Robinson <glendar at antispam.compassnet.com.au>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: The History of Rice
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 10:22:26 +1000
Organization: Flamberge Computer Services
> Strange, I know, but I'm curious (for a good reason)...
> Anyone out there know when rice became widespread, which were the first
> countries to use/import/cultivate/trade for it?
>
> Lysander
There is a recipe using rice in "To the King's Taste", from "The Forme
of Cury, written around 1390. It's one of my favourites, and it goes
something like this.
Blank-Mang [White Dish]
Take capons [or chooks?]and seeth hem. Thenne take hem up. Take
alamandes [almonds] blanced. Grynd hem and alay hem up with the same
broth [or just use styore bought ground almonds]. Cast the mylk [almond
milk] in a pot. Waisshe rys [rice] and do thereto and lat it seeth. Take
the brawn of capons. Teere it small and do thereto. Take white greece
[lard], sugar and salt, and cast thereinne. Lat it seeth. Then mess it
forth and florish it with aneys [aniseed] and confyt rede other whyte
and with almandes fryed in oyle and serve it forth.
The 'modern' version of this recipe suggests:
2 large capon or chook breasts
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup ground almonds
1 cup rice
1 tbsp butter
4 tsp light brown sugar
and go for it.
This dish is very light, in colour (why they called it 'White Dish',
texture and flavour. It is delicious. Just stir the rice often,
otherwise it tends to burn at the bottom.
Glenda.
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 97 16:41:05 -0600
From: "Stephanie Rudin"<rudin at okway.okstate.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - When life gives you lemons, then what?
Caitlin - one of the women in our shire, HL Rhiannon Redwolf, makes a
wonderful dish she calls lemonshire chicken. There isn't really a
recipe. I made it once with her standing over me and since then I
just throw stuff in. Basically start with chicken breasts, pounded a
little, a large onion, diced, some white wine worcestershire, minced
garlic, capers, butter, olive oil and salt and pepper.
Saute the onions and garlic in a little olive oil and butter then add
the chicken breasts and brown them slightly, and add the
worcestershire (1/2 cup or more to your taste), capers (about half of
a small bottle), salt and pepper and let simmer until the chicken is
done. Then add the juice of one lemon (or more to your taste). Serve
over rice. I usually use quite a bit of worcestershire so that there
is extra sauce to go over the rice. I have added lemon zest every now
and then with good results.
Mercedes
rudin at okway.okstate.edu
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 18:02:16 -0700
From: ladymari at GILA.NET (Mary Hysong)
Subject: Re: SC - When life gives you lemons, then what?
> Any idea what I can do with
> chicken breasts and lemons (beside the usual thing with sherry, which is my
> fallback unless you folks have a better idea).
>
> Caitlin
HI Caitlin, here's my favorite lemon chicken:
put some butter in a skillet, sprinkle chicken breasts with garlic powder, other
fvorite herbs to taste, brown in the butter, squeeze the lemon, strain and mix a
spoonful of sugar with it, pour in the middle of the skillet and stir it into
whatever chicken juice/butter is there, then stir all together [oops, forgot to
say cut the meat in small peices first]
cheers, Mairi
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 08:33:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - When life gives you lemons, then what?
HI Caitlin, here's my favorite lemon chicken:
put some butter in a skillet, sprinkle chicken breasts with garlic
powder, other fvorite herbs to taste, brown in the butter, squeeze
the lemon, strain and mix a spoonful of sugar with it, pour in the
middle of the skillet and stir it into whatever chicken juice/butter
is there, then stir all together [oops, forgot to say cut the meat in
small peices first]
This is a delightful recipe. I prefer to add some specific wine, and call
it Chicken Marsala....
As a technique question: I've found that I get a better, and more intense
lemon flavor, if I use the zest of the lemon grated into a sauce, than if I
just use juice alone. Have you tried that?
I'd dredge the chicken breasts in a flour and lemon zest coating (mix in
herbs as you like: savory and black pepper pop to mind) and bake or saute.
Make a sauce as above.
Tibor
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 14:15:20 -0600
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Apricot Chicken Recipe
My apologies if this is a repeat. I lost power at the end of typing this out
before, and it was gone when I finally got back on 6 hours later.
Apricot Chicken:
I have found recipes for what is basically the same dish in several
places...Russian Cookbooks, Mid-east cookbooks, even Martha Washington IIRC.
Here's what you do:
Take one cut-up boiler/fryer or equivalent favorite parts in weight. Brown
it in olive oil or butter in a large kettle with 1 very large onion, cut up
into large squares.Onions need not be completely soft.
At this point, decide whether this is a stove-top, fireplace, or oven dish,
and put it in an appropriate pot. Add water or chicken stock to cover and a
pound of dried apricots, halved if very large. Add more if they are the
very-moist variety. Simmer on the stove top, over the fire, or bake in the
oven, all covered, for about an hour. Add salt and white pepper to taste.
Some heretics have been known to add white wine to the mix with the stock.
This looks very fetching with green garnish of sliced spring onion greens or
parsley, and we like to serve it with something that will sop up the
incredible juices, such as noodles (with parsley or herbs for color
contrast) or in bread bowls.
I was delighted to find a Rev. War re-enactor, who just "discovered" the
SCA, cooked Apricot Chicken over the campfire for his turn at our camp meal
at Pennsic. Along with it he served roasted onions: Cover whole onions
(slice off only the top. leave on the brown skin layers) with foil and place
in the coals until soft. To serve, open the foil, carefully (hot!) squeze
the brown skin and the onion will pop right out onto your plate. Serve with
butter or salt and pepper, or plain if desired. Amazingly simply and
incredibly good. For some reason it doesn't work in the oven at home quite
as well.
Hope you enjoy it! It all tastes far more complicated than the recipe would
indicate!
Aoife
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 10:59:53 EST
From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com>
Subject: SC - Chicken-apologies and facts
M'lord Alaistair and list members,
My humble apologies. It appears that taken at face value m'lord Al was
correct. Cornish Game Hens as available in the supermarket under that name are
indeed nothing more than another variety of chicken. They are raised from
several breeds that have been improved for meat and are known as broilers.
They are harvested when they have reached the weight of 2 1/2 lbs. or 7 weeks
of age.whichever comes first.
Due to the young age of the harvested bird they have a flavor which is more
succulent and rich compared to older birds. As a side note, according to Dr.
John Schwartz of the Landcaster Office of the Pennsylvania Co-Operative
Extention office, the flavor of chickens rapidly deteriorate after arriving at
the supermarket. There they are washed in antiseptic and
bleaching/antibacterial agents often times on cutting surfaces that are coated
with antibacterials and packaged. This ruins the flavor.
The best flavored birds are those with minimal processing that have been
killed quickly and bled rapidly. and immediately chilled down. Whne treated
thusly the flavor of range fed vs. commercial birds is not, accordinging to
his mother, significantly different. In fact, broiler and frying chickens are
bred today specifically for flavor and good meat to bone ratios.
Well, there you have it. My apologies for my for my former faux paux.
Ras
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 12:54:20 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - french cooking or is Ham mousse just a fancy sausage?
Capons Stwed (this is 15th c. English, but English and French cooking were
very similar at the time)
Take parcelly, Sauge, Isoppe, Rose Mary, and tyme, and breke hit bitwen thi
hondes, and stoppe the Capon there-with; colour hym with Safferon, and
couche him in a erthen potte, or of brasse, and ley splentes underneth and
al about the sides, that the Capon touche no thinge of the potte; strawe
good herbes in the potte, and put thereto a pottel of the best wyn that
thou may gete, and none other licour; hele the potte with a close led, and
stoppe hit aboute with dogh or bater, that no eier come oute; And set hit
on the faire charcole, and lete it seeth easly and longe till hit be ynowe.
And if hit be an erthen potte, then set hit on the fire whan thou takest
hit downe, and lete hit not touche the grounde for breking; And whan the
hete is ouer past, take oute the Capon with a prik; then make a sirippe of
wyne, Reysons of corance, sugur and safferon, And boile hit a litull; medel
pouder of Ginger with a litul of the same wyn, and do thereto; then do awey
the fatte of the sewe of the Capon, And do the Siryppe to the sewe, and
powre hit on the capon, and serue it forth. [end of original]
1 chicken, about 3 lb
First batch of herbs:
1/3 c fresh parsley
1 T dried sage
1 t dried rosemary
1 t thyme, ground
2 T hyssop, dried
1 1/2 c wine
6 threads saffron + 1 t water
Second batch of herbs:
1/2 t tarragon
1/2 t sage
1/2 t rosemary
1/2 t thyme
about 1/2 c flour
enough water to make a stiff dough
Sauce:
1/2 c wine
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c currants
small pinch saffron
1/4 c wine
1 t powdered ginger
Mix first batch of herbs and stuff chicken with them. Put chicken and wine
in a pot with a top; if you are using a stove top rather than an oven, you
may want to put wood pieces or something under the chicken to keep it from
sticking. Paint the chicken with water with saffron crushed into it.
Sprinkle on second batch of herbs. Mix flour and water into a stiff dough,
roll it out into a string, and use it between pot and lid as a seal. Bake
at 350° or simmer on stove top about 1 1/2 hours. Take out, drain, separate
out some of the liquid without the fat. Make a thick syrup of wine, sugar,
currants, and a pinch of saffron. Boil briefly. Mix another 1/4 c wine with
powdered ginger. Combine. Add 1/2 c of the liquid from the chicken to this,
heat, pour over capon, serve.
Elizabeth/Betty Cook
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 08:00:04 -0800
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - frozen pomegranate seeds
Hi all from AM!
A possible use for pomegranite seeds....Pomegranite Chicken! Like the
pomegranite sauce for pork already suggested, but slightly different
ingredients and documentably period (at least for you middle eastern
types).
The recipe follows...this stuff is wonderful and a big hit with the meat
and potatoes crowd when served with cous cous (also period, when cooked
with broth and butter). Great for tourneys, its so easy. If you use a cast
iron pot, it is rather brown, but if you use a stainless steel pot its a
pretty dark red. The pomegranite chicken calls for walnuts, but since they
appear to be my singular food allergy, I chose to sub with almonds.
Interestingly, the Persian restaurants here in Seattle have something like
this on their menus. Course, since they use the proper walnuts, I can't try
it, but it appears to be less sweet-sour, and is far more soupy. Oh, and
the chicken pieces are bone in, for the modern "authentic" version.
Interesting!
As always feel free to use my recipe, I just ask that you let me know, cite
me in any publications and let me know how it worked for you too! These and
other recipies are the ones in the last Serve it Forth, I believe.
Enjoy!
Recipes from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century,
translated by Charles Perr (in A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance
Cookbooks. 6th Edition, ed. by Duke Cariadoc and Duchess Diana Alene,
privately published. Vol 1, 1991, Vol 2, 1993.)
Another Tabahajiyya (A37)
Cut the meat up small and fry with oil and salt, and when it is brown, cook
it until done with vinegar. Pound a handful of almonds or walnuts and throw
them on and boil a while. Take pomegranate juice and dissolve in it a lump
of sugar to get rid of its tartness, and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Pomegranite Chicken
6 chicken breasts, hacked to gobbets
1-2 T olive oil to sautee
1/2 tsp salt to sprinkle on breasts
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
2 T sugar
1/2 cup pomegranite molasses or syrup**
1/2 cup white wine or cider vinegar
6 T pounded almonds
Chunk and salt the chicken, brown in oil 'til almost done. Meanwhile, make
a sauce of the water, sugar and pomegranite syrup. Boil to blend. When the
chicken is almost totally cooked, dump in the vinegar. Then add the sauce,
along with the almonds. Simmer till the sauce is thick, about five minutes
on a hard boil. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve on cous cous. Serves 6.
**If you canÕt find pomegranite syrup at a local middle eastern market, you
can use pomegranite juice, but youÕll need to add more sugar and omit the
water. By using the pomegranite molasses, I can save a bit of cooking down
time.
Soldier's Couscous (Kuskusu Fityani) (A55)
The usual moistened couscous is known by the whole world. The Fityani is
the one where the meat is cooked with its vegetables, as is usual, and when
it is done, take out the meat and the vegetables from the pot and put them
to one side; strain the bones and rest from the broth and return the pot to
the fire; when it has boiled, put in the couscous cooked and rubbed with
fat and leave it for a little on a reduced fire or the hearthstone until it
takes in the proper amount of the sauce; then throw it on a platter and
level it, put on top if it the cooked meat and vegetables, sprinkle it with
cinnamon and serve it. This is called Fityani in Marrakesh.
Soldier's Cous cous
2 c. cous cous
1 can veggie broth + 1 canful water
4 T. butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 t. salt
In a large pot with a good lid, bring the broth and water to a boil. Stir
in the cous cous, and clap on the lid. Let sit off the heat until all the
water is absorbed. Stir in the butter and sprinkle heavily with cinnamon.
Fluff with a fork to keep from being gloppy. Serves 6-8 generously.
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 11:49:04 -0800
From: "Crystal A. Isaac" <crystal at pdr-is.com>
Subject: Re: SC - frozen pomegranate seeds
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to try to make pomegranate
wine (my barony has not yet reimburesed me for expenses and I think I'll
just lose that recipt so the seeds will be mine, not the SCA's.)
Although from another source my recipe was not unlike Anne-Marie's,
including the subsititution of almonds for walnuts. When I make this at
for myself, I tend to just make the sauce with extra spice and pour it
over the chicken to bake. I don't like boiled chicken.
thanks again,
Crystal of the Westermark
Chicken with Pomegranate
NARSIRK
This is a Persian word, meaning "Pomegranate and vinegar" Cut fat meat
into middling pieces, then put into the sauce pan and cover with water.
Adding a little salt. Boil, and remove the scum. When almost cooked,
throw in coriander, cumin, pepper, cinnamon and mastic; bray all
separately from the cinnamon, leaving this last in its bark. Cut up
onions, wash and put into the pot, with a few sprigs of mint. Add kabobs
of [chicken] minced with seasonings. Take pomegranate seeds, grind up
fine, mix with wine-vinegar strain and pour into the saucepan. Peel
[almonds], grind them fine, soak in hot water and add, flavoring the
mixture to taste, and putting in sufficient [almond] to give it
consistency. Then throw on top a few pieces of whole [almond], and rub
in sprigs of dry mint. Spray with a little rose water; wipe the sides
with a clean rag, and leave over the fire to settle. Then remove.
Arberry, A.J., translator. _The Bagdad Cookery Book_. (c.1226CE)
Reprinted in _A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookery Books_.
Volume I by Friedman, David (Sir Cariadoc of the Bow) Published
privately.
Chicken:
Take chicken thighs and boil in chicken broth, adding ground coriander,
ground cumin, ground pepper, cinnamon sticks, mastic (a tiny drop of
spruce essence will do), chopped onions and mint. If time permits, add
some meatballs of ground chicken, ground almonds and spices.
Sauce:
Grind pomegranate seeds and mix with 1/4 of that volume white wine
vinegar. [or pomegranate juice]
Blanch, peel and grind almonds.
Add ground almonds to sauce to thicken.
Add spices (ground coriander, ground cumin, ground pepper) to taste.
Prep:
Remove chicken and onions from boiling bath and place in baking/serving
dishes.
Pour sauce over chicken.
Heat in hot oven for a 10 minutes
Sprinkle with whole almonds, pomegranate seeds and mint.
Serve.
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 16:02:15 -0700
From: "Morgan" <morgan at lewistown.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #639
>I would like to know if anyone of you out there has some ideas for
>recipes I could use to serve to the Crown and thier entourage for a
>light lunch.
>Tegan
Viaunde of Cypress Ryalle (chicken in sweet sauce)
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teasp. each ground cloves, mace and ginger
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup currants
Boil the wine and sugar together for ten minutes or until it thickens and
clings to the spoon. Add honey, spices almonds and currants and cook for
an additional five minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken, coating
well. Chill well; serve cold.
I have had much sucess with this "picnic" recipe. I have used cut up
breast meat, small drumsticks, even plain ol' cooked chicken parts. I put
the cooled sauce and meat in a ziplock, and throw it in the cooler until
time to eat, then arrange the meat on platters, and see it disapper!
Taken from >Travelling Dysshes< by Siobhan Medhbh O'Roarke
Caointiarn
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 01:29:30 -0500
From: allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON)
Subject: Re: SC - Yikes! I'm teaching a class!
Here's a recipe from An Ordinance of Pottage that they might like.
Floreye
A rose-decked version of Chicken pudding. Use rose or deep pink rose
petals, choosing ones which are just beginning to wilt and cutting off
their white bases.
Chicken Pate with roses
petals of 4 medium-sized roses 1 1/2 cups chicken broth or
water
2 oz. (1/2 cup) blanched almonds, slivered 1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups cooked chicken breast, chopped 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to
taste
Reserve some of the inner, less wilted petals. Put the rest in a blender
or processor with the almonds and process them; then add the chicken meat
and seasonings and process again.
Put this mixture in a saucepan and stir into it the broth or
water, previously brought to a boil. Leave to steep for 10 minutes, then
bring to a boil, stirring, and continue to stir over a low heat for no
more than 5 minutes.
The dish can be served hot, mounded on a serving dish. Or it can
be packed into a bowl and chilled, then unmoulded before serving.
Either way, garnish at the last moment with the reserved rose petals.
This should be simple enough for beginners, and as a cold dish, work for
an after meeting pot-luck.
Allison
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 1998 02:44:22 EDT
From: korrin.daardain at juno.com (Korrin S DaArdain)
Subject: Re: SC - Fried Chicken in Apicius???
On Wed, 05 Aug 1998 17:14:39 -0400 Phil & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
writes:
>Today, for the second time in the last week or so, I have heard a
>reference made to a fried chicken recipe in Apicius. The trouble is, I
>can't seem to find such a recipe in Apicius.
>
>Can anyone provide a name for the recipe, or maybe info indicating
>this is somebody's loose secondary interpetation of a boiled or braised
>chicken recipe from Apicius (there are several), or what?
>
>Adamantius
I don't know if this is what you are looking for but a search of my
recipe collection for "Apicius" turned up the following recipes for
chicken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pullum Frontonianum (Chicken a la Fronto)
(Apic. 6, 9, 13) From an old Roman cookbook: Marcus Gavius
Apicius: De Re Coquinaria. The book I have is edited and translated from
Latin to German by Robert Maier. Posted and translated from German to
English by Micaela Pantke (hz225wu at unidui.uni-duisburg.de)
1 fresh chicken (approx. 1-1.5kg)
100ml oil
200ml Liquamen (A salty fish sauce), or 200ml wine + 2 tsp. salt
1 branch of leek
fresh dill to taste
Saturei (Savory) to taste
coriander to taste
pepper to taste
a little bit of Defritum (A thick fig syrup, or a thick condensed
grape juice)
Start to fry chicken and season with a mixture of Liquamen and
oil, together with bunches of dill, leek, Saturei and fresh coriander.
Then cook approximately 1 hour with 220 deg C in the oven. When the
chicken is done, moisten a plate with Defritum, put chicken on it,
sprinkle pepper on it, and serve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pullus Fusilis (Chicken With Liquid Filling)
(Apic. 6, 9, 15) From an old Roman cookbook: Marcus Gavius
Apicius: De Re Coquinaria. The book I have is edited and translated from
Latin to German by Robert Maier. Posted and translated from German to
English by Micaela Pantke (hz225wu at unidui.uni-duisburg.de)
1 fresh chicken (approx. 1-1.5kg)
300g minced meat (half beef, half pork)
100g groats (of oat)
2 eggs
250ml white wine
1 TB oil
1 TB Liebstoeckl (A kind of celery)
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1 tsp. green peppercorns
50g stone-pine kernels
Liquamen (A salty fish sauce) or salt to taste
Ground pepper, Liebstoeckl, ginger, minced meat and cooked
groats. Add eggs and mix until you have a smooth mass. Season with
Liquamen, add oil, whole peppercorns and stone-pine kernels. Fill this
dough into the chicken. Cook approximately 1 hour with 220 deg C in the
oven.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Korrin S. DaArdain
Kitchen Steward of Household Port Karr
Kingdom of An Tir.
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 1998 08:08:36 -0400
From: Phil & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Fried Chicken in Apicius???
Korrin S DaArdain wrote:
> >Can anyone provide a name for the recipe [a fried chicken recipe in
> Apicius], or maybe info >indicating
> >this is somebody's loose secondary interpetation of a boiled or braised
> >chicken recipe from Apicius (there are several), or what?
> I don't know if this is what you are looking for but a search of my
> recipe collection for "Apicius" turned up the following recipes for
> chicken.
Yes, this is the recipe that seems to come closest to fried chicken, and it's
actually a stew. The chicken is browned and then braised until done in a
minimum of nine ounces of liquid (per the redaction below) not in the oven,
according to the bare translation I have by Flower and Rosenbaum (we don' need
no steenking redactions!), but over a heat source, presumably on the stove.
I was just wondering if the recipe had been substantially reworked, which
sometimes greatly changes the character of the dish until it is barely
recognizable. See, for instance, well, I _think_ it was the first edition of
"Pleyn Delit" that turned mortrews, a thick pottage of ground meat, into meat
loaf.By the way, the Liebstoeckl mentioned in the German text, and left
untranslated in English, is presumably lovage, a celery-ish plant commonly
found in Apician recipes.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 14:07:35 EDT
From: PhlipinA at aol.com
Subject: SC - On roast beef and fried chicken- long
Was just going through my copy of Platina, "De Honesta Voluptate et
Valetudine", the Milham translation, 1998, and found the following
instructions.
<snip of roast beef recipe>
The second one comes from the same book, 6, chapter 11, entitled "Frictum ex
Quavis Carne", translated as " A Fry from Whatever Meat You Want":
You will make a fry from fowl and whatever meat you want in this way: put meat
and birds into a pot on the fire with lard after they have been well gutted
and washed and cut up, either in small pieces or quartered, and stir
frequently with a spoon so they do not stick to the sides of the pot. When the
cooking is nearly finished, take out the greater part of the lard and pour
into the pot two egg yolks, beaten with verjuice and mixed with juice and
spices. It is necessary for it to boil only until properly cooked. Some add
saffron to this dish so it becomes more colored. It will not be alien to
pleasure to sprinkle finely chopped parsley on the dish and serve immediately
to your guests. It will be very nourishing, and, even if it is digested
slowly, it will repress bile and help the heart, liver, and kidneys.
Now, this is very similar to how I make my Southern Fried Chicken- the major
difference being that the spices are added in a liquid medium at the end of
cooking, where I add the spices in flour and corn meal at the beginning- in
fact, this one is very reminiscent of Buffalo Wings. Being modern, I usually
use peanut oil for the fat and bake it after it's browned, to reduce fat, but
I have frequently fried chicken in lard until it was done. Maybe I'll try this
one, next time I'm in a fried chicken mood... Again, I think this is another
example of a generic frying recipe, used instead of a specific recipe for a
common practice, just as in the Roast recipe. Thoughts?
Phlip
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 15:05:16 EDT
From: Mordonna22 at aol.com
Subject: SC - Apicius Fried Chicken
I dunno about this Vehling guy
>From Apicius; Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome translated by Vehling,
pg. 154, recipe 250
CHICKEN AND CREAM SAUCE [1]
PULLUS LEUCOZOMUS [2]
TAKE A CHICKEN AND PREPARE IT AS ABOVE. EMPTY IT THROUGH THE APERATURE OF THE
NECK SO THAT NONE OF THE ENTRAILS REMAIN. TAKE [a little] WATER [3] AND
PLENTY OF SPANISH OIL, STIR, COOK TOGETHER UNTIL ALL MOISTURE IS EVAPORATED
[4] WHEN THIS IS DONE, TAKE THE CHICKEN OUT, SO THAT THE GREATEST POSSIBLE
AMOUNT OF OIL REMAINS BEHIND [5] SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER AND SERVE [6]
[1] The ancient version of Chicken a la Maryland, Wiener Blackhahndl, etc.
[2] tor. leocozymus; from the Greek leucozomos, prepared with white sauce.
The formula for the cream sauce is lacking here. Cf. Rx no. 245
[3] The use of water to clarify the oil which is to serve as a deep frying fat
is an ingenious idea, little practised today. It surely saves the fat or oil,
prevents premature burning or blackening by frequent use, and gives a better
tasting friture. The above recipe is a fragment, but even this reveals the
extraordinary knowledge of culinary principles of Apicius who reveals himself
to us as a master of well-understood principles of good cookery that are so
often ignored today, Cf. Note 5 to Rx. no. 497
[4] the recipe fails to state that the chicken must be breaded, or that the
pieces if chicken be turned in flour, etc., and fried in the oil."
It sure does fail to state that. So where does he get it?
"[5] another vital rule of deep fat frying not stated, or rather stated in the
language of the kitchen, namely that the chicken must be crisp, dry, that is,
not saturated with oil, which of course every good fry cook knows
[6] With the cream sauce, prepared separately, spread on the platter, with the
fried chicken inside, or the sauce in a separate dish, we have here a very
close resemblance to a very popular modern dish
Vehling's notes indicate a Chicken Fricassee.
My redaction of his translation of the recipe is to simply deep fry the
unseasoned chicken in olive oil until done inside, remove, and sprinkle with
pepper.
Still not Southern Fried Chicken, but definitely something modern palates
would find familiar, with perhaps the addition of a bit of salt.
Mordonna
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 15:05:15 EDT
From: Mordonna22 at aol.com
Subject: SC - Apicius's fried chicken
>From Apicius; Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome, Now for the First Time
Rendered into English by Joseph Dommers Vehling, Published by Dover
Publications, New York, 1977
[238] CHICKEN SOUR PULLUM OXYZOMUM
A GOOD-SIZED GLASS OF OIL, A SMALLER GLASS OF BROTH, AND THE SMALLEST MEASURE
OF VINEGAR, 6 SCRUPLES OF PEPPER, PARSLEY AND A BUNCH OF LEEKS
G.-V. [laseris] satis modice
Vehling's redaction:
"These directions are very vague. If the raw chicken is quartered, fried in
the oil, and then braised in the broth with a dash of vinegar, the bunch of
leeks, and parsley, seasoned with pepper and a little salt, we have a dish
gastonomically correct. The leeks can be served as a garnish, the gravy,
properly reduced and strained over the chicken which like in the previous
formula is served in a casserole"
My redaction:
1 1/2 cup (12 fl oz) olive oil
1 cup (8 fl oz) chicken stock
dash of vinegar
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup (2 fl oz) chopped fresh parsley
1 large bunch leeks
Clean and dry the chicken. In a heavy saucepan heat the oil on high heat
until a drop of water dropped into it sizzles and evaporates instantly. Drop
the chicken into the oil a few pieces at a time and brown and remove. Reduce
heat to medium low. Add the broth, vinegar, pepper, parsley, leeks, and
return the chicken to the pot. Bring to a slow simmer, cover, and cook until
Leeks are tender and chicken is done.
My Reaction:
To my modern palate, this definitely could have used a bit of salt. Otherwise
it was delicious. Meat was moist and tender, sauce was a tiny bit tart. Very
rich sauce, though.
Mordonna
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 02:02:08 EDT
From: Gerekr at aol.com
Subject: SC - Apician Teriyaki Chicken 8-); and ostrich sauces
While regailing my husband with the saga of the Phantom Apician Fried
Chicken, I finally found the recipe in Flower and Rosenbaum and was
reading it off. Quoth he, "If liquamen is a soy sauce analog (Cariadoc
and Charles Perry reference), that sounds more like teriyaki chicken".
"No no," quoth I, "teriyaki is sweet as well as salty." So I puddled on
thru some more and find a sweetener! He was right!
Phlip wanted the latin. Here is Apicius 250 from the Flower & Rosenbaum
text and their translation.
F&B, p.164, #12 (Vehling #250(?))
Pullum Frontonianum: pullum praedura, condies liquamine oelo mixto, cui
mittis fasciculum anethi, porri, satureiae et coriandri viridis, et
coques. ubi coctus furit, levabis eum, in lance defrito perunges, piper
aspargis et inferes.
Chicken a la Fronto. Brown the chicken, put in a mixture of liquamen and
oil to which you add a bouquet of dill, leek, savory, and green
coriander; and braise. When it is done take it out, place on a
serving-dish, sprinkle generously with defrutum, powder with pepper, and
serve.
Notes in the introduction (pp. 22-24) identify liquamen as "garum", but
state that the term "liquamen" is used almost exclusively in the Mss.
They describe the short method of liquamen production which they used
(very general, no quantities). "Defrutum" is a sweet, reduced wine
preparation... F&B say they make theirs (p. 24-25) from tinned
grape-juice, reduced to 1/3 of its volume. The effect is "an excellent
flavor and a very pleasant slight sweetness."
<snip of ostrich sauces>
Chimene & Gerek (who was right!, 8-))
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 16:15:32 EDT
From: Gerekr at aol.com
Subject: Re: Re: SC - Apician Teriyaki Chicken 8-); and ostrich sauces
>From: margali at 99main.com (Marilyn Traber)
...
>[she asked for pullus leucozomus, not frontonianum]
>margali
>
>Gerekr at aol.com wrote:
>
>> Phlip wanted the latin. Here is Apicius 250 from the Flower & Rosenbaum
>> text and their translation.
>>
>> F&B, p.164, #12 (Vehling #250(?))
>> Pullum Frontonianum: pullum praedura, condies liquamine oelo mixto,
>> Have fun,
>> Chimene & Gerek (who was right!, 8-))
true, but the fronto is the only thing that even vaguely resembles "fried
chicken". I'll look again for "leucozomos"
Ah. p. 164 (#154) Pullus leucozomus: accipies pullum et ornas ut supra.
aperies illum a pectore, accipiat aquam et oleum Hispanum abundans.
agitatur ut ex se ambulet et humorem consumat. postea, cum coctus fuerit,
quodcumque porro remanserit inde levas. piper aspargis et inferes.
Chicken with white sauce. [does not include white sauce in this recipe!]
Take a chicken and truss as above [as for chicken in liquamen, which I
can't see quickly]. Open it at the breast. Fill it with water and plenty
of Spanish oil. <While cooking> move it <frequently>, so that it gives
off its juice and absorbs the liquid. When done take it out of whatever
is left of the liquid, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.
That sounds like stewed chicken, even if stewed-from-the-inside, to me...
And on the subject of "cornflour", the edition of F&B I have is printed
in England, 1958, marked "not for sale in the US" and has this to say
about "amulum":
"Most of the sauces in our book are thickened with "amulum." We have
translated this word for the sake of convenience as 'cornflour,' for this
is the starch most frequently used for this purpose to-day. The "amulum"
was, however, wheat-starch." and proceed to give a long quote from Pliny
about the manufacture, grades and qualities of WHEAT-starch.
Chimene
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 22:09:18 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Garlicy Chicken-An update
Here is an update (including spelling corrections) for the garlic chicken
recipe. Remember that this is a creative effort of a cook in the current
middle ages and is a composite of 2 recipes in Ancient Cookery. I still don't
have me copy back from the person I lent it to so i can't give you the 2
original recipes I combined at this time. :-(
Chekynes in Garlik
(A Composite recipe created from 2 recipes in "Ancient Cookery")
copyright 1998 L. J. Spencer, Jr.
8 chicken thighs
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 sheets phyllo (filo) pastry, cut in half
1 head garlic
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
3/4-1 cup chicken broth
1 large pinch ginger, ground
1 large pinch cinnamon, ground
1 pinch cloves, ground
salt, to taste
Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Wrap garlic minus 1 large clove of garlic in
foil. Bake 30 mins.
Brush a half phyllo sheet with melted butter. Place chicken at the top of the
sheet and roll up. Tuck ends underneath. Place on a greased baking sheet.
Repeat for other chicken pieces. Bake at 350 deg. F. until a golden brown.
SAUCE::
Soak breadcrumbs in broth. Squeeze cooked garlic into crumb mixture. Blend
well. Mash raw clove of garlic into a paste. Add to mixture. Add remaining
ingredients and mix thoroughly. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat top low and
simmer until thickened, stirring frequently to avoid sticking.
TO SERVE:
Put wrapped chicken on a plater and pour sauce over top. You may sprinkle
with a small amount of cinnamon for garnish. Enjoy! :-)
NOTES: Since doing this recipe I have experimented with using pastry dough and
find that although phyllo sheets are wonderful when used for this dish it is
also particularly tasty using pastry dough ESPECIALLY if salted butter made
from soured cream is used for the dough making. Also use day old bread with
the crust removed for the crumbs. Using dried breadcrumbs produces an inferior
product. The amount of broth needed will vary depending on the humidity.
A'aql ibn Ras al-Zib (pronounced "Ras")
Guildmaster
The Guilde of Ste. Martha
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 19:13:28 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: SC - Question for Ras and another Garlicky Chicken
People who like chicken with garlic may also want to try (apologies if I
posted it earlier):
Recipe for Thûmiyya, a Garlicky Dish
Andalusian p. A-8
Take a plump hen and take out what is inside it, clean that and leave
aside. Then take four ûqiyas of peeled garlic and pound them until they are
like brains, and mix with what comes out of the interior of the chicken.
Fry it in enough oil to cover, until the smell of garlic comes out. Mix
this with the chicken in a clean pot with salt, pepper, cinnamon, lavender,
ginger, cloves, saffron, peeled whole almonds, both pounded and whole, and
a little murri naqî'. Seal the pot with dough, place it in the oven and
leave it until it is done. Then take it out and open the pot, pour its
contents in a clean dish and an aromatic scent will come forth from it and
perfume the area. This chicken was made for the Sayyid Abu al-Hasan and
much appreciated.
1 hen 1 t cinnamon 15 threads saffron in 1 T water
5 oz of garlic 2 t lavender 1/2 c whole almonds, 7/8 c crushed
6 T oil 1 t ginger 1/4 c murri (see p. 3-4)
1/2 t salt 1/4 t cloves ~1 c flour + water = dough to seal
1/2 t pepper
Crush garlic. Fry garlic and giblets from chicken in oil on medium heat for
about 15 minutes. Put all ingredients except dough in the pot. Mix flour
and water to make the dough, roll it into a strip, put it on the edge of
the dish and jam the lid onto it to seal the lid on the pot. Bake at 350° 1
hour.
Charles Perry, who translated this, notes that four ûqiyas of garlic (1/3
of a pound) works out pretty close to the 40 cloves called for in a famous
Provençal dish. "Leave out the spices and the almonds, and you'd about have
poulet à 40 gousses d'ail."
David/Cariadoc
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 18:43:23 -0600 (MDT)
From: Mary Morman <memorman at oldcolo.com>
Subject: SC - pomegranate chicken
The original is from the translation in The Medieval kitchen by Odile
Redon. the redaction is my own loosely based on both the recipe and the
redaction in the book.
Romania
To make romania, fry chickens with pork fat and onions, crush unskinned
almonds, and moisten with the juice of sour pomegranates and sweet
pommegranates. Then strain and boil with the chickens, stirring with a
spoon. Add spices.
Liber de coquina
Comments: This is found in an early Italian manuscript and is probably
based on an arabic sourse. The word for pomegranate in arabic being
"rumman".
For a table of eight:
one chicken cut up (or a variety of 8-10 chicken pieces)
1 cup of almonds
2 pomegranates, 1 lemon
1 small onion
lard or olive oil
salt, pepper, cloves (ground), nutmeg (whole)
- - Grind the almonds
- - Juice the pomegranates and lemon together, reserving a few dozen
pomegranate seeds for garnish.
- - Make an "almond milk" from the almonds and the juice. Strain through
cheesecloth and set aside.
- - Cut the onions
- - Brown the chicken and onions in the oil or lard
- - Put the chicken in a casserole or baking pan, add spices, and pour the
sauce over it.
- - Cover and cook in a slow oven (300 degrees) until chicken is tender.
- - Serve garnished with pomegranate seeds.
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1998 10:16:19 EST
From: Seton1355 at aol.com
Subject: SC - REC: A Turkie Boyled - 1615
I must be in a Pilgrim mood today!
(singing...We gather together, to ask the Lord's blessing...... sorry!)
Phillipa
A Turkie, Boyled
51 An excellent way to boile chickens
If you will boile chickens, young turkeys, peahens, or any house fowl
daintily, you shall, after you have trimmed them, drawn them, trussed them,
and washed them, fill their bellies as full of parsley as they can hold; then
boil them with salt and water only till they be enough: then take a dish and
put into it verjuice, and butter, and salt, and when the butter is melted,
take the parsley out of the chickens' bellies, and mince it very small, and
put it to the verjuice and butter, and stir it well together; then lay in
the chickens, and trim the dish sippets, and so serve it forth.
Gervase Markham. The English Housewife (1615 and later editions).
Michael Best, ed. (Montreal, 1986), p.79
[Again in 1621, butter was probably not available. KC]
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 12:09:47 -0500
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: SC - Documentation
We tried the recipie below tonight to see how it would work for Friday
night fare at our event this weekend. It came out really nice, and I
didn't get much when I got home after Chorusters tonight! I have a
question, though, what is the line "tempere +in powajes with wyne;"
referring to? Is powajes = pottage? as in the broth and meat?
Bruette Saake
Two Fifteenth Century Cook Books p. 27
Take Capoun, skalde hem, draw hem, smyte hem to gobettys, Waysshe hem, do
hem in a potte; +enne caste owt +e
potte, waysshe hem a-gen on +e potte, and caste +er-to half wyne half
Bro+e; take Percely, Isope, Waysshe hem,
and hew hem smal, and putte on +e potte +er +e Fleysshe is; caste +er-to
Clowys, quybibes, Maces, Datys y-tallyd,
hol Safroune; do it ouer +e fyre; take Canelle, Gyngere, tempere +in
powajes with wyne; caste in-to +e potte Salt
+er-to, hele it, and whan it is y-now, serue it forth.
about 3 lbs frying chicken
2 c wine
2 c broth
4 T fresh parsley
1 1/2 T fresh hyssop
1/8 t cloves
1/4 t cubebs measured whole then ground
1/2 t mace
1/4 c = 3 oz dates
15 threads saffron
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
2 t more wine
1/2 t salt
Cut chicken into separate joints, add broth and wine and set to boil.
Chop herbs and grind cubebs in a mortar; add herbs,
dates, cloves, cubebs, and mace and cook about 35 minutes uncovered. Mix
cinnamon and ginger with remaining wine, add
them and salt to chicken, cover and let simmer another 30 minutes. Should
be served with bread (or rice, although that is less
appropriate for 15th-century England) to sop up the sauce.
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 03:31:26 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Documentation
Christine A Seelye-King wrote:
> I have a
> question, though, what is the line "tempere +in powajes with wyne;"
> referring to? Is powajes = pottage? as in the broth and meat?
You got me.
Since Austin apparently saw nothing confusing about the term (and
probably since we're all spoiled by Connie Hieatt's work), we're left
with a huge question mark, unless perhaps we can look in a
fifteenth-century English dictionary. The context would seem to indicate
either the pottage in general is to be thinned down a bit with wine, or
the last two named ingredients, the cinnamon and the ginger (I think)
are to be what Scully usually calls "distempered" (basically infused) in
wine. I think the end result would be more or less the same.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 17:19:47 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Documentation
Christine A Seelye-King asked, concerning bruet saake:
>> I have a
>> question, though, what is the line "tempere +in powajes with wyne;"
>> referring to? Is powajes = pottage? as in the broth and meat?
and Adamantius answered:
>You got me.
>
>Since Austin apparently saw nothing confusing about the term (and
>probably since we're all spoiled by Connie Hieatt's work), we're left
>with a huge question mark, unless perhaps we can look in a
>fifteenth-century English dictionary...
But Austin was confused; at least, you look it up in the glossary and get:
"? meaning. A. reads "powares." " (A. presumably being another manuscript.)
My guess at it when we did this recipe (our version is in the Miscellany)
was that the word was a scribal error for powders and therefore meant the
cinnamon and ginger mentioned just before the phrase in question.
Elizabeth/Betty Cook
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 08:54:00 EST
From: Seton1355 at aol.com
Subject: SC - my medieval dinner party - long
Last night I had some mundane friends over and served them a medieval feast.
They really enjoyed it and were interested in the background of the recipes.
The evening went off well so I thought I'd post the recipes I used.
Phillipa
<snip of ***Winter Squash or Pumpkin Soup*** recipe>
***Chicken Ambrogino With Dried Fruit***
The Medieval Kitchen
Redon, Sabban, Serventi
University of Chicago Press
1998
If you want to make Chicken Ambrogino, take the chicken, cut them up, then put
them to fry with fresh pork fat and a bit of onion, cut crosswise. When this
is half cooked, take some almond milk, mix it with broth and a little wine and
add it to the chickens. First skim off the fat if there is too much. Add
cinnamon cut up with a knife and a few cloves. When it is dished up, add some
prunes, whole dates, a few chopped nutmegs and a little crumb of grilled
bread well pounded and mixed with wine and vinegar.
This dish should be sweet and sour.
The name of this dish appears on a menu of a feast given at Siena on Tuesday,
December 23, 1326
******************************************************************************
1 chicken - 3 1'2 - 4 lbs 1 C almond milk a 1" piece of cinnamon
fresh pork fatback 4 C chicken broth 3 cloves
2 medium large onions 3/4 C dry white wine 8 prunes
10 dates
2 slices whole wheat bread
3 Tbsp wine vinegar
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
salt
Toast or grill the bread; remove crusts.
Cut the chicken into serving pieces and slice the onions.
Cut the fat into tiny pieces.
Over medium heat, render the fat in a large skillet.*1 Then add the chicken
and onions and cook until lightly browned.
Mix the almond milk with the broth and half of the wine.
When the chicken is lightly browned, season it with salt to taste and add the
almond milk mixture, the cinnamon, the cloves and simmer for about 30
minutes.
Pit the prunes and dates.
Break up the bread and mix it with the vinegar and the remaining wine.
When the chicken is nearly done add the prunes, dates, bread mixture and
nutmeg to a small saucepan and cook over low heat ensuring that the prunes
and dates remain whole.
When the sauce has thickened, salt to taste and remove the pan from heat
To Serve: Arrange the chicken on a serving platter topped with the almond
milk sauce in which it is cooked and surrounded by the prunes and dates from
the second sauce. Pour the second sauce over the first.
*1 - I would skip the pork fat and spray the skillet with vegetable spray and
a very little water to cook the chicken in.
NOTES: I liked "frying" in 2 Tbsp oil and 1/2 C water. I think the chicken
came out lighter than if I had fried it. Also, I did not put one sauce on top
of another because it would have overflowed the serving dish. I put the sauce
in a seperate bowl and let people help themselves.
<snip od ***Green Poree for Days of Abstainence*** recipe>
<snip of ***Mashed turnips and parsnips*** recipe>
<snip of ***Gingerbread*** recipe>
Anyway, this was my menu...oh yes, I also made fried potatoes, no recipe.
Everyone liked everything, includeing my picky son!
Phillipa
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 00:41:19 -0230
From: Mark Simms <msimms at roadrunner.nf.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Introducing myself to the list
Phillppa,
> Got a couple questions- what are-
> 6. Chicken Ambrogino
This one is taken from the Medieval Kitchen as well (page 83, recipe
30), which is essentially chicken parts lightly browned with pork fat
and simmered in a mixture of almond milk, wine, and spices until done.
A second sauce is then poured over the chicken and served.
Donal
- --
Mark Simms Engineering Student, Class of 2002
Memorial University of Newfoundlan Vice President, 6th St. John's
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 08:06:55 -0700
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - request for info
hi all from Anne-Marie
Rhiannon asks:
>A short while ago I posted asking if the recipe for pomegranate chicken I
>had found on this list was a redaction or an original recipe. I know how
>things can get lost in the shuffle of a busy list, so I'll ask once again if
>anyone knows, and if it is a redaction, what the original source is. I am
>trying to separate the info I save from this list into interesting but OOP,
>and period, documentable stuff.
There are two versions of pomegranite chicken I know of. One is from a middle
eastern source, the other is Italian (Libro della cocina. Translation and a
modern version in Barbara Santiches _Original Mediterranean Cuisine_). The
version I've reconstructed (which I believe is the one you have?) is the middle
eastern. The only place I really cheated is by mixing a sauce of the
ingredients instead of doing them in the specified order. No particular reason
other than to meld the flavors better, and it doesnÕt actually say WHEN you're
supposed to add the pomegranite juice. Since I could find the pomegranite
molasses instead of pomegranite jucie, I omitted the additional sugar (the
molasses being plenty sweet) and added a bit of water (since the molasses was
so darn thick). The italian version has you combine the sauce ingredients,
except the spice which you add towards the end.
enjoy! all rights reserved, no publication without permission, etc etc etc.
Oh, and we've found lately that we've needed to add about twice the sugar. I
wonder if the molasses has changed?
- --AM
Pomegranite Chicken:
Another Tabahajiyya (A37) Cut the meat up small and fry with oil and salt, and
when it is brown, cook it until done with vinegar. Pound a handful of almonds
or walnuts and throw them on and boil a while. Take pomegranate juice and
dissolve in it a lump of sugar to get rid of its tartness, and sprinkle with
cinnamon.
Our Version:
6 chicken breasts, hacked to gobbets
1-2 T olive oil to sautee
1/2 tsp salt to sprinkle on breasts
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
2 T sugar
1/2 cup pomegranite molasses or syrup
1/2 cup white wine or cider vinegar
6 T pounded almonds
Chunk and salt the chicken, brown in oil 'til almost done. Meanwhile, make a
sauce of the water, sugar and pomegranite syrup. Boil to blend. When the
chicken is almost totally cooked, dump in the vinegar. Then add the sauce,
along with the almonds. Simmer till the sauce is thick, about five minutes
on a hard boil. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve on cous cous.
Serves 6.
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 21:07:46 EDT
From: Seton1355 at aol.com
Subject: SC - questions: TO BOIL PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, CAPONS AND CURLEWS
(The Forme of Cury 1378)
TO BOIL PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, CAPONS AND CURLEWS
Take good broth and do thereto Fowle and do thereto whole peper and flower of
canel a gude quantity and let them seeth therewith and mix it forth and then
cast thereon sweet aromatic powder.
MY REDACTION
(OK, left to my own devices, I tend not to measure anything....)
Put a chicken in a large stock pot and cover well with water.
Add coursely ground peper.
Stir some canel flour into the water.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for about an hour or so.
Take out the bird (It should fall apart) and sprinkle on a bit of ground
ginger, a bit of cinamon.
QUESTIONS:
What is canel flour?
What is a curlew?
IS, Phillipa
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 23:25:31 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - questions: TO BOIL PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, CAPONS AND CURLEWS
Seton1355 at aol.com writes:
<< What is canel flour?>>
Ground cinnamon
<<What is a curlew? >>
A shorebird.
Ras
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 23:08:41 -0700
From: "David Dendy" <ddendy at silk.net>
Subject: Re: SC - questions: TO BOIL PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, CAPONS AND CURLEWS
> Seton1355 at aol.com writes:
> << What is canel flour?>>
>
> Ground cinnamon
The original phrase quoted, as I recall, was "flower of canel". I agree
that canel is cinnamon. However, though "flower" might be a homonym
for "flour", it could also mean "flower" in the sense of the finest or best;
ex., "the flower of chivalry". Of course, if the latter meaning is intended,
that still does not preclude it from being the finest *ground* cinnamon.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
Actually, it is neither. "Flower of canel" is cassia buds -- the 'flower'
bud of the cassia/cinnamon tree (similar in appearance to cloves). The idea
that for some reason canel/cassia/cinnamon ground up was referred to as
"flour/flower", when all other spices ground up were powders, is something
perpetrated by early translators of cookery books, who were not very
familiar with spices, and didn't know that cassia buds were a popular spice
in period Europe.
Francesco Sirene
P.S. If you want to try cassia buds, we can supply them.
David Dendy / ddendy at silk.net
partner in Francesco Sirene, Spicer / sirene at silk.net
Visit our Website at http://www.silk.net/sirene/
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 07:57:29 -0700
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - flour of cinnamon
Hey all from Anne-marie...
Ras sez:
>The origin of the word flower and flour is identical so I fail to see how
>pieces is more logical than ground especially when such an interpretation
>confuses the recipe rather than clarifying it. Consider that one of the
>definitions of flower itself is 'a finely divided powder. With all the
>evidence in hand, I would still go with finely ground cinnamon (e.g., flowers
>of cinnamon) unless more substantial evidence is forthcoming.
interestingly, Taillevent calls for "fleur de cassia". James Prescotts
translation interprets this as cassia buds, which are available from
Francesco as well as from WorldSpice. Thorvald/James told me that he tried
the recipe with the dried buds and it was yummy, albeit less cinnamon-y
than if you used the flour of cassia, ie ground cinnamon.
I personally think its very rude of those Mssr Taillevent to use that
particular term and not tell us what he meant. Hmph.
- --AM, who got the cookbooks unpacked first after her move this weekend :)
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 09:11:08 -0600
From: "Karen O" <kareno at lewistown.net>
Subject: SC - Re: SC from Traveling Dysshes
Viaunde of Cypres Ryalle
4 cups cooked chicken; parts, chunks, whatever,
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp each ground cloves, mace, ginger (I use fresh ginger & whole cloves)
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup currants
Boil the wine and sugar together 10 minutes or until it thickens and
clings to the spoon. Add honey, spices and almonds, currants, simmer for
another 5 minutes.
Pour the hot syrup over the chicken, chill well, serve cold. serves 6 -
8 people
**there are times I forgo the almonds coz I havent any, and it is just as
good.
Traveling Dysshes< is a great pamphlet fort the beginner cook/medievalist.
According to the back page, copies are available by writing the author:
Pat McGregor, 3507 Santos Circle, Cameron Park, CA 95682-8247
Or Green Duck, a very popular (book) merchant in the West Kingdom, is
available on the web, and may keep her book in stock. price is (was) approx
$10.00
Enjoy
Caointiarn
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 09:42:23 EST
From: WOLFMOMSCA at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - advice needed - possibly OOP
troy at asan.com writes:
<< You know you're getting old in this game when "To The Queen's Taste" is
a rare antiquity among our cooks. >>
Yeah, well, if the shoe fits..... ;-)
To boyle a Capon with Orenges after Mistres Duffelds Way, from the Good
Huswives Handmaid
Take a Capon and boyle it with Veale, or with a marie bone, or what your
fancy is. Then take a good quantitie of that broth, and put it in an earthen
pot by it selfe, and put thereto a good handfull of Currans, and as manie
Prunes, and a fewe whole maces, and some Marie, and put to this broth a good
quantitie of white Wine or of Clarret, and so let them seeth softlye
together: Then take your Orenges, and with a knife scrape of all the
filthinesse of the outside of them. Then cut them in the middest, and wring
out the juyce of three or foure of them, put the juyce into your broth with
the rest of youre stuffe. Then slice your Orenges thinne, and have uppon the
fire readie a skillet of faire seething water, and put your sliced Orenges
into the water and when that water is bitter, have more readie, and so change
them still as long as you can find the great bitternesse in the water, which
will be five or seven times, or more. If you find need: then take them from
the water, and let that run cleane from them: then put close orenges into
your potte with your broth, and so let them stew together until your Capon be
readie. Then make your sops with this broth, and cast on a little Sinamon,
Ginger, and Sugar, and upon this lay your Capon, and some of your Orenges
upon it, and some of your Marie, and towarde the end of the boyling of your
broth, put in a little Vergious, if you think best.
Wolfmother
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000 00:15:49 EST
From: Korrin S DaArdain <korrin.daardain at juno.com>
Subject: Re: SC - advice needed - possibly OOP
On Wed, 05 Jan 2000 22:06:26 -0500 Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
writes:
>Does anybody have the Capon In Orange Sauce After Mistress Duffeld's
>Way (I think that's it) on disk? I know I've posted this to the cooks'
>list at least once before, and I'm still suffering from Books In Boxes
>Syndrome. As I recall the dish is for a capon or chicken braised in
>orange juice and white wine with dried fruit and spices, which,
>incidentally, includes cinnamon and raisins, respectively.
>
>Adamantius
This is about the closest I have in my collection. I would like a copy of
the one you are looking for when you find it.
Korrin S. DaArdain
Kingdom of An Tir in the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Korrin.DaArdain at Juno.com
Quondo Omni Flunkus Mortati
(When All Else Fails, Play Dead.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Boil a Capon with Orange and Lemmons
From ìThe Good Huswifeís Handmaide for the Kitchenî, 1594
From The Queens Rapier Champion Tourney: Spring Feast Recipes:
May 8, 1999
Posted by Nancy Santella (annaoftderturm at pathway.net)
Take Orenges or Lemmons pilled, and cutte them the long way, and
If you can keepe your cloves whole and put them into your best Broth of
mutton or Capon with prunes and currants and three or Fowre dates, and
when these have beene well sodden put whole pepper, Great mace,a good
peece of suger, and some rosewater and either white Or claret wine, and
let all these seeth together a while, and so serve It upon soppes with
your capon.
2-1/2 lbs. Chicken Thighs
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 Tbs. Butter
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 tsp. Rosewater
1 cup White Wine
4 Oranges peeled + cut
4 Prunes
4 Dates
1/2 cup Currants
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. whole Peppers
1/2 tsp. whole Cloves
1/2 tsp. Mace
In a large dutch oven, heat the Oil andButter until hot. Season
Chicken with Salt and Pepper and place in pan. Brown well on all sides.
Soak Prunes, Dates and Currants in 1/2 cup of broth, then coursely chop.
Add 1-1/2 cups of the Chicken Broth, Rosewater and Wine and simmer for 20
minutes. Add the Fruit, Salt, and Mace. Place Peppercorms and Cloves in a
cheese cloth bag and add to stock. Continue to simmer For another 15
minutes or until the Chicken is tender. Remove the cheese cloth bag.
Serve in large bowls with strips of fried bread.
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 17:02:24 -0700
From: "Karen O" <kareno at lewistown.net>
Subject: Re: SC - chicken recipe
>I "lost" the recipe that I was given on this list. referred to it as period
>Chicken McNuggets
>Begga Elisabeth
From * 2 15th Century Cookery Books* the recipe is called: Viaunde of
Cypres Ryalle
this particular redaction is from *Traveling Dysshes* by Siobhan Medhbh
O'Roarke
Cooked chicken: parts/peices
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp each: cloves, mace & ginger
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup currants
Boil the wine and sugar together for 10 minutes or until it thickens and
clings to a spoon. Add honey spices & currants and cook for another 5
minutes.
Arrange the chicken in your serving dish, Pour the hot syrup over the
chicken.
Chill well, serve cold.
NOTE: I use whole cloves, and fresh grated ginger, and tend to use a
heavier hand with the spices (maybe 1 tsp each)
Caointiarn
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 15:26:00 -0700
From: "Karen O" <kareno at lewistown.net>
Subject: Re: SC - chicken recipe
Adamantius pointed out a couple errors:
- --Viaunde of Cypres Ryalle
>> 1/4 cup ground almonds
>>Add honey spices, ********** & currants and cook for another 5 minutes.<
> So how do the almonds figure in?<
The almonds are added with the spices & currants. I missed this, as it
isn't written in the redaction, and I tend to leave them out.
>What I'm familiar with under this name is slices of a sort of
ground-capon-meat pudding, thickened with egg yolks, rice flour, or
something along those lines, served under a
reduced wine sauce. Of course there are several variants and this may be
either one I just haven't seen, or a loose adaptation of one that I have
seen.<
I tried to look up the original in the photocopy version of the *2 15th
Cent Books my Roomie owns, but alas and alack, her copy is *missing* this
page. (aaaarrrgghhh)
Siobhan's redaction calls for "4 cups cooked chopped chicken," I just like
to use chunks or small pieces (legs, "drumettes") Looking at the origianl
recipe in the pamphlet, it does seem to be more of a pudding-ish mess. . . .
Tak the braun of capounes or of hennes ysothe or rosted & bray it in a
morter small as myed bred, & take good almound melk lyed with amondyn or
with floure of rys & colour it with safroun and boyle it wel. & charge it
with rosted braun, and sesn with honey and salt, and florsche it with maces
and quibybes.
Caointiarn
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 14:27:59 -0500
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: SC - Sallat of Cold Capon Rosted
This looks like it to me. It sure sounds good. Hey, it's the least I
can do!
Christianna
Sir Kenelme Digbe - The Closet Opened
Sallat of Cold Capon Rosted pg 206
"It is a good Sallet, to slice a cold Capon thin; mingle with it some
Sibbolds, Lettice, Rocket, and Tarragon sliced small. Season all with
Pepper, Salt, Vinegar and Oyl, and sliced Limon. A little Origanum doth
well with it."
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 06:55:21 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Sallat of Cold Capon Rosted
Stefan li Rous wrote:
> What are "Sibbolds"?
An green-oniony unit, chives or scallions, I forget which.
> What is "Origanum"?
Oregano
> I think I will have to try
> this one sometime, if I can get the ingredients.
It's an excellent recipe. I vaguely recall having eaten it made with
arugula, radicchio and Belgian endives, which in combination were pretty
bitter, but they offset the sweet capon meat and the vinegar rather well.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 15:54:20 -0500
From: Lurking Girl <tori at panix.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Period French Toast Recipies
Bonne of Traquair wrote:
> Someone snagged the copy of Digby from UNC library, which is frustrating
> because I know there is a chicken breast on salad greens recipe in there.
> I've put a call out for it to be returned.
For bizarre reasons, I have my copy here at work:
SALLET OF COLD CAPON ROSTED
It is a good Sallet, to slice a cold Capon thin; mingle with it some
Sibbolds, Lettice, Rocket and Tarragon sliced small. Season all with
Pepper, Salt, Vinegar and Oyl, and sliced Limon. A little Origanum
doth well with it.
The glossary says that Sibbolds are Welsh onions, and doesn't give an
entry for Rocket.
Vika
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 20:43:23 -0800
From: "James F. Johnson" <seumas at mind.net>
Subject: Re: SC - serving whole chickens at feast
"Laura C. Minnick" wrote:
> What we did at Investiture was made the whole pieces (whole chicken, big
> joint of meat, etc.) for the high table, and I cajoled, er, sweet-talked
> one of our knights into serving as carver. The rest of the hall got the
> other portions, pre-cut, etc.
One small suggestion on _cooking_ the whole bird is to cook about 25% of
the total cooking time each on alternate sides, then finish breast up.
The darker meat on the sides takes a little longer to cook, and this
helps make sure this meat is fully cooked without overcooking and drying
out the faster cooking breast. So, if the total cooking time is one
hour, fifteen minutes on the left side, then fifteen minutes on the
right side, then the last thirty minutes breast up (on it's back).
Seumas
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 09:28:38 -0800
From: Ron and Laurene Wells <tinyzoo at aracnet.com>
Subject: SC - Chicken in Milk & Honey CURRY
>>Take good cowmilk and do it in a pot. Take psel., sage, Hissop,
>>savory, and other good herbs. Hew them and do them in the milk and
>>seethe them. Take capons half y-roasted and smite them on pieces and
>>do thereto pine and honey clarified. Salt it and color it with saffron
>>and serve it forth.
I kinda-sorta redacted this recipe last night. I didn't look at it close
enough when I first started out though, because it turned out that I did
NOT have more than half the spices it called for. And even so, it still is
not the same as the Chicken in Milk and Honey we had at the Revel. I'll
have to keep trying. This DID however turn out to be a very good dish!
Even my kids ate it!
Since you guys post the cooked versions of your recipes, I will post what I
cooked last night. I know you will find MANY differences between this and
the original recipe. Perhaps enough differences that you will say it is no
longer the same thing, I do not know. ANYWAY, this is what I did
2 lbs. (more or less) boneless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces
olive oil
1 t. rubbed Sage
1/2 t. Cardamom
1/2 t. thyme
1 t. fenugreek
petals of 1 Calendula flower
7 juniper berries
1 qt. of milk (more or less)
1/2 c. honey
1 t. salt
Fry the Chicken pieces in olive oil until mostly cooked. Add enough milk
to completely cover the chicken (a little more would have been better so
there is enough sauce for the rice). Add sage, cardamom, thyme and
fenugreek. Bring to a boil, and let it cook until the herbs blend with the
milk. About 15 minutes. Add the calendula petals (a distant substitute
for saffron, marigolds are a closer substitute. I did not have the real
thing.) salt, honey and juniper berries. Cook an additional 10 minutes or
so, until you feel the juniper berries have offered their seasoning, and
the petals have colored the dish. Serve over rice.
This turned out to be a VERY MILD curry, sweet and flavorful without the
heat. I liked it. Everyone like it. But it still wasn't anything near
what we had at the SCA Revel last month. I will keep trying.
- -Laurene
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 11:15:52 -0600
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Chicken in Milk & Honey CURRY
At 9:28 AM -0800 3/7/00, Ron and Laurene Wells wrote:
> >>Take good cowmilk and do it in a pot. Take psel., sage, Hissop,
> >>savory, and other good herbs. Hew them and do them in the milk and
> >>seethe them. Take capons half y-roasted and smite them on pieces and
> >>do thereto pine and honey clarified. Salt it and color it with saffron
> >>and serve it forth.
>
>I kinda-sorta redacted this recipe last night. I didn't look at it close
>enough when I first started out though, because it turned out that I did
>NOT have more than half the spices it called for.
...
>2 lbs. (more or less) boneless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces
>olive oil
>1 t. rubbed Sage
>1/2 t. Cardamom
>1/2 t. thyme
>1 t. fenugreek
>petals of 1 Calendula flower
>7 juniper berries
>1 qt. of milk (more or less)
>1/2 c. honey
>1 t. salt
>
>Fry the Chicken pieces in olive oil until mostly cooked. Add enough milk
>to completely cover the chicken (a little more would have been better so
>there is enough sauce for the rice). Add sage, cardamom, thyme and
>fenugreek. Bring to a boil, and let it cook until the herbs blend with the
>milk. About 15 minutes. Add the calendula petals (a distant substitute
>for saffron, marigolds are a closer substitute. I did not have the real
>thing.) salt, honey and juniper berries. Cook an additional 10 minutes or
>so, until you feel the juniper berries have offered their seasoning, and
>the petals have colored the dish. Serve over rice.
>
>This turned out to be a VERY MILD curry, sweet and flavorful without the
>heat. I liked it. Everyone like it. But it still wasn't anything near
>what we had at the SCA Revel last month. I will keep trying.
Quite aside from missing herbs, what you have done is not all that
close to what the recipe says to do, so it wouldn't be surprising if
it came out rather different from the original.
1. The recipe says to start with half roasted capons; you fried them
in olive oil instead.
2. The original first boils the herb in the milk, then (apparently)
adds the pieces of chicken, pine nuts (my guess for "pine"), and
honey. I presume it then cooks the chicken some more, since it says
it has been only half cooked, but the recipe isn't clear on that.
You cover the fried chicken with milk, and only then add the herbs.
3. No fenugreek in the original.
4. No juniper berries in the original. Was that your guess for pine?
Leaving out things you don't have is fine, but adding strongly
flavored spices to a recipe that doesn't have any--just herbs--is
going to change it significantly.
David/Cariadoc
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 13:51:23 +1100
From: "HICKS, MELISSA" <HICKS_M at casa.gov.au>
Subject: RE: SC - Chicken in Milk & Honey FOR LAURENE
Laurene,
> I kinda-sorta redacted this recipe last night. I didn't look at it close
> enough when I first started out though, because it turned out that I did
> NOT have more than half the spices it called for. And even so, it still
> is
> not the same as the Chicken in Milk and Honey we had at the Revel. I'll
> have to keep trying. This DID however turn out to be a very good dish!
> Even my kids ate it!
Do you have a copy of "To the Kings Taste" by Lorna Sass? It contains a
redaction of Douce Ame that some cooks (who aren't comfortable with
redacting their own recipes) use. I used it until I got up enough courage
(hmm - maybe I should have changed that word, oh well) to redact it myself.
It is as follows: Please note, I am not saying this is a good redaction,
only that as it is in a published source, it is a redaction that may have
been used if your cook wasn't confident (much better word) at redacting.
Meliora.
Douce ame (Capon in milk and honey)
Douce Ame. Take gode cowe mylke and do it in a pot. Take parsel, sawge,
ysope, savray and other gode herbes. Hewe hem and do hem in the mylke and
seeth hem. Take capons hald yrosted and smyte hem on pecys and do thereto
pynes and hony clarified. Salt it and color it with saffron and serve it
forth. Forme of Cury
3-4 lb capon (or chicken) cut into pieces
1/2 cup flour mixed with a little salt and pepper
3 Tbsp oil
3 cups milk
1/3 cup honey
3 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
2 leaves fresh sage (minced) or º teas dried
1 tsp hyssop
1/2 tsp savory
1/4 - 1/2 tsp saffron
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/3 cup pine nuts
Dredge fowl in flour mixture, then brown the pieces in oil until golden.
Combine milk, honey, herbs, salt and pepper in a bowl. Pour the liquid over
the browned fowl in the saucepan and stir to combine the drippings with the
sauce. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until fowl is tender. Stir in pine
nuts just before serving.
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 08:40:34 -0600
From: Magdalena <magdlena at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: SC - RE: SC Verjus
RANDALL DIAMOND wrote:
> Ms. Riley also lists a recipe for "Chicken with Verjuice "Amorosa"' by
> Platina from the household of Poggio Bracciolini of Mantua. Green plum
> verjuice is also called for in her redaction. Is this documentable
> from the original text? My Latin and Italian is lousy.
Platina
6.16 Chicken in Verjuice
Cook chicken with salt meat. When it is half-cooked, put in the boiling pot
a mash of verjuice grapes with the stones removed from the middle. Cut parsley
and mint fine, and grind pepper and saffron to powder. Put all this in the pot
where the pullet has been cooked, and fill the platter immediately.
Appropriately, B. Poggius frequently eats this dish even when I am invited.
There is nothing more healthful, for it is quite nourishing, is easily digested,
agrees with the stomach, heart, liver, and kidneys, and represses bile.
- -Magdalena
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 11:24:36 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - RE: SC Verjus
magdlena at earthlink.net writes:
<< Platina
6.16 Chicken in Verjuice
Cook chicken with salt meat. When it is half-cooked, put in the boiling
pot a mash of verjuice grapes with the stones removed from the middle. >>
The title of this recipe seems to be a misnomer. Although it says Chicken in
Verjuice, the recipe clearly indicates that verjuice grapes are seeded,
mashed and added to the chicken. This would result in a very different dish
(albeit it tasty) than the addition of verjuice.
Ras
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 12:13:56 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - RE: SC Verjus
LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> magdlena at earthlink.net writes:
> << Platina
> 6.16 Chicken in Verjuice
>
> Cook chicken with salt meat. When it is half-cooked, put in the boiling
> pot a mash of verjuice grapes with the stones removed from the middle. >>
>
> The title of this recipe seems to be a misnomer. Although it says Chicken in
> Verjuice, the recipe clearly indicates that verjuice grapes are seeded,
> mashed and added to the chicken. This would result in a very different dish
> (albeit it tasty) than the addition of verjuice.
Perhaps it is a translation error. The title in Latin is something like
"pullam in acrestum", and while acrestum does generally refer to
verjuice, and even still does today (agresto), it doesn't specifically
refer to "green juice" as the English or French ver jus does. Basically
it refers to a sour _stuff_, which, technically, this is. Just not in
the way me might have assumed. I might have called the dish, in English,
"chicken in a sour sauce", something like that.
Adamantius
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 13:16:19 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: SC - Serving Temperature of Food
The thread on Boston Market got me thinking about re-heated chicken. Many
of the feasts I have attended had prepared dishes re-heated and served, yet
on what evidence is the food served hot? Chicken today is commonly served
hot or cold. Why would people in peiod only serve it hot?
A quick run through Platina, yields this from Book IV.21;
"Besides, as in winter we more safely eat warm food, in summer, cold; as in
summer, kid and chicken, acid and cold; in winter, squab, warm and dry; in
autumn, quail and figpeckers; in spring, little birds taken from the nest
after they have put forth feathers; in winter, thrushes and blackbirds."
Considering this in the light of humoral theory, a cook might want to serve
"cold" foods hot to help off-set the humors. By the same logic, "hot" or
"warm" foods might be served cold.
Some dishes, like frumenty, are best hot. Others are best cold.
What evidence, if any, is there for the serving temperature of foods which
need to be cooked, but can be eaten either hot or cold?
Bear
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 09:29:06 EDT
From: Seton1355 at aol.com
Subject: SC - here are your recipes- Lombardy Chicken
I *knew* organizing my recipes would come in handy!
BRUET OF LUMBARDY
Boiled Chicken in Almond Milk Pepper Sauce
Take hennys, chikens, konyngs, or other flesch, sodyn; do hit in a potte. Do
therto mylke of almondys. Do therin pepyr, and alay hit with bredde, & do
therin yolkes of eyron sodyn hard, growndyn & drawyn up with percellye; & do
therto a lytyll grece or claryfyd boture or the fat of pork, & sesyn hit up
with poudyr, salt, & venyger, & make hit rede as blod.
MS Beinecke 163
(The almond milk may be made with the broth the chicken was boiled in. I
found it more convenient to make the sauce separately and add the chicken to
it, rather than make the sauce around the chicken, as the original recipe
implies. I also added a quarter tsp. of cubeb to the spice powder mix. Not
having any period red food coloring on hand, and disliking the idea of
loading this dish down with FD&C reds 40 and 3, I chose to serve this dish
uncolored.)
1 Three- to four-pound chicken, cut into serving pieces
1 ? C unstrained almond milk
1/2 C white bread crumbs
3 hard boiled egg yolks
1 T parsley, minced
1 T butter
1 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ea. powdered ginger, cinnamon, mace
Salt to taste
Red food coloring, optional
1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, over medium heat, put chicken and about two
cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for about
half an hour or until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and pour
off stock, reserving for later use. The almond milk may be made from this
stock.
2. In a bowl, mash egg yolks and parsley together into a paste.
3. Combine almond milk and spices in the pot, and, over medium heat, bring to
a boil and reduce heat, and simmer, stirring constantly, for five minutes.
Stir in remaining ingredients, and continue to simmer, stirring constantly,
for another five minutes.
4. Add boiled chicken to the pot, and stir it into the sauce completely
covering the pieces. Cover, and simmer for a further two or three minutes,
stirring carefully, making sure the sauce does not burn on the bottom of the
pot.
Serves six to eight.
LOMBARD CHICKEN PASTIES (MEDIEVAL COOKBOOK P47)
<snip of recipe. See chck-n-pastry-msg -Stefan>
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 23:04:52 EDT
From: Elysant at aol.com
Subject: SC - SC: Fried Chicken
For those wishing to find a period Fried Chicken dish, here's the recipe and
Ras's redaction of a Fried Chicken dish from Le Manegier de Paris. The dish
was cooked at last years Weekend of Wisdom event. It was absolutely
delicious. :-)
Elysant
GEORG… BRUET (Parsley-laced Soup)
This dish was very well received with only one piece of chicken being uneaten
by a vegetarian. I had thought that the liver and blood might be a problem
but no one commented prior to service and there were only good things said
about the dish after service.
(from Le Manegier de Paris. Translation by Janet Hinson)
Redaction copyright 1999 L. J. Spencer, Jr.
Makes 8 servings.
ORIGINAL RECIPE: George Soup, Parsley-laced Soup. Take poultry cut into
quarters, veal, or whatever meat you wish cut into pieces, and put to boil
with bacon; and to one side have a pot, with, blood, finely minced onions
which you should cook or fry in it. Have also bread browned on the grill,
then moisten it with stock from your meat and wine, then grind ginger,
cinnamon, long pepper, saffron, clove and grain and the livers, and grind
them up so well that there is no need to sift them: and moisten with
verjuice, wine and vinegar. And when the spices are removed from the mortar,
grind your bread, and mix with what it was moistened with, and put it through
the sieve, and add spices and leafy parsley if you wish, all boiled with the
blood and the onions, and then fry your meat. And this soup should be brown
as blood and thick like 'soringe.'
Note that always you must grind the spices first; and with soups, you do not
sift the spices, and afterwards you grind and sieve the bread.
Note that this is only called parsley-laced soup when parsley is used, for as
one speaks of 'fringed with saffron,' in the same way one speaks of 'laced
with parsley'; and this is the manner in which cooks talk.
8 Chicken quarters
4 slices Bacon, diced
2 Chicken livers
2 Onions, finely minced
1 T Cooking fat (e.g. lard)
1/2 cp. Blood
1 slice Bread, toasted dark
1/2 cp. Chicken stock
1/4 cp. Red Wine
1/4 tsp. Long pepper, ground
1/2 tsp. True cinnamon, ground
1/8 tsp. Cloves, ground
1 pinch Saffron, ground
1/4 tsp. Grains of Paradise, ground
1 T Verjuice
1 T Red wine
1 T Wine Vinegar
1/4 cp. Italian parsley (leaves only)
1/4 tsp. Black pepper, ground
1/4 cp. Lard
In a large pot, cover chicken and bacon with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce
heat to medium. Cook until chicken is tender but not falling apart or until
flesh turns white. Remove chicken from stock. Continue boiling the stock
until it is reduced by half.
In another pot, saute onions in fat until transparent and tender. Whisk in
blood. Continue cooking on low.
Mash liver and put through a sieve.
Mash parsley.
Moisten bread in 1/2 cp. of stock and 1/4 cp. red wine.
Moisten long pepper, cinnamon, cloves, saffron, grains of paradise and black
pepper in 1 T red wine, verjuice and vinegar.
Mash bread mixture and force through a strainer.
Mix liver into onion mixture. Mix blood into liver mixture, stirring
continuously. Add parsley. Mix in bread mixture and spice mixture. Simmer,
stirring continuously for 5 min.
Brown chicken in lard.
Serve chicken with sauce poured over top.
Ras
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:56:30 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Fried chicken?
Stefan li Rous wrote:
> There was a recipe for "fried" chicken in Apicius that we discussed
> here for quite a while. There are several others in other manuscripts.
> It may depend on your definition of "Fried Chicken". Do you consider
> just frying it in oil to count? Or do you want a recipe that rolls
> the chicken pieces in flour or breadcrumbs first and then fries it
> in the oil?
Pullum Frontonianum, a.k.a. Chicken A La Fronto, seems to be braised "au
brun" (nothing like a little needless French jargon early in the
morning, right, Stefan???). Yes, it's browned in oil, but then the
cooking is finished in a mixture of liquamen and oil, presumably over
low heat. In other words, more of a brown stew.
I'm pretty sure all of the later fried chicken recipes (at least the
period ones) that I've seen are for things like fricassees, which may or
may not require frying the chicken first, but end up serving the stuff
in a rich sauce, usually involving wine and/or vinegar or verjuice, and
a thickening of egg yolk.
Adamantius
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 20:53:19 EDT
From: Seton1355 at aol.com
Subject: SC - TO BOYLE A CAPON WITH ORENGES AFTER MISTRESS DUFFELDS WAY
Please,
What is a marie bone in the first line of this recipe?
Phillipa
TO BOYLE A CAPON WITH ORENGES AFTER MISTRESS DUFFELDS WAY
>From To the Queen's Taste, p. 50:
Take a Capon and boyle it with veale or with a <<<marie bone,>>> or
what your fancy is. Then take a good quantity of that broth, and put it in an
earthen pot by itself, and put thereto a good handful of currans , and as
many prunes, and a few whole maces and some marie, and put to this broth a
good quantity of white Wine or of Clarret, and so let them seethe softlye
together. <snip>
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 19:03:26 -0600
From: "Brian L. Rygg or Laura Barbee-Rygg" <rygbee at montana.com>
Subject: Re: SC - TO BOYLE A CAPON WITH ORENGES AFTER MISTRESS DUFFELDS WAY
I believe a marrow bone.
Raoghnailt
Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 19:31:47 -0800
From: Kerri Canepa <kerric at pobox.alaska.net>
Subject: SC - A Chicken dish from al-Baghdadi
Recently I was able to procure pomegranates at an insanely cheap price (for
Alaska) and went looking for recipes that included the seeds or juice. A friend
(with whom I cook with every other week) had pulled out a chicken and so I was
on the quest for a pomegranate and chicken dish. Al-Baghdadi was just the thing.
The recipe that resulted is sort of a hybrid dish composed of various parts of
several chicken dishes.
The original:
CHICKEN DISHES - Boil the chicken, then quarter it. Fry lightly in fresh
sesame-oil, with dry coriander, mastic and cinnamon. If desired sour, after
frying make a broth either with sumach-juice or pomegranate-seed, or lemon-juice
or grape-juice, or the two last mixed, or vinegar and sugar as for zirbaj. Peel
sweet almonds, grind small, mix with water, and throw into the saucepan. Spray
with rose-water, and rub over the pan some sprigs of dry mint. If not made a la
zirbaj, omit mint. If made a la masus, fry lightly in sesame-oil after boiling,
adding celery and vinegar coloured with saffron: some garnish with poached eggs.
If made a la mamqur, after frying lightly throw on vinegar and murri mixed in
equal parts with alittle of the boiling-water. If made a la mutajjan, throw on a
little of the boiling-water and some old murri: when removed from the fire
squeeze on it fresh lemon-juice but first fry in sesame-oil until growned. If
made maqlu, fry in sesame-oil, throw on a little of the boiling-water and
garnish with poached eggs. If made a la isfidbaj, boil the chicken with mastic,
cinnamon and salt: then grind small sweet almonds, mix with water, and add,
together with a handful of chick-peas, peeled and soaked, and a ring of dill.
....
(Kind of) Zirbaj Chicken
1 whole chicken
1/2 cup gomegranate juice (the juice from 1 baseball sized fruit)
2/3 cup crushed almonds
1 cup water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp dried coriander
salt
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
sesame oil
water
vinegar
Put chicken in large pot, cover with water, add salt (about 2 tsp) or not, cover
and boil until done (about 45 minutes). Remove and cool. Cut into pieces.
Heat sesame oil in pan until hot. Add chicken pieces and sprinkle with spices.
Fry on both sides to coat with oil and spices, about 5 minutes. Remove to plate.
Add to pan pomegranate juice, water and almonds and heat until gently boiling.
Add drained, rinsed chickpeas and cook until reduced and thickened. Sprinkle
with vinegar and salt to taste, and serve over chicken pieces.
NOTE: There's no cumin mentioned in the recipe but I like it in combination with
dried coriander. Salt is only mentioned once in the whole listing of recipes and
mastic is something I didn't have and couldn't find in this area. I didn't do
the finishing, the rosewater and mint, because there wasn't any of either where
I was cooking. The 1/2 cup of pomegranate juice was not enough to make it sour
so I'd increase the amount to a whole cup. The addition of vinegar and chickpeas
is not specified in zirbaj but common enough in the other dishes.
This dish is very fragant even without the rosewater and mint. With more
pomegranate juice, it would have been more sweet and sour tasting, but had an
engaging enough flavor for the non-SCA roommate to eat it with gusto. Except for
the difficulty and expense of obtaining pomegranates, this dish would be easy
enough and tasty enough to use on a feast menu.
Cedrin
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 09:57:37 -0800
From: Kerri Canepa <kerric at pobox.alaska.net>
Subject: Re: SC - A Chicken dish from al-Baghdadi
Wadji and Anahita,
>Ahh, how much sesame oil and vinegar, please?
I figured someone would ask that question AFTER I splashed the oil and sprinkled
the vinegar. Sorry!
If I had to guess, about 1/4 cup of oil and 2 tbsp of vinegar.
>Here i assume you use the light sesame oil, not the roasted kind
>that's used in Chinese and Korean cooking. Would be good to specify,
>cuz the two kinds taste *real* different and some folks might only
>find the roasted kind in the supermarket.
Seeing as how I was at someone else's kitchen, the sesame oil that was available
was the roasted variety. The flavor would definitely be different with a light
sesame oil.
Also, for the same reasons, the vinegar available was rice vinegar. It was not
as bitey as other vinegars and slightly sweetened so using almost any other kind
of vinegar (except balsalmic) with produce a stronger flavor. You'd probably
want to use less of it as well.
Cedrin
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Redon-Medieval Kitchen-chicken w/ sour orange
Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:58:31 -0500
> I remembered to purchase the chicken and the sour oranges, but forgot the
> book has gone back to the library. Can someone owning the book help me out
> with the recipe for chicken with sour orange juice? I think it is not much
> more than cook the chicken and serve with the juice poured over as sauce,
> but I'd greatly appreciate a reminder of any other ingredients/details.
> Bonne
While I don't have the Redon recipe which is from Master Martino, I have
this version from Platina, who was using Master Martino's recipes. Latin
did not have a word for oranges so Platina used the word for lemons instead.
Bear
> "17. Roast Chicken
> Roast a chicken which is well plucked, gutted and washed, and when the
> roast is placed in a dish before it cools, put lemon juice or verjuice
> on it with rose water, sugar and well-ground cinnamon, and serve it to
> your guests."
Essentially Martino's recipe. I used the version from The Medieval Kitchen
and tried their substitution of adding 1/2 a lemon to three sweet oranges to
make a more bitter sauce. I used about 1/8 teaspoon of fresh grated
cinnamon. No sugar was added because the oranges were already sweet. 1
Tablespoon rosewater which is all I had on hand.
From: rcmann4 at earthlink.net
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 20:44:15 -0400
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Carbonadoes
Kirrily said:
> To me, fricassees and carbonadoes seem distinctly 17th century (Pepys,
> Restoration, and all that), and I'm wondering whether the text I have is
> perhaps very different to the first edition.
Granado (1599) has a recipe for "Carbonadas de ave" (Carbonadas
of fowl) made with chicken breast meat.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2001 10:25:42 +0200
From: Volker Bach <bachv at paganet.de>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Seeking Opinions
Sue Clemenger schrieb:
> I don't know about Niccolo, but I've never heard of it before....and the
> original sounds yummy....Can anyone post the recipe? I'm a big fan of
> chicken anything (well, except mcnuggets and kin, but that doesn't
> really count as food, does it? <g>)
Note that I haven't tried this before (I'm not
much with poultry), my pocket translation of
Apicius gives the following:
"Briefly brown the chicken, season it with a
mixture of /liquamen/ (the infamous fish sauce)
and oil and a bundle of fresh dill, leeks, bean
straw (I am fairly sure this is something else,
but I haven't the time to try my hand at the Latin
just now - probably what German cooks know as
/Bohnenkraut/. Anyone got the English word handy?)
and fresh coriander and stew (?) it in this. When
it is done, take it out (of the pan, I guess,
though the Latin simply uses a prefix structure
here), put it on a plate and pour /defrutum/ over
it."
I'd say that's fairly clear.
/defrutum/, by the way, is new wine boiled down to
either half (Pliny the Elder) or a third (Varro,
Columella) its volume. I am fairly sure cooks
involved all kinds of spices, but I haven't tried
this one yet.
How would everybody go about cooking this? I'd say
use chicken pieces and a skillet or deep frying
pan. Has anyone tried anything like this with a
whole chicken, and how much success have you had?
Giano
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:28:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ruth Frey <ruthf at uidaho.edu>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] "Honey gilded" chicken.
Okay, I'm finally getting some of my
Banner War Arts recipes posted here (as I
promised to a while ago). This first one is
the result of an ingredient snafu, that still
managed to produce excellent results.
The background: Banner war this year was
held at Three Meadows campgrounds in Northern
Idaho. Lovely place, wonderful facilities
(including a full restaurant-style kitchen --
we had trouble getting some of our cooks to leave
that kitchen when the event was over!), but out
in the middle of absolute nowhere. At least a
3-hour round trip to the nearest grocery store.
One of my planned Arts entries was
"gilded" chicken, which is roast chicken coated
in an egg yolk/flour/spice crust; it's a well-
documented Period recipe, and one I figured would
be pretty easy to do. I pre-measured the spices
and flour and put them in a little jar, arranged
with the breakfast cooks to reserve 4 eggs for my
recipe, and tossed a chicken in the cooler.
Lo and behold, the morning of the day of
the Arts tournament, the breakfast cooks decided
to beat the morning rush by cooking up the eggs
ahead of time -- *all* the eggs, and there was no
hope of getting more that day.
A frantic inventory of free ingredients on
hand, and a consultation with the Mistress of Arts
and Sciences, resulted in my substituting honey for
the egg yolks. I was actually leaning towards making
a Bisquick crust, myself, since I feared the honey
wouldn't seal in the juices effectively (the goal of
gilding is to keep the meat moist, while adding flavor).
But, A&S favored honey, and one listens to the Mistress
of A&S, so . . .
The resulting honey coating did manage to
seal in the juices, and the chicken came out with
excellent flavor. People who had tried the "real"
gilded chicken I had made at home as a test vastly
preferred the honey version. The A&S judges, in a
fit of culinary transport, awarded me a Masterwork
(which I disputed, since the recipe as actually
concocted has no Period documentation whatsoever;
but the A&S Mistress told me to take the award and
shut up, so . . .). The chicken itself was stripped
to the bone within minutes of handing it over to
the crowd of onlookers.
Any recipe that gets that kind of reception
deserves to get passed along, though with the caveat
that it is *not* documentable to Period, as far as
I know. I am, however, considering making it up
again in the future -- I think it would adapt
especially well to the Period practice of coating
roast fowl in crusts of various colors and flavors.
Add parsley juice, or red sandalwood, or some other
colorant, change the spices a little, and the possible
variety is endless.
Anyway, the following recipe is adapted from
Cindy Renfrow's _Take a Thousand Eggs or More_
redaction of gilded chicken; I have listed both the
honey and the egg yolks, so folks can try both incarnations
of the recipe.
"Gilded" Chicken
1 whole roasting chicken, giblets and excess
fat removed.
1 tbsp. flour
4 beaten egg yolks *OR* 1 cup honey
2 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
Pinch saffron, to taste (more saffron
gives a stronger golden color).
Place the chicken breast side up in a roasting
pan. Combine the remaining ingredients to make the batter
for the "gilding." Apply a coat of batter with a pastry
brush (for the honey version, I found that spooning it
on worked better than brushing), and bake at 350 F,
brushing (spooning) on a fresh coat of batter every
20 minutes until done (1 1/2 - 2 hours). If you use
honey, which makes a runnier batter, you can spoon
up the runoff in the pan and use that to re-coat the
chicken, if you run out of fresh batter.
May future last-minute substitutions turn
out so well for us all! :)
-- Ruth
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 10:52:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] A Jewish Dish of Chicken
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
So, we ran a first test of the chicken dish this weekend.
from Perry's translation of the Andalusian manuscript, webbed on Cariadoc's site:
Clean the chicken [p. 20, recto] and pound its entrails with
almonds, breadcrumbs, a little flour, salt, and cut-up fennel and
cilantro. Beat it with six eggs and the amount of a quarter ratl of water.
Then expose the chicken over the fire a little and place it in a clean pot
with five spoonfuls of fresh oil, and do not stop turning it on the fire
in the oil until it is well browned. Then cover the contents of the pot
with stuffing prepared earlier and leave it until it is bound together and
wrinkled. Ladle it out and put the stuffing around it, garnish with cut
rue and fennel, eyes of mint, and toasted almonds, and present it, God
willing.
So, what I did:
- I had decided to use chicken pieces because I couldn't figure out how to
handle a whole chicken and thought maybe it would be ok to use chicken
pieces instead. Boneless pieces are just easier to deal with, though I
realize that they take less time to cook. We defrosted about 4 pounds of
chicken breast (ok, we had thought it was boneless chicken breasts but it
turned out to be chicken breast tenders).
- After conversation with the list and with Sarah bas Mordechai who was
raised Orthodox Jewish, we decided that only the liver and the gizzards
would have been used of the innards. We bought chicken livers, but
couldn't find gizzards.
- Chicken livers (in modern times) are 'koshered' by searing with a
flame-- we seared them in a cast-iron pan because we were working with
an electric stove.
- I chose to grind the almonds finely, and to use store bought fluffy
cheap white bread for the bread crumbs.
- we didn't have fennel because I forgot to get it. We also didn't have a
tool for mashing the cilantro leaves so they were just cut up with a
knife, not finely minced.
So:
The stuffing:
- about 12 slices of bread, some toasted, ground to breadcrumbs
- about a cup of ground almonds
- leaves from 1/3 of a large bunch of cilantro
- about 1 tablespoon of ground coriander.
- pinch flour
- 4 seared chicken livers, minced and squished
- 6 eggs
I realized too late that 6 eggs were probably too much for this mixture
(we had to add the last 6 slices of bread to make it stuffing-y). So no
water was added. If I do this again for the same size servings, I would
add some water but less eggs.
We sauteed the chicken in a little oil in a deep cast-iron skillet until
it was browned, then combined all the chicken in the skillet and spread
the stuffing on top.
Then we baked it in a 325 degree Farenheit oven for about an hour-- we
might have used a 350 degree oven instead but we were baking bread at
the time as well.
It came out very good, the spice tastes penetrated through to the chicken
and the stuffing was yummy. We didn't bother with the serving suggestion
but just took it out with a pie server.
However, a little of the stuffing went a long way, so I suspect that next
time I will use crumbs of good, not fluffy-white, bread, and make the
stuffing less moist so it isn't as dense.
We decided that for 40=60 people we will probably only need about one
container of chicken livers to make this... it could have used more
cilantro but I think I like it this way.
My biggest concern is seeing if it can be baked in a covered electric
roaster, as this version was baked uncovered.
-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 12:38:56 -0700
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Garlic Challenge
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Since you asked, Stefan,
Here's my Moretum recipe that we made for the Greco-Roman Feast at
the beginning of this September:
<snip – see garlic-msg – Stefan>
---------------------
And since you seem to like garlic, here's the Thumiyya recipe with
which i won the Iron Chef Cook-off in the Spring of 2001:
Thumiyya
from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook - 13th century
Translation by Charles Perry
Take a plump hen and take out what is inside it, clean that and leave
aside. Then take four uqiyas of peeled garlic and pound them until
they are like brains, and mix with what comes out of the interior of
the chicken. Fry it in enough oil to cover, until the smell of the
garlic comes out. Mix this with the chicken in a clean pot with salt,
pepper, cinnamon, lavender, ginger, cloves, saffron, peeled almonds,
both pounded and whole, and a little murri naqi. Seal the pot with
dough, place it in the oven and leave it until it is done. Then take
it out and open the pot, pour its contents in a clean dish and an
aromatic scent will come forth from it and perfume the area. This
chicken was made for the Sayyid Abu al-Hasan and much appreciated.
Redaction by Anahita al-Qurtubiyya bint 'abd al-Karim al-Fassi
4 lb. chicken breasts and thighs
4 ounces of garlic, peeled
3 Tb. olive oil
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tb. cinnamon
2 tsp. lavender
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
hearty pinch of real saffron
1/2 c. ground blanched almonds
3/4 c. peeled whole almonds
1-1/2 Tb. murri naqi
In honor of the noble gentles to whom i am serving this dish, and
especially the Princess's delicate sensibilities, i used skinless,
boneless chicken breasts and thighs and did not use any of the
chicken's innards.
1. Puree peeled garlic.
2. Fry it in oil until the smell of the garlic comes out.
3. Put chicken in pot, spoon garlic and remaining ingredients and
spoon over it.
4. Cover the pot well, place it on a medium-low fire, and cook until
done, stirring occasionally, and adjusting the heat, as necessary.
5. When done, pour contents onto serving dish.
NOTE: This is the only recipe i've ever tested.
Anahita
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 06:07:32 -0600
From: Robert Downie <rdownie at mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Cruel food
To: Susan Browning <daubrecicourt at earthlink.net>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Susan Browning wrote:
> Can't quote you the source, but I have seen a recipe on how to cook a
> chicken/goose? alive, and start to eat it while it is still living.
>
> Eleanor
These were convieniently located on the Gode Cookery website:
Faerisa
A Goose roasted alive - from Magia Naturalis:
<see duck-goose-msg>
To make a Chicken be Served Roasted - from The Vivendier:
To make a Chicken be Served Roasted. Get a chicken or any other bird you want,
and pluck it alive cleanly in hot water. Then get the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs;
they should be beaten with powdered saffron and wheat flour, and distempered
with fat broth or with the grease that drips under a roast into the dripping
pan. By means of a feather glaze and paint your pullet carefully with this
mixture so that its colour looks like roast meat. With this done, and when it
is about to be served to the table, put the chicken's head under its wing, and
turn it in your hands, rotating it until it is fast asleep. Then set it down on
your platter with the other roast meat. When it is about to be carved it will
wake up and make off down the table upsetting jugs, goblets and whatnot.
Scully, Terence. The Vivendier. Devon: Prospect Books, 1997.
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 01:19:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Pressure cooking
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
According to the Oxford Companion to Food, the
inventor of the pressure cooker was Denys Papin
(1647-1712), but that the first practical
applications were developed in the 20th Century.
The pressure cooker is a large pot with a
sealed metal lid and a pressure valve in the
middle of it, which you have to release slowly
after your meal is cooked. You cannot just open
up the pot or it will explode and you will
scald yourself and your food will have to be
scrapped off the floor, walls and ceiling.
Pressure cookers are very dangerous.
Putting a crust over a pot and putting the
chicken on something to raise if off from
the pot sound more like a steamer than a
pressure cooker. The crust is porous and
wouldn't allow the pressure inside the pot
to build up. But it would keep the steam
from escaping. Try making a pie without
vent hole and see what happens. It doesn't
explode, but it will leak all over the oven.
Huette
--- Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com> wrote:
> There was a question about the "pressure cooked" chicken and why not do it a
> period way. Well, that is period.
>
> Capon Stwed from Two Fifteenth Century Cookbooks
> Take parcelly, sage, Isoppe, Rose Mary, and tyme, and breke hit bitwen thi
> hondes and stoppe the Capon there-with; colour hym with Saffron, and
> couche him in a rethen potte, or of brasse, and ley splentes underneath and
> al about the sides, that the capon touche no thinge of the potte, and put
> thereto a pottel of the best wn that thou may gete, and none other licour
> hele the potte with a close led, and stoppe hit aboute with dogh or bater,
> that no eier come oute; And set hit on the faire carcole, and lete it seethe
> easily and longe till hit be ynowe. And if hit be an erthen potte, then set
> hit on the fire whan thou takest hit downe, and lete hit not touche the grounde
> for breking; And whan the hete is ouer past, take oute the Capon with a prick
> then make a sirippe of wyne, Reysons of corance, suur and safferon, And
> boile hit a litull; medel pouder of Ginger with a litul of the same wyn, and
> do thereto; then do awey the fatte of the se3we of the Capon, And do the
> Siryppe to the sewe, and powre hit on the Capo, and serue it forth.
>
> Basically, color Capon (in my case hen) with saffron and water. Get a big
> kettle and put some broken up bamboo skewers in the bottom. Cover the poultry
> with parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme. Pour a good wine in the bottom of the
> kettle. Placethe hen on the sticks so they don't touch the bottom or sides.
> Make a dough and place on the rim of the kettle and press on the lid. Turn on
> the fire and let the hen cook in the steam of the wine and drippings.
> When done, remove the bird, por off the liquid and to that add more wine,
> sugar, currants, and powdered ginger and let boil down to thicken.
> Serve the hen with the sauce.
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 21:04:54 -0800
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Overdocumentation with food content
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
I'm *excited* that we plan to make a 9th or 10th century Abbasid
recipe for chicken on a bed of pomegranate seeds and chopped cucumber
with an almond-mustard sauce and decorated with olives.
Barida
David Waines, "In a Caliph's Kitchen", pp. 82-83
Waines' Comments:
This cold dish made from chicken was devised by Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi.
The recipe is expressed in poetic form, not surprising from a man who
was not only a gourmand, but well known as a poet too. He describes
the dish as perfect summertime fare. The physician al-Razi observes
that such dishes of the bawarid type, when made with vinegar or with
the juice of sour fruits, serve to cool the temperament and moderate
it. Qutha and faqqus, mentioned in the original recipe, are species
of cucumber.
ORIGINAL:
Two parts almonds and sugar and two parts vinegar and mustard mixed
together in a vessel with partially dried safflower adding colour
around the [one short word not legible in my photocopy, may be
"edges"]. Cucumber peeled, qutha and faqqas and pomegranate, chopped
up small and sprinkled around the vessel. Add a little oil. Take a
fine young chicken, cooked in vinegar, jointed and cut up in pieces
and placed over the other ingredients in one vessel. Decorate the
dish with pomegranate (seeds) and with almonds and olives chopped up
fine.
Since we haven't made it yet, we don't have a worked out recipe to
offer, but i'm really looking forward to making this. Because we're
serving this in a hotel and it's a vigil, not a sit-down dinner, we
will skin and de-bone the chicken and cut the meat into pieces of a
reasonable size to make it easier on the diners.
Anahita
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 17:25:50 -0800
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Barida - Cold Chicken Dish, 9th or 10th C.
Abbasid
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org, west-cooks at yahoogroups.com,
SCAFoodandFeasts at yahoogroups.com
I made this for a double Vigil at West Kingdom Twelfth Night. I made
it like "chicken salad" because that would be easier for guests to
eat than whole joints.
I thought it was good and hope to make it again, and at least one of
the vigilees was quite taken with it :-)
Anahita
--------------
BARIDA - 9th or 10th C. Abbasid Cold Chicken Dish
-= Original =-
Two parts almonds and sugar and two parts vinegar and mustard mixed
together in a vessel with patially dried safflower adding colour
around the [edges] [one short word not legible in my photocopy].
Cucumber peeled, qutha and faqqas and pomegranate, chopped up small
and sprinkled around the vessel. Add a little oil. Take a fine young
chicken, cooked n vinegar, jointed and cut up in pieces and placed
over the other ingredients in one vessel. Decorate the dish with
pomegranate (seeds) and with almonds and olives chopped up fine.
-= Comments =-
This cold dish made from chicken was devised by Ibrahim ib al-Mahdi.
The recipe is expressed in poetic form, not surprising from a man who
was not only a gourmand, but well known as a poet too. He describes
the dish as perfect summertime fare. The physician al-Razi observes
that such dishes of the bawarid type, hen made with vinegar or with
the juice of sour fruits, serve to cool the temperament and moderate
it. Qutha and faqqus, mentioned in the original recipe, are species
of cucumber.
- - - - - David Waines, In a Caliph's Kitchen, pp. 82-83
-= My Version =-
9 lb. chicken parts
bottle (about 24 oz.) rice vinegar
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup prepared Dijon mustard
partially dried safflower
2 English Cucumbers, diced (no need to peel or seed)
seeds from 3 pomegranates
1/2 up sesame oil
2 cups slivered blanched almonds
1 cup pitted purple/black olives
1 cup pitted green olives
1. Cook chicken in vinegar, adding a little water, as necessary.
The liquid doesn't need to completely cover the chicken, as long as
the cook periodcally turns pieces so all pieces spend time
submerged. I don't remember how long this took - 1/2 hour?
2. Mix together almonds and sugar, with vinegar and mustard and
spread around serving dish, then put safflower around the edges.
3. Cut cucumber into meium sized dice. No need to peel or seed.
4. Peel pomegranates over a bowl of cold water, dropping seeds into
water. When done, remove "floaty bits" and drain seeds. Take care
because pomegranate can stain.
5. Sprinkle cucumber and 2/3 of pomegranate seedsaround serving dish
on top of mustard sauce.
6. Sprinkle with a little oil.
7. Cool chicken, joint it and cut up in pieces.
8. Place chicken over the other ingredients in serving dish.
9. Decorate the dish with additional pomegranate seeds, slivered
almons, and sliced olives.
-= NOTES =-
1. I used rice vinegar to cook the chicken because it is milder than
wine vinegar and i didn't want the vinegar taste to be too strong in
the chicken.
2. Prepared Dijon mustard was a short cut. It is unclear whether
powdred mustard seed or prepared mustard would be used in the
original.
3. I used safflower, but i think saffron would be more effective, and
i wonder if Waines made an error with his translation.
4. English cucumbers are the closest i could find to Middle Eatern
cucumbers. They are so much nicer than the usual cucumbers, much less
bitter, and not "burpy" at all.
5. For the Vigil, we skinned the chicken, then separated the meat
from the bones, discarding fat and connective tissues.
6. For the Vigil, we tossedthe cucumber with the mustard sauce, and
took each ingredient to the site in a separate zip-close bag. Then i
tossed the chicken with mustard-tossed cucumber and 2/3 of
pomegranates and dumped it onto the serving dish. Then decorated the
edges as instructd.
7. I used two colors of olives for aesthetic purposes.
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 22:01:12 -0800
From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Barida - Cold Chicken Dish, 9th or 10th C.
Abbasid
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I have a different recipe, also 9-10th c., but
credited to Abu Ja'far al-Barmaki
B‰ ridah (a cold dish) of Abu Ja'far al-Barmaki
Translated by Charles Perry from a 9-10th c. Islamic collection.
A fowl is taken, roasted, jointed and thrown in a
jar into which are put coriander, pepper, cumin
and cinnamon. Verjus is added, and mint, tarragon
and fresh thyme are cut over it, and good oil is
poured over it. Fresh spices are minced onto it,
and it is decorated with chopped cucumber.
--
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com
Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 15:46:30 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chickens in Hochee-
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
How large were the garlic gloves? Size of the bird?
The recipe says
Add garlic cloves whole, if very large halve.
This indicates it's done in about 45 minutes.
Alton Brown's recipe for 40 Cloves and a Chicken
takes an hour and half in an oven. He's using
1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/
0,1977,FOOD_9936_16200,00.html
James Beard's recipe calls for an hour and half too.
http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/jbh/chick_40_cloves.html
Johnnae
> I made the Chicken in Hochee (from COI- Cariadoc has it with his
> redaction at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/poultry.html#3 ) in
> camp Sunday evening (along with Losyns, some asparagus, and a Tart of
> Strawberye) and it was a hit- but there was one part I wasn't happy
> with- the garlic didn't cook through. The recipe doesn't say anything
> about the garlic being already cooked, but the cloves weren't cooked
> when I unstuffed the chicken, even though the chicken was falling off
> the bones. The garlic was still crunchy, and quite hot.
> Might there have been a step left out? Or did the writer mean cooked
> garlic and neglected to mention it? I think it was very good as is,
> but would be spectacular with the garlic cooked through. Any thoughts?
> Bueller?
> 'Lainie
Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 13:28:16 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chickens in Hochee-
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> How large were the garlic gloves? Size of the bird?
Uhh... the bird was a good size for a chicken. I want to say four pounds
but I'm not sure. The garlic cloves were pretty standard size, and yes, I
halved them. But even the halves, and the ones that were already skinny,
weren't cooked through.
> The recipe says
> Add garlic cloves whole, if very large halve.
> This indicates it's done in about 45 minutes.
Yup. Actually, I left it in about ten minutes longer, as I was waiting
For the Losyns to be done (I browned them in the oven).
> Alton Brown's recipe for 40 Cloves and a Chicken
> takes an hour and half in an oven. He's using
> 1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces.
> http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/
> 0,1977,FOOD_9936_16200,00.html
>
> James Beard's recipe calls for an hour and half too.
> http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/jbh/chick_40_cloves.html
Hmm.
If I'd left the chicken in the broth that long, it would fall apart (as it
was, I had a hard time getting it out of the pot), which would rather
defeat the purpose of stuffing it, I'd think. So I'm back to wondering how
the garlic and the chicken are done through at the same time.
'Lainie
Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 17:56:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chickens in Hochee-
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
--- "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org> wrote:
> Hmm.
> If I'd left the chicken in the broth that long, it would fall apart (as it
> was, I had a hard time getting it out of the pot), which would rather
> defeat the purpose of stuffing it, I'd think. So I'm back to wondering
> how the garlic and the chicken are done through at the same time.
>
> 'Lainie
Since you think that the time was sufficient to cook the chicken but not the
cloves of garlic, then quarter the garlic or slice it so that it will take less
time for it to cook.
The original recipe says:
Take persel and sawge, with other erbes; take garlec & grapes, and
stoppe the chikenus ful
It doesn't say anything about the size of the garlic or whether they are cut up or not. I personally would chop them up a bit before stuffing the chicken. This would allow them to cook and to infuse more garlicky goodness into to chicken.
Huette
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2005 10:12:39 -0600
From: Sheila McClune <smcclune at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Chickens in Hochee
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
On May 31, 2005, at 4:28 PM, Laura C. Minnick wrote:
>>> If I'd left the chicken in the broth that long, it would fall apart
>>> (as it was, I had a hard time getting it out of the pot), which
>>> would rather defeat the purpose of stuffing it, I'd think. So I'm
>>> back to wondering how the garlic and the chicken are done through
>>> at the same time.
Could it be possible that the chicken *is* supposed to fall apart, and
that the purpose of stuffing it is just to get the flavor of the grapes
and garlic through the meat more efficiently? Looking back at the
original recipe, the serving instructions simply say, "/Messe hem & cast
(th)erto powdour dowce."/ I don't have access to an OED, so I can't
look it up, but to me, the term "messe" does not imply a tidy, intact
chicken... :) I could be off-base on this, but it is another
possibility.
Just a thought,
Arwen
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2005 14:22:46 -0400
From: rbbtslyr <rbbtslyr at comporium.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Chickens in Hochee
To: smcclune at earthlink.net, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>>>
Could it be possible that the chicken *is* supposed to fall apart, and
that the purpose of stuffing it is just to get the flavor of the grapes
and garlic through the meat more efficiently? Looking back at the
original recipe, the serving instructions simply say, "/Messe hem & cast
(th)erto powdour dowce."/ I don't have access to an OED, so I can't
look it up, but to me, the term "messe" does not imply a tidy, intact
chicken... :) I could be off-base on this, but it is another possibility.
Just a thought,
Arwen
<<<
It is the ancestor of the military term "Mess" it means to serve I
looked it up and there is a good on line page I came across called the
"Good Cooking Ring" that has a glossary and recipes from the Middle
Arges and conversions for modern Kitchens. Mess is to Serve so it
means to "Serve him and cast the powder? down"
Kirk
Date: Fri, 03 Jun 2005 18:30:12 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: chickens on sca cooks
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I queried Master Johann regarding the Chickens question--
Here are his thoughts--- Johnnae
I've read the posts and my first reaction is that the
bird used was not a free range bird, nor necessarily
an adult bird, ie a year old!? If purchased in a
grocery store this is certainly the case! The texture
and flavors of the adult bird are simply not there
yet, despite the size of the carcass. An adult bird,
and a free range one, is going to have a tougher
carcass that will put up with the long cooking time
and will stand up to the amount of garlic used.
As to the amount of garlic and cooking times, I'm sure
they could be played with to affect the desired out
come.
Though I did not perceive of any specifications in the
recipe dictating an older bird, the evidence given by
length of time and amounts of garlic tell me that that
is probably what the author had in mind.
Johann
If you need such a bird, like a year old cock? let me know!
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 19:27:06 -0400
From: <kingstaste at mindspring.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] FW: OED Definition of a word "hocchee"
To: "SCA Cooks" <Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
-----Original Mesage-----
From: Mistress Bronwen [mailto:mistressbronwen at solhaven.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2005 12:05 PM
To: SCA Heralds List; Christianna MacGrain
Subject: OT: OED Definition of a word "hocchee"
This word appears in a recipe one of my protŽgŽs is trying to redact, and
she has come across conflicting definitions. Could someone with access to
the OED or some other likely source please let me know what is said about
this word?
The recipe is Elizabethan, from a cook book (The Forme of Cury) presented to
Elizabeth by Richard II. The recipe reads:
CHYKENS IN HOCCHEE [1]. XXXIIII.
Take Chykenns and scald hem. take parsel and sawge withoute eny oþere
erbes. take garlec an grapes and stoppe the Chikenns ful and seeþ hem
in gode broth. so þat þey ma esely be boyled þerinne. messe hem an
cast þerto powdour dowce.
[1] Hochee. This does not at all answer to the French _Hachis_, or
our _Hash_; therefore qu.
She is trying to find out what the term "Hocchee" means. Can anyone
assist?
How about the composition of "powdour douce"
~
Bronwen
Date: Sun, 10 Jl 2005 18:42:12 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] FW: OED Definition of a word "hocchee"
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> She is trying to find out what the ter "Hocchee" means. Can anyone
> assist?
> ~
> Bronwen
Try the Old French "hocher" meaning "to shake together" (mix or stew).
It's the origin of the Middle English "hochepot."
Bear
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 21:11:58 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subjct: Re: [Sca-cooks] FW: OED Definition of a word "hocchee"
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
The Middle English Dictionary which I have access to gives the entry as
<>hocche (n.) (There's a line over the e)
[?Cp. hoche-pot.]
Cook. chikenes in ~, ?chickens boiled in a mixture of ingredients.
(a1399) Form Cury (Add 5016)
p.25: Chykens in hocchee. Take Chykens and cald hem; take persel
and sawge withoute eny oþere erbes; take garlec and grapes and
stoppe the Chikens ful and seeþ hem in gode broth, so þat þey may
esely be boyled þerinne.
Heatt and Butler in their edition of Curye on Inglysch give i as
Chykens in hocchee IV 36 (OF houssie 'with parsley'): cf. Hauceleamye
in the glossary section.
That entry Hauceleamye sends one back to the Menagier de Paris
and to the VT which is the Pichon Viandier.
That information is being repeated in the forthoming
Concordanace of English Recipes that will be out in 2006.
You might send your protege to look at the MP and VT as well
as the Hieatt and Butler edition.
As to why the FoC is associated with Elizabeth.... well actually
it turns out that the manuscrpt roll was presented to her as a gift in the
28th year of her reign by Lord Stafford's heir.
Richard Warner's edition of the FoC from 1790 gives the details in
his volume titled Antiquitates Culinarie.
(See the Prospect Books facsimile for details.)
It's just one of those curiousities that the manuscript of Richard II's
recipes were presented later to Elizabeth.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 21:35:40 -0700
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Plums was: Lammas 1005 menu
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Lyse wrote:
> Are red plums or reg. plums used in this sauce?
> I did not know that the reg. plums had made it so far west of the
> orient by this time.
> Would love [the] source.
>
>> Anahita, I was reading old email and found your recipe for the Apicus
>> plum sauce, thank you for sharing it. I'm leaving out the fish
>> sauce, but otherwise it fits what I know about Hiberno-Viking
>> cooking. I've read that they loved plums.
>>
>> Ranvaig
Well, the Romans imported dried plums (aka prunes, but that's so old
fashioned) from Syria - which was a Roman province at the time...
I used a mix of fresh and dried, and it needed more honey than i'd used.
It's on my website... gee, this is getting to be a refrain :-)
<http://home.earthlink.net/~lilinah/2003-Mists_Bardic/2003-Greco-
Roman3-4.html#chicken>
But i'll post it here:
Pollos cum Iure : CHICKEN WITH PLUM/PRUNE SAUCE
Original:
Sauce for Various Birds. Pepper, grilled cumin, lovage, mint, stoned
raisins or damsons, a little honey; blend with myrtle wine, vinegar,
fish sauce, and oil. Heat up and stir with celery and savory.
[--- Apicius, Book VI, Chapter V, Recipe 1]
My Version:
Plum/Prune Sauce
60 pitted Prunes
warm Water to cover
40 fresh Plums
1 gallon Red Wine
1-1/4 cups Red Wine Vinegar
1-1/4 cups Tiparos (brand) Thai Fish Sauce
1-1/4 cups Olive Oil
1/4 cup & 3 Tb. Honey
2 Tb. fresh Mint
2 Tb. Lovage Herb or Chinese Celery Leaves
1 Tb. ground roasted Cumin Seeds
1-1/2 tsp. ground Black Pepper
5-10 leafy stalks Celery
1 container fresh Savory Herb
Soak prunes in lukewarm water.
Plunge fresh plums in boiling water.
-- Drain and remove and discard skins.
-- Cut in half and discard pits.
Drain and chop prunes, saving liquid.
Tie celery and savory into bouquets.
Put all ingredients in saucepan, bring to boil and simmer 20 min.,
stirring with bouquet, and mashing prunes and plums occasionally.
Taste and adjust seasonings.
When done, leave bouquet in sauce until ready to serve.
NOTE:
Plums didn't grow in Italy at the time. Rather, dried plums were
imported from Syria, where they grew. I assumed a sauce entirely of
prunes would be too sweet, so I mixed fresh and dried in hope that
the sauce would be less cloying... see note below.
In fact the sauce was not sweet enough and needed more honey. Shoulda
just done all prunes. And, hey, I really like prunes.
Chicken
36 lb. Chicken Thighs and Legs
Put pieces in a single layer in enough roasting pans.
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
Roast at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, turning so they brown evenly until
cooked through, between 30 and 45 minutes.
To serve, plate cooked chicken and pour sauce over.
Also, note, that i didn't have access to fresh myrtle to flavor my
wine, so i just used a nice red. Anyone know where to get myrtle
berries?
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:13:25 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A Challenge to Find a Dish
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
At 02:09 PM 9/7/2005, you wrote:
> Your rules do not help me so much but I found a dish that may work...
> But I really like the hunt for the dish that starts with 'C'
>
> Chekyns in browet
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This is an excerpt from Liber cure cocorum.
> The original source can be found on Thomas Gloning's website.
>
> Chekyns in browet. Take chekyns, scalde hom fayre and clene. Take persole,
> sauge, oþer herb3, grene Grapus, and stope þy chekyns with wynne. Take
> goode brothe, sethe hom þerinne, So þat þay sone boyled may be. Coloure þe
> brothe with safrone fre, And cast þeron powder dowce, For to be
> served in goode mennys howse.
I served this to the Prince and Princess of the Summits at an event last
month- it went over well and I didn't have to figure out what to do with
the leftovers- because there weren't any! The only thing I wondered about-
anyone have an opinion as to whether the grapes were 'green' as in
underripe, or 'green' as in color?
'Lainie
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 16:20:41 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A Challenge to Find a Dish
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> Please post your redaction!
> Christopher
Mmblememlbele....
I usually cook directly off of the recipe, but I'll try to
reconstruct what I did...
>>> Chekyns in browet
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> This is an excerpt from Liber cure cocorum.
>>> The original source can be found on Thomas Gloning's website.
>>>
>>> Chekyns in browet. Take chekyns, scalde hom fayre and clene. Take
>>> persole, sauge, oþer herb3, grene Grapus, and stope þy chekyns with
>>> wynne. Take goode brothe, sethe hom þerinne, So þat þay sone boyled may
>>> be. Coloure þe brothe with safrone fre, And cast þeron powder dowce, For
>>> to be served in goode mennys howse.
I used a roasting chicken because that's what they had at Safeway. I took a
handful of parsley, some sage, some rosemary, and chopped them up together.
I took some Thompson's seedless grapes (again, because those were the green
grapes available when I was at the store, and I didn't have time to go
elsewhere), a softball-sized bunch, split each grape in half, and mixed them
in with the herbs. I pulled the giblets out of the chicken and rinsed it
thoroughly inside, then stuffed the grapes and herbs inside, and pinned it
closed with a bamboo skewer. *note*- the recipe says to stuff the chicken
with 'wynne'- which is not wine! 'Wyn' or 'win' is wine- the word 'wynne'
is either the word 'joy' (from the OE) or the verb 'gather' or 'come'.
Which make more sense to me than trying to stuff or stop up a chicken with
wine! So I gathered the opening and pinned it closed with my skewers. I
boiled the chicken in a pot of broth (Knorr's cubed- travels better than
canned) with a generous amount of saffron (I happen to like saffron) until
the joints were loose (at home about 45 min- but in camp with the wind
blowing, about an hour and ten), turning it over two or three times. When
it was done, I wrestled it out of the pot and into the serving dish, pulled
out the skewers, and loosened up the stuffing, then sprinkled a bit of
cinnamon sugar over it (I don't know where my powder douce went to, but it
wasn't in my cook basket) and gave it to Edouard to carve. People ate and
made nummy noises, so I guess it was good.
Will that suffice?
'Lainie
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 16:15:07 -0400
From: "Barbara Benson" <voxeight at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Rumpolt Hungarian Chicken
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
To make things more fun and interesting, here is my interpretation of
the same dish:
4 C Peeled and Chopped Apples
4 C Peeled and Chopped Onions
2 1/2 Lemons
2 C Chicken Broth
4 lbs Chicken Legs, Thighs and Breasts
3/4 C White Wine (Reisling)
1 T White Wine Vinegar
1/4 t Pepper
2 t Salt
20 threads Saffron
1 T Sugar
Peel and chop apples and onions. Put into pot. Peel 1 and 1/2 lemons and
remove pith from membranes, removing seeds at the same time over the
pot so as not to lose any juice. Cover and simmer until they become
soft. Place chicken in water and bring to a boil, simmer for 15 - 20
minutes or until lightly poached. Crush Saffron and steep in wine. Add
wine, vinegar and spices to the apple mixture. Then add partially
cooked chicken. Simmer covered for 20 minutes then remove cover to
reduce. If the chicken is getting too done remove from the sauce and
hold while reducing sauce further. Slice one whole lemon with the rind
on very thinly. Stir into chicken and sauce just before serving.
I look forward to seeing yours!!
Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva
On 4/19/06, Cat . <tgrcat2001 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Greetings Kiri-Hime
> Gwen Cat> I pulled up the original and no, it very clearly
> specifies Wine and vinegar:
> "geusz lauter Wein vnnd ein wenig Essig darein"
>
> pour clear wine and a little vinegar therin...
>
> which is not to say he didnt steal it from a recipe
> that used Verjuice, but in Rumpolt it states wine and
> vinegar.
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:08:17 -0400
From: "Barbara Benson" <voxeight at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Rumpolt Hungarian Chicken
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Aw shucks! The reason I added it in is that I love to see what
everyone comes up with - everyone interprets things differently. Case
in point: Here is Gwen Cat's translation from her site (considering
how behind in the digests she said she was):
2. Done Hungarian (style) yellow cooked hens. Take apple and onion/
also lime (lemon)/ chop them small/ take thereafter a beef broth/ and
put them in/ and let them simmer/ till they are cooked down. Take the
hens/ that are cooked/ but may still be simmered/ put the chopped
(cooked down veggies) into a tinned fish pot/ pour clear wine and a
little vinegar thereto/ lay the hens in there/ and let it simmer/
season it after with spices/ pepper and saffron/ and sugar it well/
let it simmer/ that a short broth appears. You can also chop in a
little bread/ so it becomes a little thick therefrom// cut a little
(chamomile? Anacyclus officinarum Hayne) thereto/ or (you) can cut
lemons nicely thick/ so it is good and delicate.
And here is the one I hacked out:
Yellow preserved chicken in the Hungarian Style Take Apple and Onion/
also lemon/ chop them small/ Take thereafter a Beef Broth/ and set
them to/ and let (them) simmer/ until they are well cooked/ Take a
chicken/ that has been boiled/ and do not cook overmuch/ this you chop
into a tinned Fishpot/ pour clear wine and a little vinegar therin/
have the chicken therein/ and let it simmer therewith/ thereafter
season with/ Pepper and Saffron/ and add Sugar/ let it simmer
therewith/ until you have won a small broth/ you can also add a little
chopped Bread therein/ so it wil be a little thick/ cut a little
Bertrumkraut thereon/ or make lemon therein sliced nicely thin/ so it
is good and welltasting.
Very similar, and you get the idea. I am sure that if good Giano were
to do a translation, it would be slightly different also. After
getting a better understanding - I have already identified a goof in
mine - the final word that I translated as welltasting is most
definitely not welltasting - delicate is correct.
I cannot wait to see what you come up with!!
Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 16:04:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Cat ." <tgrcat2001 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Rumpolt Hungarian Chicken
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Thanks, I have actualy been trying to follow this
thread, since I was aware of it.
Below is my redaction of 'a cooked old hen in a broth
in the Hungarian Style' from 'Caerthes A and S and
Outlands Crown Tourney II', November 4, 2004
.
*NOTE: I was cooking this for a crown tourney (the
redo-rescheduled-dropped-on-the-small-A&S-was-taking-a-breand-new-
team-to)
and it was a DRY site, so I used all vinegar (in
retrospect could have used half grape juice, but ...
If I were to re-do it, it would be 1C cider vinegar
and 1C white wine (Rhein or Riesling)
Gwen Cat
Rumpolt old hen recipes LXXXI
I. GEsotten Hennen in einer Bru:eh
I. cooked hen in a broth
2. Auff Ungerisch gelb eyngemacht Hennen. Nim(b)
Epffel vnd Zwiebl/ auch Limonien/ hack sie klein/
Nim(b) darnach ein Ridtfleischbru:eh/ vnd setz sie zu/
vnd lasz sieden/ bisz dasz gar eyngekocht. Nim(b) die
Hennen/ die gesotten ist/ vnnd doch noch sieden
gedarff/ thu das Gehack in ein vberzinten
Fischkessel/ geusz lauter Wein vnnd ein wenig Essig
darein/ leg die Hennen darein/ vnd lasz darmit sieden/
machs darnach ab mit Gewu:ertz/ Pfeffer vnd Saffran/
vnnd zuckers wol/ lasz darmit sieden/ dz ein kurtze
Bru:eh gewinnet. Du kanst auch wol ein wenig Brot
darein hacken/ so wirt es ein wenig dick davon/
schneidt ein wenig Bertrumkraut daran/ oder magst
Limonien schneiden fein breit/ so ist es gut vnd
zierlich.
2. Done Hungarian (style) yellow cooked hens. Take
apple and onion/ also lime (lemon)/ chop them small/
take thereafter a beef broth/ and put them in/ and let
them simmer/ till they are cooked down. Take the
hens/ that are cooked/ but may still be simmered/ put
the chopped (cooked down veggies) into a tinned fish
pot/ pour clear wine and a little vinegar thereto/ lay
the hens in there/ and let it simmer/ season it after
with spices/ pepper and saffron/ and sugar it well/
let it simmer/ that a short broth appears. You can
also chop in a little bread/ so it becomes a little
thick therefrom// cut a little (chamomile? Anacyclus
officinarum Hayne) thereto/ or (you) can cut lemons
nicely thick/ so it is good and delicate.
For 75 servings
50 lbs chicken leg/thighs (lots of waste...)
10 lbs apples (peeled, cored, chunked)
5 lb lemon (peeled, pith removed, cut into chunks )
5 large onions peeled and cut into chunks
chicken broth (left from prepoaching the chickens)
2 cup cider vinegar *note above
salt
pepper
sugar
saffron
additional lemons, thinly sliced
I forgot to start them in beef broth, but as I cooked
them in batches, the first batch had water with onion,
and by the final batch it was good strong chicken
broth. I simmered the chicken for about 20 minutes
each, then removed the skin, bagged and froze them.
Separately I took the chunks of apple, lemon and onion
and simmered them (started with a little water with
lemon, then the natural juices came out) till they
were soft. Then put all the chunks through a food mil,
thinning with the vinegar. At the site I plan to
season with salt, pepper, saffron, and sugar, add a
few more chunks of everything and let the chicken
simmer for another 2 hours. Final presentation will
include thin sliced lemons.
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 10:15:27 -0400
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler1 at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] looking for simple german vigil chow
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
I made Master Tirloch's Hungarian Chicken for his vigil...cut the
chicken breasts up into bite-sized pieces and supplied toothpicks to
pick the pieces up with.
(Auff Ungerisch gelb Henne) Hungarian Chicken
6 C chicken broth
2 Granny Apples, with skins on and chopped into small chunks
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped into small chunks
3 limes ? juice only
1 T salt
1 T ground black pepper
8 boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 C cider vinegar 1 C Riesling white wine
1 g saffron ? crushed
1/4 C sugar
In a large pot, add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the
chopped apples and onion and add the lime juice. When the apples and
onions are soft, add the cider and wine. Add the crushed saffron. Add 1
T ground black pepper, 1 T salt and the sugar.
Stir. Add the chicken breasts and simmer until done. Chickens will be
golden yellow when they are ready. Serve over bed of greens with the
cooked apples and onions
surrounding the chicken. Serves 8.
> From Gwen Cat?. SCA Cooks? List. Tirloch did the original transcription
from old German!
Kiri
Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 21:53:38 EDT
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Kings College Class test part 1. (Long)
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
In a message dated 5/22/2007 12:02:09 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
countgunthar at hotmail.com writes:
<<The spinning chicken was brought in after around 3 hours over the
fire and was a lot more cooked than I expected. There was just a
small bit of pink that needed more cooking around the deepest parts
and the thigh. It was sent to the microwave for 10 minutes and
was cooked through. Next time 3 1/2 hours should do it as well as
cooking the thicker part of the chicken more.>>
We did a spinning chicken over/beside a wood fire at Pennsic one year, and
that also took a long time - we finally ended up jointing it and finishing it
on the grill over the coals. But we did discover that watching a chicken spin
is mesmerizing. People would walk into camp to talk to us and lose the
thread of the conversation while staring at the chicken.
Brangwayna
Date: Sun, 02 Sep 2007 21:29:38 -0400
From: Patrick Levesque <petruvoda at videotron.ca>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Back to Basics
To: "Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>"
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
As I'm plunging back again into French cookery, I've decided to get better
acquainted with the basic stuff. So I've decided to begin with the
Vivendier's Barbe Robert.
Here's my quick translation of the original:
"Take some clear water and boil it with butter, then add wine, mustard and
verjuice, and spices of variety and strength such as you like, and boil
everything well. Then cut your chicken in pieces and boil it shortly
(laissiez boullir une onde seullement) and then roast it. Make sure there is
enough broth left, and color it with a little saffron"
Redaction:
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup butter
-1/2 cup white wine
-1/4 cup prepared mustard (chose your favorite variety - I used Meaux)
-a dash of white wine vinegar (no verjuice at hand, unfortunately)
-some pepper
-1 1/2 to 2 pound de-boned chicken thighs
-a pinch of saffron
In a pan, drop the butter in water and heat to a boil as the butter melts.
Add the wine, mustard, and vinegar. Mix well. Add the chicken, simmer five
minutes (somewhat longer, maybe, then required. It is unclear how long "une
onde" should be). Remove the chicken pieces, put them in an oven safe dish
and roast them 15 minutes at 350. Meanwhile, add the saffron and reduce the
sauce, whisking frequently. (I added a bit more butter near the end to
smoothen it out) Serve the chicken hot, covered with the sauce.
It got the definite approval of all my unvoluntary taste-testers (2,
4, and 27)!.
In his edition, Scully compares the sauce to a "fortified mustard" although
I get quite a different impression from my redaction. I'm interested in
hearing of your own variants of various Barbe Robert type sauces, in order
to compare.
I'm wondering, at times, to which fair-bearded Robert the sauce is
dedicated? :-))
Petru
<the end>