liver-msg

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liver-msg - 3/6/12

Medieval cooking of liver. Recipes.

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NOTICE -

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

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Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 02:31:52 -0700

From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Chopped Liver/ Pate

> Speaking of liver, can anyone help me with documentation & recipe for Pate?

> ~~Minna Gantz <KALLYR at aol.com>

There's a liver recipe in Chiquart, but its not very pate like (boo hoo).

More like scrambled eggs, the way I read it.

- --Anne-Marie

Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 21:47:17 -0500 (CDT)

From: jeffrey stewart heilveil <heilveil at students.uiuc.edu>

Subject: Re: SC - Chopped Liver/ Pate

Salut!

To escape forever being branded by Lord Ras as a spoon tease, I am going

to do my best to fix the situation. Therefore, Here is my recipe,

followed by the one in Alia Atas' Translation of Ein Buch von Guter

Speise... If you leave out the wine/claret out of Alia's that's a pate.

If you go to her website you can get the documentation information you

will probably want.

If e'er I can do anything else...

Your servant,

Bogdan din Brasov

- ---

1/2 lb Liver (chicken. It does make a difference)

1 onion.

1 hardboiled egg

Salt and pepper to taste

1 T margarine

Use the margarine and onion to saute onion. Cook under a lid until it is

carmelized (1/2 hourish)

Add liver to onions. Cover. Saute this until when part of the liver is cut

open it is almost all brown.

Lake off the lid and cook off the liquid.

Blend with the egg, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve it forth...

- ---

Courtesy of Alia Atlas:

http://www.cs.bu.edu/students/grads/akatlas/Buch/recipes.html#recipe16

16. Von einem gerihte von lebern (Of a dish of liver)

Man sol nemen ein lebern und herte eyer. die sol man stozzen in eime

mrser. und daz sol man mengen mit luterm

tranke oder mit wine oder mit ezzige und sol ez malen in einer

senfmlen und nem zwiboln. die solt du syden mit

smaltze oder mit le. daz sol man giezzen ber vische oder ber

wiltpret. Noch dirre wise mahtu vil anders dingez

machen.

One should take a liver (presumably cooked) and hard eggs. One should

pound them in a mortar. And one should mix

that with claret or with wine or with vinegar and should grind it in

a mustard mill and take onions, which you should cook

with fat or with oil. One should pour that over fish or over wild

meat. In this same way, you may make many other things.

Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 19:14:22 EDT

From: LrdRas at aol.com

Subject: SC - Will's- more recipes

Here are the few recipes my co-feastocrat at Will's Revenge, His Lordship

Thorstein, was willing to share. :-) Sorry for the lack of documentation but

this isn't my work. Enjoy. They are wonderful. :-)

Leverpostej

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 pound fresh pork liver

* pound fresh pork fat

1 onion, coarsely chopped (* cup)

3 flat anchovy fillets, drained

2 eggs

1* teaspoons salt

* teaspoon white pepper

* teaspoon ground allspice

* teaspoon cloves

* pound fresh pork fat, sliced into long, 1/8 inch thick strips or sheets

Melt the butter in a saucepan, remove from the heat, and stir in the flour.

Add milk and cream and bring to a boil, beating constantly with a whisk until

the sauce is smooth and thick. Let it simmer for a minute, then set aside to

cool, Cut the liver into chunks. Roughly chop the port fat and mix both with

the onion and achieves. Divide the mixture into thirds. PurÈe each batch in

an electric blender at high speed, adding enough sauce to keep the mixture

from clogging the blender. Transfer each completed batch to a large bowl

and beat in any remaining cream sauce. (To make by hand, put the liver,

pork fat, onion and anchovies through the finest blade of a meat grinder

twice, then combine with the cream sauce, beating them together

thoroughly.) Beat the eggs with the salt, pepper, allspice and cloves and

mix thoroughly into the mixture. The blender mixture will be considerably

more fluid than the one made by hand.

Preheat the oven to 350?. Line a 1 quart loaf pan or mold with the strips of

pork fat. Arrange the strips lengthwise or crosswise; they should overlap

slightly and cover the bottom of the pan. If long enough, let them hang over

the sides; otherwise, save enough strips to cover the top. Spoon the liver

mixture into the loaf pan and fold the overhanging strips (or extra strips) of

fat over the top. Cover with a double sheet of aluminum foil, sealing the

edges tightly, and place in a large baking pan. Pour into the baking pan

enough boiling water to reach at least halfway up the side of the loaf pan

and bake in the center of the oven for 2 hours. Remove from the oven and

lift off the foil. When cool, recover with the foil and chill thoroughly.

Liver

paste may be served in * inch thick slices as a first course, as a luncheon

dish or on bread as sm¯rrebr¯d.

Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 01:09:20 EDT

From: Mordonna22 at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - making liver nips

troy at asan.com writes:

There are also numerous dishes varying from the basic theme of livering

puddings, which are made similarly to black or white puddings, but with

the addition of boiled, ground, crushed, pulverized, what have you,

liver added to the breadcrumbs, cream, etc. >>

The lady of whom i have spoken before taught me to make liver nips:

3 lbs. fatty beef roast (or add a bit of tallow)

2 quarts water

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground peppercorns

1 large onion

1 beef liver

1 1/2 cups plain flour

Boil the roast and tallow with the spices and onions until very tender, 2 to 3 hours. Remove from the boiler, reserving the stock, and place in a roasting pan and place under a broiler to brown. While the roast is browning, make a dough of the liver and flour. Scrape the liver and work into the flour. Form dumplings from the dough by "nipping" bits about the size of large peanuts

from the mass of the dough and drop into the rapidly boiling stock. Serve as

a side dish with the nicely browned roast.

Very High Cholesterolly Yours

Mordonna

Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 11:47:07 EDT

From: Mordonna22 at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - making liver nips

troy at asan.com writes:

Okay, so these are liver gnocchi. Kewl! By any chance is it part of the

Celestial Design of the Creator of the First, Proto-Liver-Nip to include

any of the fat floating on the surface of the cooking liquid, or is that

just to help the roast brown and stay moist? Also, does the recipe

really call for 1 beef liver? A beef liver is _big_! Maybe a pound or

so?

Sorry to bug you with these questions, but I'd realy like to actually do

this at some point, and I wanted to be sure I'd be doing it right.

Adamantius >>

Well, as to the fat, it was not incorporated into the dumplings, they are

supposed to be "tight." The idea of the fat for those German farmers was a

source of energy for 20 hour days on the farm.

The livers we used were always from young steers we had killed. I was amazed

the first time I saw a cows liver in the butcher's case at a supermarket. I

didn't know they grew that big. I would recommend about a pound of calves

liver, if you don't happen to be lucky enough to butcher your own.

Mordonna

Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 13:43:02 EDT

From: THLRenata at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - Organ Meats

While perusing my brand-new copy of The Medieval Kitchen I noticed a number of

recipes where the sauce was thickened with liver.

Has anyone tried this? How pervasive is the liver flavor? (Other organ meats

are great, but I just don't like liver.) Is there any way to omit the liver

and still get a reasonable result?

Renata

Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 15:59:12 -0400

From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)

Subject: Re: SC - Organ Meats

>While perusing my brand-new copy of The Medieval Kitchen I noticed a number of

>recipes where the sauce was thickened with liver.

>Has anyone tried this? How pervasive is the liver flavor? (Other organ meats

>are great, but I just don't like liver.) Is there any way to omit the liver

>and still get a reasonable result?

>Renata

Hello! The flavor depends on what kind of liver you use & the proportion

to other ingredients. Another period method of thickening sauces is using

boiled blood: boil it till it coagulates, and (sometimes you then fry it,

and then) pass it through a strainer. Then add the blood to your sauce.

Cindy/Sincgiefu

renfrow at skylands.net

Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 16:45:24 -0400

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Organ Meats

THLRenata at aol.com wrote:

> While perusing my brand-new copy of The Medieval Kitchen I noticed a number of

> recipes where the sauce was thickened with liver.

> Has anyone tried this? How pervasive is the liver flavor? (Other organ meats

> are great, but I just don't like liver.) Is there any way to omit the liver

> and still get a reasonable result?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and answer what I anticipate your

next couple of questoins will be. I do this not out of disrespect, but

because I've looked into this a good deal and I have sort of followed a

specific logical path and come to a definite conclusion about this whole

liver-thickened sauce thing.

Now that you're really confused...here's the situation as I see it.

Others' mileage may vary. Sauces thickened with liver tend to involve

livers (poultry, rabbit or hare, usually but not always raw) pureed in a

fine hair sieve, and added to thicken the sauce with the warning that

the sauce should be heated until thick but not boiled. This would seem

to me to make them a close relative of similar recipes for chawdoun and

various civies ancient and modern, thickened with blood.

Obviously the less liver you use, the less like liver the dish will

taste. You could use blood, which would then make the dish taste like

blood, which some people don't mind and others would rather die than

eat. It's your call. In general, blood tastes rich and slightly gamey

but without the trace sweet bitterness of liver.

Now, as a substitute for livers and/or blood, sources like Taillevent

would recommend toast slowly roasted on a gridiron until deep, deep

mahagony brown, but not burnt black (the rack on a 250-300 degree oven

works great for this), crumbled and steeped in vinegar and/or verjuice

until soft enough to push through a sieve. Red wine vinegar helps with

the color illusion. It really isn't the same, but it seems to have been

done when livers were not available for one reason or another.

Still, you might experiment and possibly find that you can make a nice,

rich, velvety sauce that doesn't just taste much like liver at all, if

you don't overdo it on the liver puree. Just as a benchmark, liverwurst

is much milder than pure liver because it's maybe a third liver and two

thirds fat and muscle meat. You may find that a sauce thickened with

liver might take less still to do the job, and Not Offend. I have no

statistics available on this, but generally it's a good idea to have

some firsthand experience with something like this before abandoning it.

You will probably live a richer life as a result.

After that, of course, you always have the option of the dark toast ; ).

Adamantius

Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 02:57:43 -0500

From: allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON)

Subject: Re: SC - Organ Meats

I find that if I cut up a chicken liver in small bits and then stir fry

it very quickly in a bit of butter, it does not have the slightly musty

quality that liver sometimes gets when simmered. Broiling keeps a

cleaner taste, too, I think. Try this, before you puree it, and see if

it helps. I also like the taste when it is cooked in the fat from bacon,

if you don't go bananas about cholesterol.

Allison

Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 06:35:51 -0800

From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>

Subject: SC- period liver recipes was Re: SC - Finger foods

hi all from Anne-Marie

One of my FAVORITE recipes from Epilario is a pasty filled with chicken

livers, hearts and gizzards plus sour cherries. Yum! Sorry, its not my

recipe, so I dont have a reconstruction (Maestro Eduardo made it for a

party once)

The sour cherries do a number on the dusty taste of the liver. Yum! (oh, I

said that already, didnt I?)

There's a recipe in Chiquart as well, but that's more of a scrambled eggs

and liver dish, not very suited to your setup, it sounds.

- --AM

Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 21:14:58 +1000

From: "Lee-Gwen Booth" <piglet006 at globalfreeway.com.au>

Subject: Re: SC - Was Ravioli, dumplings, and excoriation - now cooking Liver

From Gwynydd of Culloden unto the Gathered Cooks of the List, Greetings:

From: Sieggy der Omnivore

> (and besides, less than 3 people out of a thousand know how to prepare

> liver properly, I'd wager . . .)

Well, if my Lady is any judge, I am one of those 3. I made her a dish of

organ meats from "Pleyn Delit" for her work lunches and she thought that it

was wonderful (it was far too strongly flavoured for my tastes - but then, I

am not much of an offal eater). I do, however, have some questions about

the recipe which one of the more experienced cooks can probably answer.

First, the recipe (wouldn't want to be accused of being a "spoon-tease"!).

Noumbles

Take noumbles of Deer oper or oper beest; paboile hem; kerf hem to dyce.

Take the self broth or better; take brede and grynde with the broth, and

temper it up with a gode quantite of vynegar and wyne. Take the oynons and

parboyle hem, and mynce hem small and do per=to. Color it with blode and do

pre=to powder fort and salt, and boyle it wele, and serue it forth.

Pleyn Delit redaction

2 beef kidneys (ca 11/2 - 2 lbs)

3/4c beef broth or stock

1/4c breadcrumbs

2tb vinegar

2-3 onions. peeled

1/4tsp each ginger, mace, and pepper

1/2tsp salt (or to taste)

Cover the kidneys with cold, salted water and bring to a boil; then pour off

the water (or save it for broth, if you have no beef stock). Chop kidneys

into pieces about 1 inch square, or a little more. Beat the breadcrumbs

into the broth (start by moistening it with just a tablespoon or two)and

stir in the wine and vinegar.

Meanwhile, parboil onions in salted water for about five minutes. Drain,

and chop the onions. Add them along with seasoning and chopped kidneys to

the sauce and bring to a simmer; cover and cook gently for 25 to 30 minutes.

NOTE:

In the notes, the authors say that "noumbles" is probably best translated as

various organ meats, that being so, I used (lamb) kidney and (ox) liver

together.

I boiled the onion in the same water as the meat and then used the resultant

liquid for the stew. As well, the organ meats exuded quite an amount of

blood which I poured back into the stew.

Okay, that is the recipe, now the questions;

1) How are stews of this nature served? That is, are they served alone in a

bowl or over something like rice?

2) I added cloves and galingale to the spices - just because they seemed

"right" somehow. According to my Lady, the cloves really "made" the dish,

but I don't know how accurate period-wise it was to add these extras. As

well, I increased the ginger to 1/2tsp, which she thought was about right.

3) The original says that the meat should be minced small - why then do the

authors have them as 1 inch pieces? My feeling was that this was too big.

Many Thanks

Gwynydd

Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 11:29:21 -0400

From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Was Ravioli, dumplings, and excoriation - now cooking Liver

And it came to pass on 23 Apr 00,, that Lee-Gwen Booth wrote:

> From Gwynydd of Culloden unto the Gathered Cooks of the List, Greetings:

> Noumbles

> Take noumbles of Deer oper or oper beest; paboile hem; kerf hem to dyce.

> Take the self broth or better; take brede and grynde with the broth, and

> temper it up with a gode quantite of vynegar and wyne. Take the oynons

> and parboyle hem, and mynce hem small and do per=to. Color it with blode

> and do pre=to powder fort and salt, and boyle it wele, and serue it forth.

[snip]

> Okay, that is the recipe, now the questions;

> 2) I added cloves and galingale to the spices - just because they seemed

> "right" somehow. According to my Lady, the cloves really "made" the

> dish, but I don't know how accurate period-wise it was to add these

> extras. As well, I increased the ginger to 1/2tsp, which she thought

> was about right.

"Powder fort" was a spice mixture of strong-tasting spices. As with a

modern curry powder, garam masala, or apple-pie spice, there was

probably more than one valid way to make it. None of your spices

above look inappropriate to me.

> 3) The original says that the meat should be minced small - why then do

> the authors have them as 1 inch pieces? My feeling was that this was

> too big.

If you look again at the original, you'll see that it's the onions that are to

be minced small; the numbles are to be carved "to dyce", which I

*think* means into pieces the size and shape of playing dice.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain

Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 22:57:41 -0400

From: harper at idt.net

Subject: Re: SC - liver (was rare foods at feasts-rant)

And it came to pass on 27 Sep 00, , that Decker, Terry D. wrote:

> Of course, liver is very much a matter of personal taste, so perhaps some

> others will share their recipes and opinions.

> Bear

Personally, the only kind of liver I can tolerate is Jewish-style

chopped (chicken) liver. But my lord husband loves it fried with

onions, and orders it in restaurants now and then. Anyway, for

those who do like the stuff, here's a period recipe:

Source: Ruperto de Nola, _Libro de Guisados_ (Spanish, 1529)

Translation: Lady Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)

Vinegar Which is Marinated Liver

VINAGRE QUE ES HIGADO ADOBADO

Take onions, and cut them very small, like fingers, and fry them gently

with fatty bacon; and then take the liver of a kid or a lamb or a goat and

cut them into slices the size of a half walnut, and fry it gently with the

onion until the liver loses its color; then take a crustless piece of toasted

bread soaked in white vinegar, and grind it well, and dissolve it with

sweet white wine; and then strain it through a woolen cloth; and then

cast it over the onion and the liver, all together in the casserole; and cast

in ground cinnamon; and cook until it is well thickened and when it is

cooked, prepare dishes.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain

Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 09:32:42 -0500

From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>

Subject: Historic Liver recipes (was SC - liver )

I was perusing Sabina Welserin last night and thinking about liver. How was

it prepared? Were any types of liver avoided? What was the medical

philosophy concerning liver? With Brighid's post from de Nola, I thought a

thread on historic liver recipes and documentation might be fun.

Not being into liverwurst, I'm thinking of trying the liver dish and the

liver tart from Welser. The recipes given below are from Valois Armstrong's

translation of Das Kochbuch von Sabina Welserin.

Bear

21 A liver dish

Then take a liver from a lamb and cut it into little pieces the size of a calf's

sweetbreads and wrap around each piece a small lamb's caul and stick it onto

a spit and roast it like small spitted birds on a grill.

26 If you would make good liverwurst

First take a quarter of a pig's liver, also a quarter of a pig's lungs, chop them small, after that chop bacon into small cubes and put salt and caraway seeds into it. The liver and lungs must first be cooked, before they are chopped, and afterwards pour as much of this broth on the chopped meat as you feel is enough. Then take the intestines from the slaughterhouse and fill them full, then you have good sausage.

77 A liver tart

Take liver from a calf or a lamb, cook it until it becomes soft, take rich meat

broth, chop the liver small and put salt, ginger and pepper in it and let it

bake.

Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 20:38:12 -0400

From: harper at idt.net

Subject: Re: Historic Liver recipes (was SC - liver )

And it came to pass on 28 Sep 00, , that Decker, Terry D. wrote:

> I was perusing Sabina Welserin last night and thinking about liver. How was

> it prepared? Were any types of liver avoided? What was the medical

> philosophy concerning liver? With Brighid's post from de Nola, I thought a

> thread on historic liver recipes and documentation might be fun.

You've seen Vincente's post with his translated recipe, which uses

sheep, kid, or goat liver. As far as I can tell, the Spanish corpus

uses the livers of most edible creatures. There are a lot of recipes

for roast fowl which use the bird's liver in a sauce. There are also

some Lenten recipes for sauces using fish liver (tunny and dentex),

and the _Arte Cisoria_ (1423 carving manual) mentions that hog's

liver is often chopped into a pate-type dish.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain

Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 20:19:49 GMT

From: "Vincent Cuenca" <bootkiller at hotmail.com>

Subject: SC - Re: New to the list (also historic liver)

>The House of Aragon controlled both Sicily and Naples from 1442 to 1504,

>when control of both was cede to Spain. Sicily and Naples were

>inter-related more ofthen than not from the 11th Century on.

Aaaand not one, but TWO people on the list are translating a cookbook

written for the King of Naples, Ferrante (or Fernando, for those of us who

speak God's good Spanish). Lady Brighid is planning on making her version

available on the Web; I plan to publish mine as a book.

By the way, here's a liver recipe from it:

Vinagre, Which Is Liver In Sauce

Take onions, and cut them very fine like dice, and sweat them with fat

bacon; then take liver of kid or lamb or goat and cut it into slices the

size of half a nut and fry it gently it with the onion until it loses its

color; then take a large piece of bread toasted and soaked in vinegar; and

grind it well; then thin it with sweet white wine; then put it through a

strainer; then add it to the onions and liver, all together in the

casserole; and add ground cinnamon; and cook it until it is very thick and

when it is done prepare the dishes.

Vicente

(not too fond of liver unless disguised in pate)

Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 07:14:24 -0500

From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>

Subject: RE: Historic Liver recipes (was SC - liver )

Anthimus gives the following advice about liver:

"Fried pig's liver is not at all suitable for either healthy or sick people.

But if those in health wish, they may eat it as follows: when it has been

cut up well and placed on a metal gridiron with broad rods, it is coated

with oil or fat, and when grilled gently over burning charcoal. When it is

hot, but still underdone, it can be eaten sprinkled with oil, salt and

coriander."

The notes concerning this passage are:

"Apicius used to stuff sows with dried figs and when they were full, he gave

them honeyed wine to drink before slaughtering them (Pliny, Natural History

8.209). Their livers were cooked in herbs and wine, sometimes wrapped in

sausage casings (Apicius On the Art of Cooking 7.3.1-2, Atheneaus

Deipnosophists 3.106e). Ancient cooks often specified the degree of heat to

be used for a recipe, although quantities of ingredients are omitted (cf.

Apicius On the Art of Cooking 7.3.2 for liver cooked over a gentle flame).

"Gridirons were a standard piece of equipment in the ancient kitchen

(Maritial Epigrams 14.221, Petronius Satyricon 31.11, Apicius On the Art of

Cooking 7.2.1, 7.4.2). Fat was sometimes used in cooking instead of olive

oil, especially when deep frying (e.g. Cato On Agriculture 79: 'pour fat

into a hated bronze pot.')"

Grant, Mark, Anthimus On the Observance of Foods; Prospect Books, Devon,

England, 1996.

Bear

Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 17:29:23 EDT

From: ChannonM at aol.com

Subject: > RE: Historic Liver recipes (was SC - liver )

I found this recipe while reviewing the Arundel MS- Ancient Cookery, 1390

English

Chowettes on Flesshe Day

Take the lyvere of a fwyn and of hennes and capons and cut hom fmal as to a

pye and frye hom in grefe; then make fmale cofyns and do hit therin and do

therto harde zolkes of egges and pounder of gynger; then kover hit and grie

hit or bake hit, and ferve hit forthe.

Sounds like a winner to me.

Hauviette

Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 23:40:35 -0400

From: harper at idt.net

Subject: Re: SC - Fascinating etymological study / too much free time???

Grenon sounds something like gra“ones -- the Spanish word for

groats. Nola has a recipe for a kind of frumenty made with wheat groats

and almond milk. It seems to me that the minced-liver dish might look

something like boiled groats, but would taste *VERY* different, hence

"faux". I looked in a couple of online French dictionaries. The word for

groats is "gruau", but "grenon" may have been a borrowing or an

archaic usage. Just some wild-blue-yonder speculations...

Brighid (who was actually a French major, would you believe?)

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain

Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 20:40:39 -0700

From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>

Subject: Re: Historic Liver recipes (was SC - liver )

At 9:32 AM -0500 9/28/00, Decker, Terry D. wrote:

>I was perusing Sabina Welserin last night and thinking about liver. How was

>it prepared? Were any types of liver avoided? What was the medical

>philosophy concerning liver? With Brighid's post from de Nola, I thought a

>thread on historic liver recipes and documentation might be fun.

I'm a while behind on the list, but no one mentioned my favorite

period liver recipe:

Mufarraka

al-Baghdadi p. 201/11

Take chickens' livers and crops, wash, and boil in water with a

little salt: then take out, and cut up small. Mix with yolks of eggs,

adding the usual seasonings as required: then fry in a frying-pan in

sesame-oil, stirring all the time. If desired sour, sprinkle with a

little pure lemon-juice. If desired plain, use neither lemon nor egg.

[end of original]

14 oz chicken livers

14 oz chicken gizzards

1/2 t salt

8 egg yolks

1 1/2 t coriander

1 1/2 t cumin

3/4 t pepper

1 1/2 t cinnamon

2 T sesame oil for frying

1/4 c lemon juice

Bring 3 c water to a boil with 1/8 t salt, add gizzards and simmer 50

minutes. Near the end of this time, bring another 3 c of water and

1/8 t salt to a boil and cook livers in it 3 minutes. Drain both, cut

up small (1/2"x 1/2" pieces), put in a bowl and mix with egg yolks and

spices. Heat oil and fry mixture about 4 minutes, sprinkle with lemon

juice. Serve. The spices chosen are the combination Al-Bagdadi most

commonly uses.

Unfortunately, it's very high on cholesterol, so it is a while since

I've made it.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 16:46:08 -0400 (EDT)

From: Morgan Cain <morgancain at earthlink.net>

Subject: SC - Livyre Puddings (chicken liver pate)

> Livyre Puddings (chicken liver pate) - chicken liver, crumbs, fat, currants,

> nutmeg [Good Hous-wives Treasurie, 1588] (NOTE: may inadvertently

> contain crumbs of almonds)

>>>> Would you have this recipe handy? I know someone that

>>>> is looking for this exact thing just now.

I used the one in "To The Queen's Taste," but substituting chicken for pork where appropriate:

"How to make Livering Puddinges. Take the Liver of a Hogge, and give it three or fower warmes over the fier. Then either grate or choppe it verye small, and take a little grated bread adn two egges well beaten, whites and all, and Currans, Nutmegges, Pepper, and Salte, and Hogges suet."

(From "The Good Hous-Wives Treasurie", on p.40 of TTQT)

My version (from the redaction): Boil 7-8 pounds of chicken livers in salted water until cooked. Drain and puree in a food processor. Mix with two matzohs, crushed into crumbs, one half-cup fat (margarine or schmaltz), about 5-6 tsp. of nutmeg, 1-2 tsp. ground black pepper, and a cup of currants. Chill until serving. (NOTE: It is fluffier if you prepare while the livers are hot, but this can make it harder to stir. HOT!! Also, I left out the eggs, being twitchy about raw eggs.)

---= Morgan

Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 18:06:15 -0400

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Livyre Puddings (chicken liver pate)

Morgan Cain wrote:

> My version (from the redaction): Boil 7-8 pounds of chicken livers in salted water until cooked. Drain and puree in a food processor. Mix with two matzohs, crushed into crumbs, one half-cup fat (margarine or schmaltz), about 5-6 tsp. of nutmeg, 1-2 tsp. ground black pepper, and a cup of currants. Chill until serving. (NOTE: It is fluffier if you prepare while the livers are hot, but this can make it harder to stir. HOT!! Also, I left out the eggs, being twitchy about raw eggs.)

> ---= Morgan

FWIW, not having immediate access to either source you mention, I'd bet

money the eggs aren't raw by the time this mixture is put into sausage

casings and boiled...

Adamantius

Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 20:02:59 -0500

From: "Morgan Cain" <morgancain at earthlink.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Livyre Puddings (chicken liver pate)

> FWIW, not having immediate access to either source you mention, I'd bet

> money the eggs aren't raw by the time this mixture is put into sausage

> casings and boiled...

Good thought, Adamantius, but I didn't see such a step in the recipe. You

just make the paste, no further cooking once the items are smushed together,

and I didn't think the hot chicken livers alone would be sufficient to cook

the eggs. Overall, except for being "sweet" instead of "savoury," the

recipe sounds a lot more like chopped chicken livers. That's why I worried

about the eggs, but there doesn't seem to be any ill effect from leaving

them out.

---= Morgan (who spent FAR too long

standing in checkout lines today!)

Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 22:00:00 -0400

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Livyre Puddings (chicken liver pate)

Morgan Cain wrote:

> > FWIW, not having immediate access to either source you mention, I'd bet

> > money the eggs aren't raw by the time this mixture is put into sausage

> > casings and boiled...

> Good thought, Adamantius, but I didn't see such a step in the recipe. You

> just make the paste, no further cooking once the items are smushed together,

> and I didn't think the hot chicken livers alone would be sufficient to cook

> the eggs. Overall, except for being "sweet" instead of "savoury," the

> recipe sounds a lot more like chopped chicken livers. That's why I worried

> about the eggs, but there doesn't seem to be any ill effect from leaving

> them out.

> ---= Morgan (who spent FAR too long

> standing in checkout lines today!)

No, no ill effects, but given that there is also (presumably) raw hog

suet (i.e. unrendered lard, possibly ground or chopped), for which you

have substituted rendered chicken fat, IIRC, I'd strongly suspect that

instructions to stuff this mixture into casings and simmer until firm to

be sort of implicit. At least one other cookery source somewhere on my

shelves has a whole slew of such recipes, and only the first in the

series actually bothers to describe the process of putting the stuff

into casings and boiling: for that time and place, the fact that the

term "pudding" is used implies the process. A modern example of this

kind of thing might involve, say, a meatloaf recipe that doesn't

actually specify to form the mixture into a loaf and bake it until done

to your taste... it's pretty much accepted that that's what you'll do.

On the other hand, there are the various baked puddings from late- and

early-post-period, but those recipes tend not to include suspiciously

raw ingredients, generally.

Given the limitations built into your Lent/Passover scenario, it makes a

fair amount of sense to do as you've done, even if I might not do it

that way myself every time.

Adamantius

From: "Michael Newton" <melcnewt at netins.net>

To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] what is your project?

Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 01:40:26 -0500

Since I have just been gifted with 4 to 5 lbs. of beef liver, I'd thought

now would be a good time to experment (esp. as no-one else in my family

really likes liver).

I'm going to start out with Sabina Welserin's recipe for a liver tart (no. 77)

"Take liver from a calf or lamb, cook it until it becomes soft, take rich

meat broth, chop the liver small and put salt, ginger, and pepper in it and

let it bake."

I haven't decided on which pie crust recipe to use yet, although W has a

"pastry dough for all shaped pies" (no. 61)

Take flour, the best that you can get, about two handfuls, depending on how

large or small you would have the pie. Put it on the table and with a knife

stir in two eggs and a little salt. Put water in a small pan and a piece of

fat the size of two good eggs, let it all dissolve together and boil.

Afterwards pour it on the flour on the table and make a strong dough and

work it well, however you feel is right. If it is summer, one must take meat

broth instead of water and in the place of fat the skimmings from the

broth. When the dough is kneaded, then make of it a round ball and draw it

out well on the sides with the fingers or with a rolling pin, so that in the

middle a raised are remains, then let it chill in the cold. Afterwards shape

the dough as I pointed out to you. Also reserve dough for the cover and roll

it out into a cover and take water and spread it over the top of the ccover

and the top of the formed pastry shell and join it together well with the

fingers. Leave a small hole. And see that it is pressed together well, so

that it does not come open. Blow in the small hole which you have left, then

the cover will lift itself up. Then quickly press the hole closed.

Afterwards put it in the oven. Sprinkle flour in the dish beforehand. Take

care that the oven is properly heated, then it will be a pretty pastry. The

dough for all shaped pastries is made in this manner.

The kneading of the pastry dough is opposite of what I've been taught in

making pie crusts, but I figure it may have to do with the crust being able

to stand on its own, hence "shaped pies" On the other hand, I could be

completely wrong. Why we're suppose to use meat broth in the summer rather

than water, I have no Idea. (any clues?)

I'll let you all know what happened.

Beatrix of Tanet

Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 04:48:04 -0800 (PST)

From: Louise Smithson <helewyse at yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Rumpolt on Foie Gras

To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Petru wrote:

Apparently there is a part in Rumpolt's cookbook about a 3-pound fattened

goose liver being roasted and served. Could anybody please (please?) supply

me with the exact reference and rough translation?

While we're on the topic, what else do we have on Foie Gras in period

sources after the Greek and Roman eras?

Well Scappi talks about it in his book, here is the bit on cooking

livers I translated from Scappi for my Offal class (for full class

notes see http://www.geocities.com/helewyse/Offal.html).

Interestingly he talks about the 2 and 3 pound geese livers as coming

from Jewish breeders.

Helewyse

Per cuocere in piu modi i fegati d?oche, di papari, d?anatre, di pavoni,

di galli d?India, di capponi, di galline, & di ogni altra sorte de volatili.

Cap CL, secondo libro

Tragli altri fegati quello del cappone, & della gallina nostrale ?

il piu perfetto, poi quello dell?oca, & del paparo, e tutti per esser

buoni, vogliono esser cavati, & cocinati subito morto il volatile.

Delli piu grossi si potranno far fegatelli in rete di capretto, o di castrato,

o di porco, & cuocersi nello spedo tramezati con alcune fetoline di lardo,

& di foglie di lauro o di salvia. Si possono ancho friggere in strutto

dapoi che saranno infarinati, & senza essere infarinati con fettoline

di presciutto. Gli altri piu piccioli si potranno soffriggere con grasso

di cappone, & di tutti li sudetti fegati si potranno fare diverse fricassee

con uva spina, overo agresto intiero, & in qualunque modo siano cotti,

vogliano rimaner piu tosto un poco verdi, che troppo cotti, ma il fegato

dell?oche domestiche che allevano i Giudei ? d?estrema grossezza,

& pesa due, & tre libre; Et subito morto il volatile si cava, &

si fa stare in latte di vacca tepido per un giorno, mutandogli il latte fresco

due volte. Cresce il detto fegato nel latte, & nel cuocere si fa piu

tenero, & vuole essere involto nella rete, & cuocersi nello spedo

intiero, benche con gran difficulta si fa star fermo. Cotto che sar?

vuol?esser servito caldo, & non volendolo nello spedo s?infariner?,

& si far? cuocere in una padella dove sia strutto liquefatto,

rivolgendolo alcune volte, overo si cuocer? nella detta padella con

la rete medesima, & si servir? caldo con sugo di melangole, &

zuccaro sopra, si potr? ancho tagliare in fette, et infarinare, et

friggere con lo strutto. Delli detti fegati si potranno ancho far

tommacelle come ? detto di quello del porco nel Cap 107.

To cook in many ways the liver of: geese, doves, ducks, peahens, turkeys,

capons, hens and every other sort of bird. Chapter 150 2nd book.

Among other livers those from the capon and from the native hen are the most

perfect, then that of the goose and gosling, and all the others to be good

should be taken and cooked as soon as the bird is dead. Of the largest

ones one can make faggots in the caul of goat or whether or pig and cook

them on the spit interleaved with several slices of ?lardo? and leaves of

bay or of sage. One can also fry them (faggots) in grease after they

have been floured, and without flouring with slices of ham. The other

smaller (livers) one can fry in capon fat, and with all these said livers

one can make varied fricasees with gooseberries or whole sour grapes, and

in whatever way they are cooked they should stay more than a little green

(raw) rather than over cooked. But the liver of the domestic goose

that the Jews bread is of extreme size, weighing two or three pounds.

As soon as the animal is dead one pulls the liver and puts it to marinate

in tepid cows milk for a day, changing the milk for fresh twice. Pull

the said liver from the milk and in the cooking it will be much more tender,

and one needs to wrap it in caul fat, and cook it whole in the spit, because

it is with great difficulty that it stays firm. When it is cooked it

should be served hot, and if you don?t want to cook it on the spit flour

it and put it to cook in a pan where there is liquid lard, turning it several

times. Or cook it in a frying pan with the same caul on it and one

serves it hot with sour orange juice and sugar above. One can also

cut it into slices, flour it and fry it in lard. Of the said livers

one can also make tommacelle (liver sausage) like that said for pork

in chapter 107.

Per far tommacelle di fegato di porco. Cap CVII Secondo libro

Il fegato come sar? netto di quella pellicina, & delli suoi nervetti

facciasi bollire in acqua senza sale fin?a tanto che il sangue sia bene stramortito, & dapoi cavisi, & pongasi in acqua fredda, & lascisi stare fin?a

tanto che sia sodo, & dapoi cavisi, & grattisi leggiermente con la

grattacascio, et per ogni libra di tal fegato grattato ponanosi due oncie

d?uva passa di Corinto ben netta, & altretanto zuccaro, & sei oncie

di midolla di boue cruda, tagliata in bocconcini, & tre oncie di songia

del detto porco, che ne sia levata la pelle, e tagliata a dadi, quattro oncie

di cascio Parmeggiano grattato, tre quarti di cannella pesta, meza oncia

tra zengevero, et noci moscate, un quarto di garofani, un?ottava di zafferano,

quattro rossi d?uove crude, et un poco di sale, et fatta che sar?

la compositione, habbiasi una rete di porco netta di peli, et d?ogni altra

immonditia, mollificata con acqua calda, tinta di zafferano, et di tal compositione faccianosi le tommacelle di grossezza d?una palla Fiorentina, et fatte che saranno ongasi la detta rete di rossi d?uove battute, et lascinosi riposare per un giorno prima che si cocinino, et cuocanosi nello spedo, o su la graticola, o nella padella con lo strutto liquefatto, et servanosi calde con

sugo di melangole, et zuccaro sopra.

To make "tomacelle" (liver pudding) of pork liver. Chapter 107 second

book

The liver when it is cleaned of the skin and of it?s veins put it to boil

in water without salt until the blood is faint and then pull it out and put

it into cold water. Leave it there until it becomes firm then take

it out and grate it gently with the cheese grater. And for every pound

of this grated liver add two ounces of Corinth raisins well cleaned, and

as much sugar, six ounces of beef marrow, raw cut into bite sized pieces,

and three ounces of lard from the said pig, that has been taken from the

skin and cut into dice, four ounces of grated parmesan cheese, three quarters

(of an ounce) of ground cinnamon, half an ounce between ginger and nutmeg,

a quarter (of an ounce) of cloves, an eighth (of an ounce) of saffron, four

raw egg yolks and a little salt. When the mixture is made have ready

a caul of pork, cleaned of skin and any other contaminant, softened in warm

water tinted with saffron, and with the mixture make the liver puddings as

large as a Florentine ball. When they are made wash the caul with beaten

egg yolk, and let them rest for a day before cooking them. Cook them

on the spit or on the grill or in a frying pan with melted lard, and

serve them hot with sour orange juice and sugar on top.

Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 09:34:51 -0800 (PST)

From: "Cat ." <tgrcat2001 at yahoo.com>

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Rumpolt on Foie Gras or at least goose liver

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Greetings Petru

What you are referring to seems to be recipe #5 in the

section on page LXXII on 'From a native (domestic the

previous chapter is on wild goose) goose are nine and

twenty recipes...' Following is my on the fly

translation keeping to the old German word order as

much as possible. If you use it please give credit

for the translation.

Fried (or roasted ? the word is the same) goose liver

with a calves cawl (the cawl fat from around the

kidneys) wrapped / and nicely clean roasted (or fried)

/ when you serve it / so give a green broth

thereunder/ or a brown broth/ that is not sour. And I

have the livers from a goose that the Jews in Bohemia

fattened / roasted (fried) / that three pounds and

many lot (not sure how heavy a lot is...) weighed.

One can also make a 'muss' (like a mousse? It implies

mushed together, perhaps pate-like NO IM NOT SAYING

pate') from it / as was indicated previously.

No, none of the prior 4 recipes give instructions on

how to make a goose mouse.

Gwen Cat

Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 22:30:46 +0000 (GMT)

From: emilio szabo <emilio_szabo at yahoo.it>

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Rumpolt on Foie Gras or at least goose liver

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

> One can also make a 'muss' (like a mousse? It implies

> mushed together, perhaps pate-like NO IM NOT SAYING

> pate') from it / as was indicated previously.

> No, none of the prior 4 recipes give instructions on

In the section about the wild goose Rumpolt says: "9. Du kanst au? der Leber

auch ein Mu? machen." However, there is no description, how to make it.

Another possibility would be that he refers to this section of the

preceding recipe:

" ... nimb ein saubers Wasser, setz die Pettersilgen zu mit etlichen G?n?lebern,

Hastu aber so viel Rindtfleischbr?h, die nit versaltzen, so ists desto besser,

da? du es damit zusetzest, thu die Pettersilgen au? der Br?h, mit einem Fauml?ffel,

thu es in einen M?rsel mit der G?n?leber, thu gebehte Schnitten von einem

Weck darein, vnd sto? es durcheinander, vnnd wenn du das miteinander

gestossen hast, so streich es durch mit der Br?h, darinnen die

Pettersilgen gesotten ist."

(boil parsley in broth of neat, take the parsley out, pound together

with goose liver and slices of roasted rolls, press through a sieve/

riddle)

I am not sure whether the result of this procedure would be a "Br?h"

or a "Mu?" (certainly not a mousse). It depends on how much of the broth you take.

> how to make a goose mouse.

Which makes me think. I have seen recipes for birds made from fishes and the like, but no mice prepared from goose liver so far. Might be an interesting

subtlety, though...

Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:34:31 -0500

From: Sam Wallace <guillaumedep at gmail.com>

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] some liver and other offal recipes

I particularly enjoy the fried calf liver from Lancelot de Casteau's

Ouverture de cuisine.

Fried calf liver.

Cut the liver into slices, & coat them with white flour, & fry them in

black butter, & put therein pepper & orange juice.

Given the audience and location, I use sour orange juice when making

this, but it sweetens up when it hits the hot pan. I put enough pepper

in to brighten the orange juice, but not really to be tasted as a

particularly strong pepper taste. Obviously, the liver should be

tender, not over-cooked. There are two liver recipes which also use

orange juice, but with otherwise different ingredients, on the

Florilegium.

Guillaume

Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:27:59 -0800 (PST)

From: Donna Green <donnaegreen at yahoo.com>

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: [Sca-cooks] some liver and other offal recipes

I made lamb stew with liver sauce (See Brighid's translation below) from Nola for the potluck at the Crosston Ball yesterday. It was well received. It also finally used up the lamb liver that has been sitting in my freezer for a while.

Juana Isabella

West

22. Pottage Of Marinated Kid Which Is Called Janete Of Kid

Potaje De Cabrito Adobado Que Se Dice Janete De Cabrito

Take a forequarter of kid and cook it in a pot, and after it is cooked take it out, and cut it into pieces as big as a walnut; and take fatty bacon, and gently fry [the kid] with it and with a little bit of onion; then take toasted almonds and grind them in a mortar with a piece of kid's liver roasted on the coals and with a crustless piece of bread soaked in white vinegar; and all of this should be ground together with a pair of egg yolks for each dish; and after it is all well-ground, blend it with good broth. And then strain it through a woolen cloth; and when it has been strained, put it in the pot where it must cook. And cast in all fine spices; and put the kid in the pot together with the sauce. And cook it, and when it is cooked, cast a little cut-up parsley in the pot, and sugar, and make it in such a manner that it tastes a little of vinegar; and cast on it the pot-grease from the first cooking of the kid, and cast on enough.