meatballs-msg – 5/17/14

Period dishes with meatballs.

NOTE: See also the files: chopped-meat-msg, lamb-mutton-msg, meat-stuffed-msg, meatloaf-msg, sausages-msg, endoring-msg.

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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

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

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 11:13:47 -0500
From: "Michael F. Gunter" <michael.gunter at fnc.fujitsu.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Cooks adapting/Creating Recipes WAS: saffron (a really long time ago)

David/Cariadoc
<< The problem with modern cooks taking a recipe and
 then making their own variants is that we know a great deal less
 about medieval cooking than a medieval cook did, hence do not know
 just what variations would or would not have seemed appropriate to a
 medieval cook. Varying a period recipe, especially doing it to fit
 our tastes, is likely to mean changing it in ways that make it more
 like a modern recipe, hence less medieval.
  >>

I agree with this, especially after doing a recipe for Pomme Dorre
(golden apples) The original recipe directs you to (see for yourself);

Hauviette
the following is my work on this recipe.

Pommes Dorre Recipe # 440
Take felettes of pork, and rogte hom half raw, and bray hom, and in the
brayinge caft therto a few zolkes of eyren, and a few clowes; and when
hit is brayed, do hit into a veffel, and put therto pouder of pepur ynogh, and
colour hit with faffron; and do therto fugre or honey clarified, and a few
raifynges of corance, and medel al togeder; and then fet a panne over the
fire with water, and let hit boyle,and make rounde pelettes of the greneffe
of an ey of the fame ftuff, and caft hom into the boylynge water, and fethe
hom, and then do hom on a fpit, and rofte hom; and in the rothynge, edore hom
zelow with zolkes of eyren, and flour, and faffron, medeled togeder, and
fome grene if thouw wyl with royft of herbes endorre hom, and ferve hit
forthe.

Source, Ancient Cookery- a 15th Century manuscript , found in "Collection
of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks" first compiled by Duke Cariodoc of the
Bow and the Duchess Diana Alena, 6th Edition.


Pommes Dorre

Take fillets of pork, and roast them half raw, and grate them and in the
grating put a few egg yolks and a few cloves and when it is grated put it in
a vessel and add ground pepper and colour it with saffron, and add sugar or
clarified honey, and a few currants and mix this together; then bring a pot
of water to boil, and make balls the size of an eye, and put them in the
boiling water and bring to a boil, then put them (the meat balls) on a spit
and roast them, and while they are roasting, coat them with a yellow mixture
of egg yolks , flour and saffron, well mixed, and some green if you want,
made of herbs, coat them (and allow the coating to roast) and serve them
forth.
________________

A Discussion
I have thought about the multiple cooking steps in this and many other
medieval recipes. At first glance these steps may seem to serve a culinary
purpose, such as par-roasting to make the chopping easier, or additional
cooking to ensure that the meat is well done, or even to reduce the use of
fuel by using boiling water which was a standby at all times in the medieval
"kitchen" I believe however that the medieval cookbooks  we are reading from
are those intended for the highest of tables and the cooks had an alterior
motive to the multiple cooking steps.I have cooked this recipe using both a
roasted meat and a raw ground meat as the starting point and did not find a
significant difference in taste. I will admit that ground pork resulted in a
somewhat "springier" consistency than the pre-roasted then ground pork. What
pleased me after working with the recipe and following it's original
instructions was that it turned out wonderful, despite doing what most
modern cooks would see as unfit to creat a meatball dish.

Let’s consider the Galenic idea of  balancing humors. A major consideration
of the medieval cook was to prepare food  for the health of those who would
consume it. If we analyze the above period recipe,it should be noted that
pork is considered to be cold/moist. As the meatballs are boiled, this
increases the coldness/moistness, therefore by par-roasting the meat first
you are balancing this process. If the par-roasting isn’t done, the end
product could be too cool/moist and result in a disruption of the bodily
humours of the person feasting on it. This theory needs to be expanded by
analyzing other recipes as to the degrees of  moist/dry, hot/cold in order to
determine how effective it is. For now, it’s an interesting idea that fits
this situation.

The endoring can be done over a grill or barb-b-que or using the oven at a
hot temperature (450 degrees). The grill is much more efficient as you do not
have to keep opening the door to the oven, and is also more true to the
original recipe. However, in the winter, I admit, standing over a grill, is
not my idea of a great time but I did do it for this vigil, and I felt the
results were justified. You may choose to use the oven and by all means
don’t feel guilty.


A Redacted Recipe- Pommes Dorre

1 lb boneless  pork (butt ends seem to have enough fat, loin is too
    lean) or for convienence, ground pork
2 egg  yolks
2 cloves
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground white pepper
3-5 strands of saffron, crushed
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp currants (optional)

Endoring paste
5 egg yolks
5 strands of saffron (gold) or 1/4 cup pureed parsley (green)
1/8  cup unbleached all purpose flour

If using ground pork, eliminate the roasting and grinding.
Roast the pork steak for 10-20 minutes at 350 degrees so that it is half
cooked. Cut into chunks. In a food processor, finely grind the meat. Add
the egg yolks, spices, and if using, the currants. Blend well.
Bring a pot of water to boil and form 3 inch balls of the meat mixture.
Carefully drop the balls into the boiling water, allow to come to a boil
again and cook for 3 minutes. Remove and thread onto either a  metal or
bamboo skewer.

Brush the egg paste onto the meatballs, allowing to cook between coats.
Roast the meatballs well to ensure that the egg paste is cooked. Serve hot or
cold. Makes 25-35 meatballs.


Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 11:06:07 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] my menu for upcoming day event
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Mari de Paxford (aka Sue Laing) wrote:
> Thought I'd share what I'm making for the upcoming St Florian de la Riviere
> Baroness's Birthday Par D'Armes, being held on the 28th of this month (St
> Florians is a Barony located in Brisbane, Queensland Australia and is part
> of the Kingdom of Lochac) and ask a question or two on presentation  
> (see bottom of post)

...

> The event is in a park with no facilities so I've decided to make  
> everything ahead of time and serve it cold
>
> Mushroom tartlets - bite sized (taken from Le Menagier de Paris)
>
> Beef & Currant Meatballs  (actually it's the "Pomes Dorryle" from "To the
> Kings Taste" - Golden apples recipe but I'm ommitting the endorising layer
> and exchanging minced beef for the listed minced pork, as the Baroness  
> is allergic to pork in all forms)

...

There is a recipe for pommes out of Two Fifteenth Century Cookbooks
that gives beef as an alternate meat; it doesn't have currents,
however.

Pompys
Two Fifteenth Century p. 34

Take Beef, Porke, or Vele, on of hem, & raw, alle to-choppe it atte
[th]e dressoure, [th]an grynd hem in a mortar as smal as [th]ou may,
[th]an caste [th]er-to Raw yolkys of Eyroun, wyn, an a lytil whyte
sugre: caste also [th]er-to pouder Pepyr, & Macys, Clowes, Quybibys,
pouder Canelle, Synamoun, & Salt, & a lytil Safroun; [th]en take &
make smale Pelettys round y-now, & loke [th]at [th]ou haue a fayre
potte of Freysshe bro[th]e of bef or of Capoun, & euer [th]row hem
[th]er-on & lete hem sethe tyl [th]at [th]ey ben y-now; [th]en take &
draw vppe a [th]ryfty mylke of Almaundys, with cold freysshe bro[th]e
of Bef, Vele, Moton, o[th]er Capoun, & a-lye it with floure of Rys &
with Spycerye; & atte [th]e dressoure ley [th]es pelettys .v. or .vj.
in a dysshe, & [th]en pore [th]in sewe aneward, & serue in, or ellys
make a gode [th]ryfty Syryppe & ley [th]in pelettys atte [th]e
dressoure [th]er-on, & [th]at is gode seruyse. (thorn replaced by[th])

and for those who don't like 15th c. English:

Take Beef, Pork, or Veal, one of them, & raw, chop it all at the
dresser, then grind them in a mortar as small as thou may, then cast
therto raw yolks of eggs, wine, and a little white sugar: cast also
therto powder Pepper, & Mace, Cloves, Cubebs, powder cinnamon, &
Salt, & a little Saffron; then take & make small Pellets round
enough, & look that thou have a fair pot of Fresh broth of beef or of
Capon, & ever throw them theron & let them seeth till that they be
enough; then take & draw up a thrifty milk of Almonds, with cold
fresh broth of Beef, Veal, Mutton, or Capon, & mix/thicken it with
flour of Rice & with Spicery; & at the dresser (i.e., when dishing it
up for serving) lay these pellets 5 or 6 in a dish, & then pour thine
sauce onward, & serve in, or else make a good thrifty Syrup & lay
thine pellets at the dresser theron, & that is good service.

(Does anyone but me find that reading this stuff has unfortunate
effects on one's spelling? After a bit I don't even see my
misspellings; and it makes it hard to correct to modern spelling and
be sure I've got them all.)

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook


Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 11:23:58 +1000
From: Robyn.Hodgkin at affa.gov.au
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Recipe for the meatloaf salamander
To: bjofnz at yahoo.co.nz, SCA-cooks at ansteorra.org

>>>>
At a recent feast in Politarchopolis, we had an A&S competition for  
mythical beasts.  Here are photos of my contribution, a salamander.
http://www.kiriel.net/cooking/salamander.html

Kiriel
<<<<

A couple of people asked about the recipe for the salamander.

I used Le Viandier de Taillevent recipe number 195.

"Take raw meat chopped as fine as possible, Digne raisins and crumbled  
harvest cheese, all mixed together with Fine poweder.  Have some mutton  
rennet stomachs, scald and wash them very well (not in water so hot  
that they shrivel), fill them with the chopped meat and stitch them  
with a small wooden skewer."

---
I have made hedgehogs as meatballs with this recipe (minus mutton  
rennet stomachs) and the "digne raisins" all swelled up and popped out  
giving a great hedgehog appearance, which was very cool.

I think I used a feta as the cheese (trying to remember, darn I really  
should write these things down at the time) or possibly a ricotta.

For "fine powder" I used recipe 222 for Spice powder:

"Grind ginger (4 parts), Cassia (3 1/2 parts) nutmeg (2 parts) pepper  
(1 1/2 parts), long pepper, cloves, grains of paradise and galingale (1  
part each)  (A recipe quoted by Pichon et al p26)"

My difference was that I didn't have any grains of paradise or long  
pepper.

Kiriel


Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:39:22 -0400
From: "Barbara Benson" <voxeightat gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Meat mixtures
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooksat lists.ansteorra.org>

> Sharon> I'm looking for meat mixtures such as you might put in   
> pasties, pie, meatlball, pate, or meatloaf type food.

Wow, that is a big subject. Here is my translation for both Lamb
Meatballs and Veal Meatballs from Rumpoldt's Ein New Kochbuch:

From the Chapter on Lamb
17.Lamb meatball you will make/ as earlier instructed (chapter?
Recipie?) from Vealmeat you make. One can also steam them brown on a
Rack/ with a sauce/ or in a pepper sauce/ they are in all manners
good.

From the Chapter on Veal
43.Meatball made from Veal Meat/ Take Vealmeat/ and cut it small/ and
hack it altogether with Beef Fat/ as earlier stated/ and when the
flesh has been small hacked/ so take more therto/ and a grated Loaf/
Pepper and Saffron/ put also three or four Eggs therunder/ and mix it
altogether/ and oversalt it not/ And when you have hacked it well
small./ so cut Almonds therein/ the small chopped/ also clean small
Raisins/ and a little Sugar/ that will make it a little sweet/ mix it
all together/ and knead it with clean Hands/ and when you have well
kneaded/ so make meatballs thereof/ round and long/ throw them in
boiling water/ and let it there simmer/ put them out of it and onto a
clean board/ And take chopped Almonds/ also small raisins/ wine/ a
little vinegar and sugar/ brown a little Flour therein/ let it
altogether simmer/ take Pepper and Saffron thereto/ and let it also
seethe there/ so you will have a good Almond sauce/ And when you have
let them simmer/ so put the meatballs therein and set them on the hot
Ashes/ so it will stay warm/ until you will serve it/ If you want to
have another such meatball/ as you have made/ so lay it on a Rack/ and
brown it off/ and make thereto a good Pepper with some Chicken Fat/
that has been melted before/ as one (who) makes Pepper should/ be it
sweet or sour/ it is in both manners good. Make also such meatballs/
that you would have made/ the browned kind. You make also boiled with
Juniper berries/ or Parsley Roots/ and do not make it sour/ so they
are with Beef Broth/ and make it with steam/ so it will be good and
well tasting.

My redaction using Lamb can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/fjj2w

I don't know if this one is covered already in your listing - but here
is a meat and cheese pie from Platina:

Platina, On right Pleasure and Good Health Book VIII
36. Meat Pie
Boil the meat of veal, or kid, or capon. When it is boiled and the
sinews taken out, cut up finely and pound in a mortar. Add to it a
little fresh cheese, an equal amount of ground aged cheese, a little
cut-up parsley and marjoram, fifteen well-beaten eggs, sowbelly, or
calf's udder, cut up and pounded, a bit of pepper, a little more
cinnamon, less ginger, and enough saffron to create color. Take care
that it be cooked in the same way in which we described white pie.

And another, but much earlier German meat pie thingie:
Ein Buch von Guter Spice
5. Heidenische kuchen (Heathen cakes)
These are called heathen cakes. One should take a dough and should
spread it thin and take a boiled meat and chopped fatty bacon and
apples and pepper and eggs therein and bake that and give out and do
not damage.

Looking at the above one again, it doesn't actually tell you to chop
the boiled meat - but when I prepared it that is the way I did it. I
did it in a pasty form and they were tasty.

Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva


Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2006 03:16:43 -0500
From: Rob Downie <rdownieat mts.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Did I imagine it? (lost chicken recipe)
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooksat lists.ansteorra.org>

Terri Morgan wrote:

> Once, a long while ago there was a thread about making 'meatballs' from
> chicken. I vaguely remember that someone called them "medieval chicken
> McNuggets" because the suggested sauce was a sweet mustard. The recipe was
> something like, "cook your chicken and then mince fine, adding breadcrumbs,
> eggs, spices, then fry in a pan, then place on skewers and roast  
> over a fire before serving".
>
> Or some such. Did I dream it? Does this sound the least bit familiar? I have
> wandered all over my saved messages, the Florilegium, the Internet
> recipe-books... I'm stumped. And at 3:50 in the morning, I'm  
> starting to think I lost my mind.
>
> Hrothny

No you didn't imagine it:

   Coated hens  Younger Danish manuscript (13th century)

One shall take hens and scald them and cut them apart and cut all the
meat from the bones, and tear it into small pieces, and boil the bones.
Then the bones are taken from the broth and the meat is wrapped around
them, and sprinkled with ground cinnamon, and put this in a batter/dough
made of wheat flour and beaten eggs, and bake it in butter or lard. That
is called coated hens.

Translation and commentary by Nanna

Faerisa


Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2006 09:50:49 -0400
From: Sandra Kisner <sjk3at cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Did I imagine it? (lost chicken recipe)
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooksat lists.ansteorra.org>

>> Once, a long while ago there was a thread about making 'meatballs' from
>> chicken. I vaguely remember that someone called them "medieval chicken
>> McNuggets" because the suggested sauce was a sweet mustard. The recipe was
>> something like, "cook your chicken and then mince fine, adding breadcrumbs,
>> eggs, spices, then fry in a pan, then place on skewers and roast  
>> over a fire before serving".
>>
>> Hrothny
>
> No you didn't imagine it:
>
> Coated hens  Younger Danish manuscript (13th century)
> <snip>
> Faerisa

Another one that was posted some years ago in response to a post by  
Gunthar:

> Okay!  This isn't quite it, but it looks like a tasty "chicken  
> knish" anyway.
>
> Sabrina Welserin #97 If you would make chicken buns
>
> Then take the meat from hens and let it cook beforehand, after that chop
> it small and put grated a Semmel thereon and eggs thereon, until you think
> that it is a good thick dough. Afterwards make fine round little balls and
> let them fry very slowly and roast them
>
> Selene Colfox

Sandra


Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2013 12:00:31 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Turkish Meatballs (not Scotch eggs)

Here's one of the recipes i translated from among those added by Shirvani to his translation of al-Baghdadi's cookbook in the mid-15th c.

[131r] Meatballs
Grind some meat as for meatballs, continue to beat in a mortar. Put in plenty of pepper, onions and a little sifted starch and knead. Insert some cooked egg peeled of their shells, into the center of the meat patties, then form all into meatballs. The meatballs are released into a large pot [131v] of thoroughly boiling water, turning occasionally to cook. [my translation]

Similar meatballs were made in late 16th c. Persia. There isn't a detailed recipe for them, but they are mentioned in a recipe for the very complex dish called qobuli-ye murassa' (jeweled qobuli) in "Maddat al-hayat, resala dar 'elm-e tabbaki" (The substance of life, a treatise on the art of cooking) by Master Nurollah, chef to Shah 'Abbas I, written in 1594/95:
"...Fill large meat balls each with an egg cooked in meat stock and cook them separately. Then cut in half and arrange on the dish in such a way that they show the inside of the eggs." [excerpted from the long recipe - my translation]

The Ottoman recipe does not say to cut the meatballs in half to show off the eggs, but it's possible they did - while some of the recipes are very very detailed and specific, others are very sketchy in terms of details,.

In modern times, a spicy meat mixture is formed into balls with hard cooked eggs inside, then cut in half just before serving. They are called Nargisi Kofta, that is, daffodil meatballs.

So the concept has a long history. Unlike Scotch eggs, they do not appear to have been served as snacks, but as part of a larger meal.

Urtatim (that's oor-tah-TEEM)

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	meatballs-msg	9 of 9