organ-meats-msg – 9/22/11
Medieval cooking of organ meats. Livers, kidneys, hearts, testicles, brains, penises, lungs. Recipes.
NOTE: See also these files: liver-msg, exotic-meats-msg, food-sources-msg, haggis-msg, sauces-msg, sausages-msg, blood-dishes-msg, Blood-Soup-art.
KEYWORDS: organ meats kidney liver pate heart brain testicles penis udder medieval SCA recipe
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Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 18:16:18 EDT
From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com>
Subject: SC - Bourneys- A Redaction
This the period-like recipe I used for the Bear Heart at EK Crown which I know
you've all been waiting for. ;-)
Original:
Bourneys
Take pipes, hertes, neres, myltes, and of the rybbes of the Swynw, or elles
take (if thou wilt) Mallard or Goos, and choppe hem small, and then parboile
it in faire water, and take it vp, and pike it clene, and putte into a potta,
and cast thereto ale ynough. Sauge, Salt, and lete boile right ynowe, and then
serue it forth.
Translation:
Take lungs, hearts, ears, spleens, and of the ribs of swine, or else take (if
you will) mallard or goose, and chop them small, and then parboile it in clean
water, and then take it up, and pick it clean, and put into a pot, and cast
thereto ale enough, sage, salt, and let it boil right enough, and then serve
it forth.
Redaction (Period-like adaptation):
Bourneys
(copyright 1998, L.J. Spencer, Jr.)
1 bear heart
12 sage leaves
1 tsp salt
Ale to cover
Cover heart with water. Boil for 15 minutes, removing scum as it forms. Remove
heart from water. Cut into bite-size pieces. Put heart pieces into a small
pot. Add sage. Add ale to cover and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to
simmer. simmer until heart is tender. Serve.
Ras
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 23:47:57 -0700
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - testicle recipes and sauces
Hi all from Anne-Marie
We are asked:
> There are recipes for Testicles!!!???? and sauces too!?!!?!?
> (And I always thought you had to eat them raw... the things people don't
> tell you...)
> Genevia
I enjoy the "Red Deer Testicles in Hunting Season" from Taillevent. We do
it with the "oysters" from chicken backs, and I've been meaning to try it
with real testicles, just to be able to compare texture, etc.
Its a spicy and piquant broth that offsets the meat bits rather nicely. Try
it!
- --AM
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 19:59:49 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - offal?
Seton1355 at aol.com writes:
<< Excuse me, but what is offal? >>
'Offal' includes the liver, brains, spleen, thyroid, intestines, brains,
lungs, stomach, testicles, penis, heart, womb and kidneys of an animal.
Sometimes it also is used to refer to parts of the animal such as the tongue,
eyes, ears, noses, cheeks, etc. although this usage is rare. Another term used
which may or may not include offal is 'specialty meats'.
Ras
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 17:56:41 EST
From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: SC Oysters getting way OT
<< On the other hand there are 'farm oysters'. This little
delicacy, described by Roald Dahl in _My Uncle Oswald_ comes in pairs,
two to each male lamb. >>
They have a flavor slightly reminiscent of liver and a texture not unlike
sweet breads. I will eat them if served but did not find them particularly
memorable enough to seek them out.
Ras
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 09:33:37 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: SC - Re: Testicles
Par Leijonhufvud wrote:
> Anyone know of a period recipie? I've had these fried, more or less
> straight of the lamb, but with the recent years things have changed
> (i.e. immigration form other parts of the world) such that it might be
> possible to obtain enough of these to serve at a feast...
I don't recall having seen medieval recipes that refer specifically to
testicles. There are a few Roman recipes for various elaborate mixed
stews and patinae that call for capon testicles, IIRC. Somewhere along
the line I have seen recipes for pig's or lamb's fry, but as I recall,
it wasn't immediately clear whether the main ingredient was testicles or
unborn, fetal animals.
There are some late-and/or-post-period recipes (the ones I have seen are
English, but I suspect similar ones can be found in sources from other
countries, particularly France and Spain), again calling for various
assortments of "dainties", such as cock's combs, capon brains, capon
testicles, sweetbreads, etc., to be used in quelcechoses (a.k.a.
kickshaws) and oleos.
FWIW, you may well be able to find testicles in meat packing plants for
those animals corresponding to the type of animal whose
testicles...well, you get the idea, I'm sure. This can only get more
confusing. In other words, I know you can get capon and/or turkey
testicles, usually frozen in bulk, from commercial poultry packing
plants. I have an Asian market in my neighborhood that sells them in
little plastic trays, like ground beef. For all I know, a similar
situation may exist in the case of lamb. For larger animals like steer,
you won't find testicles because they have been removed in a different
way, before slaughter, and are effectively destroyed. But then I doubt
there's much of a culinary market for testicles you have to carve to
serve, anyway.
Adamantius
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 10:23:42 -0600 (CST)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming )
Subject: SC - Finishing the "Bull"
Greetings! Well, we have certainly made more-than-enough use of one
part of the bull. Petits Propos Culinaires printed an article in 1987
entitled "Udder and Other Extremeties: Recipes from the Jews of Yemen"
by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. She included a recipe for udder and
one called "Geed" which I give you here.
Geed (penis of ox or bull)
500 grams penis black pepper
1 tomato, chopped cumin
1 onion chopped saffron
cloves of garlic salt
coriander
Scald the penis and clean it. Boil 10 minutes, remove and slice.
Brown the onion, garlic, coriander in oil. Add penis and fry. Mix
(and add) chopped tomato, pepper, cumin, saffron and salt. cover the
pot. Cook over low flame 2 hours, adding a little water from time to
time to prevent burning. Serve hot. Season with hilbeh.
Hilbeh is a mixture of ground fenugreek seeds that have been soaked in
water for two hours, drained, mixed with tomato puree and a little zhuq
(a spicy mixture of ground black pepper,caraway seed, cardamom, dried
red peppers, garlic, and fresh coriander)."
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 00:32:10 GMT
From: korny at zikzak.net (Kornelis Sietsma)
Subject: SC - Serving brains...
I was browsing for recipes the other day, and found an interesting looking
recipe for a dish that included brains as a primary ingredient. (The
recipe is from "Daz Buoch von Guoter Spise", and looks very cute - brains,
apples, flour and eggs, mixed together and roasted on a spit).
Now I was fed brains (fried in butter - yuum) as a child, and consider them
fairly weird, but very tasty. However, everyone I've described this recipe
to has said "Yuck! no-one will eat *that*"...
What are others' experiences in serving unpopular food such as this at
feasts? I am still very tempted to serve it as a side dish - there must be
*some* people brave enough to try it.
- -Korny (who likes snails and chicken feet as well :)
- --
William Bekwith MKA Kornelis Sietsma | http://zikzak.net/~korny
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 17:31:51 EST
From: aldyth at juno.com (Deborah J Hammons)
Subject: Re: SC - Serving brains...
One of the first Hunters Feasts I ever cooked, a large quantity of
rainbow trout was donated. I cooked it whole, (cleaned) with the head
on. Many of the guests expressed dismay that they could not eat anything
that was still looking at them. For that feast, if someone objected to
the heads, the servers brought them back to the kitchen and we took care
of it. A few feasts with fish have come and gone. The most memorable
was when we appointed one of the servers as the "executioner" so to
speak. The trout were offered to each guest, with the disclaimer, "Head
on or head off?" If the head off was preferred, the executioner was
called, and with a spiffy little guilottine (sp) offed the head right
there at the table. Entertaining as well as filling.
Aldyth
aldyth at juno.com
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 23:49:04 EDT
From: korrin.daardain at juno.com (Korrin S DaArdain)
Subject: Re: SC - Garbage
There is a recipe in Cariadocís Miscellany on Garbage.
Garbage
From Cariadocís Miscellany, Copyright © by David Friedman, 1988,
1990, 1992.
_ Two Fifteenth Century
Take faire Garbage, chikenes hedes, ffete, lyvers, And gysers,
and wassh hem clene; caste hem into a faire potte, And caste fressh broth
of Beef, powder of Peper, Canell, Clowes, Maces, Parcely and Sauge myced
small; then take brede, stepe hit in + e same brothe, Drawe hit thorgh a
streynour, cast thereto, And lete boyle ynowe; caste there-to pouder
ginger, vergeous, salt, And a litull Safferon, And serve hit forthe.
1 lb chicken livers 1/2 c fresh parsley, packed down
1 lb chicken gizzards
1 t fresh sage = 6 medium
10.5 oz can conc. beef broth leaves
1 can water
3 1/2 oz bread = 2 slices homemade
1/8 t pepper
1/4 t ginger
1/2 t cinnamon
3 T verjuice
1/8 t cloves
1/2 t salt
1/4 t mace
10 threads saffron
Cut up gizzards to remove the thin bits of gristle connecting the
lumps of meat. Wash and chop parsley and sage. Put broth, meat, herbs,
pepper, cinnamon, mace and cloves into a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer
uncovered 1 hour 10 minutes. About 15 minutes before it is done
simmering, remove about 3/4 cup of the broth and tear up the bread into
it; let soak briefly and mash thoroughly with a mortar and pestle. Put
back into pot, bring back to a boil and cook, stirring, about 5 minutes,
add remaining ingredients and cook a couple of minutes, stirring, and
serve.
Korrin S. DaArdain
Kingdom of An Tir.
Korrin.DaArdain at Juno.com
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 14:31:03 -0700
From: "needlwitch at msn.com" <needlewitch at email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: SC - The thingy recipe (a bit OT)
>Alys' recipe for bull penis: Is it period and is the recipe
>available. I'd love to serve this at a feast (if I could get my hands
>on half a dozen thingys).
>
>Drake.
Here is the recipie I have. Remember, you asked for it. :-)
Petits Propos Culinaires printed an article in 1987 entitled "Udder and
Other Extremeties: Recipes from the Jews of Yemen" by Barbara
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.
Geed (penis of ox or bull)
500 grams penis black pepper
1 tomato, chopped cumin
1 onion chopped saffron
cloves of garlic salt
coriander
Scald the penis and clean it. Boil 10 minutes, remove and slice. Brown the
onion, garlic, coriander in oil. Add penis and fry. Mix (and add) chopped
tomato, pepper, cumin, saffron and salt. cover the pot. Cook over low flame
2 hours, adding a little water from time to time to prevent burning. Serve
hot.
Enjoy. Thorbjorn the Cook
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 13:46:07 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Deer Heart - NOT oop
pndarvis at execpc.com writes:
> Also, does anyone have a good recipe for deer heart?
Here is a period recipe for heart. It's not originally for deer heart, but
I expect it would work, although you might want to increase the boiling
time.
Corat
Curye on Inglysch p. 100 (Forme of Cury no. 14)
Take the noumbles of calf, swyne, or of shepe; perboile hem and kerue hem
to dyce. Cast hem in gode broth and do therto erbes, grene chybolles smale
yhewe; seeth it tendre, and lye with yolkes of eyren. Do therto verious,
safroun, powdour douce and salt, and serue it forth.
1 lb calf heart
1 10 oz can conc. beef broth + 1 can water
"herbs": 4 oz spinach
4 oz turnip greens
6 oz scallions
8 egg yolks
1/4 c verjuice
12 threads saffron
"powder douce": 2 t sugar, 2 t cinnamon, 1/2 t ginger
1 t salt
Parboil heart in 4 c water: bring water to boil, add heart, bring back to
boil, total time about 4 minutes. Drain. Cut heart in 1/2"-1" cubes. Put
with broth and chopped washed greens, simmer about 20 minutes. Stir in
beaten egg yolks, turn off heat. Add verjuice, saffron (crushed into
water), spices, salt, and serve it forth.
Numbles means innards. We suspect the title of the recipe is derived from
the French word for "heart" and therefore use heart, but it is also good
made with kidney.
Elizabeth/Betty Cook
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 1999 20:56:47 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: Organ meats (was SC - Hedgehogs)
snowfire at mail.snet.net wrote, in response to A'aql Ras:
> >You are very close on this one. The organs in the pluck are all closely
> >connected with a network of short large arteries and veins so when you
> >gut the animal you litarally 'pluck' these three out of the cavity in one
> >mass. :-)
>
> What are giblets then? All of the above?
As far as I know, giblets are the heart, stomach, and liver of poultry,
i.e. domestic or game birds _and_ domestic rabbits, in which latter case
the giblets also normally include kidneys. The usual heart, liver, and
gizzard combo in the little bag inside the chicken is what machinery is
capable of removing intact, hence the determination.
Hand-slaughtered-and-butchered poultry would probably also include other
internal organs, for example possibly lungs (except in America where we
are terrified of such things), kidneys, and the more unusual but
eminently edible tongues, brains, and combs, not to mention necks,
wingtips (pinions, silly, not shoes!) and feet.
There are those who maintain rabbit uteri (or was it ovaries?) are
yummy, but the results of that polling aren't yet in from all the
outlying districts.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 08:48:52 -0500
From: "D. Clay-Disparti" <Clay at talstar.com>
Subject: Re: SC - And Speaking of Kidney
Tina Carney wrote:
> Does anyone want to explain the correct way to prepare Beef Kidney? I
> blanched the kidney three times and it still had a "strong" taste.
>
> Brighid the Ageless
> living the canton of Rimsholt
> in the Glorious Middle Kingdom
You need to be sure to snip out the core of the kidneys after you have skinned
them and cut them in half lengthwise. Then I believe soaking them overnight
would help rather than blanching them. It is my guess that blanching them would
cause the tissue to "Sieze Up" some and, of course, the result would be a
flavour much stronger than anticipated. If you still have a problem, you may
want to change the soaking liquid several times like you do with salted cod.
If you like the pie, you may also want to try steak and kidney pudding. Let
me know if you want the recipe.
Dee/Isabella
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 11:59:25 -0500
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - Pig Maws
>I was at the spermarket yesterday afternoon and I found a small portable
>freezer filled with pig maws. Of course, I couldn't resist the temptation and
>now have several of them in the freezer. :-) Mordanna was kind enough to share
>a recipe for this treat but that leaves one left.
>
>Does anyone have any period recipes for this food item? An original or
>translated period recipe is OK since the redaction part will be relatively
>easy.I would prefer a recipe source from pre-1450 C.E. but early modern
>would be acceptable.
>
>Ras
Harleian MS. 279 - Leche Vyaundez
xx. Yrchouns--Take Piggis mawys, & skalde hem wel; take groundyn Porke, &
knede it with Spicerye, with pouder Gyngere, & Salt & Sugre; do it on [th]e
mawe, but fille it nowt to fulle; [th]en sewe hem with a fayre [th]rede, &
putte hem in a Spete as men don piggys; take blaunchid Almaundys, & kerf
hem long, smal, & scharpe, & frye hem in grece & sugre; take a litel
prycke, & prykke [th]e yrchons, An putte in [th]e holes [th]e Almaundys,
every hole half, & eche fro o[th]er; ley hem [th]en to [th]e fyre; when
[th]ey ben rostid, dore hem sum wyth Whete Flowre, & mylke of Almaundys,
sum grene, sum blake with Blode, & lat hem nowt browne to moche, & serue
forth.
I'd be interested to hear how this works out for you. I've tried it
without success many times (much to my husband's annoyance). It always came
out the consistency of a softball.
Cindy
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 14:09:55 -0500
From: Wade Hutchison <whutchis at bucknell.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Pig Maws
>Harleian MS. 279 - Leche Vyaundez
>
>xx. Yrchouns--Take Piggis mawys,& skalde hem wel;
<snip>
>
>I'd be interested to hear how this works out for you. I've tried it
>without success many times (much to my husband's annoyance). It always came
>out the consistency of a softball.
>
>Cindy
Hi, Cindy -
I did Yrchouns for a feast several years ago, and it turned out fine.
Two things I did - I found it worked much better if you did _not_
scald the pigs stomachs before you filled them. I just cleaned
them well in hot water. If you scald (or parboil) the empty stomach,
then it thickens and curls up to the point where you can only
put about a tablespoon of filling in it. It may be that the ones
you get from the butcher have already been scalded and cleaned -
I've never tried it with a "fresh" stomach. The second point, which
I didn't even have to tell the feasters, was that you don't eat the
stomach - only the filling. It made a very tasty and compact sausage,
with one stomach full feeding about 8 (at a feast). I have some
pictures - I'll have to scan them in.
-----Gille MacDhnouill
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 1999 09:41:17 -0500
From: Wade Hutchison <whutchis at bucknell.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Pig Maws
>whutchis at bucknell.edu writes:
>> The second point, which
>> I didn't even have to tell the feasters, was that you don't eat the
>> stomach - only the filling.
>
>WHAT!!!!!
>Sacrilege!
>That would be like having a cheese ball coated with caviar and throwing
>away the caviar!
>
>Mordonna
Well - I tried it, and although it was kinda tough, it was tasty.
No matter how long I cooked the thing, I couldn't get a crispy
texture on the outside without some part of the thing scorching
black. We settled for a nice brown (hedgehog) color - but the
stomach was still too tough for most of the crowd.
I was a bit hesitant to serve these things, since I didn't quite
know how the local group would react. (this was about 4 or 5 years
ago when we were just getting into the swing of serving feasts
with all period recipes) I was pleasantly surprised in that not
a single yrouchon came back to the kitchen with any filling left -
but there were only one or two with pieces cut off the stomach.
-----wade/Gille
Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 18:52:45 -0000
From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>
Subject: SC - Re: Bull-Fries
>-Poster: Elysant <Snowfire at mail.snet.net>
>Nanna - I believe you mentioned there was a traditional Icelandic recipe for
>Bull's Testicles? Am I correct?
Well, lamb's testicles were - and still are - very popular, usually boiled,
then preserved in fermented whey (sára), as I've told you about. There are
references to bull's testicles being treated in the same manner but no
recipe as such - not that I can recall. When I was a child several lamb's
testicles were usually stuffed inside a pouch sewn from a portion of the
stomach before being boiled and if calves were being slaughtered at the same
time, I'm sure their testicles were included also.
Nanna
P.S. The testicles are rather good, if you have a taste for whey-preserved
Icelandic food. I have no idea what others would think of the stuff.
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 19:31:16 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - re: want recipe
>Margarite asked:
>>> Does anyone out there have a period recipe for baked heart? Thanks
>in advance. <<
>
>I also have been hunting for heart recipes... in Rumpolt and a number of
>other places,... and have found NONE. Was there some stigma or taboo about
>heart? (they seemed to cook any and every other bit of innards they had
>(liver, stomach, kidneys, lungs, brains, intestines,...) as well as ears,
>snouts, tails... so why no heart?
>
>Gwen Cat
Perhaps it was just lumped together under the name 'numbles' or 'chaudwyne'?
Here is a recipe from Harl. 279, Potage Dyvers:
xv. Bowres. Take Pypis, Hertys, Nerys, Myltys, an Rybbys of the Swyne; or
ellys take Mawlard, or Gees, an chop hem smal, and thanne parboyle hem in
fayre water; an [th]an take it vp, and pyke it clene in-to a fayre potte,
an caste [th]er-to ale y-now, & sawge an salt, and [th]an boyle it ry[3]th
wel; and [th]anne serue it forthe for a goode potage.
pypis = lungs
hertys = hearts
nerys = ears
myltys - spleens
Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 23:56:20 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - re: want recipe
Cindy Renfrow wrote:
> myltys - spleens
Yes, some still use that term today... my butcher calls them "melts".
However, the same term is applied to the soft roe, i.e. the testes, of
male fish (the hard roe being the ripe ovaries of female fish).
Whaddaya say to the prospect of the term referring (only as a
possibility, mind you) to, um, _forest_ oysters (in the case of pigs)?
Spleens, BTW, are a fairly good substitute for lungs in those benighted
locales where lungs are considered unfit for sale for human consumption,
for those trying to make semi-decent haggis, sans a proper paunch and pluck.
Adamantius
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 19:18:27 -0000
From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>
Subject: Re: SC - Romantic Foods
Adamantius wrote:
>What, no sweetbreads? I'd send that back if I were you!
You want sweetbreads? then use Pellegrino Artusi¥s recipe from Science in
the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well:
"350 grams of macaroni, 170 grams of Parmesan cheese, 150 grams of
sweetbreads, 60 grams of butter, 70 grams of truffles, 30 grams of fat and
lean ham. A handful of dried mushrooms. The giblets of 3 or 4 chickens and
their gizzards, which you can also use if you cut away the gristle. If you
can add cockscombs, cock's testicles and unborn eggs, so much the better.
Nutmeg for flavouring. Don¥t be put off by all this rich condiment, as it
will all disappear under the layer of pastry."
There is two-part article about the history of
timballo/timpano/pasticcio/parmesan pie in PPC #59 and 61, tracing the
origins back to Babylon.
Nanna
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 00:11:45 +0200
From: Thomas Gloning <Thomas.Gloning at germanistik.uni-giessen.de>
Subject: SC - Rumpolt 1581 on rabbit
Rumpolt on rabbit #7; roughly:
'Roasted kidneys from rabbits. You must catch a lot of rabbits before
you get a good dish. You can prepare them black, yellow, brown or with
onions that are strained through a _Haartuch_, like one usually prepares
a pike in a Polish manner.'
The original transcriptions of some 30 recipes in German:
http://www.uni-giessen.de/~g909/rumphase.htm
http://www.uni-giessen.de/~g909/rumpkuen.htm
Thanks to Gwen Cat !
Note, that recipe #7 is rather an enumeration of possible preparations,
that are described elsewhere. At present, I am preparing a talk on the
language and the textual structure of recipes 1350-1800; if there is
anything I should not forget, please let me know (off list).
Thomas
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 15:01:36 -0500
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - re: want recipe
>From the Miscellany:
Corat
Curye on Inglysch p. 100 (Forme of Cury no. 14)
Take the noumbles of calf, swyne, or of shepe; perboile hem and kerue hem
to dyce. Cast hem in gode broth and do therto erbes, grene chybolles smale
yhewe; seeth it tendre, and lye with yolkes of eyren. Do therto verious,
safroun, powdour douce and salt, and serue it forth.
1 lb calf heart
6 oz scallions
"powder douce"
2 t sugar
1 10 oz can conc. beef broth + 1 can water
8 egg yolks
2 t cinnamon
"herbs": 4 oz spinach 1/4 c verjuice 1/2 t ginger
4 oz turnip greens 12 threads saffron 1 t salt
Parboil heart in 4 c water: bring water to boil, add heart, bring back to
boil, total time about 4 minutes. Drain. Cut heart in 1/2"-1" cubes. Put
with broth and chopped washed greens, simmer about 20 minutes. Stir in
beaten egg yolks, turn off heat. Add verjuice, saffron (crushed into
water), spices, salt, and serve it forth.
Numbles means innards. We suspect the title of the recipe is derived from
the French word for "heart" and therefore use heart, but it is also good
made with kidney.
David/Cariadoc
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 00:20:04 -0500
From: Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net>
Subject: SC - hearts
An interesting comment from "Food and Drink in Medieval Poland" since we
were recently discussing the eating of hearts. Sorry Ras, there are no
recipes.
P92:
"It is worth mentioning that in the charter of 1140 for the Cistercian
monastery at Jedrzejow (later known in Poland for its fine gardens), the
townspeople were required to give the local prince and his posterity all
the hearts of cattle slaughtered in that place. (31) It is not clear
whether these beef hearts were considered a special delicacy or whether
they were simply food intended for servents connected to the princely
household. The context would suggest that the hearts were set aside for
the monks, who were of low social standing. Mikolj Rej referred to beef
hearts in his writings as something only fit for monks, servants, and
the poor."
(31) This is mentioned by Dlugosz in his "Opera Omnia" III (under the
year 1141),3; and further discussed by Dembinska (1963), 105.
- --
Lord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas stefan at texas.net
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 21:40:20 -0500
From: "Richard Kappler II" <rkappler at home.com>
Subject: SC - garbage
Ye olde, and yes I mean OLDE, Master Chief decided last week that it would
be a good thing for office harmony to start doing potlucks every week or
two. Tomorrow is the first. With all the hell I catch in the office about
researching period recipes, trying to translate Latin, medieval German and
early English etc, I figured I just had to cook something period, thinking
along the lines of 'pick the nastiest sounding stuff, don't tell 'em what it
is, then when they love it, clue 'em in.' In the spirit of this endeavor, I
chose 'Garbage' out of His Grace's Miscellany. Its been up on the sign up
board for a week now and speculation has been rampant, but none of them
realize there really is a dish called garbage.
So anyway....I prepared the dish tonight and was even surprised myself! I
followed the recipe in the Miscellany exactly, with two exceptions: while
the recipe in the Miscellany disregards the chicken heads and feet due to
difficulty in obtaining such, I threw in a coupla chicken necks I had in the
freezer waiting for the next batch of stock. THIS STUFF IS GREAT! The
sweet spices both contrast and meld so well with the rich flavor of the
chicken parts, and the broth the whole recipe produces is some of the best
I've ever had.
The other exception: in the original recipe it calls for drawing the bread
and broth mixture through a sieve, whereas the redaction calls for mashing
up broth soaked bread in a mortar and pestle. I tried it as written in the
redaction at first, but didn't like the consistency. I'm presuming that the
purpose of this is to thicken the broth, yes? So I followed the original,
taking the bread soaked broth and pushing it through a fine wire strainer
and thought the consistency much better.
I highly recommend this recipe to all, whether you like the ingredients or
not, the end result is delightful and not at all what I thought I would end
up with. The complexity of flavor in this dish is simply amazing!
regards, Puck
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 23:38:43 -0500
From: "Richard Kappler II" <rkappler at home.com>
Subject: SC - garbage
From His Grace Cariadoc and Elizabeth's Miscellany, 8th edition:
>Take faire Garbage, chikenes hedes, ffete, lyvers, And gysers, and wassh hem
>clene; caste hem into a faire potte, And caste fressh broth of Beef, powder
>of Peper, Canell, Clowes, Maces, Parcely and Sauge myced small; then take
>brede, stepe hit in pe same brothe, Drawe hit thorgh a streynour, cast
>thereto, And lete boyle ynowe; caste there-to pouder ginger, vergeous, salt,
>And a litull Safferon, And serve hit forthe.
regards, Puck
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 13:00:37 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Christmas Dinner and Gifts
Lurking Girl wrote:
> What bit is the gizzard, exactly? I had a vague notion it was another
> term for the giblets.
Giblets are what medieval people would call garbage: assorted feet, wing
tips, heads, necks, and innards. Gizzards refer specifically to the
stomach of da boid, that sort of butterflied, muscular spheroid you find
in the little bag that is clearly neither heart, liver, nor neck.
Adamantius
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 22:29:20 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Gizzards
troy at asan.com writes:
<< Gizzards refer specifically to the stomach of da boid, >>
A minor correction, master. The stomach is specifically referred to as a
stomach. :-) Gizzard refers specifically to the muscular enlargement of the
alimentary canal just before the stomach. Birds store grit (tiny stones)
there and use it to grind their food into a paste before it is sent to the
actual stomach for digestion. Dinosaurs also possessed a gizzard as do
earthworms and a few insects.
Ras
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 13:19:09 -0600
From: Magdalena <magdlena at earthlink.net>
Subject: SC - A Recipe for Ras
Platina 4.38
38. On Chicken Roll
Divide crests of chickens in three pieces, livers in four,
and leave testicles whole. Cut lard into bits, but do not
pound. Cut up finely two or three ounces of veal fat, or,
instead of fat, add beef or calves marrow. Use as much as
will be enough of ginger, cinnamon, and sugar. Mix all
these with about forty dried sour cherries; then put in a
roll made suitable for it from finely ground meal. It can
be cooked in an oven or under cover on the hearth. When it
is half-cooked, put over it two beaten egg yolks and a bit
of saffron and verjuice.
I wonder where one gets rooster testicles?
- -Magdalena
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 10:00:29 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Testicle sites-revisited-OOP
McKeown at micronet.net writes:
<< Where is that please?!? >>
A web search reveals many sites dealing with the culinary aspect of preparing
and serving testicles. Since web search engines are notorious for not being
specific it is suggested that you study the URL closely before going to a
site to avoid sites that may contain sexually related content if that is a
particular bugaboo for you.
To start the ball rolling, try the following sites:
>From this site can be purchased bison testicles (turkey testicles are not
available there):
http://www.pahasapa.com/wp/diamondm/
A large collection of testicle recipes and as well as testicle facts are
found at this site which also includes FAQ's and information on where to
begin searching for turkey and other testicles, as well as festivals (one of
which prepares and serves 2 1/2 tons of testicles during the festival), etc.,:
http://funlinked.com/testicle/
Ras
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 18:46:28 EDT
From: Mordonna22 at aol.com
Subject: SC - Organ Meats
Organ meats are not "traditionally considered to be offal."
This is a relatively modern assessment. Rather, as with most things, it
varied from cuisine to cuisine, and from animal to animal. For several
reasons, organ meats were often considered luxuries, chiefly because they do
not lend themselves to prolonged storage as readily as muscle meat, and
because the organs make up less of the animal in volume (i.e. a 1000 lb.
steer will produce about 450-500 lbs of dressed muscle, and only about 10-15
lbs of organ meat, including heart, liver, tongue, lungs, spleen, kidneys,
tripe etc....) In most agrarian societies organ meat is a luxury indulged
in only around butchering time. The advent of canning, and more recently
freezing has made organ meats available year round now days, but its scarcity
in relation to the muscle means it is still a rare treat. It seems to be
only in urbanized societies that organ meat is considered yucky stuff. I
would attribute that to the difficulty in preserving it, thus making it
unfamiliar to most urban dwellers.
Mordonna the Cook,
SunDragon's Western Reaches
Atenveldt
(m.k.a. Buckeye, AZ)
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 09:33:40 -0500
From: collette at kricket.net (colette waters)
Subject: Re: SC - Wanted: Period recipes for Organ Meats - particularly Heart
Oh I forgot the "period part" from Le Menagier de Paris
"Item, when gutting it, you first remove the dainties, which are the
c...ns{letters missing [JH], which include the flesh of the nape between
neck and shoulders, vein from the heart, liver, ect. And these dainties
are parboiled, then cooked and eaten with hot sauce."
Also
"Fresh beef tongue should be parboiled, skinned, larded and roasted, and
eaten with a cameline sauce"
Also good recipe for smoked tongue in Sabina Welserin and wonderful
headcheese in EIN NEW KOCHBUCH Rumpolt
Begga Elisabeth
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 17:31:45 -0500
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: SC - Tripe
At 5:10 PM -0400 4/22/00, Siegfried Heydrich rather rashly wrote:
>...The aristocracy ate the more succulent muscles, and sometimes (rarely) the
organs, but something like tripe would have been beneath them.
The following is from a cookbook which also has things like peacock
roasted and served in its plumage, so would have been for the cooks
of a noble household.
Tripe de Mutton (Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books p. 82)
Take a panche of a shepe, and make it clene, and caste hit in a potte
of boyling water, and skyme hit clene, and gader al awey the grece,
and lete hem boyle til thei be al tendur; then take hem vppe on a
faire borde, and kutte hem in smale peces of ij peny brede, and caste
hem yn an erthen potte with stronge broth of bef or Mutton; take
ffoyles of parcelly, and hewe hem small, and cast hem to, And lete
hem boyle togidre til they ben tendur, and then take pouder of
ginger, and a quantite of vergeous, and take saffron and salt and
caste there-to, and lete hem boile togidre til they be ynogh. [thorns
replaced by th]
Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 15:40:28 -0500
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Wanted: Period recipes for Organ Meats - particularly Heart
About a month ago, Gwynydd wrote:
>Having had such success with the Noumbles, I have been emboldened and would
>like to try out other dishes of organ meats on my Lady. She tells me that
>she has never had heart and would like to try it. No recipes for tripe or
>brains please! As well, I don't have an oven so please bear this in mind.
>I am looking for period recipes.
From the Miscellany:
Corat
Curye on Inglysch p. 100 (Forme of Cury no. 14)
Take the noumbles of calf, swyne, or of shepe; perboile hem and kerue
hem to dyce. Cast hem in gode broth and do therto erbes, grene
chybolles smale yhewe; seeth it tendre, and lye with yolkes of eyren.
Do therto verious, safroun, powdour douce and salt, and serue it
forth. [end of original; thorns replaced by th]
1 lb calf heart
1 10 oz can conc. beef broth + 1 can water
"herbs": 4 oz spinach
4 oz turnip greens
6 oz scallions
8 egg yolks
1/4 c verjuice
12 threads saffron
"powder douce": 2 t sugar, 2 t cinnamon, 1/2 t ginger
1 t salt
Parboil heart in 4 c water: bring water to boil, add heart, bring
back to boil, total time about 4 minutes. Drain. Cut heart in 1/2"-1"
cubes. Put with broth and chopped washed greens, simmer about 20
minutes. Stir in beaten egg yolks, turn off heat. Add verjuice,
saffron (crushed into water), spices, salt, and serve it forth.
Numbles means innards. We suspect the title of the recipe is derived
from the French word for "heart" and therefore use heart, but it is
also good made with kidney.
Elizabeth/Betty Cook
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 11:08:40 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - testicle festival
Seton1355 at aol.com writes:
<< Yes, this is food content although, I suspect OOP. but thought I;d share
anyway..... >>
Yes, this Festival has been occurring for years. Recently someone here asked
for chicken testicle recipes. I don't have access to the book at the moment
but Platina has a recipe that includes chicken testicles as an ingredient.
Ras
Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 20:08:38 -0500
From: Diana L Skaggs <upsxdls_osu at ionet.net>
Subject: SC - Calf Fries
>What's a "calf fry," or do I really want to know? <g>
>--Maire
Calf fries are male animal testicles. A delicacy in these here parts. My
ex-husband really liked them, so I would cook them once in awhile. My
favorite recipe:
Clean, wash and cut into bite sized pieces. Soak in salt water several
hours or overnight. Dip in drench of 2 beaten eggs and 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Roll in mixture of 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup cornmeal, 1 tsp. salt
and 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper. Deep fry in hot vegetable oil until
golden brown. (Use fresh oil, fries tend to pick up the flavor of
previously fried foods). Serve them forth!
Leanna
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 11:55:25 -0600
From: "Michael Newton" <melcnewt at netins.net>
Subject: SC - Bourreys
While I was perusing recipes on the net in A Boke of Kokery, I came across
the following recipe:
Bourreys.
Take pipes, hertes, meres, myltes, and of the rybbes of the Swyne, or elles
take (if thou wilt) Mallard or Goos, and choppe hem small, And then parboile
it in faire water, And take it vp, and pike it clene, And putte into a
potte, and cast thereto Ale ynogth, Suage, Salt, And lete boile right ynowe,
&then serue it forth
Here's my translation/redaction so far:
Bourreys.
Take the lungs, heart, ?,?, and of the ribs of the Swine, or else take (if
you will) Mallard or Goose, and chop it small, and then parboil it in fair
water, and take it up, and pike it clean, And put into a pot and cast
thereto Ale enough, Sage, Salt, And let boil right enough, and then serve it
forth.
Dice pork lungs, heart, two unknown parts, and rib meat or duck and/or goose
meat. Parboil it, and in the case of the pork take the scum off as it
boils.(I can't see much need to do this for the poultry-but I could be
wrong) Drain and add ale, sage and salt, cook until done.
okay, what the heck is meres and mytles?
Any other comments?
Beatrix of Tanet
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 22:02:55 +0100
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Bourreys
>okay, what the heck is meres and mytles?
>
>Beatrix of Tanet
This recipe is from Harleian MS 4016; there is another in Harl. 279 that
gives the option of using Mallard or Geese.
That should be 'neres', not 'meres' = ears. Myltes = spleens.
"Take lungs, hearts, ears, spleens and of the ribs of the Swine..."
Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
cindy at thousandeggs.com
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 01:03:05 +0100
From: TG <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: Re: SC - Bourreys
<< a fellow from the Calontir Cooks list (...) suggested meres being the
word for boundaries, which put me in the idea that it calls for the
diaphragm muscle. Given the choice in a meat recipe I'd lean toward the
diaphragm more that ears, ... >>
1. The word form of the manuscript is "neres" (see Austin p. 70). No
"meres" around.
2. "nere, variant of neer, kidney." (OED2)
Best, Thomas
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 20:44:56 +0100
From: TG <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: Re: SC - headcheese
<< I assume the term goes back to period. >>
The earliest attestations for the term "headcheese" I found so far are
from the 19th century.
<< Do we have any period recipes for this? >>
In case headcheese is roughly the same as German "Presskopf" (pressed
meat of the head together with other ingredients), there are some German
(predecessors of) recipes for Presskopf. A very detailed description how
to make "Pre?kopf" is found in the "Frauenzimmerlexikon" (1715, Lexicon
for women). Prior to 1600, there are recipes in Rumpolt, one is online
in the ox-section of Rumpolt (# 2 "Ein gepre?ten Ochsenkopff"). Rumpolt
has also a recipe for a "Gepresten Schweinskopff" (from the pig; the
more ears, the better) and "Ein gepresten Hirschkopff" (from a stag), of
which he says:
"... Also richt mans zu f?r Kànig vnd Keyser/ f?r F?rsten vnd Herrn/ vnd
darff sich einer nicht schemen/ ein solche Spei? zu zurichten/ denn es
ist seltzam von einem Wiltpret/ wenn viel Ohren darvnter geschnitten
seyn".
(Roughly: '... This way it is prepared for Kings and the Emperor, for
princes and noblemen/ and one must not be ashamed/ to prepare such a
dish (for them)/ because it is something special made from deer/ if many
ears are cut into it'.)
The "Rheinfrânkisches Kochbuch" (1445) has a recipe for a liver sauce
which is said to fit for a "geprasten kop" (pressed head).
<< Any idea why it is called "cheese" although I seem to remember it
doesn't have any cheese in it? >>
I guess the common aspect is the element of pressing that is the same
with cheesemaking.
Best, Thomas
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 17:16:28 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - headcheese
stefan at texas.net writes:
> I'm not exactly sure what "headcheese" is, although I've heard the term
It is more or less a gelatinous mass with chunks of meat throughout that is
sliced and served much as luncheon meat is. It is basically made by boiling
a pig's head with brains and tongue and all until it falls apart. You remove
the tasty bits, discard the bones and let the whole mass cool to a gelatin
under a weight. Depending on which PA Dutch group your background includes it
may or may not also contain vinegar. Our branch calls the vinegar abomination
'souse'. :-).
Ras
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 20:27:29 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #3141 - lungs
"Craig Jones." wrote:
> >But I agree, most of these are less traditional in the area than the old
> >standbys, potato, kasha, and liver. I've never seen lung knishes. Must
> >be my outer borough upbringing. You'd think it would be difficult to get
> >out all the blood, considering what French chefs go through to achieve
> >this, but then it is much the same with liver, I suppose.
> >
> >Adamantius
>
> Umm, if I'm going to play with these lamb lungs next weekend is there anything
> (ie. prep work) I need to do with them before I cook with them.
>
> Drakeyboy.
I seem to recall there being instructions for prepping lights in Jane
Grigson's book on charcuterie.. Hang on a sec...
OK, the short version is that there are two basic methods, at least in
the European culinary regimen, of rendering lungs cookable:
One involves parboiling them for 15 minutes or so, during which time you
have to hold them under the surface of your bubbling liquid -- they are
balloons and/or sponges, after all, so their natural tendency is to
float. After they're parboiled, they can be cooled, trimmed (of
membranes and tubes), and cut up as desired for further cooking.
The other common method involves beating them with a wooden mallet or
rolling pin to expel all the air; they can then be cut up and trimmed,
raw, before cooking.
That's what Grigson says, essentially.
Now that I think of it, I remember old Scots haggis recipes recommending
that the pluck be boiled with the trachea hanging over the side of the
pot, with the opening in another container, the better to expel various
proteinous nasties while cooking.
Adamantius
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 10:05:28 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Nasty Foods...
Craig Jones. wrote:
> ""(So, what was the worst SCA dish y'all have ever come across at a
> feast?)
>
> The worst dish I ever redacted (at a cooks guild night) was Tangut
> Lungs (ASFTQ). Cubes of Boiled sheeps lung smothered in a very bitter
> green sauce composed of Leek juice, Ginger Juice, Pepper, Butter,
> Flour.
>
> I boiled the lung too long and use too much leek juice. It reminded
> of chunks of liver flavoured marshmallow in a diesel-based sauce as
> bright as green M&M's.
Hmmm, liver-flavored sponges in anti-freeze. Yummers. But you seem to be
on the right track insofar as preventative and curative measures are
concerned. Yes, lungs are spongy, and there are some basic preparation
methods that other cuisines use to minimize the livery flavor and firm
them up. Whether or not the Mongols or Chinese of the period would have
used anything like these methods, I don't know (Lookit me, Ma, I'm
Vehling-ing!)
But, the theory of a biter sauce on a livery-tasting dish isn't really
unsound: for example, at one place I worked we used to sell grilled
calves' liver with a sweet-and-bitter sauce of cream, brunoise-cut
carrots, and angostura bitters. It really wasn't bad. The liver was
sweet with a touch of bitterness anyway, balanced by a bit more
bitterness from the grill-marks. Then the sauce had more or less the
same characteristics, but instead of these being viewed as deficiencies
to be corrected, you realized that the dish was _supposed_ to be sweet
and bitter, and it all became somehow pleasing to the palate. Especially
when the liver was not cremated.
> A poor redaction that was so bad that the nicest comment on the Guild
> Comment Sheet was simple - "Vile.". I've been threatened with
> physical harm if I ever try the recipe again...
Harumph. Buell and/or Anderson mention that this dish is a
characteristic Uighur dish and still popular today. How bad could it be
if properly prepared? I'm not saying it's necessarily something I'd want
for every meal, but if it has survived this long and, as is implied, is
more or less unchanged, it must hold some redeeming value.
"[55] 'Tangut' Lungs
"Sheep's lung (one), leeks (six chin; take the juice), flour (two chin;
make into paste), butter (half a chin), black pepper (two liang), juice
of sprouting ginger (two ho).
"[For] ingredients use salt and adjust flavors evenly. Submerge the
lungs in water and cook. When done baste with the juice and eat."
Do you want to give us your redaction? A couple of points occur to me
right off the bat.
European cooks usually beat the air out of lungs before cooking; they
hit them with a rolling pin or a mallet until most of the air is out and
the lungs are flat. They can then be parboiled, cooled (and sometimes
pressed to firm them up and expel the last of the air and any cooking
water), then trimmed, cut up, etc. Now the recipe doesn't specify how
these are to be cut up, but it seems evident that they eventually are.
Note that you start out with one lung and then they are referred to in
the plural. Besides, it makes them easier to eat. I mention this only as
a possibility, though. Could there be some preparation Yuan cooks might
be familiar with, that the recipe doesn't mention? It might be worth
finding a modern version of this recipe.
For a powerful liver-type flavor, or rather, to limit or eliminate it,
it looks as if the cooking water might be salted as much as necessary
(hint, hint) to draw out various bitter fluids from the lungs, after
which that water is thrown away, and the cooked lungs sauced with the
ginger/leek sauce. I've had, for example, chicken or duck livers in
ginger and scallion oil sauce in modern Chinese restaurants; that has
always been pretty good. This doesn't sound too far off.
Did you use sprouting ginger or regular ginger root? That would make a
big difference. You might also have gotten some bitterness if you used
too much of the green leaves of the leeks. Is there any reason to assume
the leeks referred to are the (usually) big ones called for in European
(or even other Australian) recipes?
> Luckily it never made it to a feast.....
>
> Drakey,
>
> ps. Those in Lochac..... I still have another 2 sheep lungs in the
> freezer..... run, run for your lives.....
I still say it doesn't sound any worse than most of the other lung
recipes I've seen. No worse than, say, a spleen recipe... and I'm not
really helping matters, am I? ; )
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001 07:38:36 -0800
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] sheep testicle recipes
we did a reconstruction of Taillevents "red deer testicles in hunting
season" which involved meat in a wonderful broth. We didn't have access to
the real deal, and so used the "oysters" from the back of chickens instead,
but it was dang tasty! :)
--AM
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 10:11:59 -0400
From: Daniel Myers <doc at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Getting the most use out of a particular food
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On Tuesday, July 22, 2003, at 09:40 AM, Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote:
Then of course there is Garbage, which if I remember correctly is a dish of cold chicken livers which specifically says that it is suitable for
supper in the summer...
<<<
Here's the source recipe I have for "Garbage" - note that it also
contains the heads and feet.
Source [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, T. Austin (ed.)]: .xvij.
Garbage. Take fayre garbagys of chykonys, as the hed, the fete, the
lyuerys, an the gysowrys; washe hem clene, an caste hem in a fayre
potte, an caste ther-to freysshe brothe of Beef or ellys of moton, an
let it boyle; an a-lye it wyth brede, an ley on Pepir an Safroun,
Maces, Clowys, an a lytil verious an salt, an serue forth in the maner
as a Sewe.
- Doc
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers)
http://www.medievalcookery.com/
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 18:41:20 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Getting the most use out of a particular food
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
"Garbage" is Middle English for "chicken offal," so the dish is one made
from the waste parts of butchered chickens.
Bear
>>>
Then of course there is Garbage, which if I remember correctly is a dish of
cold chicken livers which specifically says that it is suitable for supper in
the summer...
Brangwayna
<<<
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 11:57:03 -0400
From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] professional cooks-- reality check wanted
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Also sprach Olwen the Odd:
>>>
Anybody got a period recipe for pate? I don't recall seeing one but
I am fuzzy this day. (ok, it's true, I'm fuzzy most days..)
<<<
Pate as in mousse (which is what most people nowadays seem to be
thinking of when they say pate; something spreadable), pate en croute
(like a meatloaf in pastry), or pate en terrine (like a meatloaf in a
clay pot)? Originally, only pate en croute need apply for the term,
"pate". I mean, since only that one actually had any pate (dough)
involved.
I assume, if we're still talking about a sculpture in chicken liver
pate, that it's the mousse-ey item. One might rationalize it by
taking one of the period liver dishes like vinaigrette or fegatelli,
or some such, and chopping it finely for sculpting purposes.
I do think either Le Menagier or Taillevent has a recipe for what
amounts to a terrine, essentially a meat pie made in a pot instead of
a crust. I don't think it's done with liver, though. You might also
investigate the [I think] 15th-century English sources for meat
stuffings cooked in flowerpots, sacks, etc., then removed and glazed
to look like their original containers.
Adamantius
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 13:00:44 -0400
From: Daniel Myers <edouard at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pate history - OOP(?)
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On Monday, September 22, 2003, at 12:19 PM, Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus
Adamantius wrote:
> Also sprach Daniel Myers:
>> From: Forme of Cury
>> "Gees In Hoggepot. XXXI. Take Gees and smyte hem on pecys. cast hem
>> in a Pot do [th]erto half wyne and half water. and do [th]erto a gode
>> quantite of Oynouns and erbest. Set it ouere the fyre and couere it
>> fast. make a layour of brede and blode an lay it [th]erwith. do
>> [th]erto powdour fort and serue it fort. "
>
> This is a general hint, and not a liver recipe, I gather, huh?
Um... yeah! (bear with me, I was shooting from the hip on this thing)
With the above recipe a lot would of course depend on how small the
pieces were, but the combination of goose, onions, herbs, blood and
bread make me think of a thick, strongly flavored soup or paste or
whatnot with a high fat content.
>> There were also a good number of recipes for blood pudding that
>> included goose livers.
>
> Hmmm. Now those I haven't seen. Would you care to post one, or refer
> us to a source?
Oh bother ... I thought I had a couple, but I may need to retract
and/or amend that statement.
It looks like I mentally combined the following (and probably other)
references. My brain saw the word "blood" and packed the recipes all
into the same category.
From: Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson, trans.)
"Note that you can make nice black puddings from a goose, but it will
be thin, and because of the thinness the guts are bigger than the suet.
"
From: "Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books":
"Chawdwyn. Take Gysers, lyuers, and hertes of Swannes, or of wilde
gese; And if the guttes be fatte, slytte hem, and cast hem there-to,
And boile hem in faire water; And then take hem vppe, And hew hem
smale, and caste into the same brot ayene, but streyne hit thorg a
streynour firste; And caste thereto pouder of peper and of canell, and
salt, and vinegre, And lete boile; And then take the blode of the swan,
and fress brot, and brede, and drawe hem thorg a streynour and cast
thereto, And lete al boyle togidre; And then take pouder of Gynger,
whan hit is al-moost ynoug, And caste there-to, And serue it forthe."
... and ...
"Kutte a Swan in the rove of the mouthe toward the brayne enlonge, and
lete him blede, and kepe the blode for chawdewyn; or elles knytte a
knot on his nek, And so late his nekke breke; then skald him. Drawe him
and rost him even as thou doest goce in all poyntes, and serue him fort
wit chawd-wyne"
- Doc
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers)
http://www.medievalcookery.com/
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 06:42:27 +0100
From: UlfR <ulfr at hunter-gatherer.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OOP Bugs was:International recipe site
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius at verizon.net> [2004.01.15]
wrote:
>> We were fifty people eating and we ate the brass
>> of the animals,
>
> I wonder if that's the right word. What is the
> brass of the animals? I ask only because it
> sounds good, but brass is kind of hard on the
> teeth.
Swedish "bräss": English "thymus"?
UlfR
--
UlfR Ketilson ulfr at hunter-gatherer.org
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 01:00:28 -0500
From: "Phlip" <phlip at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OOP Bugs was:International recipe site
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>> I wonder if that's the right word. What is the
>> brass of the animals? I ask only because it
>> sounds good, but brass is kind of hard on the
>> teeth.
>
> Swedish "bräss": English "thymus"?
>
> UlfR
OK- that would work- it would translate into "sweetbreads" in English.
Occasionally eaten, but generally unknown in the US- part of the "icky"
bits....
Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 06:05:44 -0500
From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OOP Bugs was:International recipe site
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Also sprach Ana Valdés:
> Hehe, yes, you are right, it was my "Swenglish"
> tricking me...It was the "thymus" of the animals
> we ate...(Bräss in Swedish).
Ah. "Sweetbreads". Mollejas. One of my favorites,
at least cooked the way you probably had them. In
fact, most ways ;-). Many cultures use the same
name when speaking of the pancreas as a food,
also. English-speaking butchers and cooks (those
few, it seems, who discuss sweetbreads at all
these days) distinguish between "throat
sweetbreads" (thymus) and "heart sweetbreads"
(pancreas).
Adamantius
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 12:40:21 -0500 (EST)
From: <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] P: brains, a clever food
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
If you are looking for brain recipes, there are a number of them in
Welserin, referred to as "A clever food".
-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 10:39:18 -0800 (PST)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Cruel food
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
====================
Please, do anyone have recipes or stories about that kind of food? I am
now completing my long term project about the cookbook I am writing,
about "cruel food". And I need recipes and tales about lamb testicles and
brains and all people in different cultural times has eaten.
My idea with the book is punctualize its not any "forbidden or
disgusting food", everything is eadible if you need or fancy doing that.
Have now an enormous bibliography about these kind of alimentary
taboos.
Ana
======================
Initially upon joining the SCA, I did some research into Florentine
cibreo, a dish that features chicken livers, chicken hearts, chicken
kidneys, chicken wattles and combs, and the kicker, an ingredient I
turned to the cook's list to answer just to make sure my understanding
of Italian held up ... "beans of chicken" is what the phrase literally
translates to, but they don't mean legumes. Yes, the magic ingredient
is rooster testicles.
Have managed to locate places to get most of the ingredients (except
the wattles and combs), but haven't dared to make it yet. Who besides
me would actually eat it?
Gianotta
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 17:25:21 +0200 (CEST)
From: Finne Boonen <fboonen at vub.ac.be>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Food and squeamishness
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On Mon, 10 May 2004, Susan Fox-Davis wrote:
>>> I was wondering, has anyone ever served food at a feast such as a whole
>>> pig's or ox's head, or a whole piglet, or, basically, anything that can
>>> stare right back at you while you munch on it?
>>
> I'm going to ask the white-girl-city-kid question: how exactly do you
> eat a pig's or ox's head, when it is presented whole like that? Which
> parts are edible, or at least tastier than others? Which are nasty or
> too cartiliginous to bother with? I take it that the eyes are no good,
if your going old icelandic (possibly scandinavian in general) you'd be
trying very hard to get a sheep's ear, the testicles are ussually served
pickled. (I don't like them particularly much tho)
Finne
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 13:07:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Cibreo (was Re: black broth)
To: Mairi Ceilidh <jjterlouw at earthlink.net>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Ooooo, recipe please? And, where the heck did you find the cocks combs? I
live in a culinary desert, and have trouble finding all but the most common
things.
Mairi Ceilidh
==================================================
OK, you asked for it <g>. I have not actually tried to cook this yet;
I've instead taken the time to track down the ingredients.
First of all, I am fortunate enough to live very near Philly and it has
a Chinatown and an Italian Market with some poulterers. Beans of
chicken (fagioli di pollo) have been translated for me as rooster
testicles or unlaid eggs. The rooster testicles (sometimes referred to
as "rooster fries") are available in Chinatown; I have been told there
are coxcombs, too, in dried form, but I think I would wind up going to
the Market as I could probably get them fresh there, as opposed to
dried.
Chicken livers, of course, are easily gotten.
The unlaid eggs the second recipe calls for, a friendly chicken farmer
is the only way I can think to get them.
The really cool thing about cibreo is that they are still cooking it in
Florence, and there are lots of variations on the Web, if you can read
Italian. I also looked for it under English, and found the second one.
Fegatini, creste, rognoncini e fagioli di pollo gr. 400 (about 400
grams of livers, crests, kidneys -- veal kidneys have been suggested
--, and rooster testicles -- keep in mind that "fagioli di pollo can
also mean unlaid eggs!)
Burro gr. 50 (50 grams of butter)
tuorli d'uovo 2 (two beaten eggs or egg yolks)
porri 1 (1 leek)
Farina bianca (white flour, couple of tablespoons or however much you
need to thicken the sauce to your satisfaction)
Brodo di carne q.b. (chicken broth, I'd use a small can)
limone 1?2 (half a lemon)
Zenzero q.b.
Sale e pepe (salt and pepper to taste)
Boil the wattles and crests in slightly salted water until tender,
drain and set aside. Saute the livers, chopped-up leek, and kidneys in
the butter, add the rooster testicles, saute until tender. If using the
unlaid eggs, just saute the livers and kidneys until tender. I'd add in
some white wine into the saute, if you can get your hands on Vin Santo,
that's very traditionally used. Heat the broth in a second saucepan,
when just barely warm, add the beaten egg, then the lemon juice. If
you're using the unlaid eggs at this point, simmer them in the broth
and egg and lemon for a few minutes, add this to the livers, crests,
and kidneys, simmer for a few more minutes, add salt, pepper, and more
lemon juice to taste. Serve it over pasta or rice.
Here's another I found with some quaint history attached:
Cibreo, the sauce of chicken livers, crests, wattles, and the little
yellow unborn eggs, was so beloved of that legendary buona forchetta
("a good fork," as the Italians call a good eater) Caterina de' Medici,
that she literally almost ate herself to death on it. She ate so much
cibreo one evening that she took violently ill and barely survived. If
eaten in moderation, however, those results do not follow, and
especially if you can find the crests and eggs (get to know a chicken
farmer), you may understand why Caterina went to such extremes.
Ingredients
Coarse-grained salt
1/12 pound chicken breasts
1/12 pound wattles
1/12 pound unlaid eggs
1/2 small red onion, cleaned
5 or 6 sprigs Italian parsley, leaves only
3 tablespoons (1-1/2 ounces) sweet butter
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 pound chicken livers (including some cut up veal kidneys, optional)
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup meat or chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 extra-large egg yolk
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preparation
Heat 2 cups of salted water in a saucepan. When the water reaches the
boiling point, put in the crests and wattles (setting aside the unlaid
eggs) and cook them for about 5 minutes. Drain the crests and wattles
and cool them under running water.
Chop the onion and parsley finely.
Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and when it is hot, mix
in the flour with wooden spoon and sauté for 1 minute. Then add chopped
onion and parsley and sauté, stirring constantly for 3 or 4 minutes
more. Add the whole chicken livers and the boiled crests and wattles,
and then, after 3 or 4 minutes, the wine. Lower the heat and allow the
wine to evaporate very slowly (about 5 or 6 minutes).
While the wine is evaporating, heat the broth in a second saucepan.
When lukewarm (and no warmer), remove the broth from the flame and mix
in the egg yolk.
When the wine has evaporated, taste for salt and pepper. Add the broth
with the egg yolk and the unlaid eggs and stir very well. Let simmer
for 2 to 3 minutes more, until the chicken livers, crests, and wattles
are soft.
Remove the saucepan from the flame and serve very hot.
Note: The sauce is used both for fresh pasta (tagliatelle con cibreo, )
or for a main dish (ciambella con cibreo, ).
Now, cibreo has been traditionally considered a peasant dish; but I
think the addition of unlaid eggs really elevates it a bit, because
think about it: why slay a nice fat laying hen in her prime for one
meal? Using the unlaid eggs is also thrifty, though, so even if the hen
is being killed, it's not going entirely to waste.
Gianotta
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 13:28:33 -0700
From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Menagier and stuff was Charcuterie
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Working from my own memory: cracklings show up early in Platina, within
the first dozen or so recipes. The same recipe, which says you can do
the same with chicken skin, is my period documentation for grebenes.
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 09:45:35 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Rilles, rillons, rillettes was Charcuterie
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Went looking and came across this title.
Don't know if this will help but there is a book on the topic--
(no I don't own this one)
Breton, Olivier is he author. The title is
Rilles, rillons, rillettes. Paris 1994.
2841020126
It was reviewed by Alan Davidson in PPC 49.
It's the only book catalogued under "rillettes--history" according to
OCLC.
Amazon France has copies.
This might provide more informaion.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Continuing the thread From last week when Master A wrote:
and I would not be at all surprised if Powers has translated as
cracklings something very much like rillons, which are rillettes' big
brother.
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 14:10:21 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Rilles, Rillons, Rillettes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.or>
nickiandme at att.net wrote:
> Rilles, Rillons, Rillettes (L'Aventure de la Véritable Rillette du
> Mans), Oliver Breton
>
> was reviewed in PETITS PROPOS CULINAIRES ssues 49 and 55.
>
> Kateryn
I think the 49, 55 means it's on page of 55 of issue 49 of PPC.
It is NOT in PPC 55 as far as I can find.
I just checked both issues which at hand as I have a complete run
from 1979 on the shelf.
Johnnae
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 11:14:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Bless the Amish/Cibreo
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
In a message dated 10/21/2004 2:40:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Stefan
li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> writes:
> Okay, what is "cibreo"? And what "parts" are in it?
An Tuscan Chicken giblet stew topped with a sauce made of egg yolks
and lemon.
Andrea
------------------------------
Besides livers and kidneys, it traditionally also includes coxcombs,
rooster "parts," and embryonic chicken eggs. Caterina de' Medici,
legend says, loved it and once ate so much of it at a banquet that she
nearly died.
Gianotta
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 19:57:32 -0400
From: Bill Fisher <liamfisher at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Bless the Amish!
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 01:40:06 -0500, Stefan li Rous
<stefanlirous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> Gianotta mentioned:
>> I finally got a chance to go to the Amish market that opened up in my
>> town last year. Their butcher shop is amazing; and I found out that I
>> can special order all of the parts I need to make cibreo! I may even
>> be
>> able to get the eggs! Woohoo!
> Okay, what is "cibreo"? And what "parts" are in it?
Cibreo
chee-BREH-oh
A Tuscan stew of chicken giblets, very popular in nineteenth century
cooking. According to Pellegrino Artusi's 1891 recipe, the giblets are
stewed in broth with butter, salt and pepper, then topped with a sauce
of egg yolk cooked with lemon juice, flour and broth. The origin of
the name cibreo is unclear, but over the years it has come to mean
mixture or combination
> And "the" eggs? I assume by this you are talking about something other
> than chicken eggs?
Having grown up on them, jumbo brown eggs :-) probably anyway.
And fresh too.
Cadoc
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 10:03:57 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Bless the Amish/Cibreo
To: Bill Fisher <liamfisher at gmail.com>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Cadoc says:
You mean the non-laid eggs from slaughtered chickens?
---Yes, those are it. It took me forever to figure out what the Italian
recipes said, too, because they all called for "beans of chicken" (ceci
di pollo). I am pretty sure these are rooster testes (Italians love
their food puns on private parts).
Gianotta
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 14:21:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Coxcombs
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Stefan responded to another post:
> I think I remember us discussing coxcombs here before. Somehow though,
> I don't think this dish would go over well at an SCA feast unless maybe
> the Royalty ate it. Do we have any adventuresome Royalty? :-)
Were they actually _eaten_? I've seen them used as decorations on 17th
century plates but didn't get the impression that they were actually
ingested.
Alys Katharine
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a modern recipe from D'Agostino's in NYC, which calls for
livers, crests, wattles, and unlaid eggs, as well as some chicken
breast:
http://www.dagnyc.com/RecipeShow.cfm?recipe_id=19382
It also cites the Caterina legend.
Every other recipe I have found online has been in Italian, and almost
all refer to the Caterina legend. Makes me want to confirm if that is
the case, that she loved cibreo and nearly ate herself to death on it,
and what was in the Renaissance version.
Gianotta
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 21:26:53 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A Challenge to Find a Dish
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>,
lilinah at earthlink.net
U is for Urchonys in Servise from the Arundel 334
number 86 line number 343
The Arundel 334 is that misidentified manuscript that Warner published in the
1790's. It's also part of the Household Ordinances collection from 1790.
They numbered it 344. I have both versions, including the one on microfilm.
Urchonys in Servise
Take the mawe of a grette fwyne, and v. or vi. of pygges mawes, and fylle hom
fulle of the fame farfe, and fowe hom fafte, and fethe hom a lytel while, and make prikkes of pafte, and fry hom, and fet hom in the mawse made aftur, and yrchon, and do hom on a fpete, and rofte hom, and endore hom as to fore, and ferve hit forth.
Substitute the "s" for the long '"f".
Nice dish for a Muslim girl, eh?
Johnnae
lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
> Well, SCA-period Muslims don't really have "last names", just father's
> names, tribal names, location names, job names, personal
> characteristic names, devotional names, etc.
> So going with my personal name, "Urtatim"...
> Can anyone think of recipes that start with "U"? I'm stumped...
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:12:15 -0500
From: "Barbara Benson" <voxeight at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] medieval recipes using tripe
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
In my current project I just happened to just copy a tripe recipe from
Martino. I have never, and most likely will never, prepared or served
it. Just not my thing. Were I to, it looks like a tasty way to cook
something that has relatively little taste of it's own. Switch out
"tripe" for "Black Eyed Peas" and it would be a tasty dish I would
think. C
Considering how new the publication of this translation of Martino is,
I doubt you have it in your file yet:
Tripe pottage: First of all, tripe should be well cleaned and well
washed; make sure that it is white. To make it tastier, cook well with
a bone taken from salt-cured meat, but to preserve its whiteness do
not add salt; and when done cooking, cut into small pieces and add
some mint, sage, and salt, and bring to a boil. Then serve in bowls,
topped with spices, and with cheese, if desired.
Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva
> Stefan> I think I may have one or two recipes using tripe in my
> organ-meats- msg file. I've forgotten, but what is tripe?
>
> Does anyone have any period recipes using tripe? Have you cooked the
> recipe? Did you like it?
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 06:52:20 EST
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] TI Article
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Stefan writes about Daniel's idea of serving cold organ meats:
<<Do you really intend to serve them cold? Some of those are disliked
because of their texture. It seems to me that serving them cold would
intensify that problem.>>
At least one that I know of, A Dish Meete for Sumer (can't remember the
source and the spelling is probably wrong, too) is a dish of chicken bits and is
intended to be served as a cold supper dish. One of our household members
also brings a chicken liver pie to Pennsic that we eat cold for lunch (well, she
eats it for breakfast, too, but that's a bit much for me).
Brangwayna
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 06:27:25 -0500
From: Daniel Myers <eduard at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sows Utter stuffed with Fried Baby Mice.
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On Mar 28, 2006, at 12:32 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Radei mentioned:
>>>>
> Sows Utter stuffed with Fried Baby Mice.
>
>> Recipes for mice, Anyone? (couldn't resist....) Berti
> <<<
>
> Oh? Period recipe, please?
The cow's udder part is pretty easy, but I think the stuffing would
be more difficult.
Cow's udder.
For cow's udder which has been well washed and cooked, & put on a
towel so it can rest well, & put it on a spit. For the udder's
sauce , take two or three pieces of toasted white bread, which are
not burned at all, & take some broth with verjuice to temper the
bread, & mix with four or five egg yolks, & put therein nutmeg,
cinnamon, ginger, saffron, & sugar, & let it boil well together, &
put it on the roasted udder.
[Ouverture de Cuisine]
http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/ouverture.shtm
I suppose the mice could be skinned, soaked in vinegar to dissolve
the bones (as was done with small birds) and then fried, but I can't
find any recipes to verify.
- Doc
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers)
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 15:23:00 -0500
From: "Radei Drchevich" <radei at moscowmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sows Utter stuffed with Fried Baby Mice.
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Appears in an 1st century Roman text. I will have to Find the
reference again.
basics the baby mice <pre-hairing out> are fryed in olive oil, stuffed
in the sows utter and baked. Is mentioned in "those about to dei
Salute you" as well as "Now I lay me down to Eat", original source I
believe is Pliny.
Those records are still paper, so may take a while to find the
reference.
> Radei mentioned:
>>>>
> Sows Utter stuffed with Fried Baby Mice.
>
>> Recipes for mice, Anyone? (couldn't resist....) Berti
> <<<
>
> Oh? Period recipe, please?
>
> Stefan
> --------
> THLord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Radei
Vasil House of the Red Shark
Guild of St. Camillus de Lellis
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:07:56 -0700
From: "Sue Clemenger" <mooncat at in-tch.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sows Utter stuffed with Fried Baby Mice.
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I think it's a typo/misspelling of "udder," is all...
There are a number of recipes in my copy of Apecius that deal with
the, uh, less commonly used parts of an animal, including this one.
--Maire, who got really confused on what the heck a "sow's matrix" was
supposed to be...if it was a uterus, why didn't they just *say* so???
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 08:02:48 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sows Utter stuffed with Fried Baby Mice.
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Not stuffed with mice, but...
Sumen Plenum: teritur piper, careum, echinus salsus, consuitur et sic
coquitur. manducatur cum allece sinapi.
--Apicius 262
Stuffed udder. Pound pepper, caraway and salted sea urchine. Sew up and
thus cook. You eat it with allec mustard.
Presumably you stuff the sea urchin mix in the udder before sewing it up.
There is probably a dropped "and" between allec and mustard. Allec is a
sauce for boiled meats.
Bear
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 09:17:11 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sows Utter stuffed with Fried Baby Mice.
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On Apr 3, 2006, at 9:02 AM, Terry Decker wrote:
> Presumably you stuff the sea urchine mix in the udder before sewing
> it up. There is probably a dropped "and" between allec and
> mustard. Allec is a sauce for boiled meats.
My recollection is that allec is halec, the solid-phase dregs that
are a by-product of liquamen or garum production. It does
occasionally turn up in sauces, though.
Adamantius
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 18:11:21 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sows Utter stuffed with Fried Baby Mice.
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> My recollection is that allec is halec, the solid-phase dregs that are a
> by-product of liquamen or garum production. It does occasionally turn up
> in sauces, though.
>
> Adamantius
Right you are. I was thinking of allecatum, which is a sauce made from
allec.
"The so-called liquamen is made as follows: the entrails of fish are thrown
into a vessel and salted. Take small fish, either atherinae, or small red
mullet, or sprats, or anchovy, or any other small fish, and salt all this
together and leave to dry in the sun, shaking it frequently. When it has
become dry from the heat extract the garum from oit as follows; take a long
fine meshed basket and place it in the middle of the vessel with the
above-mentioned fish, and in this way the so-called liquamen, put through
the basket, can be taken up. The residue is allec."
--Geoponica, Book XX, Chapter 46
The word appears as both allec and hallec.
Bear
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 20:29:51 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What NOT to serve at feast...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Actually that date is more likely in error-- That's a Gervase Markham
recipe according to another source.
It's given as 1683 which would make it a late edition. Here it's given as--
If you are curious, your friendly neighbourhood purveyor of beeves might
source you an udder, and you can try Gervase Markham’s recipe (1683),
which sounds good enough for guests.
To roast a Cows Udder
http://theoldfoodie.blogspot.com/2006/03/archive-february.html
It's on page 89 of the Michael Best edited Markham.
Johnnae
marilyn traber 011221 wrote:
> Not necessarily. I find the article to be more of an expression of the
> ignorance of the author, than a collection of repulsive recipes.
>
> Recipe the first:
>
> Cinnamon Sugar Dusted Cow's Udder:
>
> Take a Cows Udder, and first boyl it well snipped ~The English
> Housewife, 1863
>
> First off, this recipe is post period by quite a bit- 1863. And, if one
> wishes to eat a cow's udder, this seems a reasonable way to do it,
> considering mammaries of any species are very fatty. It looks to me
> that this dish would be akin to a pudding.
>
> Phlip
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 10:33:09 EDT
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Jumbo Shrimp in Caramel Pepper-Garlic Sauce
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
In a message dated 6/8/2006 10:18:23 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
tom.vincent at yahoo.com writes:
<<What *really* didn't go over well were the chicken hearts marinated in
cider vinegar, parsley and cinnamon. Fourteen pounds of chicken
hearts.>>
They went over well at my table. We only had 6 people at it and we ate most
of the bowl we were given. Even one of the people who can be picky about
food textures ate a few.
Well, OK, two of us ate most of them. The two who are adventurous eaters.
14 lbs was really a bit much; I don't think I'd have made that much if I was
feeding 300, and there weren't nearly that many people eating...
David's a good cook and getting really into period foods; now we need to
work on portion sizes....
Brangwayna
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:47:51 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Tripe dressing
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Cc: Foxton Bill <bill_foxtonobe at yahoo.co.uk>
On Aug 21, 2006, at 2:15 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:
> I just got back from Pennsic Saturday night and this message was
> waiting in my mailbox with a question about tripe. Here is Bill's
> original question, my reply and his reply to this.
>
> As I mentioned to him, I thought some of you might be able to answer
> his questions about tripe and I thought some of you might be
> interested in this subject as well. Raw tripe eaten with salt, pepper
> and a sprinkling of vinegar? Certainly sounds plausibly medieval, but
> not my idea of breakfast.
>
> Please remember to copy him on any replies since he isn't on this
> list.
>
> Thanks,
> Stefan
Hello, Stefan and Bill...
I'll reply to various points more or less in order, but I think
there's some confusion at work here.
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Foxton Bill <bill_foxtonobe at yahoo.co.uk>
>> Date: August 21, 2006 12:54:21 AM CDT
>> To: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
>> Subject: Re: Tripe dressing
>>
>> Dear Stefan, In the north of England they sell what they call
>> dressed tripe. Tripe dressing is or was a trade centered around the
>> town of Darwin in Lancashire. I believe there is only one shop
>> still operating there now. The tripe in the shop window is very
>> white and is obviously uncooked. It has a slightly slimy and
>> gelatinous texture. Here in Kosovo it has a slightly off white
>> appearance and is as it comes out of the cow. I would be happy to
>> try and wash it and cook it as it comes after a thorough washing
>> but I have a feeling that there may be a process which I am not
>> aware of which could be soaking it in a liquid with something added
>> to get the very white appearance. I am happy to give you permission
>> to post my message to the list. Thanks for answereing. Incidentally
>> in the north of england people actually eat tripe raw with salt and
>> pepper with a sprinkling of vinegar. Yuk! Best regards Bill
I think there are different ways of treating tripe before sale not
only in different countries, but also at different times. The short
answer is that as far as I know, I don't think it's possible for most
tripe to be eaten raw. There may be exceptions, such as if you're
taking tripe from an unweaned calf or something like that, but in
general, tripe is much too tough to consider eating raw without some
kind of treatment. It would be like eating raw animal hide.
I have cookbooks with text and recipes that suggest that in the USA,
where both Stefan and I live, tripe was sold by many butchers in a
pre-cooked form -- parboiled -- until approximately the 1950's or
60's. Now, however, it seems to be sold raw or simply blanched or
scalded before cutting, chilling and packing, and definitely requires
further cooking. Most recently, the tripe I've seen in the ordinary
supermarkets is frozen, cut into blocks, packed and thawed, so this
may or may not eliminate the blanching step.
My suspicion is that in the north of England, and in France, tripe
can still be purchased in some places in pre-cooked form, after which
you can eat it without further cooking, with vinegar and oil (this is
also common with pig's and calves heads, similarly cooked), braised
in cider, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried, or whatever. In Poland and
places like the Ukraine, and in markets elsewhere that cater to
immigrants from these places, you can buy tripe cooked and packed in
jelly (which is not as bad as it sounds ;-) ). There are also a
number of Chinese tripe dishes that call for uncooked tripe to be
marinated in baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) solution to tenderize
it before stir-frying or steaming, but I'm not aware of this being
done anywhere else.
I think that what you're seeing in Kosovo is probably whole stomachs,
washed but not blanched. What you would do is wash the tripe, place
it into a large pot of salted, boiling water, boil for a few minutes,
skim off any foam that rises, and drain. Discard the water, rinse the
tripe in cold water, scrape/cut off any large pieces of fat or areas
with dark spots, and cut it into more manageable pieces (which may or
may not be the pieces you're going to serve it in). You can then
simmer it in fresh water, stock, wine, ale, or any combination
thereof (milk in parts of England and Ireland, with plenty of onions
and black pepper), like a stew, which you can serve as is, or cooked
down until the liquid will jelly when cold (tripe has a lot of
collagen). Or, take it out of the liquid when it's almost done, drain
until dry, and fry or saute it.
I hope this helps; I haven't given recipes, exactly...
Phil Troy / Adamantius
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 10:15:57 -0500
From: "Pat Griffin" <mordonna22 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Tripe dressing
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>,
<bill_foxtonobe at yahoo.co.uk>
This is from my article in the Florilegium on butchering a pig. It would
apply as well to "tripe" (which is a cow's stomach) as to "maw" which is a
pig's stomach.
Carefully drain the contents into an offal pit. (A hog was generally
starved for a day or two before butchering to help with this process.) The
stomach (known as the "Maw") should be split open and rinsed thoroughly
three or four times, then the inner lining should be scraped repeatedly
until all the green and brown slime is removed, then rinsed several more
times. Carefully rinse the intestines several times. Turn them
inside out and treat the same.
Lady Anne du Bosc
Known as Mordonna The Cook
Date: Sat, 07 Oct 2006 14:26:37 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chicken feet...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On Oct 7, 2006, at 1:35 PM, Tara Sersen Boroson wrote:
> ... in stock. Scald and peel or throw in as they are?
>
> I've always thrown them in as they are. But there was a discussion on a
> traditional foods forum on the subject, and people seemed to be split on
> the issue, with perhaps a slight majority leaning toward scalding and
> peeling. What do you wise people say?
Do wise guys count?
> Some of the folks in the peel camp were proclaiming, "The chickens walk
> around in shit." I argued that the feet are already scalded with the
> rest of the bird before plucking, then agitated greatly in the
> electric plucker, so they're as clean as they're gonna get.
I agree, more or less. Sometimes I see chicken feet with little
scraps of papery snake-skin-looking stuff, which I just pinch off
with my fingers. Many people like to trim off any claws that may be
there, but that's probably if you're eating the chicken feet, say in
"garbage", or steamed with black bean sauce for dim sum.
For the stock pot, hey, protein is protein, and if you're going all
classical, yes, all the meats and bones sometimes get a blanching,
and it wouldn't hurt here, either, but it's brought to a boil and
simmered for hours anyway, so for most purposes it's probably not
really necessary. No chicken-toe cooties are going to survive.
> People argued that
> they were gross, with their callouses and stuff. Well, are callouses
> going to affect the final product? I doubt it. Just strikes me as a
> huge expense of time when I don't see much benefit.
For the most part, I'd agree.
Adamantius
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2006 14:47:16 -0400
From: "grizly" <grizly at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chicken feet...
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
-----Original Message-----
>>>>> For the stock pot, hey, protein is protein, and if you're going
all classical, yes, all the meats and bones sometimes get a blanching,
and it wouldn't hurt here, either, but it's brought to a boil and
simmered for hours anyway, so for most purposes it's probably not
really necessary. No chicken-toe cooties are going to survive. < < < < <
Should I want to use the feet of chicken, I'd think that a quick cleanse to
remove any stray intoxication lingering about (toxins aren't killed by the
heat) and into the pot. The bugs are wiped out inside of a couple of
minutes at boil, and anything else is in the realm of food discrimination
ideology.
Just like eating a 3" African Hissing Cockroach for a discount into Six
Flags on Halloween Fright Night . . . . it's all up to your personal
sensibilities.
niccolo difrancesco
(won't likely eat the feet, but would used them for stock)
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:29:01 -0500
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] haggis question
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On Jan 5, 2007, at 1:12 PM, Stanza693 at wmconnect.com wrote:
> I guess what I was really asking was since the Irish seem to have been known
> to eat tripe, does anyone think they might have thought to stuff it with
> something to make it more tasty? I know, the argument that "if they had the
> technology, they would have done it" doesn't fly. However, I'm still learning
> what leaps can be made logically and what are crazy figments of my
> imagination.
In part, the problem is that it depends on what you mean by tripe;
not all ruminant stomachs are equally good for stuffing, since as
they cook they can become very tender and sort of gelatinous, again,
depending n which stomach it turns out to be. The standard honeycomb
beef tripe (which is what most people are thinking of when they hear
"tripe", isn't the best for stuffing, but there are various other gut
sections that are more appropriate, ranging from things like hog
maws, which are somewhat meaty, like a giant chicken gizzard, to
various beef middles and caps, generally actually part of the large
intestine of the animal.
Similarly, I expect there's some difference between the various
stomachs of a sheep which make some better for use as a large sausage
casing than others.
> I didn't copy out the rest of the author's discussion, but she does make
> mention of the fact that traditionally, sheep/pig/cow stomach was eaten but
> that it is almost exclusively beef now and that the best tripe actually
> comes from the second stomach of the cow. She says, however, that tripe is
> very bland and relies on accompanying sauces for flavour.
That's true. Tripe is very rich, but doesn't have much of a
distinctive flavor, and what it does have that is distinct is
generally not desirable, so it's washed until it has very little
flavor of its own.
Adamantius
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:56:16 -0600
From: "Daniel & Elizabeth Phelps" <dephelps at embarqmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] *cough* Need recipe ideas
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
<<< You see, we have a new "International" store in our area. And they have an, um, unusual selection of meats available so I was, um, wondering - anyone
got a good idea of how to cook "Beef Pizzel"? 'Cause I think the "serving
High Table" possibilities* are quite amusing. >>>
Well I don't have a period recipe at hand but perhaps this from "Two Fat
Ladies Full Throttle" will enlighten.
Penis Stew
340g/1 lb of penis, ram's or bull's
3 tbsp oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 large tomato, chopped
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
1 tsp salt
Scald the penis, drain and clean it. Place in a sauce pan, cover with cold
water, bring to a boil, remove scum and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and
slice. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onion,, garlic and
coriander and fry until the onion is golden. Add the penis slices and fry
on both sides for a few minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients with a
good grinding of pepper, and add a little water to cover and bring to a
boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 2 hours or until tender.
Add a little water from time to time if necessary to prevent burning.
Well that should give some ideas anyway.
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:06:43 -0400
From: Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Please Define Trotter
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On Jun 6, 2009, at 3:03 PM, Suey wrote:
<<< Dictionaries define trotter as pig or lamb's feet. In the slaughter
I refer to the hooves, not feet when the slaughter man is shopping
up this area. He gives me what I call trotters, the area he chops
off with a hatchet between the hoof and the lower joint of the leg.
How would you properly define trotter?
Suey >>>
In the case of pigs, the trotter is usually the hind foot (the front
feet in English are sometimes referred to in 17th, 18th and 19th
century recipes as petitoes, and are regarded as more delicate and, I
suspect, cut off shorter).
In the US they are generally sold with the horny hoof material removed
(possibly blanched or scalded), but with the toes otherwise intact. In
generic "non-ethnic" supermarkets (not that Ward and June Cleaver are
buying too many pigs' feet in any case), they tend to be cut off
pretty short, with most or all of the hock or shank sold separately.
In Chinese or Italian markets (and for all I know, others) it's
possible to find them with a very long shank section attached, with
plenty of muscle meat and the option to debone and stuff them.
I believe I've heard of the term "petitoes" used in connection with
lamb and pigs, but not with sheep, so maybe in some cases trotters is
used as a generic term for all feet, and in other cases, not.
Adamantius
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2009 02:33:34 -0500
From: Kihe Blackeagle <kihebard at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Please Define Trotter
To: SCA Cooks <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Unfortunately (or not), I was born late enough that my grandfather was no longer slaughtering and smoking on the farm -- BUT I was still raised to think of pig's trotters as including the hooves, ankle ("knuckles"), and some portion of the leg above, but not usually rising to the level of the knee.
Pickled pig's feet as I have seen them sold modernly generally do not include the hoof itself, just the ankle and fleshy parts just above and just below -- but may also be labelled "pickled pig's knuckles" in that case.
Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe
Mike C. Baker / Kihe Blackeagle
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2010 11:35:15 -0600
From: "wyldrose" <wyldrose at tds.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] 'Tis the season.
With all. the lamenting of not being able to get a sheep's stomach or lungs
or what not, you could probably get it for nearly free if you go to a meat
locker in a rural area. This is where a butcher goes out and butchers and
then cuts up a farmer's animal for a price, and then stores it for him till
he has room for the meat at home. Many times these butchers will let you
know who he/she is butchering for and you can call the farmer and then be
gifted with whatever rare delicacy they have (or pay the farmer a price).
In the area I live, I know if I wanted to get a sheep's stomach there at
least three or four places I could call and probably get one. Or at least
that is how it works in Minnesota.
Kay
Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 21:24:34 -0400
From: Robin Carroll-Mann <rcarrollmann at gmail.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] [oysters
On Sat, May 1, 2010 at 9:16 PM, Elaine Koogler <kiridono at gmail.com> wrote:
<<< For Rocky Mountain oysters? I would doubt it. For regular oysters,
yes...but, at least from what I have always known, mountain oysters are a
euphomism for bulls' testicles. >>>
Yes, I know. There are recipes in Scappi/Granado for dishes made with
the testicles of lambs, calves, and kids. I assume there are some in
other period cookbooks.
Brighid ni Chiarain
Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 02:48:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Linda Larson <linda_a_larson at yahoo.com>
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Oysters
If you butcher a rooster yourself, you will find his testicles inside the cavity near the backbone towards his hind end. They do not descend the way that mammals' do. As for whether they are commercially available, I would doubt it. I wonder if you could get a butcher to save them for you? They are not very big, so you would probably need quite a few if you are experimenting. I've never tried them.
Lidia Allen
Date: Mon, 03 May 2010 12:21:00 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Oysters
On May 3, 2010, at 5:48 AM, Linda Larson wrote:
<<< If you butcher a rooster yourself, you will find his testicles inside the cavity near the backbone towards his hind end. They do not descend the way that mammals' do. As for whether they are commercially available, I would doubt it. I wonder if you could get a butcher to save them for you? They are not very big, so you would probably need quite a few if you are experimenting. I've never tried them.
Lidia Allen >>>
Calvin Schwabe reports in "Unmentionable Cuisine" that some chicken (and, I thin