seafood-msg

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seafood-msg – 4/7/07

Medieval non-fish seafood. Recipes. Oysters. Calamari, Squid, Cuttlefish,

Crawfish, Lobsters.

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Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 21:36:27 -0400 (EDT)

From: Uduido at aol.com

Subject: SC - Spondylis-finished-LONG

I am not posting Vehling's translation of 'Isicia ex Spondylis' since I have

already done so but here is the 'perfected' redaction. I hope you enjoy. Any

comments either to the list or privately would be most welcome.

A DISH OF SCALLOPS

"Isicia Ex Spondylis'

A redaction by L. J. Spencer, Jr., copyright 09-14-97.

Notes: In the following recipe I finally decided on a coarser wheat product

than the original experimental recipe used after reading several posts from

Adamantius and others on the SCA-Cooks list. If you do not use Caul or

another similar type of wrapping be sure to allow the batter to fry until it

is firm on one side as it is extremely tender and difficult to turn it if

you try to do so to soon. The color should be 'well-browned'. Of course, if

you use the caul as intended in the original you will not have this problem.

The finished product looks very similar to small oblong pouches nice and

brown with a crispy outside covering. The interior is moist and sweet very

much like the sweetness of oysters. If you do not use the caul the product

looks amazingly like fried oysters and could, with little imagination be

used as an illusion food to represent that product. I did not particularly

care for the base fish sauce but others may find it quite tasty. I garnished

it with fronds of reconstituted dry seeweed.

1 lb. scallops, lightly sauted in olive oil

COOKED WHEAT

- ---------------------------

1 cp. Wheatena

2 1/2 cps water

3/4 tsp. salt

3 lg. eggs

3/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Caul

Rish fish stock

Olive oil for frying

Minced cooked scallops very fine.

In a non-stick saucepan, combine Wheatena, water, andd salt. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium low and cook until very thick, stirring to prevent

burning. (About 5-6 mins.) When it starts sticking to bottom immediately

remove from heat. Cool.

Combine wheat mixture, scallops, eggs and pepper thorouhly. Wrap a heaping

tblspful in a piece of caul. Repeat until all of the mixture is used. (Note:

If you are not using caul elliminate this step).

Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Lay croquettes in fat seam side ddown. Brown

and turn. Repeat until all are cooked. (IMPORTANT: If you are NOT using a

wrapping then drop by lg. tbspnfuls into hot oil). Drain on absorbent paper

or cloth.

To serve: place a couple of tblsps. of fish stock on plate and put 3

croquettes in center. These are also good without sauce and are very

flavorful at room temperature.

Servings: 12 (36 croquettes>3 per serving)

Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 11:43:55 -0400

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

Subject: Re: SC - Help-Oysters

LrdRas at aol.com wrote:

> Hi, list! :-) I seldom ask for advise but.....WHAT A DEAL! :-) Giant Markets

> are selling Select oysters and Standard for $3.99 a pint. A $5.00 discount!

> :-0 I LOVE oysters! Bought 2 pints to start. <chagrin>

> Any one have PERIOD recipes for oysters? Need original recipes. If they are

> in a Romance language I do not need a translation. :-). Any help would be

> much appreciated. The sooner the better. At 1 or 2 pints a day for the

> remainder of the sale, I figure that I have 3 days to play with oyster

> recipes. :-)

From Diversa Cibaria, Book I of the ever-faithful "Curye On Inglysch":

"62 To maken hoistreye. Nim hostrees & mak am zeo*en, & so**en do am out

of *e bro*; & wyte *e bro*. & so**en heuw am smale on an bord, & braye

heom in an morter, & so**en do am in *e bro* & do *erto milke of

alemauns, & lie hit wi* amydon. & let frien oygnons & mynsen heom by am

seoluen in oyle; & 3ef *ou nast none oyle, let seo*en heom in god milke

of alemaundes. & do *erto a poudre of gode spices, and colore hit wy*

saffroun."

There's a similar recipe in Taillevent, I believe, except without the

almond milk, and with toast crumbs, pea puree or water, and vinegar

added to the formula. Actually sounds better, to me, at least.

Also, you can check Apicius, which has a couple of oyster recipes, and

several oyster sauce recipes. Probably you'd be best off using the

recipes that call for the oysters to be cooked. Most of what the Romans

ate would likely have been frshly shucked, on the half shell, but the

guidelines for eating those only when alive get a little fuzzy where

shucked, packaged oysters are concerned.

Had some lovely fried oysters in real sweet-and-sour sauce in the

Chinatown Saturday. Real sweet-and-sour sauce being heavy on the mixed

ginger pickle, and easy on the weird flourescent orange baby-aspirin

flavoring that often is associated with this sauce.

Adamantius

Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 00:06:08 +0000

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

Subject: Re: SC - Help-Oysters

And it came to pass on 2 Dec 97, that LrdRas at aol.com wrote:

> Any one have PERIOD recipes for oysters? Need original recipes. If

> they are in a Romance language I do not need a translation. :-).

Here is a recipe from the "Libro de Guisados" (1529). It appears to

be a list of cooking suggestions, rather than one single recipe:

COMO SE GUISAN LAS OSTIAS

Las ostias se comen fritas con aceite y su pimienta y azafran y sus

especias y zumo de naranja; y echadas en su escabeche con

sus hojas de laurel. Y se comen asadas con su pimienta. Y se comen

cocidas en su agua; y aceite, y especias sofreidos primero con su

cebolla and aceite en una sarten o la cebolla sola sofreida en la

sarten; y echada en la olla con su sabor de vinagre; y algunas buenas

yerbas. Y se pueden guisar en cazuela con su agua y aceite y

especias y buenas yerbas con cebolla sofreida en su sarten; y echada

dentro, y su saborcico de vinagre.

And a quick translation for those who are not familiar with Spanish:

HOW OYSTERS ARE COOKED

Oysters are eated fried with oil and your pepper and saffron and

your spices and orange juice; and cast into your escabeche [a pickled

dish] with your laurel leaves. And they are eaten fried with

your pepper. And they are eaten cooked in your water; and oil, and

spices gently fried first with your onion and oil in a frying-pan or

the onion gently fried alone in the frying pan; and cast in the pot

with your taste of vinegar; and some good herbs. And they can be

cooked in a cazuela [casserole dish] with your water and oil and

spices and good herbs with onion gently fried in your frying-pan; and

cast within, and your little taste of vinegar.

Hope this helps.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain of Tethba

Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom

mka Robin Carroll-Mann *** harper at idt.net

Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 16:08:37 -0600

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

Subject: RE: SC - Odd question

> It recently (last night) came up in conversation whether some form of

> calamari is period. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

> Bogdan

Giacosa in A Taste of Ancient Rome interprets Esicia de lolligine (Apicius

43) as squid patties. Vehling in his translation of Apicius refers to the

dish as Apicius 42 and uses cuttlefish. So it's highly probable that squid

was prepared in Antiquity and would have been served in period, at least

along the Italian coast.

Looking at a couple of modern Italian cook books, the terms cuttlefish and

squid are used interchangeably, although I seem to remember them as two

different critters.

Bear

Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 19:42:17 EST

From: LrdRas at aol.com

Subject: SC - Calamari, squid, cuttlefish

TerryD at Health.State.OK.US writes:

<< Looking at a couple of modern Italian cook books, the terms cuttlefish and

squid are used interchangeably, although I seem to remember them as two

different critters. >>

Squid has longer tentacles and a paper thin clear internal shell. It can grow

to gargantuan proportions although commercial squid are relatively small.

Cuttlefish have short tentacles and contain an inner shell that is very hard

and calcified (e.g. see the cuttle bones at the pet shop). To all intent and

purposes , they are interchangable in the majority of recipes, SFAIK.

Finding cuttlefish in American markets is almost next to impossible.

Ras

Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 22:52:55 +0000

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

Subject: Re: SC - Odd question

And it came to pass on 7 Feb 98, that jeffrey s heilveil wrote:

> It recently (last night) came up in conversation whether some form

> of calamari is period. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

> Bogdan

In (what else?) the 1529 "Libro de Guisados", there is a recipe which

includes squid. Herewith a recipe which I have never redacted (and

don't intend to, 'cause I hate squid).

POTAJE DE CALAMARES Y JIBIAS

Pottage of Squid and Cuttlefish

The squid and cuttlefish must be well washed and clean, and after

gently frying them, but not entirely, and when they are almost half

cooked, take them out of the frying-pan and put them into a pot; and

then put with them blanched almonds and raisins and pine nuts; and

then take a few toasted almonds and pound them* and strain them**

with a little vinegar watered down with fish broth if you have it; if

not cast in a litle water so that it will not be too strong; and when

the raisins and the almonds have been slightly fried with the squid

and cuttlefish, take them and finish frying them; then cut them into

pieces and when this is done prepare dishes.

* In most recipes in the "Libro de Guisados" the instruction to

"pound" something specifies that it is to be done in a mortar.

** Literally "pass them", which in most other recipes is

followed by a phrase like "through a strainer" or "through a

cloth".

Hope this helps.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain of Tethba

Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom

mka Robin Carroll-Mann *** harper at idt.net

Date: Sat, 07 Feb 1998 23:24:46 -0500

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

Subject: Re: SC - Calamari, squid, cuttlefish

> Squid has longer tentacles and a paper thin clear internal shell. It can grow

> to gargantuan proportions although commercial squid are relatively small.

> Cuttlefish have short tentacles and contain an inner shell that is very hard

> and calcified (e.g. see the cuttle bones at the pet shop). To all intent and

> purposes , they are interchangable in the majority of recipes, SFAIK. Finding

> cuttlefish in American markets is almost next to impossible.

> Ras

I think there's some kinda taxonomy action going on. Yes, the critters

that end up as fried calamari, etc., are different animals from

cuttlefish, but all cuttlefish are squid, IIRC, but not all squid are

cuttlefish. Cuttlefish also live in somewhat different environments

(depth, etc.) from your average little calamari squid, and swim with

their tentacles facing forward, using tail fins, rather than backward

with waterjet propulsion, as with loliga squid.

Taillevent includes a recipe for cuttlefish (# 143) in his section on

flat sea fish, which, oddly enough, also includes oysters, mussels, and

lobster. The dish is called seiche, IIRC, which is, I assume, simply

what the 14th-century Frenchman called cuttlefish. The fish is skinned

and broken up into pieces, which I gather means either cut with a knife,

or dismembered / torn apart by the tentacles. The pieces are fried in a

dry, ungreased frying pan without water, but with a generous coating of

salt in the pan (anyone who's pan-broiled a steak knows what that's all

about, I suspect). They're parcooked, i.e. until "done", stirred

frequently to prevent sticking and burning. The pieces are then wiped

dry, and presumably de-salted somewhat, on a cloth, coated with flour

(so far the only reference I've seen to coating fish before frying in

the entire French-English medieval recipe corpus) and fried in oil, with

onions added halfway through the frying of the cuttlefish, to keep them

from burning. The cuttlefish pieces and the onions slices, or whatever

form they take, are presumably drained from the oil and served with a

white garlic sauce made with vinegar.

It actually sounds pretty good, but then I am a confirmed calamari and

cuttlefish fiend. So, oddly enough, is my six-year-old son. I can

occasionally get barbecued cuttlefish in the Chinese grocery, hanging up

alongside the ducks, the spare ribs, etc. I've also seen them fresh /

raw in the same markets, and, now that I think about it, have a dried

one in my fridge, which involves considerable soaking in baking soda and

water to render palatable, not unlike the legendary lutefisk.

Which reminds me: last night I encountered, in the Korean grocery just a

few blocks from my home, dried, split, Alaskan pollack. They appeared to

have been split, threaded on stocks, and hung up in a cold wind. Apart

from being rather small, maybe ten inches long, they looked like they

would make a decent lutefisk fish. They seemed, at first glance, rather

expensive ($4.89 for maybe 12 ounces) but then I understand such fish

are only about 1/4 of their original weight when dried, which would mean

more like $1.63 per pound, soaked. I'll probably need to experiment with

both a modern lutefisk recipe and some period stockfih recipes... .

Adamantius

Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 18:40:09 -0500

From: dangilsp at intrepid.net (Dan Gillespie)

Subject: SC - calamari question

Hello from West Virginia:

Sorry to be so slow in answering the question concerning the use of

calamari in period. I don't have a direct answer....but there is a recipe

in the 1607 Libro de Cozina which calls for cuttlefish. I am thinking of

using calamari to fudge on this one. For those who may not know, cuttlefish

is a reltive of squid & octopi. Usually the only part you see of it is the

cuttlefish bone in many bird cages. I'll post the recipe later if anyone is

interested (being deliberately a spoon tease here).

Take care, Antoine

Dan Gillespie

dangilsp at intrepid.net

Dan_Gillespie at usgs.gov

Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA

Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 18:37:11 -0500

From: dangilsp at intrepid.net (Dan Gillespie)

Subject: SC - cuttlefish recipes

Hello from Sylvan Glen:

Here's the cuttlefish recipes I promised from the 1607 Arte de

Cozina. If anyone tries any of these, please let me know how the redaction

comes out. Enjoy!

Antoine

Cap lxxj como se han de adereÁar el pescado xibia.

Esta xibia es pescado como le(n)guados, y tiene el pescado muy bla(n)co, y

se haze ma(n)jar blanco del, y tiene mejor hebra que la gallina, y ta(n)

buen sabor, y se come cozido co(n) sal, vinagre, azeyte y pimie(n)ta, frito

co(n) mucha pimineta, y nara(n)ja y azeyte, porque es pescado fresco, y si

no lleva mucha pimie(n)ta y azeyte es muy daÒoso; este pescado no se guarda

salado, ni seco, ha se de comer fresco, y se puede dar empanado con ajos, y

mucha especia, y azeyte es muy sabroso.

Chap 71 How to fix cuttlefish

This cuttlefish is a fish like the flounder, & has very white flesh & you

may make a blancmange from it, & it has a better grain/ fiber than the hen,

& it has a good flavor, & it is cooked with salt, vinegar, oil & pepper,

fried with a lot of pepper & orange & oil, because it is a fresh fish, & if

there is not put much pepper & oil it is very harmful; this fish is not kept

salted nor dried, it must be eaten fresh, & you may give it out breaded with

garlic & a lot of spices & oil, it is very tasty.

Dan Gillespie

dangilsp at intrepid.net

Dan_Gillespie at usgs.gov

Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 10:01:59 +0000

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

Subject: Re: SC - cuttlefish & kids

"Libro de Guisados" Spanish, 1529

POTAGE OF SQUID AND CUTTLEFISH

Squid and cuttlefish should be very well washed and clean, and after

gently frying them, and not completely, and when they are almost half

cooked, take them out of the frying-pan, and put them in a pot; and

then take blanched almonds and raisins and pine nuts; and then take a

few toasted almonds and strain them with a little vinegar watered

down with fish broth if you have any; if not, cast in a little water

so that it will not be very strong; and when the raisins and the

almonds are a little fried with the squid or the cuttlefish, take

them and finish gently frying them; however they must be cut into

pieces, and when this is done prepare dishes.

I hope your lady finds this of interest.

Brighid (who hates squid and would probably hate cuttlefish, too)

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain of Tethba

Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom

mka Robin Carroll-Mann *** harper at idt.net

Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 14:14:13 +0000 (GMT)

From: Daria Anne Rakowski <dar3 at st-andrews.ac.uk>

Subject: SC - Squid-Charter info

A colleague of mine here has found a reference to serving cuttle-fish in a

charter dated around 1216. (I could be a bit off) It was in a monastery in

Portugal where the hostelier served what appears to be the little beasties

cooked in their own ink. The problem was that these were highly

undesirable as a food stuff (apparently) as the visiting abbott tried to

bribe his way out of eating it! There was a mention of it being smelly

too. Does anyone know if this methode of prep. would result in a fishy

smell or could they have been off? (I've never tried it)

Thanks, Coll

Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 10:20:12 -0600

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

Subject: RE: SC - Squid-Charter info

> There was a mention of it being smelly

> too. Does anyone know if this methode of prep. would result in a fishy

> smell or could they have been off? (I've never tried it)