shrimp-msg - 11/14/16 Medieval shrimp recipes. NOTE: See also the files: Shrympes-art, seafood-msg, fish-msg, salmon-msg, fish-pies-msg, netting-msg, caviar-msg, eels-msg, frogs-msg, stockfish-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:58:19 EDT From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - period shrimp dishes << Its seems shrimp is getting the okay nod and would LOVE to hear about some recipes and/or guidance to sources. >> There's a recipe in "Take a Thousand Eggs..." which is basically to boil the shrimps a few minutes until pink, cool, and serve sprinkled with vinegar. Doesn't get much simpler than that! Brangwayna Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 09:33:22 -0400 From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow) Subject: Re: SC - period shrimp dishes >Bronwynmgn at aol.com writes: ><< There's a recipe in "Take a Thousand Eggs..." which is basically to boil the > shrimps a few minutes until pink, cool, and serve sprinkled with vinegar. > Doesn't get much simpler than that! > > Brangwayna >> > >Can she post it , Cindy? Please? Pretty Please? < grovel, grovel, kiss, kiss, >grovel> > >Ras Hello! There are 2 recipes for shrimp in "Take a Thousand Eggs or More." Harleian MS. 4016 159 Shrympes. Take Shrympes, and seth hem in water and a litull salt, and lete hem boile ones or a litull more. And serue hem forthe colde; And no maner sauce but vinegre. and Harleian MS. 279 - Leche Vyaundez xlij. Froyse in lentynne. Take Fygis & Roysonys, & grynde hem in a mortere, & draw vppe with kreme of Almaundys; [th]an take Rys [th]row a clo[th]e; [th]an take [th]e Luce, an [th]e Perche, & [th]e Schrympe, & se[th]e hem, & do a-way [th]e bonys, & [th]e hedys, & grynde hem in an Mortere, & draw hym vppe with [th]e creme of [th]e Almaundys; [th]en take Rys, & do hem on a potte ouer [th]e fyre, Whan [th]ey ben clene, with a lytil Watere, late hem se[th]e til [th]ey ben drye, & [th]at [th]ey schorge; [th]an take & hew on a borde, & do [th]er-to; [th]en take Sugre, & Safroun a goode quantyte, & gode pouder, & caste [th]er-to, & boyle it y-fere, & frye it in oyle, & make [th]er-of a Froyse, & serue f[orth]. 42. Pancakes (or fritters) in Lent. Take Figs & Raisins, & grind them in a mortar, & draw up with cream of Almonds; then take Rice through a cloth; then take the Pike, and the Perch, & the Shrimp, & seethe them, & take away the bones, & the heads, & grind them in a Mortar, & draw him up with the cream of the Almonds; then take Rice, & put them in a pot over the fire, When they are clean, with a little Water, let them seethe till they are dry, & that they scorch; then take & hew on a board, & put thereto; then take Sugar, & Saffron a good quantity, & good powder, & cast thereto, & boil it together, & fry it in oil, & make thereof a Pancake, & serve f[orth]. Cindy Renfrow renfrow at skylands.net 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: Thu, 08 Jun 2000 10:12:32 -0600 (MDT) From: grasse at mscd.edu (Martina Grasse) Subject: SC - Shrimp auf Rumpolts art In the original these dishes are in Rumpolt's chapter on Krebs. The woodcut shows a lobster, but if you look up Flusskrebs the translation is crawfish, so I used shrimp (because they were on sale, and I was bringing them to Caerthe's Cavalier Holiday picnic last Sunday, and I'm on a budget.) I will be cooking the feast (probably straight from Rumpolt) for Caerthe's Arts and Sciences competition in November, and have had requests to find a way to include at least one of these in one of the courses. (Yes, I take requests.) I do not have the transcribed German to hand (will do tonight) and I do not have the translation (see above for reason ;-) But I do remember what I did to re-create it, and both these recipes tasted soo good I had to share (while we are on a Rumpolt kick.) #16 400 year old fried shrimp ;-) 1/2 pound of large (25-30 per lb) raw shrimp 1/4 cup of flour 4oz butter salt, pepper and powdered, dried ginger (to taste) Rinse shrimp, peel (and devine) but leave the tail shell attached. Salt and pepper the shrimp, then dust them with flour (enough to coat, but shake off any excess.) In a heavy medium size skillet melt and heat the butter. In the hot butter, fry the shrimp on both sides till golden brown and done, but don't overcook. I used high heat, the butter started to brown a little. The shrimp were done very quickly and picked up a little of that nutty brown butter flavor. Remove and drain the shrimp (on absorbent toweling) and while still hot dust them with the ginger (to taste.) This is great hot and also very good cold. (I took it to a picnic to great reviews.) #11 Shrimp with butter and verjuice 5 extra large raw shrimp (the 12-16 per lb. Size) 1 T butter 1 t verjuice pepper 5 Oyster shells (deep half) (would make 1 dinner serving or 2-3 appetizers, increase as needed) I did not have oyster shells to hand, so I used scallop shells. Peel, tail, and devine your shrimp. Place one shrimp (curled up) into deep end of each shell. Season with pepper (to taste,) then top with a dollop of butter (I think I used about 1/2 t per shrimp) and a few drops of verjuice. (OK, I gotta admit I had to cheat here... I do not have verjuice in my pantry yet, so I experimented, I did 2 with cider vinegar, 2 with balsamic vinegar, and one with red wine that was too sour for my tastes.) The balsamic was the standout winner. To cook I placed my 5 scallop shells (filled with their precious cargo) into my largest skillet, added water to the skillet (not enough to flow into the shells!) and placed a lid on it. Then turned on the heat and let them steam away till they were cooked through (about 5 minutes.) This was wonderfully rich, and looked very elegant hot from the pan, and they were still delicious and showy served room temperature the next day at the park. I think you could use smaller shrimp and place 3-5 in each shell, thereby extending your shells (my biggest skillet only fit the 5 shells I own, and by placing multiples per shell I could have appetizers for 5 rather than seeming chintzy at only serving each person one shrimp, or having to do 3-5 batches so my guest would have to eat their appetizers in shifts;-) Hope you enjoy, and as always, feedback appreciated. Gwen-Catrin von Berlin Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 16:39:31 -0500 From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" Subject: Re: Not OOP--serving shrimp (was Re: [Sca-cooks] OP: shrimps To: Cooks within the SCA Also sprach Pixel, Goddess and Queen: >In C. Anne Wilson's _Food in Britain_, she talks about shrimp being eaten >in period and that they were served with vinegar. But that's all that she >says. How would one go about cooking and serving shrimp, for, say, a 13th >c. feast? Or would this have been considered low-class and not served? MS Harl. 4016 says to "Take Shrympes, and seth hem in water and a litull salt, and lete hem boile ones or a litull more. And serue hem forthe colde; And no manere sauce but vinegre." I believe Taillevent says something similar, but can't check on it now. Adamantius Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:05:20 +1300 From: Adele de Maisieres Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Shrimp sauce To: Cooks within the SCA Georgia Foster wrote: > OK ... so I have aquired several pounds of 15 count shrimp. I sez to > myself "self ... I wonder what we can do with five pounds of shrimp > that would go with the MEAT feast this next weekend". > > Self sez > > "I don't know ... ask somebody else" > > So, being a good listener, I put forth the question ... how would you > prepare 5 pounds of shrimp for a MEAT feast? Suggestion 1: The good Housewife's Jewel has at least one recipe for shrimp. Suggestion 2: Peel shrimps and fry with butter, garlic, and a small sprinkle of mace 'til done. Feed to cooks. :-) -- Adele de Maisieres Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:19:31 -0500 From: Gretchen Beck Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Shrimp sauce To: Cooks within the SCA The Two 15th C Cookery books suggests simply: Take Shrympes, and seth hem in water and a litul salt, and lete hem boile ones or a litull more. And serue hem forthe colde; And no maner sauce but vinegre. The Boke of Kervying suggests the same: Shrympes welle pyked / ?e scales awey ye cast, Round abowt a sawcer / ley ye ?em in hast; ?e vinegre in ?e same sawcer, ?at youre lord may attast, The Boke of Nurture suggests Vinegre / powdur withe synamome / and gyngere, Not sure how this would go with a meat feast, but then again, I'm willing to eat shrimp in almost any form... toodles, margaret Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 12:38:25 -0800 From: "Ian Kusz" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Shrimp sauce To: "Cooks within the SCA" On 1/22/07, Georgia Foster wrote: > OK ... so I have acquired several pounds of 15 count shrimp. I sez to myself > "self ... I wonder what we can do with five pounds of shrimp that would > go with the MEAT feast this next weekend". Found this online; would it do? MEDIEVAL SHRIMP WITH BUTTERCUPS 1 (12 oz.) can beer 2 tbsp. sliced green onions or shallots 2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped 3 lb. fresh or frozen shrimp in shells 4 tbsp. butter 1/4 c. beer Dillweed to taste 1/2 c. butter 1/4 c. dry sherry (optional) 1/4 tsp. garlic salt In saucepan, combine 1 can beer, onion and celery. Bring to boiling. Add shrimp. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until shrimp turn pink, 1-3 minutes. Drain. Serve with dill butter and sherry garlic butter. Dill butter: In a small saucepan, melt the 4 tablespoons butter. Stir in 1/4 cup beer and dill weed. Heat through. Sherry garlic butter: In small saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Stir in sherry and garlic salt. Heat through Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:18:05 -0500 From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Shrimp sauce To: Cooks within the SCA On Feb 1, 2007, at 3:54 PM, Pat Griffin wrote: >> MEDIEVAL SHRIMP WITH BUTTERCUPS > Documentation, please? > > Lady Anne du Bosc > Known as Mordonna The Cook Okay, here ya go: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1645,156171-224207,00.html Are you enlightened yet? ;-) The scary thing is that technically, a lot of our documentation isn't much better than this. "This is true because somebody said so." I don't think the original poster of the medieval shrimp with buttercups is personally vouching for its medievalness. Or am I mistaken? Adamantius Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 16:50:52 -0800 From: "Ian Kusz" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Shrimp sauce To: "Cooks within the SCA" Yes, I apologize; all I know is that it's supposedly medieval, but no provenance. I did find a recipe, sort of, from What's-his-name....Kenelm Digby (1663), but he just says wash off the shrimp several times in water and milk, and serve with butter....not interesting. Harlein Manuscript 4016 has them served with vinegar... but if it helps, here's a website for someone who HAS found some decent sources on shrimp.... http://flash.lakeheadu.ca/~kmerkley/shrimps.html she mentions that le menagier mentions "shellfish," but the translation I saw translated them as "mussels," but, just in case, here's the recipe: (shellfish -- mussels?) are cooked quickly on a high fire, in very little water and wine without salt, and eaten with vinegar. Item, when they are cooked in old verjuice and parsley, then fresh butter added, it makes a good soup. I shouldn't read Apicius, now I'm hungry. He has some stuff for "any kind of fish" Use any kind of fish. Prepare clean, salt, turn in flour, salt*3*and fry it. Crush pepper, cumin, coriander seed, laser root, origany, and rue, all crushed fine, moistened with vinegar, date wine, honey, reduced must, oil, and broth. Pour in a sauce pan, place on fire, when simmering pour over the fried fish, sprinkle with pepper and serve. and something else for "shellfish" fried lightly, crush pepper, lovage, caraway, cumin, figdates, honey, vinegar, wine, broth, oil, reduced must; while boiling add mustard. that's probably scallops, but wtheck. Sorry about taking a source's word for the periodness of the original recipe; I really should have looked it up. Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2007 20:43:44 -0500 From: rattkitten Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Shrimp sauce To: Cooks within the SCA Here try this.... Also from Goode Cookery Website... However check the Documentation.... BTW Yeah it's good but yeah it is Just Vinegar... Nichola "Shrympes PERIOD: England, 15th century | SOURCE: Harleian MS 4016 | CLASS: Authentic DESCRIPTION: Shrimp served with vinegar ORIGINAL RECEIPT: Shrympes. Take Shrympes, and seth hem in water and a litull salt, and lete hem boile ones or a litull more. And serue hem forthe colde; And no maner sauce but vinegre. - Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Tr?bner & Co., 1888. GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION: Take shrimps, and boil them in water and a little salt, and let them boil once or a little more. And serve them forth cold; And no manner sauce but vinegar. INGREDIENTS: * Fresh shrimp - cleaned. * Salted water * Red wine vinegar DIRECTIONS: Boil shrimp in salted water until done; remove from water and let cool. Serve cold with vinegar as a dipping sauce. Not very exciting... (I cooked it I can say that.) But it was well received!!! Nichola Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:20:54 -0500 From: "Euriol of Lothian" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] butter fried shrimp To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" This was based on the translation of Rumpolt's, Ein New Kochbuck, #16 found at (http://clem.mscd.edu/~grasse/GK_fish1.htm) Original Recipe: Wenn die Krebs klein seind/ so dreh das fo:erder am Schwantz herausz/ nim{m} die Oberschalen davon hinweg/ lasz die Schalen am Schwantz hengen/ pfeffers/ Saltzs vnd Mehls wol/ backs ausz der heiszen Butter/ gibs trucken also warm auff ein Tisch/ bestra:ew es mit einem Jngwer/ so ist es gut vnd wolgeschmack. English Translation: If the crawfish are small/ so twist the front away from the tail/ take the shells away/ (but) leave the shell attached at the tail/ pepper/ salt and flour (them) well/ bake (fry) them in the hot butter/ give dry and warm to a table/ sprinkle it with ginger/ so it is good and welltasting. My Interpretaton: Serves 8 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled with tails left on and drained. 1 cup flour 2 tbsp ground black pepper 1 tbsp salt 1/2 cup butter (just enough to "grease" the pan) 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger Combine flour, pepper and salt in medium size bowl. Dredge shrimp in flour mixture. Leave shrimp in flour until flour about shrimp becomes moist (about 20 minutes). Place skillet over medium heat, add butter until butter is melted. Remove excess flour from shrimp and put in hot skillet. Cook until all shrimp meat has turned from gray to pink. Toss with freshly grated ginger, then serve. Euriol -----Original Message----- Euriol mentioned: <<< also did a butter fried shrimp recipe where it was dressed in seasoned flour before it was fried, then fresh ginger was grated right over the top. >>> Was this based on a period recipe? I'm probably mis-remembering, but I thought use of flour this way was out of period, although it may have just been late period. Was the ginger grated over the top after or before cooking? Why did you choose fresh ginger? I thought that most ginger was pretty dry by the time it reached Europe. Sounds wonderful. I'll have to try this sometime. Stefan Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:03:17 -0600 From: "Kathleen A Roberts" To: SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: [Sca-cooks] a newly done recipe now i am sure i have been getting in touch with my inner roman a bit too much lately. so... yesterday, dear heart heard paula deen (white noise) say something about shrimp, brown sugar and black pepper. i think it was two different combos, but i wasn't paying that much attention. says he: "hey, that sounds good" says me: "well, there's a recipe in apicius that uses shellfish, honey and black pepper. do you want me to try it?" (when will i ever learn?) later that evening, a bag of frozen shrimp appears in the Albertson's basket. says me: "i guess you want shrimpies tonite?" says he: "why don't you try that brown sugar thing?" says me: "just for the heck of it, why don't i try that apicius thing?" (still not learning) says he: "yeah, try it on a few, and do the others with old bay." (smart boy... don't ruin them all) so there i was in the kitchen with a list of ingredients from vehling and my cupboards having spilled forth, and the shrimpies nicely thawed, and the seat of my pants ready... into a pan i put in this order: olive oil garlic and onions, finely minced (no shallots on hand) red wine vinegar cream sherry (no passum or raisin wine) shrimp (8 of them, no langoustine) i let that cook until said shrimpies were about half cooked and then added honey black pepper (metric buttload) black and yellow mustard seeds salt i finished the cooking of the shrimp, let the sauce reduce and then tossed in a bit of parsley left over from turk-zilla (no lovage... probably could have minced some celery leaves but didn't think of that then). adjusted the flavors and gave it to the guinea pig (who might i add, walked into this one on his own) he loved it, i loved it, incredibly good and approachable flavors. he wiped the pan with a piece of bread, and it is now on the midwinter proposal being written, as part of appetizer course. it was not unlike a sweet, not too garlicy, scampi with some bite from the mustard seed and pepper. YEA!!!! SUCCESS at figuring out a list of ingredients. still doing the happy (and yummy) dance. cailte Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2009 07:10:12 -0600 From: "Terry Decker" To: "Cooks within the SCA" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] a newly done recipe Not exactly Vehling, but the recipe in question courtesy of Flower and Rosenbaum: IUS IN LUCUSTA ET CAMMARIS: indura cepam pallachanam concisam. eius piper, ligusticum, carcum, cuminum, caryotam, mel, acetum, vinum, liquamen, oleum, defrutum. hoc ius adicito sinapi in elixuris. SAUCE FOR CRAYFISH AND LARGE PRAWNS: Brown a chopped spring onion. Add pepper, lovage, caraway, cumin, Jerico date, honey, vinegar, wine, liquamen, oil, defrutum. Serve this sauce with mustard added, with boiled {sea-crayfish or prawns}. Vehling's translation: SAUCE FOR SHELLFISH: chopped scallions fried lightly, crush pepper, lovage, caraway, cumin, figdates, honey, vinegar, wine, broth, oil, reduced must, while boiling add mustard. Bear Date: Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:10:56 -0600 From: "Kathleen A Roberts" To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] a newly done recipe On Tue, 1 Dec 2009 02:59:05 -0600 Stefan li Rous wrote: <<< cailte gave her redaction of an Apicius recipe. Can you post the original and Vehling's translation? I don't have a copy right now. >>> Pretty much what Bear posted. i want to try it with caraway as well, but was entirely happy without it. <<< red ine vinegar cream sherry (no passum or raisin wine) Any particular reason you think cream sherry might be better than a regular red wine? Or is this just what you had on hand? >>> yes. 8) had it on hand, and i was thinking of the sweeter wines Grainger talked about in her book. <<< shrimp (8 of them, no langoustine) raw or par-boiled? shelled or unshelled? (don't laugh, I've been seeing a lot of unshelled shrimp show up on oriental buffets. Just wanted to check) >>> raw frozen shrimp. i left the shells on, they were the ones slit up the back for easier shelling, so the sauce got in. i think for a feast i might use shelled shrimp. <<< honey black pepper (metric buttload) black and yellow mustard seeds Ground or whole black pepper and black and yellow mustard seeds? I assume because of size that the black pepper is ground, but wanted to check on all three. >>> coarse ground black pepper (from pepper mill, not a can). the mustard seeds remained whole. <<< Thanks, this sounds interesting, as does Euriol's redaction of Rumpolt's shrimp recipe from a year ago. And I do have some frozen shrimp in the freezer to use >>> in our house, there are NEVER extra shrimp hanging around. dear heart was still talking about how good it was this a.m. on the drive to work. cailte From: Larry Laudenslager Date: February 4, 2010 10:41:10 PM CST To: Stefan at florilegium.org Subject: Florilegium Archives =Shrimp Unto THLord Stefan li Rous, do I Severin Festschdermacher send greetings. I was interested when I found out there was an update on shrimp recipes in December. I went through the archive and was surprised to find, rather not find, one of my favorite shrimp recipe. I have made it a number of times, and it goes over quite well. I do not remember where I got the recipe the first time around, but this is a copy from the website Celticnet.org. I have copied it here, and added my changes and reasons for them below. Isicia ex sphondylis (Prawn Rissole) Isicia ex sphondylis (Prawn Rissole) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for rissoles made from mashed seafood (scallops in the original, prawns in this version) bound with eggs and fried. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Isicia ex sphondylis. Isicia ex sphondylis (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria) Original Recipe Isicia ex sphondylis (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria) Isicia ex sphondylis: elixatos sphondylos conteres et nervos eorum eximes, deinde cum eis alicam elixatam; ova conteres, ‹piper, liquamen.. isicia ex his facies cum nucleis et› pipere. in omento assabis, oenogaro perfundes, et pro isiciis inferes. Translation Lightly cook scallops or the firm part of oysters. Remove the hard and objectionable parts, mince the meat very fine, mix this with cooked spelt and eggs, season with pepper, shape with croquettes and wrap in caul, fry, underlay a rich fish sauce and serve as a delicious entrée. Ingredients 24 cooked, shelled prawns (the original recipe uses scallops, but you can use any seafood) pinch of pepper 1 tsp liquamen (or Nam Pla) 1 egg, beaten flour salt and black pepper to taste Method: Mash the peeled prawns in a bowl. Add the pepper and Liquamen and the beaten eggs. Mix well and shape into patties. Roll in seasoned flour and fry gently in oil until browned on both sides. 1. I use Worcestershire sauce, I tried oriental fish sauce and do not care for the taste. In the cook book 'Cooking Forsoothly' it was noted that Worcestershire was an ok substitute. 2. I do not shape into a ball and deep fry. I found it would not stay together good enough for me, so I take 2 sheets of phyllo dough cut in half length wise, and then cut in thirds, place a table spoon of the meat mix on one edge and roll it up like an egg roll (1 package of 24 sheets give me 72 wrappers). These can be pan fried in butter (mmmmm) or butter basted and baked. Severin Festschdermacher Date: Sun, 02 May 2010 09:54:31 -0600 From: "Kathleen A Roberts" To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] shrimp Stefan li Rous wrote: [about a shrimp dish to be served as part of a Roman feast] <<< I'm assuming that you are the feast coordinator? So, what recipe/redaction did you have in mind for your shrimp? >>> it has a sauce of chopped celery leaves, minced onion, sweet sherry, honey, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and mustard seeds. i believe it was based on a sauce for lobster or prawns. sorry, no garum for the masses. cailte Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:17:13 -0700 From: "Kathleen Roberts" To: Subject: [Sca-cooks] midwinter shrimp recipe Stefan.... here is the recipe for the shrimp dish. It was served cold (for expendiency) but can be done hot as well by finishing cooking the raw shrimp in the sauce. Much of the recipe was done by taste (a seperate plastic spoon per tasting mind you) due to the need to change the hot dish to cold. I find sweet and sour to be a very personal taste so I recommend experimentation with amounts. Fortunately my taste worked for the feasters, but I made it a bit less tangy than I would at home (connor loves it and mops the sauce with bread). At home, I will tend to use cider or malt vinegar instead of balsamic. I love mustard seed, but you may not. If you don't have any mustard seed (who am I typing at, of course you guys do) dry mustard will work, but will affect the texture and appearance - less rustic looking. Do NOT use prepared mustard unless it is dijon. Standard yellow throws off both appearance and taste. white grape juice and white wine, 50/50 proportions shallots or green onion (white part) minced honey mustard seed, black or brown or both balsamic vinegar coarse ground black pepper salt olive oil Saute the shallot/onion in olive oil, until tender but not brown. set aside. Reduce wine/juice mixture until it coats the back of a spoon. Add all ingredients except for shrimp, and continue to simmer until flavors are nicely blended into a sweet/sour sauce. At this point, if using as cold dish, put sauce to the side to cool. Once cool, toss with cold, cooked shrimp. If serving hot, steam shrimp lightly (do not cook entirely) and toss with simmering sauce and cook until almost done. Remove from heat to allow shrimp to finish cooking in the sauce. Play with it a bit. I think you will find it a keeper. From the FB "SCA Cooks" group: Urtatim Al-Qurtubiyya 2:20pm Oct 1, 2015 My apologies for posting a Apician recipe from Vehling's translation (patooey), but i'm not near my cookbooks (Apic. exc. 17) 500g cooked and prepared large shrimps 1 tsp ground black (or white) pepper 1 Tb lovage 1/2 tsp ground celery seeds 2-3 Tb vinegar 100ml Liquamen, Thai fish sauce or 1/2 tsp salt 4-5 chopped hard-boiled egg yolks Cook shrimp. Then pepper, lovage, and celery seeds. Pour in vinegar and liquamen. Add egg yolks and mix thoroughly but gently. Pour the mixture over the shrimp and serve. Urtatim Al-Qurtubiyya 2:37pm Oct 1 My apologies for posting an Apician recipe from Vehling's translation (patooey), but i'm not near my cookbooks 43 Lobster or Crabmeat Croquettes Isicia de scillis vel de cammaris amplis1 The shells of the lobsters or crabs which are cooked are broken, the meat extracted from the head and pounded in the mortar with pepper and the best kind of broth. This pulp is shaped into neat little cakes which are fried and served up nicely My understanding is scilla are prawns... so crab or shrimp cakes! (how this differs from the better and more accurate translations i can't tell at the moment) Edited by Mark S. Harris shrimp-msg Page 14 of 14