stews-bruets-msg – 7/22/06
Period stews and bruets. Potages. Recipes.
NOTE: See also the files: broths-msg, cook-ovr-fire-msg, lamb-mutton-msg, soup-msg, venison-msg, exotic-meats-msg, meatballs-msg, rabbit-dishes-msg.
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From: DDF2 at cornell.edu (David Friedman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Feast Menus
Date: 16 Nov 1993 03:34:53 GMT
Organization: Cornell Law School
0005290822 at mcimail.COM (Robert A. Goff) wrote:
> Not that we've ever been sticklers for period documentation, but can anyone
> describe how a period meat stew goes together? Was it common to cook meats
> and vegetables together in something like we'd recognize as stew?
The problem is that "stew" is not a very clearly defined category. Here are
some possible recipes from the Miscellany; I am not sure if any would fit
your requirements:
Jazariyyah
Ibn al-Mabrad p. 18 [15th c. eastern Islamic]
Meat is boiled with a little water. Carrots, garlic cloves and peeled
onions are put with it, then crushed garlic is put with it. Some people put
spinach with it also; some make it without spinach. Walnuts and parsley are
put in.
2 lb meat (lamb) 2 cloves crushed garlic [1/2 t cinnamon]
4 carrots 2 c spinach [1/4 t pepper]
6 whole garlic cloves (about .6 oz) 1/4 c walnuts [1/4 t coriander]
4 small onions (5 ounces) 1/4 c parsley [1/4 t salt]
Cut the lamb up small and put it in 1 1/2 c water with cinnamon, pepper,
coriander and salt. Simmer 10 minutes. Add carrots cut up, whole garlic
cloves, and small onions. Simmer 10 minutes. Add crushed garlic. Simmer 20
minutes. Add spinach. Simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with walnuts and parsley.
The spices are based on similar recipes in al-Bagdadi.
White Tharîdah of al Rashid
Translated by Charles Perry from a 9-10th c. Islamic collection.
Take a chicken and joint it, or meat of a kid or lamb, and clean it and
throw it in a pot, and throw on it soaked chickpeas, clean oil, galingale,
cinnamon sticks, and a little salt. And when it boils, skim it. Take fresh
milk and strain it over the pot and throw in onion slices and boiled
carrots. And when it boils well, take peeled almonds and pound them fine.
Break over them five eggs and mix with wine vinegar. Then throw in the pot
and add coriander, a little pepper and a bit of cumin and arrange it and
leave on the fire, and serve, God willing.
2 3/4 lb lamb with bones ~5 c water or less 5 eggs
or 2 1/2 lb chicken, cut up 1 T salt 1 1/2 T wine vinegar
2 15 oz cans chickpeas 1 c milk 1 t coriander
2 T olive oil 1 large onion (1 1/4 lbs) 1 3/4 t pepper
3/4 t galingale 9 carrots (1 1/4 lbs) 1 1/4 t cumin
1 oz stick cinnamon = 5 sticks 5 oz almonds = 1 c ground
Put meat or chicken, chickpeas (with liquid), oil, galingale, cinnamon
sticks and salt with as little water as will cover, boil 15 minutes.
Meanwhile boil carrots. Use large pot. Add milk, sliced onion, drained
carrots, boil another 15 minutes. Add fine ground almonds, eggs, and
vinegar and spices all mixed together. Add to boiling mixture. Cook another
five minutes, serve.
An alternative interpretation of the recipe omits the water, so that the
meat is cooked in the oil until partially cooked, then the milk, onions,
and carrots are added.
Labaniyyah
Ibn al-Mabrad p. 22 [15th c. Eastern Islamic]
Meat is boiled, then leeks are put in and yoghurt is dissolved and rice is
put with it. Some people put the yoghurt first, then the meat then the
rice.
3/4 lb boned lamb 2 leeks = 2 c sliced (2 t cumin)
1 3/4 cup of water 1 1/4 c yogurt (2 t coriander)
1/2 t salt 1 1/4 c rice (1 t cinnamon)
Cut meat into bite-sized pieces. Boil meat for 15 minutes in water at low
heat, covered. Add leeks, yogurt and salt. Add rice and spices. Simmer
(again covered) until rice is done (about an hour). The spices are based on
similar recipes in al-Bagdadi.
Gharibah
Ibn al-Mabrad p. 21 [15th c. Eastern Islamic]
Meat is boiled, then you take off most of its broth and put with the
remainder vegetables such as onion, gourd and aubergine. You dissolve
yoghurt in what you took off and you put it with it. Then you garnish with
walnut and parsley.
3/4 lb meat (lamb) [1/2 t dry coriander] 3 lbs ³gourd:² squash
2 c water [1/2 t+ salt] 1 lb eggplant
[1 stick cinnamon] 1/2 c yogurt 1/2 c chopped walnuts
[1/4 t cumin] 3 onions =2 c chopped 2 T chopped parsley
Cut up the lamb small, removing most of the fat. Simmer it in water for
about 1/2 hour with the spices. Remove 1/2 of the broth, mix with yogurt.
Put the vegetables (cut up in small pieces) and the yogurt-broth mixture
back in the pot with the lamb. Simmer for 1 hour. Garnish with walnuts and
parsley.
Note: the spicing is based on what is used in Al-Baghdadi for similar
dishes. The cookbook this recipe is from is very terse; cinnamon is never
mentioned, nor, I think, salt, and dry coriander only once. I assume they
are simply omitted in the recipe, and left to the cook's judgement. Note
that squash is new world, and is being used here as a substitute for the
period gourd--probably Lagonaria.
Here are two more (English 15th c.) that actually use the term "stew," but
that I suspect have less vegetable than you were thinking of:
Beef y-Stewed
Two Fifteenth Century p. 6/52
Take faire beef of the ribs of the forequarters, and smite in fair pieces,
and wash the beef into a fair pot; then take the water that the beef was
sodden in, and strain it through a strainer and seethe the same water and
beef in a pot, and let them boil together; then take canel, cloves, maces,
grains of paradise, cubebs and onions y-minced, parsley and sage, and cast
thereto, and let them boil together; and then take a loaf of bread, and
stepe it with broth and vinegar, and then draw it through a strainer, and
let it be still; and when it is near enough, cast the liquor thereto, but
not too much, and then let boil once, and cast saffron thereto a quantity;
then take salt and vinegar, and cast thereto, and look that it be poynant
enough, and serve forth.
about 1 lb+ beef 1/4 t cloves 4 slices bread
3 medium onions 1 t sage pinch of saffron
1/4 c chopped parsley 1/4 t mace 1 t salt
1 bouillon cube 1/8 t whole grains of paradise (grind) vinegar
1/2 t cinnamon 1/8 t whole cubebs (grind)
Add fresh water to cover and bouillon, bring to a boil, add parsley, onion,
and spices. Simmer about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, put bread to soak in water
and broth from the meat. At the end of 45 minutes mush up the bread and add
that, the saffron and salt, bring to a boil and serve.
Stwed Mutton
Two Fifteenth Century p. 72
Take faire Mutton that hath ben roste, or elles Capons, or suche other
flessh, and mynce it faire; put hit into a possenet, or elles bitwen ii
siluer disshes; caste thereto faire parcely, And oynons small mynced; then
caste there-to wyn, and a litull vynegre or vergeous, pouder of peper,
Canel, salt and saffron, and lete it stue on the faire coles, And then
serue hit forthe; if he have no wyne ne vynegre, take Ale, Mustard, and A
quantite of vergeous, and do this in the stede of vyne or vinegre.
Wine Version
1 1/2 lb boned lamb 2 T vinegar 1 t salt
1/4 c parsley 1 t pepper 3 threads saffron
2 medium onions (1 1/4 lb) 1/2 t cinnamon about 1/2 c water
3/4 c wine
Beer Version
Substitute 1 c dark beer and 1/2 t ground mustard for the wine. Substitute
4 T of verjuice for the vinegar if you have it.
Roast the lamb (before boning) at 350° for about 1 hour, then chop it into
bite sized pieces. Chop onions fine. Combine all ingredients (and the
juices from roasting the lamb) in a covered stew pot; use enough water so
that there is just enough liquid to boil the meat in. Simmer it about 1/2
hour and serve it forth. It is good over rice.
And just to give you one to work out for yourself--the first recipe in Two
Fifteenth Century, which for some reason I do not have a worked out recipe
for, although I have done it.
Lange Wortys de chare.
Take beef and merowbones, and boil it in fair water; than take fair wortys
and wash him clean in water, and parboil him in clean water; than take him
up of the water after the first boiling, and cut the leaves at two or a
three, and cast him into the beef, and boil together: than take a loaf of
white bread and grate it, and cast it on the pot, an safron and salt, and
let it boil enough, and serve forth. (spelling modernized)
> Also, does anyone know of a period dish that would approximate a non-
> meat stew for the vegetarians among us? From the same cuisine as the
> meat dish?
A Muzawwara (Vegetarian Dish) Beneficial for Tertian Fevers and Acute
Fevers
Andalusian p. A-52 [13th c. Western Islamic]
Take boiled peeled lentils and wash in hot water several times; put in the
pot and add water without covering them; cook and then throw in pieces of
gourd, or the stems [ribs] of Swiss chard, or of lettuce and its tender
sprigs, or the flesh of cucumber or melon, and vinegar, coriander seed, a
little cumin, Chinese cinnamon, saffron and two ûqiyas of fresh oil;
balance with a little salt and cook. Taste, and if its flavor is pleasingly
balanced between sweet and sour, [good;] and if not, reinforce until it is
equalized, according to taste, and leave it to lose its heat until it is
cold and then serve.
2 c lentils 1 1/2 t cinnamon one of the following: 1 1/2 lb butternut
squash
5 c water 6 threads saffron 1 lb chard or beet leaves
1/4 c cider vinegar 1/4 c oil 1 lb lettuce
3/4 t ground coriander 1 t salt 2 8" cucumbers
3/4 t cumin melon (?)
Boil lentils about 40 minutes until they start to get mushy. Add spices and
vinegar and oil. Add one of the vegetables; leafy vegetables should be torn
up, squash or cucumbers are cut into bite-sized pieces and cooked about
10-15 minutes before being added to lentils. Cook lettuce or chard version
for about 10 minutes, until leaves are soft. Cook squash or cucumber
version about 20 minutes. Be careful not to burn during the final cooking.
Rapes in Potage [or Carrots or Parsnips]
Curye on Inglysch p. 99 (Forme of Cury no. 7)
Take rapus and make hem clene, and waissh hem clene; quarter hem; perboile
hem, take hem vp. Cast hem in a gode broth and seeÝ hem; mynce oynouns and
cast Ýerto safroun and salt, and messe it forth with powdour douce. In the
self wise make of pastunakes and skyrwittes.
Note: rapes are turnips; pasternakes are either parsnips or carrots;
skirrets are, according to the OED, ³a species of water parsnip, formerly
much cultivated in Europe for its esculent tubers.² We have never found
them available in the market.
1 lb turnips, carrots, or parsnips 6 threads saffron powder douce: 2 t
sugar
2 c chicken broth (canned, diluted) 3/4 t salt 3/8 t cinnamon
1/2 lb onions 3/8 t ginger
Wash, peel, and quarter turnips (or cut into eighths if they are large),
cover with boiling water and parboil for 15 minutes. If you are using
carrots or parsnips, clean them and cut them up into large bite-sized
pieces and parboil 10 minutes. Mince onions. Drain turnips, carrots, or
parsnips, and put them with onions and chicken broth in a pot and bring to
a boil. Crush saffron into about 1 t of the broth and add seasonings to
potage. Cook another 15-20 minutes, until turnips or carrots are soft to a
fork and some of the liquid is boiled down.
> Brother Crimthann
> rgoff at mcimail.com
David/Cariadoc
DDF2 at Cornell.Edu
From: jtn at nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Feast Menus
Date: 17 Nov 1993 16:46:58 GMT
Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn.
Brother Crimthann asks,
>I'm thinking about doing an oudoor meal this summer at a remote site. The idea
>that has us all excited is to serve stew in hollowed-out loaves of bread. It
>would be a very basic meal, one or two courses, served in a camp setting.
>Most everything would be prepared ahead of time and heated at the site using
>campfires (if the Forest Service allows) or propane burners.
>
>Not that we've ever been sticklers for period documentation, but can anyone
>describe how a period meat stew goes together? Was it common to cook meats
>and vegetables together in something like we'd recognize as stew?
Not really, in Europe. Cariadoc has already posted with a
number of Islamic dishes, and a couple of European ones.
The following are some further notes, which apply most
directly to French and English cuisine of the 14th and
15th centuries.
In general, European dishes that are stew-like contain
meat (or fowl or fish), broth, thickener, onions, herbs,
and spices. There are a few recipes with greens. I have
not seen any for a meat stew with veggies on the order of
carrots, turnips, etc.
-- Angharad/Terry
From: "James L. Matterer" <jmattere at weir.net>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 21:45:42 -0700
Subject: SC - Cameline Meat Brewet
Greetings,
In response to Derdriu's & Willem's request for a posting of A
Cameline Meat Brewet, here it is.
Looking over the recipe, I think it might be fun to substitute red
wine for the water in the Cameline Sauce. I've never tried it, but I
think I'll have to now that I've thought of it. If anyone makes this
dish, please let me know what you think!
Master Ian
Cameline Meat Brewet
This cold meat dish comes from a reference in The Goodman of Paris,
which lists a Parisian feast of 1393 where there was served "a cameline
meat brewet - pieces of meat in a thin cinnamon sauce." Although it is
not known exactly how this particular dish was prepared, this recipe is
an approximation of how such a meat brewet may have been created. Curye
on Inglish describes two cold brewets, one without meat (p. 128) and one
with (p. 129).
2 lbs. beef, sliced into thin strips
1 tsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Meat butter in pan, add meat and seasonings and saute until done. Drain
well and let cool. Place meat in a sealable container and add Cameline
Sauce to cover. Refrigerate for several days, agitating container once a
day. Remone from marinade and serve cold or at room temperature.
Serves 4 - 8.
Cameline Sauce
"Pound ginger, plenty of cinnamon, cardamon, mace, long pepper if you
wish, then squeeze out bread soaked in vinegar and strain it all
together and salt it just right." - Le Viandier de Taillevent, from
Food in History, p. 219.
Unlike many sauces, this one is unboiled as per the description in Le
Viandier de Taillevent, p. 219: "Cameline sauce has cinnamon as its
predominant ingredient and is unboiled." Le Viandier also advises us
that not all sauces contained binding agents (p. 23-24). Bearing that in
mind, the bread crumbs have been left out of this version of the recipe.
1 c. each cider vinegar and water
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each of ginger, cloves, mace, cardamon, pepper, and salt
Combine liquids, add spices and mix thoroughly with a wire whisk. Taste
for seasonings and adjust accordingly. Use immediately or refrigerate
for later use.
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 16:15:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: Philip E Cutone <flip+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: SC - Beef stew
Here it is... this commign from a sheet i had at War practice.
wish more people showed up... i cooked a couple gallons of the stuff.
After offering hospitality to several neighbors, i still had near a
half gallon left. mmm was it tasty (if i say so myself)
This is based on a 15c recipe "Beef y-Stewed" to be found in
Cariadoc's Miscellany--
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html. I've modified
the recipe quite a bit, but cooks of the time would have as well,
using whatever happened to be in season or on hand.
Put a crock pot on the simmer setting and place into it:
about 1 lb+ beef - cubed
2 medium onions chopped as you like
1/2 c chopped parsley
2 bouillion cubes (or use beef stock to top off instead of water)
1/4 t cloves (ground)
1 t sage
1/4 t mace
*1/8 t whole grains of paradise (ground)
*1/8 t whole cubebs (ground)
**1/2 c barley
**1/2 t cinnamon
**1/2 t ginger
**1/2 t rosemary
**2-4 cloves garlic chopped
if you cannot find grains of paradise or cubebs, (as i couldn't) substitute:
**(1/4 t ground white pepper)
**(1/4 t ground black pepper)
* did not use for lack of availability
** not mentioned in the original recipie
Add water to cover. Let simmer for several hours (at least till meat is cooked)
Check once an hour and add water to keep contents covered. dissolve:
4-6 threads saffron
in a little of the broth (saffron is a very expensive, very strong
spice. I would recommend about 4-6 threads, though some may find that
heavy) and add it to the stew. Add:
a little crumbled bread to thicken
vinegar to taste
I use a homemade vinegar made from honey, apple juice, water, a little
yeast and whatever critters happen to sour the brew. If you don't
happen to have any contaminated cysers (smile) You can substitute a
3:1 mixture of apple vinegar and white wine/mead and perhaps a little honey.
The stew will require salt (unless, you perhaps use salted beef, which
will change the flavor some). I usually allow my guests to add their
own salt as they can always put more in, but cannot take it out.
If you do not have a crock pot, or you lack the time, you can cook it
on the stove in about an hour, but it will take more watching and the
barley might need some pre cooking.
The spice measurements are a guess. I cook on the fly, as suites my
taste of the day. This combined with my earlier statment of "using
whatever happens to be in season" would sort of imply that the real
instructions for this recipe may be reduced to "Throw stuff together
and make a stew" If this is how you have interpreted these
instructions, you've just found out my secret for cooking. The best
advice I can give is this: Experiment, find out what *you* like, taste
your dish at all stages of preperation, and don't sweat a mistake now
and again. If you are unsure of a flavor addition, separate out a few
spoonfuls and flavor that. By doing that, you don't risk ruining the
entire dish.