eggplant-msg – 2/08/08
Period eggplant (aubergine) and eggplant recipes.
NOTE: See also the files: vegetables-msg, ME-feasts-msg, fd-Spain-msg, gourds-msg, fd-Mid-East-msg, fd-Turkey-msg, ME-revel-fds-art.
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Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 13:04:35 +1100 (EST)
From: Charles McCN <charlesn at sunrise.srl.rmit.edu.au>
Subject: Re: SC - Period veges
On Fri, 28 Nov 1997, Kathleen M Everitt wrote:
> Does anyone have a good, tried and true, period recipe for eggplant? I've
> never seen it served at a feast and I think it might be fun to try.
>
> Julleran
Peel the things, slice about 1/2" thick, boil very briefly. Mix
breadcrumbs, sugar and spices (I can't recall anymore what the original
said -I use what seems good at the time) and crumb the eggplants (do the
egg then crumbs thing) and fry them. Yum. Another good campig recipe, but
definitely a middle-east thing rather than europe.
Charles Ragnar
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 17:57:39 -0500
From: dangilsp at intrepid.net (Dan Gillespie)
Subject: Re: SC - Period veges
<snip of comments on carrots>
Elizabeth also wrote: "Eggplant (aubergine), I know lots of good Islamic recipes for this, but no non-Muslim European ones. Does anyone else?
There are a couple of eggplant recipes in the Arte de Cozina text from 1607
that I'm currently working with. I haven't done any redactions with these
recipes yet, so I can't say how tasty they are. Here's my translation:
"Book III Chapter 19: How to make eggplant
Cook the eggplant in water & salt, & being cooked remove the water, & chop them well, & cast them in a casserole dish to fry with a lot of oil, & cast to them grated cheese & bread, & 6 or 8 maravedis of spices {fairly heavily spiced}, & some garlic, all mashed, & cook everything with this mixture, & thicken it with eggs, setting fire on top. This is called " a nun's casserole of eggplant": also you may give it out cooked in the grease from the pot, & serve it with fat bacon, pepper, or parsley. These eggplants may be stored all year in a syrup of grape juice/ wine, & made in this manner, cooking it in this syrup, & casting some cloves & cinnamon to it while it cooks, & cast it in a glass pot, where it
will be stored."
A note on the spices....the text mentions the principal ones as cinnamon,
ginger, pepper, nutmeg, cloves & saffron. The text also mentions clearly
mint & parsley (these very often), bay leaves, oregano & marojam (these
infrequently) & possibly fresh cilantro. Also, cumin & maybe coriander
seed, both infrequently.
Please let me know if you try any of these recipes, how they turn out.
Take care,
Antoine de Bayonne
Dan Gillespie
dangilsp at intrepid.net
Dan_Gillespie at usgs.gov
Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 21:19:11 -0500
From: dangilsp at intrepid.net (Dan Gillespie)
Subject: SC - eggplant follow-up
A while back someone was asking for European recipes for eggplant.
I posted a translation of a Spanish recipe. It sounded rather nice, so I
finally got around to trying it. Here are the results:
Cap xix Como se han de hazer las berengenas
Han se de cozer las berengenas en agua, y sal, y estando cozidas se le
quitara el agua, y se picara(n) bie(n), y se echara(n) en una cauela a
freyr co(n) mucha azeyte, y se le echara queso rallado y pan, y seys o ocho
maravedis despecias, y unos ajos, todo majado, y cozeran co(n) todo este
recaudo; y se quajaran con huevos, poniendole lumbre encima. Esta se llama
cauela mongil de bere(n)genas.
Chap 19 How to make eggplant
Cook the eggplant in water & salt, & being cooked remove the water, & chop
them well, & cast them in a casserole to fry with a lot of oil, & cast to
them grated cheese & bread, & 6 or 8 maravedis of spices, & some garlic, all
mashed, & cook everything with this mixture; & thicken it with eggs, setting
fire on top. This is called "a nun's casserole of eggplant"
Nun's Eggplant Casserole
- -2 medium eggplants, cut into large chunks
- -3 Tbsp olive oil
- -4 cloves garlic, minced
- -1 cup grated Romano cheese
- -1/2 tsp pepper
- -1 tsp ground coriander seed
- -1/2 tsp ginger
- -1/2 tsp oregano
- -1 tsp cumin
- -2 eggs, beaten
- -1 cup of slightly stale bread, torn into pieces
Boil the eggplant in well salted water til tender, about 15 or 20 minutes.
Drain, let cool & chop.
Heat the oil in a large pot & add the eggplant & garlic. Cook til the
eggplant begins to dry out & the garlic is softened. Mix all the spices &
bread pieces together. Stir the eggplant into the bread. Stir the cheese
into the mix & the beaten eggs. Put all this into a greased casserole pan &
bake for 40 minutes at 325 degrees.
This made a tasty dish. There are 2 things that I might do different next
time. Put a bit of extra cheese on top of the dish before baking. Also,
the color was an unappetizing shade of gray. I would remove the eggplant
skins before chopping the pulp & perhaps color the dish with a bit of
saffron (or turmeric if you're short on money). Let me know how this
strikes your taste buds if you do try it.
Holiday calories don't really count, do they?
Antoine
Dan Gillespie
dangilsp at intrepid.net
Dan_Gillespie at usgs.gov
Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 00:36:14 -0800
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: SC - Badinjan Muhassa
In the "Best Food for War" thread, Lord Cariadoc said:
"Badinjan Muhassa is a yummy period dip."
I asked if this was in the Miscellany on line. I never heard back,
but it could easily have gotten lost in the Trimaris turmoil. So here
it is, from the Miscellany
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/islamic_w_veggies.html#3
If you haven't explored Lord Cariadoc's on-line Miscellany, i highly
recommend it. I've redacted some of the recipes myself. It's so nice
to have the original, and to see how an experienced cook does it, but
i'm pig-headed (odd for a Muslim persona) and redact them my way.
I have a question for Lord Cariadoc: I've had some experience with
purchased eggplant dips fermenting. Does this keep well? I do bring a
cooler to events, but i know you usually don't. Or do you cook it on
the spot and have it eaten almost immediately so you've no experience
of how long it keeps?
Anahita al-shazhiyya
- -----
Badinjan Muhassa
Ibn al-Mahdi's cookbook in 10th c. collection, Charles Perry tr.
Cook eggplants until soft by baking, boiling or grilling over the
fire, leaving them whole. When they are cool, remove the loose skin,
drain the bitter liquor and chop the flesh fine. It should be coarser
than a true pure. Grind walnuts fine and make into a dough with
vinegar and salt. Form into a patty and fry on both sides until the
taste of raw walnut is gone; the vinegar is to delay scorching of the
nuts. Mix the cooked walnuts into the chopped eggplant and season to
taste with vinegar and ground caraway seed, salt and pepper. Serve
with a topping of chopped raw or fried onion.
3/4 lb eggplant
1 c walnuts
2 T vinegar (for nut dough)
1/2 t salt (for nut dough)
1/8 t each pepper and salt
1 t caraway seed
1 1/2 T vinegar (at the end)
1/4 c chopped raw onion
Simmer the eggplant 20 to 30 minutes in salted water (1/2 t salt in a
pint of water). Let it cool. Peel it. Slice it and let the slices sit
on a colander or a cloth for an hour or so, to let out the bitter
juice.
Grind the walnuts, add vinegar and salt to make a dough. Make patties
about 1/2" thick and put them on a frying pan at medium to medium
high heat, without oil. In about half a minute, when the bottom side
has browned a little, turn the patty over and use your pancake turner
to squash it down to about 1/4" (the cooked side is less likely to
stick to your implement than the uncooked side). Continue cooking,
turning whenever the patty seems about to scorch. When you are done,
the surface of the patty will be crisp, brown to black-and since it
is thin, the patty is mostly surface. If the patties start giving up
lots of walnut oil (it is obvious-they will quickly be swimming in
the stuff) the pan is too hot; throw them out, turn down the heat and
make some more.
Chop up the eggplant, mix in the nut patties (they will break up in
the process), add pepper, salt, caraway (ground in a spice grinder or
mortar and pestle), and vinegar. Top with onion. Eat by itself or on
bread.
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 11:03:17 -0600
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Badinjan Muhassa
At 12:36 AM -0800 2/27/00, lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
>I have a question for Lord Cariadoc: I've had some experience with
>purchased eggplant dips fermenting. Does this keep well? I do bring
>a cooler to events, but i know you usually don't. Or do you cook it
>on the spot and have it eaten almost immediately so you've no
>experience of how long it keeps?
I've never cooked it an event, just made it at home and brought it.
My impression is that it keeps pretty well, but it generally gets
eaten, so I don't have any long term experiments.
David Friedman
From: Stavropoulos, Basil <BStavropoulos at munichre.com>
To: 'BYZANS-L at lists.missouri.edu' <BYZANS-L at lists.missouri.edu>
Date: Wednesday, March 01, 2000 7:00 PM
Subject: RE: Eggplant
><<By the way you have not lived if you have not eaten papoutsakia -
> eggplant stuffed and covered with bechamel sauce. >>
>
>Melitzanosalata - roast an eggplant in the Weber until it is totally black.
>Let cool. Peel. Process flesh with as much garlic as you can take, some
>wine vinegar, and dribble in extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil until it is
>a glutinous mass. Break a loaf of fresh bread into pieces and try and stop
>eating before you are bloated.
Date: Fri, 05 May 2000 14:47:08 EDT
From: allilyn at juno.com
Subject: Re: SC - an interesting challenge...and its even about medieval food! :)
Eggplant
This appeared in Tournaments Illuminated, no. 89, Winter A.S. XXIII, p. 27.
by Nige of the Cleftlands, with assistance from Mathilde Meyer.
Original: BERENGENAS EN CACUELA [the second c has a cedilla above it,
but can't do it on juno]
Tomar berengenas y mondarlas dela corteza muy bie y cortarlas en tres o
quartro pedacos cada una: y cozer las en buen caldo de carnero co nv par
de cebollas...(Spanish)
68. De alberginies en cassola
Albergines pendras e neteja-les de la escorca e talla-les en tres o
quatre tocos cascuna. E metles a coure ab bon brou de molto ab un parell
de cebes...
Our Translation:
Take eggplants and peel them well and cut them in 3 or 4 pieces each, and
cook them in good mutton broth with a pair of onion, and cook them until
they are well cooked; and being cooked, take them from the pan; and chop
them on a cutting board till they are very small; and then add good
grated Aragon cheese and some egg yolks. And mince it all like the
stuffing for a kid, and add salsa fina, putting all of these spices into
the casserole, well mixed: ginger, mace, nutmeg, green coriander; and
parsley; then take the casserole to the oven. and when it is cooked,
sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon.
Salsa fina is a bit of a mystery, but as the spices listed immediately
afterwards are also referred to as salsa, they may be what is actually
intended. ....snip
Sources
Libre del coch. Mestre Robert, Barcelona, 1977
Libro de guisados manjares y potages intitulado Libro de Cozina, Facsimil
de la edicion de Logrone, 1529. Rupert de Nola, Madrid: Ediciones
Guillermo Blasquez.
_______________________________________________
Test version prepared for Known World Heraldry Road Show.
What I did:
Sliced eggplant in half, longways. Scooped out most of pulp, leaving a
little 'wall' with the skin. Chopped the pulp, adding chopped onions,
and some minced cilantro and curley parsley. Made lamb broth with a leg
of lamb bone saved for soup. [ We will have to buy lamb or mutton to do
this] Added veggies to simmering lamb broth, cooked them. Added grated
Muenster cheese as I was supposed to be preparing this in Germany. Added
an egg or a yolk. Added some of my powder douce, with home ground spices
from the Pepperar's Guild: nutmeg, mace, ginger, cinnamon, sugar. [We
can make it without the cinnamon for the event]. Spooned the mix back
into the shells and baked in convection oven, 300*, until done. [I
forget]. Baking it in the shells gave it a sort of smoky taste, which we
liked.
APdeT
______________________________________
Rheinfrankisches Kochbuch, 1445
65. Nimm Feigen, Rosinen und Honig, hacke alles zusammen klein und
mische es dabei untereinander, gib auch Gewrz und andere gute Zutaten
hinzu. Flle es in (ausgehhlte) pfel und hefte diese jeweils mit einem
hlzernen Spie?chen wieder zusammen. Backe die gefllten pfel in einem
Topf mit Weinin der Fllung (oder: in einem Teigmantel, der mit
Weinhergestellt wurde). Dann wird es sehr wohlschmeckend.
Take figs, raisins and honey, chop them small, all together, give also
spices and other good ingredients [I used walnuts at Celtic Spring II].
Use as stuffing for cored apples, bake in wine/honey sauce. Plump the
figs if using dried figs. Note: if using an apple corer/peeler/slicer,
you have the look of whole apples, but people can take just a little if
preferred.
Allison, allilyn at juno.com
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 02:20:52 EDT
From: allilyn at juno.com
Subject: SC - eggplant
A forward of a post on eggplant, with a friend in the Near East, married
to an Indian.
Regards,
Allison, allilyn at juno.com
- --------- Begin forwarded message ----------
From: "Sherry C. Atri" <sherrycatri at yahoo.com>
To: allilyn at juno.com
Subject: Re: Cookbook
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 01:31:21 -0700 (PDT)
I would guess that the period one is the plant sold as
Easter Egg plant. When you see it growing you
understand why they called it eggplant. It really
does look like you are growing eggs. They are white
or golden in color when ripe and fuller of seeds than
the modern variety. I don't know when the purple
variety came into hybridization, but I think it might
be a little out of period.
Anyway, ever since I learned that eggplant has no
nutritional value whatsoever I have held myself
excused from having to eat it, except of course in
Baba Ganouge, which is really delicious here. They
make two kinds, one the salty/smoky variety I am
familiar with from Ali Baba's, etc., and the other
with a sweet/sour tamarind sauce.
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 08:41:01 -0700
From: "E. Rain" <raghead at liripipe.com>
Subject: RE: SC - Eggplant 'confusion'
Well a glance through all the recipe titles from the medieval manuscripts in
L'Arte della cucina in Italia* shows no eggplant recipes, though it *may* be
an ingredient in some dishes I haven't fully translated yet)
similarly I do not find them in the 1598 english translation of the
Epulario, the small portion of titles I've translated from Scappi so far, or
Scully's 15th c. neapolitan colletion, but they are present in the 14th c.
Cerruti tacuinum sanitatis (I assume they appear in other tacuinums as well,
but didn't bother checking) They are also mentioned by Castelvetro 1614.
leaving Italy for Spain, they are present in both Sent Sovi 14th c. & Libre
del coch 15th c.
That's enough for one morning :->
*Anonimo Toscano 14th c., Anonimo Meridionale early 15th c., anonimo
Veneziano 14th c., Trecentesco Della Corte Angioina 14th c.
Eden Rain
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 11:12:18 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Eggplant 'confusion'
Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is native to SE Asia. The most common variant
is the purple one, var. esculenta, but it also comes in white and striped
varieties. It is commonly believed the Arabs found it in India after the
invasion of 712 and imported it to North Africa, Spain and Sicily.
The plant may have come to India after Nearchus' invasion (approx. 325 BCE)
or been overlooked by the Macedonian general. The plant was unknown to the
Romans.
Bear
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 00:04:34 +0200
From: TG <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: Re: SC - Eggplant 'confusion'
<< similarly I do not find them in [...] Scully's 15th c. neapolitan
colletion >>
It is mentioned in recipe #33. The word "Marignani" seems to be one of
the many regional variants; see Scully's glossary. And in case you have
a good library around: There is also a short passage about ital.
_melanzana_ and variants in an article by Gustav Ineichen in the
"Festschrift Walther von Wartburg zum 80. Geburtstag", Tbingen 1968,
425-428. Ineichen quotes an article, I did not see yet. But the title
looks promising: C.E. Dubler: Temas geogrfico-lingistcos I: Sobre la
berenjena. In: Al-Andalus VII (1942) 367-389. [Sobre la berenjena =
About the eggplant]
Scappi 1570 has a recipe for "minestra di melanzane in diuersi modi con
brodo di carne" (Cap. II 224, p. 83a); he says that eggplant can be
prepared in some ways like the "zucche". Then, on fol. 151b and 363a
there are several recipes with "molignane". If I am not mistaken, this
is yet another word form for eggplants. (The parallel recipe to the
Neapolitan recipe collection #33 in the Riva del Garda Manuscript of