mushrooms-msg - 2/8/08 Period mushrooms. recipes. Growing and collecting mushrooms in period and today. NOTE: See also the files: 23-Ger-Mushrm-art, capers-msg, herbs-cooking-msg, marrow-msg, nuts-msg, spices-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 ************************************************************************ From: "Philip W. Troy" <troy at asan.com> Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 13:00:18 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Jeanne Stapleton wrote: > Okay: I got a five-lb flat of fresh mushrooms in lovely shape as > part of a bonus for working with the SCA group at the public TV > station this week. Since I'm not going to eat that much stroganoff > in the next week or so, I'd like some suggestions/recipes/sources on: > - interesting ways to pickle > - interesting snack/appetizer things for a Pelican vigil next Friday > - things other than stroganoffing or sauteeing For what it's worth, I served this at an EK 12th Night a couple of years ago: _Funges in Pasty_ "Mushrooms of one night be the best and they be little and red within and closed at the top; and they must be peeled and then washed in hot water and parboiled and if you wish to put them in a pasty add oil, cheese, and spice powder." Le Menagier de Paris, translated by Eileen Powers, pub. Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1928 A pasty is a great way to cook almost anything moist, as the pastry case seals in any juices which would otherwise escape during cooking. The exact nature of the dough is fairly unimportant; most likely it would have been a hot water/shortening dough such as are used in modern English raised pork pies. Pasties are always free-standing; without a pan to shape them. Classic shapes are turnovers and double-crust rounds, like large round ravioli. They can be, and were, either baked or deep-fried. I suspect le Menagier is talking about some other mushroom than our standard champignon; the need for peeling and parboiling suggests some level of toxicity. We don't usually have to worry about that unless we hunt up our own mushrooms. For eight servings: Eight frozen empanada wrappers (Goya makes cool yellow ones, 10 per pack!) or one recipe standard short piecrust, divided into eight and rolled out into thin circles, or one frozen 9-inch pie-shell, partially prebaked. 12 ounces, drained weight, canned sliced mushrooms plus one ounce soaked dried wild mushrooms, chopped and sauteed (we used porcinis) OR 1 1/4 pounds fresh mushrooms, sliced and sauteed 2-3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup ricotta cheese or equivalent in cheese of your choice 2 Tbs grated parmesan cheese 2 tsp quatre ep=EDce or mixed pepper, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves salt and pepper 3-4 cups vegetable oil for deep-frying, if you're going that way Make the filling. Mix your mushrooms with the cheese, the olive oil, and the spice powder. If you use premixed spice powder, remember it probably already has some pepper. Season with salt and, if necessary, pepper. If you're using a commercial baked pie shell, add one or two beaten eggs to hold the filling together. If using frozen wrappers, follow package directions for thawing and keep covered with a slightly damp towel. If you're using homemade wrappers do the same. Fill two or three wrappers at a time, keeping the rest covered. If necessary, brush inside edges with water or beaten egg to seal. Pinch shut any cracks the same way; a rub with a wet fingertip erases them. Crimp the edges with fingers or a fork (optional). Fried pasties need to be well sealed or they'll explode and fill your oil with brown curds. Baked ones are easier, but not as good. Any leftover beaten eggs can be used to glaze the baked version. Deep-fry at 350 degrees F, til golden, or bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes or until a knife point comes out clean. G. Tacitus Adamantius From: Uduido at aol.com Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 21:35:54 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! << For what it's worth, I served this at an EK 12th Night a couple of years ago: _Funges in Pasty_ >> I can vouch for this recipe. I redacted it several years ago and the Shire now sells them from our period food booth when we set up at mundane (translate: public) events. They always sell out! Well worth the effort. P.S. Thanks for fine tuning this recipe for me! :-) Lord Ras From: "Sue Wensel" <swensel at brandegee.lm.com> Date: 2 May 1997 13:09:28 -0500 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! > Okay: I got a five-lb flat of fresh mushrooms in lovely shape as > part of a bonus for working with the SCA group at the public TV > station this week. Since I'm not going to eat that much stroganoff > in the next week or so, I'd like some suggestions/recipes/sources on: > > -interesting ways to pickle > - interesting snack/appetizer things for a Pelican vigil next Friday > - things other than stroganoffing or sauteeing > > Countess Berengaria de Montfort de Carcassonne, OP > Barony of Caerthe > Kingdom of the Outlands Dining with William Shakespear has a wonderful mushroom dish, not good as a finger food, but delicious. I've modified the redaction a little, to suit my own tastes (while not an Italian persona, I believe that one can never have too much garlic or too many onions in a dish). I use about equal amounts of onion and mushrooms. Saute the onions and garlic in about two sticks of butter (more for more onions -- this is based on a 12 oz. pkg of mushrooms). When the onions are clear, not brown, add the mushrooms. When the mushrooms are totally wet and just beginning to soften, add enough breadcrumbs (very fine) to absorb the butter. I usually remember to add any spices right about now. I like to use mace, salt, nutmeg, pepper, ginger, and cinnamon; basil, oregano, salt, and pepper; etc. If you are very experienced in cooking, you can develop spice combinations you like. When the butter is absorbed by the breadcrumbs, then add enough white wine to make a slightly thinner than necessary sauce. Cook for about 10 minutes to cook off the alcohol. This is sufficiently yummy that my mom, who is hopelessly mundane, wanted the recipe. Derdriu From: Emily Epstein <epsteine at spot.Colorado.EDU> Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:34:17 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Greetings from Alix Mont de fer. On Fri, 2 May 1997, Countess Berengaria wrote: > Okay: I got a five-lb flat of fresh mushrooms in lovely shape as > part of a bonus for working with the SCA group at the public TV > station this week. Since I'm not going to eat that much stroganoff > in the next week or so, I'd like some suggestions/recipes/sources on: > -interesting ways to pickle > - interesting snack/appetizer things for a Pelican vigil next Friday > - things other than stroganoffing or sauteeing Here are a couple of recipes that I've served at events in the Shire of Spinning Winds some years ago. The pickled mushrooms became sort of a signature dish of mine-- they always seemed to go over well. These are taken from my files with very little alteration- they were tinkered with at Shire Cooks' Guild meetings over the course of several months before the feast. Most of the work on the Funges was done by Lady Lisbet, who probably has a surname by now, but I don't know what it is. For powder fort we just used my usual formula (I keep it on hand, ready to use.) Hurts and Promises, Feb. 17, 1990, Shire of Spinning Winds. PICKLED MUSHROOMS (Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book p. 173) Take your buttons, clean ym with a spunge & put ym in cold water as you clean ym, then put ym dry in a stewpan & shake a handfull of salt over ym, yn stew ym in their own liquor till they are a little tender; then strain ym from ye liquor & put ym upon a cloath to dry till they are quite cold. Make your pickle before you do your mushrooms, yt it may be quite cold before you put ym in. The Pickle must be made with white-wine, white-pepper, quarter'd nutmeg, a blade of mace, & a race of ginger. Brine: 1 c. Rhine wine (or other white wine) 12 white peppercorns 1/8 t. grated ginger 1 nutmeg, broken approx. 1/8 t. mace Combine wine and spices in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer ca.10 minutes. Cool. 8 oz. mushrooms 1/2 t. salt (In period, they probably used more salt) Put mushrooms in a heavy saucepan (Visions works well). Sprinkle with salt. Cook over high heat, stirring frequently and stew them in their own juices. until they're tender and there's almost no juice left (about 10 min.) Drain off excess mushroom juice. Cool. Pack into jars, cover with brine, and cover tightly. Served at Morgana's Althing 1993, Shire of Spinning Winds FUNGES Take funges and pare hem clene, and dyce hem; take leke and shrede hym small, and do hym to seeth in gode broth. Colour it with safroun, and do therinne powdour fort. 1 lb mushrooms 1 cup beef or pork broth 1/2 teaspoon powder forte 2 oz. leeks Clean mushrooms and leek. Cut mushrooms in a rough dice, chop leek finely. Add spices and broth. Bring to a boil and simmer 5 min. Hieatt, Constance B. & Butler, Sharon, eds. Curye on Inglysch. London: Oxford University Press for the Early English Text Society, 1985. iv 12 p.100 Do not freeze- texture gets nasty Course 1 - 1 recipe/4 tables (32 people) I hope you find these useful. Ly. Alix Mont de Fer (m.k.a. Emily Epstein) Shire of Caer Galen, Outlands epsteine at spot.colorado.edu From: Marvette Gleason <mgleason at corp.ultratech.com> Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 10:22:00 -0700 Subject: SC - Mushrooms! -Reply One thing I really love and freezes well: (while not necessarily period it is a wonderful recipe) 3 lbs Sliced Mushrooms 1 bag of Colombo Stuffing Bread Crumbs (in the bread section or make your own) 4-10 cloves of fresh garlic finely chopped 1 lb butter 1 cup red wine 1 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese (more or less if desired) 1/2 cup Finely Chopped Parsley salt & pepper 2 packages of puff pastry sheets 1 beaten egg Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove puff pastry from packages and let thaw. Melt butter in very large skillet. Add Garlic and saute until lightly browned. Add mushrooms, wine and salt & pepper, saute until mushrooms are cooked. Add parsley and stir, then add bread crumbs and parmesan, mix thoroughly. Check seasoning - add more if necessary. Cut puff pastry sheets into three even strips (along the fold lines). Roll each piece out width-wise until almost double in width. Put mushroom mixture lengthwise onto the puff pastry and roll like a burrito. Seal the edge with a little of the beaten egg. Cut each roll into about 8 pieces. Bake at 400 degrees until pastry is golden brown (approx. 10 - 15 minutes) (for tips look at the sausage roll recipe on the puff pastry box.) From: LadyBetta at aol.com Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 22:22:01 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! and a recipe (no documentation) This is a recipe given to me by Genrose of the Incipient shire of Eir Tun Mushrooms Butter Parmesan cheese grated (Krafts works well) Preheat oven to 350 degrees clean the mushrooms carefully remove the stems, save these for other uses. cut flutes in the mushroom caps, being careful not to cut thru the bottom generously cover in butter generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes Hope you like it:) From: Lasairina at aol.com Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 23:53:47 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Countess Berengaria de Montfort de Carcassonne, OP writes: > Okay: I got a five-lb flat of fresh mushrooms in lovely shape *snip* I'd like some suggestions/recipes/sources on: > > -interesting ways to pickle > - interesting snack/appetizer things for a Pelican vigil next Friday > - things other than stroganoffing or sauteeing You might try stuffed mushroom caps - chop the stems very finely, mix with grated cheese (Parm, Romano, and/or Sharp Cheddar) minced garlic, S & P, then stuff the caps and broil until browned. There is also a wonderful mushroom cheese tart recipe in Pleyn Delit that can either be individual tarts or a pie...you might also try drying them for future use. Lassar Fhina From: Lasairina at aol.com Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 00:02:03 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Philip Troy writes: > I suspect le Menagier is talking about some other mushroom than our > standard champignon; the need for peeling and parboiling suggests some > level of toxicity. We don't usually have to worry about that unless we > hunt up our own mushrooms. Damn! Sorry about the first posting mess-up....I meant to say.... Actually, the parboiling is necessary for even the common mushroom we use today. If this step is left out, the mushroom juice will cause your dough to be extremely soggy. But parboiling them for a few minutes will take most of the extra juice out. Lassar Fhina From: Deloris Booker <dbooker at freenet.calgary.ab.ca> Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 22:09:10 -0600 (MDT) Subject: SC - Re: elinor fettiplace's receipt book "Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book" - edited by Hilary Spurling. Penguin Books, 1986, 0-14-046956-7. $Can18.99, I have no idea of the US$ price. YIS Aldreada of the Lakes (D. Booker, Blue Castle Books, Calgary Alberta Canada) On Fri, 2 May 1997, Dottie Elliott wrote: > > Emily Epstein 5/2/97 3:34 PM > > >Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book > > What is this source? Any suggestions on where I could obtain a copy? > > Clarissa From: dragon7777 at juno.com (Susan A Allen) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 21:37:30 -0700 Subject: SC - Re: Mushrooms & Herbal Oils Mushrooms can be frozen, if they are sauted first. I usually slice them and then saute in a good olive oil until the water is cooked out. This will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks or frozen. A friend of mine cooks them this way with garlic, but I am allergic to the stinking rose. Herbal Oils, you must have totaly DRY herbs for getting the flavor into the oil, I don't mean dried herbs, I mean no surface moisture at all, a hair dryer works, a warm oven (150 - 200 ) or a drying rack (very period dried stuff) work well to get that moisture off Susan dragon7777 at juno.com From: "Philip W. Troy" <troy at asan.com> Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 01:17:04 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Lasairina at aol.com wrote: > Philip Troy writes: > > I suspect le Menagier is talking about some other mushroom than our > > standard champignon; the need for peeling and parboiling suggests some > > level of toxicity. We don=92t usually have to worry about that unless we > > hunt up our own mushrooms. > Damn! Sorry about the first posting mess-up....I meant to say.... > Actually, the parboiling is necessary for even the common mushroom we use > today. If this step is left out, the mushroom juice will cause your dough to > be extremely soggy. But parboiling them for a few minutes will take most of > the extra juice out. > Lassar Fhina Yes, and much of the flavor too. I agree that the common cultivated mushroom is a juicy beast, but I've had a fair amount of success with sauteeing them before using. This has the advantage of concentrating the juice in the pan and improving the flavor of the mushrooms. Sometimes this can take a while. One trick I sometimes use when I'm in a hurry is to take the sliced mushrooms, bundle them up in a clean kitchen towel, and squeeze them until most of the juice drains out. You need a bit of hand strength for this. I do this right over the saute pan. The juice cooks down quite quickly, almost to a glaze, and then you add the mushrooms. They cook in about 1/4 of the time. Adamantius From: Uduido at aol.com Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 17:58:41 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SC - Mushroom Recipe << You might try stuffed mushroom caps - chop the stems very finely, mix with grated cheese (Parm, Romano, and/or Sharp Cheddar) minced garlic, S & P, then stuff the caps and broil until browned. There is also a wonderful mushroom cheese tart recipe in Pleyn Delit that can either be individual tarts >> I found this on a wrinkled piece of paper in my "Feast Recipes" folder. Enjoy MUSHROOMS y-Baked 100 mushrooms, quartered 5 lbs. cheddar cheese, grated Ground Black Pepper Ground Grains of Paradise Ground Ginger Olive Oil Make 50 pastry shells by rolling the dough and cutting out fifty 4 inch circles. Flute the edges of the dough circles. Place 8 mushroom quarters in a circular pattern in each pastry shell. Sprinkle with olive oil. Divide cheese evenly between pastries. Sprinkle a pinch of each spice on each pastry. Bake in a 350 degree F. oven until pastry is golden brown and cheese is melted and bubbly. Redaction by Lord Ras Lord Ras From: Uduido at aol.com Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 18:04:29 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! << I suspect le Menagier is talking about some other mushroom than our > standard champignon;>> Why? The Champignon has been under cultivation for centuries. <<the need for peeling and parboiling suggests some > level of toxicity. >> Actually, until very recently it was standard practice to "peel" mushrooms. Rather than suggesting toxicity, it rather suggests that the standard pre-modern era practice of growing mushrooms in horse manure and straw would dictate removal of the "skin". Also the boiling of mushrooms ironically would remove lots of moisture from them. Lord Ras From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 23:39:57 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Uduido at aol.com wrote: > << I suspect le Menagier is talking about some other mushroom than our > > standard champignon;>> > > Why? The Champignon has been under cultivation for centuries. True. Cultivation began in the Middle Ages, but only reached "industrial" proportions in the eighteenth century. My reason for suggesting Le Menagier wasn't talking about cultivated agaricus mushrooms was the fact that he refers to the best ones as being red. > <<the need for peeling and parboiling suggests some level of toxicity.>> > > Actually, until very recently it was standard practice to "peel" mushrooms. Until about the 1950's, in fact. > Rather than suggesting toxicity, it rather suggests that the standard > pre-modern era practice of growing mushrooms in horsemanure and straw would > dictate removal of the "skin". Also the boiling of mushrooms ironically would > remove lots of moisture from them. You may be right. However, some mushrooms are still grown in horse manure, and many of the same "authorities" that once recommended peeling them now recommend wiping them with a cloth, rather than washing them. And yes, the boiling of mushrooms would certainly cause them to lose moisture, assuming they were drained, but this also causes them to lose much of their flavor. And if it is a coincidence that the recommendation to peel and parboil the mushrooms in the recipe is the same as that made for many wild mushrooms with a low (but not deadly) level of toxicity, I don't think it is a big one. I still believe that champignons are not necessarily what are being talked about in this case. Adamantius From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> Date: Mon, 05 May 1997 00:23:31 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Uduido at aol.com wrote: > Are there any references that you know of that might > mention Portabella mushrooms (My favorite) as being used in period? > > Lord Ras Answer up front: I don't know. But let's reason a little bit here and see what we can deduce. Stop me if I get stupid here; it's late. I read in the Larousse Gastronomique (for what that's worth) that champignons are a cultivated variety of the agaricus field mushroom. The very fact that they have been cultivated over several centuries implies that they may now be genetically a bit different from the wild agaricus mushroom, although a bit similar, as well. Wild agaricus mushrooms include the horse mushrooms mentioned in Apicius, and the flat field mushroom that is today an almost essential part of the classic Irish "fry" or mixed grill. These two mushrooms may in fact be the same thing. I'm probably setting myself up for trouble here, but generally vegetables that are referred to as "horse" are wild, larger, and harvested older than their non-horsey counterparts: horse mushrooms, horse beans, horse chestnuts, etc. Now. Larousse goes on to say that champignons come in two types: blanc and blonde. Champignons blanc are what we generally see in the supermarket in plastic tubs. Champignons blonde are, depending on their size, known as Crimini mushrooms when small, and Portobellos when large. (For those unfamiliar with these mushrooms, Criminis and Portobellos are shaped roughly like the standard champignon, the main difference being the color, which is a bit darker, ranging from golden to brown, and a sort of scaly or feathery-looking upper surface.) My feeling is that Portobellos probably occur late in period if at all, and the fact that they and Criminis are commonly known in the U.S.A. by Italian names is just a quirk of marketing, since they were probably developed in France originally. (If anyone doubts the power of marketing to cloud an issue, I offer a bounty for any fisherman/woman who can catch a scrod for me. Who wants to eat a hake?) I doubt you will find a period reference to Portobellos, at least under that name. But, you can probably have a good time trying some of the Roman recipes for horse mushrooms using Portobellos as a substitute. Personally, at the risk of being off-topic, I feel that just about the ultimate hedonistic experience is a broiled portobello filled with perfectly scrambled eggs and topped with a hit of madeira demiglaze sauce. Not period by a long shot, but at that point, who cares...? Adamantius From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com> Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 00:12:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! This is Elizabeth posting on Cariadoc's account. Adamantius gives one version of the Menagier de Paris mushrooms in pastry; our version, based on Janet Hinson's translation, is: Mushroom Pastries (Menagier p. M-25): Mushrooms of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed above; and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if you wish to put them in pastry add oil, cheese, and powdered spices. ine Powder of Spices (Menagier p. M-40): Take an ounce and a drachm of white ginger, a quarter-ounce of hand-picked cinnamon, half a quarter-ounce each of grains and cloves, and a quarter-ounce of rock sugar, and grind to powder. 1 lb mushrooms 9 oz cheese (parmesan) 1 T olive oil spice powder: 1/4 t cinnamon, 1/8 t cloves, 1 t ginger, 1/8 t grains of paradise, 1/4 t sugar 9" pie crust Slice mushrooms and parboil (put into boiling water and cook two minutes); drain. Grate or chop cheese. Grind grains of paradise and mix up spices. Mix mushrooms, 2/3 of cheese, spices and oil. Put mixture into crust, put remaining cheese over. Makes scant 9" pie. Bake about 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Note that the word Eileen Powers translates "pasty" Janet Hinson gives as pastry; I gather the French is ambiguous. "Powdered spices" is pretty vague, but since the Menagier gives his own spice powder mix later on in the book, we used that. I agree with Adamantius that the mushrooms are not ours (red inside, closed above?) but find it hard to believe that the problem is toxicity: maybe the skins just weren't good. Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook From: arianwen at juno.com (Valerie A Carson) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 03:34:51 EST Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! On Sun, 04 May 1997 00:15:04 EDT allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON) writes: >On Fri, 2 May 1997 23:53:47 -0400 (EDT) Lasairina at aol.com writes: >>...you might also try drying them for future use. >> >>Lassar Fhina > >Have you tried this sucessfully? I can make fine beef jerky in my >convection oven, and would be happy to know that the same procedure >would work for mushrooms. Do you do anything other than slice them? > >Allison The info I have on dehydrating mushrooms says to clean mushrooms and slice, chop or dry whole. Also, to be sure to rinse, but do not soak because the mushrooms will absorb water (quite contrary to your goal), and that they should be soaked in cold water for 30 minutes to rehydrate. I am fairly new to this whole dehydrating thing and haven't tried mushrooms yet myself, let me know how it turns out if you do it. Arianwen From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> Date: Mon, 05 May 1997 08:35:40 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! david friedman wrote: > This is Elizabeth posting on Cariadoc's account. > I agree with Adamantius that the mushrooms are not > ours (red inside, closed above?) but find it hard to believe that the > problem is toxicity: maybe the skins just weren't good. > > Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook As I said, my only evidence that toxicity might have been an issue is the fact that the instructions to peel and/or parboil are present in modern recipes for wild mushrooms in which some level of toxicity exists. Obviously if the mushrooms are deadly, the recipe specifics don't matter much unless you are attempting suicide. Dickenson and Lucas' "Colour Dictionary of Mushrooms" lists several hundred species of wild mushroom. Of the varieties that are considered edible, peeling, removal of the base, and/or parboiling is recommended for perhaps 30 - 40% of them, to limit possible toxic reactions. Avoiding overindulgence in some of them is also recommended for the same reason. Also, as previously said, this may be a coincidence. On the other hand, it may not. I don't see how we could possibly know for sure. With regard to your use of Le Menagier's fine spice powder, I confess that this is what I get for failing to take the entire work as a unit. When I did my redaction, I simply forgot that a recipe for fine spice powder is present in Le Menagier. I must try your version of the spice powder in future. Toodle-Pip! G. Tacitus Adamantius From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> Date: Mon, 05 May 1997 08:49:03 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Valerie A Carson wrote: > The info I have on dehydrating mushrooms says to clean mushrooms and > slice, chop or dry whole. Also, to be sure to rinse, but do not soak > because the mushrooms will absorb water (quite contrary to your goal), > and that they should be soaked in cold water for 30 minutes to rehydrate. > I am fairly new to this whole dehydrating thing and haven't tried > mushrooms yet myself, let me know how it turns out if you do it. > > Arianwen Sometimes even rinsing mushrooms will cause them to absorb a significant amount of moisture. Some people recommend wiping them with a slightly damp cloth. This is obviously more labor-intensive than some people are prepared to get, and it is up to you how retentive you allow yourself to become. For what it is worth, the amount of outside moisture introduced onto the mushrooms seems to be in inverse proportion the the good appearance of the final product: they oxidize very quickly when wet. I once worked with a chef who would not allow wild mushrooms to be washed in any way. He used to say, "People eat these things because they taste like the forest. If you wash the forest off them, then what's the point?" He may have something there. Or, alternately, he may be a dangerous lunatic. I worked with the man, so I'm biased... Anyway, I sometimes rinse mushrooms one at a time, holding them in such a way that the gills or tubes (depending on species) don't get wet. Adamantius From: mfgunter at tddeng00.fnts.com (Michael F. Gunter) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 09:11:06 -0500 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! Also, pan frying them in a heavy skillet with no oil and very high heat will cook/dry them very well and give a very earthy browning to the mushroom. Gunthar From: Lasairina at aol.com Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 16:57:46 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! > Have you tried this sucessfully? I can make fine beef jerky in my > convection oven, and would be happy to know that the same procedure would > work for mushrooms. Do you do anything other than slice them? > > Allison Yes, several times. We hiked a lot when I was a kid, and my mother dehydrated everything she could - much lighter to carry! She'd wipe them clean then dry them in a dehydrator (big box full of trays with a fan on the the back) in less than a day. They store forever if you keep them out of the air (we used mason jars at home, baggies on the trail...) One of my fellow Guild Mistress' swears by drying mushrooms of all kinds. She buys them on sales and dries them on big flat baskets on her porch. Haven't tried it that way yet myself, but I don't see why it shouldn't work as well. Then just reconstitute in water or broth and use as normal... Good luck! Lassar Fhina From: Emily Epstein <epsteine at spot.Colorado.EDU> Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 08:56:38 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! On Tue, 6 May 1997, LYN M PARKINSON wrote: >>One of my fellow Guild Mistress' swears by drying mushrooms of all kinds. >>She buys them on sales and dries them on big flat baskets on her porch. > ... I throw out more mushrooms, because they go bad before I can > finish them. Eventually, you run out of freezer space, and I'm not > thrilled with the texture of thawed sauteed mushrooms. Actually, if you transfer the mushrooms to a paper bag in your fridge when you first get them, any that you don't use in time will dry instead of liquify. Of course, you do have to remember to empty out all those bags of dried mushrooms from time to time, but it doesn't any extra time or space, and you don't have to make industial-sized purchases (unless you want to, of course) Alix Mont de fer (m.k.a. Emily Epstein) Shire of Caer Galen, Outlands From: Deloris Booker <dbooker at freenet.calgary.ab.ca> Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 14:44:59 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! -Reply Yes the mushrooms that have petrified in the frig are perfectly useable in soups, stews, chili, etc. - anything with a sufficient amount of liquid to rehydrate them. In fact they even work well in my favourite one dish no brain dinner - meat (chicken pieces, eye of round, whatever) plus potatoes plus at least 2 vegetables that can be roasted plus a quartered onion - put in covered roasing pan with about .5 inch water at 350 degrees F. until cooked - go off and do mail, start laundry, read email, play with kids or whatever while dinner is cooking. Delicious, never fails, uses up all sorts of tag ends from the frig. Aldreada From: Tom Brady <tabrady at mindspring.com> Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 07:50:13 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Mushrooms! At 08:00 PM 5/6/97 EDT, Allison wrote: >I suppose that dried mushrooms, >reconstituted, would saute well enough? I love the fresh ones raw in >salad or in dip, but they get yucky fast. No more plastic in the >humidifier bin for my mushrooms! That'll make room for the potatoes.... Not only will reconstituted dried mushrooms saute well, you should save the water used to reconstitute them (as is commonly done for porcini or shitake), filter it to remove any debris (I pour it though a paper towel) and add it to sauces - there's great mushroom flavor to be had in the water. It was mentioned earlier, but I second the motion on dry-sauteeing mushrooms. I first read about it in the lovely (thoroughly modern) cookbook "From a Breton Garden." I typically use just standard white mushrooms, but have tried Crimini mushrooms as well (not that I noticed much difference, besides the price). For best results, I suggest mincing the mushrooms finely before sauteeing, then adding to a dry saute pan. The water in the mushrooms will be drawn out, then they will saute in their own water. When the lot is dry again, you're done - it takes about 4-5 minutes, all told. I have used this technique to "beef up" vegetarian dishes (so to speak) where I replace meat with mushrooms. This method also helps make an incredible cheese and mushroom souffle. - -Duncan, who notes the woeful lack of diacriticals in standard ASCII - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Brady tabrady at mindspring.com SCA: Duncan MacKinnon of Tobermory From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 00:50:58 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Mosserouns yflorys? Alys of Foxdale wrote: > > Now if only we could thresh out the whole mosserouns yflorys issue, I > > could die a happy man ; ). > Well, now that we're clued in on cuskynoles, what the heck is the > mosserouns yflorys issue, and why does it need to be threshed out? The suspense was killing you, eh ; ) ? I hadn't really expected an answer on that one; it is arguably the most confusing and ambiguous recipe in the Anglo-Norman 14th-century repertoire, I certainly can't think of one offhand with more potential unanswered questions to be attached to it (except, maybe, cuskynoles). The recipe is from MS. He., referred to in _Curye on Inglysche_ as "Diversa Cibaria": "55. Mosserouns florys: ...in rost ysih hou gentiliche & sone. Veorst *ou schalt maken riht wel passen, & so**en in water cold cast larde cold; make bringen & onelich hewen; *enne nym sone *e musseruns, lardes coynteliche wi* larduns. Make as were vor to swerden & so**en aske a god roste. Nou inoh is the mes in rost, of ayren do awet *e qwyt. Some on *e gredil riht veyre floris speces. Nym & caste gilofre & kanel; wi*innen meddlen." ["*" is used in place of the Anglo-Saxon letter whose name is pronounced "eth", roughly equivalent to the diphthong "th". I figured most folks wouldn't be able to pick up non-standard ASCII letters.] So, as best as I can decipher, what we have is a dish whose method I believe consists of washing/trimming the mushrooms, chilling some pork fat for easier cutting, cutting the fat into small pieces, and carefully larding the mushrooms. They are roasted until done, at which point some eggs are separated, the whites being discarded, and the yolks presumably reserved for use.While still on the gridiron, the mushrooms are sprinkled with finely powdered spices, the dish is mixed together, and, I assume, served. The main problem is the mention of eggs. The recipe doesn't say what to do with them. If I had to guess, I'd say that the roasted mushrooms are to be coated with the raw egg yolks, and, before the yolks are allowed to set in the heat of the fire, the spices are sprinkled on, and they stick to the outside of the coated mushrooms. Just how the egg yolks are applied (if at all) is anybody's guess. One possibility that comes to mind is that the griddle mentioned is more like a modern pancake griddle or bakestone, rather than an open grill of metal bars. This would allow the egg yolks to be poured over the mushrooms, the spices sprinkled on, and the whole thing stirred to coat the mushrooms in spiced egg yolk glaze. However, I'm pretty much clutching at straws here. If you've ever larded foods, you'll have a fair idea of how difficult larding mushrooms might be. Add to that the ambiguity regarding the eggs, and you see what I mean about the recipe being confusing. And what's worse, this one hasn't got a diagram : )! One possible solution would be to think of this dish in terms of stuffed mushrooms, laying a small slice of fat inside the upturned mushroom cap, roasting it, topping off the hollow cap with egg yolk and spices, and finishing the cooking. This would probably give you a fairly good approximation of how the dish is supposed to taste, without necessarily addressing the question of how it is intended to be structured, cooked, or served. I tried this dish at a local event a few months ago, rather on the spur of the moment (I'd gotten an excellent deal on Portabellos the night before and showed up in the morning with two cases in hand). What with one thing and another, I decided to do the dish with butter instead of pork fat, which I still feel was an acceptable idea. The other, less defensible change I made was to use beaten whole eggs, since I didn't want to just throw away the whites, and had an exceedingly full menu without having to come up with a use for them. It turned out all right, but I've subsequently tried it with the pork fat and egg yolks, and the dish was much better. So, I suppose what I was hoping was that someone would look at this recipe and notice whatever it was that I missed, and would point it out to me. G. Tacitus Adamantius Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 00:19:21 -0800 From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com> Subject: Re: SC - Mushroom Pasties At 6:00 PM -0600 1/19/98, Michael F. Gunter wrote: >Mushroom Pasties >"The Goodman of Paris" adapted in "The Medieval Cookbook" by Maggie Black. > >1 lb mushrooms 1/2 tsp salt >2 T. olive oil 1/8 tsp ground black pepper >2 oz grated cheese (cheddar) 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder >1 egg, beaten salt > >tart shells & pastry to top > >Preheat oven to 400 degrees > >Finely chop mushrooms. Put in a bowl and mix in oil, cheese, and seasonings. >Place in the tart shells and cover with the top crust. Seal with beaten egg. >Make a small cross cut in the center of the lid to let steam escape. > >Bake for 15-18 minutes. Serve warm. We do a redaction of the same original, but it is somewhat different. The original is: - -- Mushroom Pastries Menagier p. M-25 Mushrooms of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed above; and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if you wish to put them in pastry add oil, cheese, and powdered spices. - -- Also, Menagier gives elsewhere: - -- Fine Powder of Spices Menagier p. M-40 Take an ounce and a drachm of white ginger, a quarter-ounce of hand-picked cinnamon, half a quarter-ounce each of grains and cloves, and a quarter-ounce of rock sugar, and grind to powder. - -- Note that the original includes no egg. Note also that the original tells you to parboil the mushrooms, a step omitted in the Maggie Black version. I'm also skeptical of black pepper alone, or black pepper and mustard, as an interpretation of "powdered spices." Le Menagier uses mustard for mustard sauce; if you look at spices that are specified, in _Le Menagier_ and similar sources, I don't think you will find mustard treated as a spice. Here is our version: 1 lb mushrooms spice powder: 1/8 t cloves 9 oz cheese (parmesan) 1 t ginger 1/8 t grains of paradise 1 T olive oil 1/4 t cinnamon 1/4 t sugar Slice mushrooms and parboil (put into boiling water and cook two minutes); drain. Grate or chop cheese. Grind grains of paradise and mix up spices. Mix mushrooms, 2/3 of cheese, spices and oil. Put mixture into crust, put remaining cheese over. Makes scant 9" pie. Bake about 20-25 minutes at 350. Incidentally, we don't know whether what he means by "pastry" is a flour/water/shortening dough, like a modern pie crust, or a flour/water dough. We use the former, but might well be wrong. David/Cariadoc http://www.best.com/~ddfr/ Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 09:00:57 -0500 From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> Subject: SC - Le Menagier's Mushrooms? > Does anybody know what type of mushrooms would have been used in period that > they would have needed to be parboiled and peeled? The wild mushrooms I have > experience with (chantarelles, oyster, portabello...) all work fine without > needing any extra boiling or peeling, if anything they are more delicate than > store-bought button mushrooms... even if they are dried they just need to be > re-hydrated a bit, not peeled. > - -brid I have a book on wild mushrooms (unfortunately now inaccessible for the moment) which includes several hundred varieties, both edible, inedible, and some on the borderline between the two. Many are regarded as more or less edible in a qualified sense: they contain some toxins, so uncontrolled ingestion could cause harm. Two ways in which many such varieties can be eaten with decreased chances of problems with toxicity are peeling and parboiling. Apparently either some mushrooms contain higher levels of toxin in the outer skin, or perhaps peeling exposes a more porous surface so that toxins can escape from the mushroom proper. Parboiling would tend to break down some toxins (depending on what they are and how they behave), and also, and perhaps more importantly, cause the toxins to diffuse out into the cooking liquid, which you then discard. Not knowing what variety Le Menagier is referring to, we can't be sure one way or the other why he advises his bride to peel and parboil. What is almost certain is that he's not talking about cultivated champignons. While agaricus field mushrooms did exist in the wild (flat field caps and "horse mushrooms" are a bit like portobellos), I don't think they were especially prized over some other varieties. Adamantius troy at asan.com Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 12:21:53 EST From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com> Subject: Re: SC - Le Menagier's Mushr marisa_herzog at macmail.ucsc.edu writes: << but I hadn't seen peeling recommended before... >> I do not think that the modern corpus recommends peeling mushrooms, however, my mother and grandmother always peeled theirs. I would venture to guess that due to modern methods of commercial mushrooms growing there is little or no need to do so nowadays. When gathered from a wild setting mushrooms can contain many nasties including maggots and beetles. It would seem prudent to both wash and peel them. Alternatively, cultured mushrooms were grown in horsemanure previously necessitating some cleaning also. Add all this to the fact that an occasional toxic 'shroom may have been mistakenly added to the collection, IMHO, it makes perfect sense to parboil and peel them from a medieval perspective. Be that as it may, the modern cultivated mushrooms grow wild even today and were not unavailable in the MA. In regards to the red in mushrooms, I must disagree with the poster who said modern mushrooms are not red when the buttons are cut in cross section. The gills certainly are not fire-engine red but the color of the gills , at least on the one laying beside me at this moment are a nice reddish brown. I would go so far as to say that it could be described as red by a less color oriented person. Ras Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 20:15:15 -0800 From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net> Subject: Re: SC - recipes (vegetarian) Hi all from Anne-Marie My favorite (so far! :)) vegetarian documented period recipe is frumenty (barley), espeicially when served with a big scoop of funges on top. If you have specific questions on my reconstrucions, feel free to ask away. Oh, and if you do use these, all I ask is that you let me know (I get a buzz off knowing people are eating my food all over the place! :)) enjoy! FUNGES (Forme of Curye #12, c. 1399) Take Funges and pare hem clene, and dyce hem; take leke and shred hym small and do hym to seeth in gode broth. Colour it with safroun and do therinne powdour fort. 1 lb mushrooms 2 leek, white and tender green bits only 2 cups Swansons brand vegetable broth 1 pinch saffron 3/4 tsp powder forte* Wash the veggies, slice the leek finely and cut the mushrooms into chunks. Add saffron to the broth and bring it to a boil. Add the leek, mushrooms and spices to the broth. Simmer 20 minutres or until liquid is mostly gone. Remove from the heat and serve with frumenty. Serves 6. *Powder forte: 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 1/2 Tbsp ginger 1 Tbsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp clove 1/2 tsp grains of paradise, ground in a mortar and pestle (if you can't find grains, add a 50/50 mix of ginger and black pepper) Mix and store in an airtight container away from light and heat. Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 19:13:54 +1000 From: Robyn Probert <robyn.probert at lawpoint.com.au> Subject: Re: SC - mushrooms The mushroom Ketchup recipie... This recipie is from "The Barricaded Larder" by Elizabeth Luard (1988). This is another one of those very useful cross refernce books and can be a great help in starting a redaction on an unfamiliar dish. As Cariadoc rightly pointed out, this is not a period ingredient or recipie. I have never seen it referred to in any of my period sources, and have obviously never used it in SCA cooking. It is useful mundanely to add depth and complexity to stews (especially beef ones) and to add extra strenth to the flavour of inferior/very young mushrooms if they need help. Mushroom Ketchup To make 2 pints/1.2 litres 4 lb/2kg black mushrooms [use the big open ones for more flavour] 4oz/100g salt 1 tsp peppercorns 1 small piece mace 1 tsp nutmeg 1 pint/600 ml vinegar [I use a white wine vinegar] 1 small glass brandy [200 mls] Wipe the mushrooms and leyer them in a bowl, scattering salt between each layer. Weight with a clean plate and leave overnight to maker juice. The next day, crush the spices and bring them to the boil with the vinegar. Pour over the mushrooms. Tranmsfer the mixture to a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in the brandy. Either strain off the liquid and pour it, still hot, into the sterilised bottles, and seal tightly. Or tip the whole mixture into the food processor and liquidise it into a thick dark sauce. Bring back to the boil and bottle it. Store the ketchip in a cool dark place, and transfer it to the fridge once opened. You can also buy it ready made here, which is more expensive but less trouble... Rowan Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 08:56:38 -0500 From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US> Subject: RE: SC - Re: seeking recipes (Outdoor Feast) Here are couple of Tuscan recipes that caught my eye in The Medieval Kitchen (early birthday present from my darling wife). They should transport well without refrigeration, cook up easily on an open fire and be scalable. BTW, I didn't see anything about the size of this feast. How many people are you serving? Bear <snip of onion salad recipe> Mountain mushrooms. Take mountain mushrooms and boil them; and discard the water; then fry them with finely sliced onion, or with white of leek, spices, and salt, and serve 1 pound mushrooms 1 small onion olive oil 1 pinch ground pepper 1 pinch ground ginger 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg 2 pinches ground coriander seed salt Boil about 10 minutes, drain thoroughly. Sweat the onion in the olive oil until very soft. Add the mushrooms, saute on high heat for about a minute. Season with salt and spices. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, checking and stirring occasionally. Hmmm. I've got a half dozen small portobellos and a bunch of leeks in the fridge. Wonder if this would go well with leftover roast? In case you haven't done this before, you change pan temperatures by increasing the distance between the pan and the coals. I've found that most cooking works best with a bed of coals rather than flames. The heat from the coals is more even. Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 20:47:49 -0500 From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US> Subject: SC - mountain mushrooms After tossing in the two Tuscan recipes earlier, my wife "suggested" that they would go fine with leftover roast and I should prepare them for her pleasure. I have tried the mountain mushrooms (the onions are going to be done tomorrow for a potluck birthday dinner). It is a nice way to saute mushrooms. The flavor of the spices was more subtle than I had expected, a mild bite considering the freshness of the coriander. The portobellos added a distinct flavor of their own. The spicing might stand out more if I used less flavorful bulk mushrooms. I erred by grabbing an onion rather than a leek. I think the dish would be improved by the lighter flavor of leeks. If I can get mushrooms at a good price, I will probably prepare this recipe for a feast some time. Bear Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 22:04:52 -0500 From: "meadhbh at io.com" <meadhbh at io.com> Subject: SC - Marinated Mushrooms Here is the recipe for the mushrooms. I was given this recipe from my friend Master Basilicus in the Midrealm. It is wonderful.Let me know how you like it! Meadhbh Marinated Mushrooms Recipe By : Master Basilicus Serving Size : 10 Preparation Time :0:02 Categories : Appetizer Vegetables Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method - -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 pound mushrooms water white vinegar 1/4 cup olive oil 2 teaspoons salt 2 cloves garlic -- quartered 1 teaspoon ground mace white vinegar Clean 1 pound of mushrooms (with 1/2 inch caps). Place mushrooms in a sauce pan and cover with equal amounts of water and white vinegar. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and cool mushrooms. When cool, pack in a jar or plastic pail (large batch) with spice mixture. Cover mushrooms with white vinegar. Store in refrigerator for 2 days. Serve cold. Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 18:20:15 -0700 From: kat <kat at kagan.com> Subject: SC - Oooohhh, mushrooms! Oh, I do love marinated mushrooms! Here's my favorite recipe: For each 1 lb. mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed: 1/2 c. white wine vinegar* 1/4 c. water* 2 bay leaves 5 cloves, whole 5 peppercorns, whole 2-4 cloves garlic, sliced or chopped 1/4 c. olive oil Bring spices, water, vinegar to boil; add shrooms. Boil 10 minutes. Remove from boil; let cool; pour into storage jar. Top with olive oil. Keep in fridge. I sometimes pickle garlic in this marinade too. Yum! *Proportions on these 2 ingredients are a little sketchy; this is from memory. It could be more vinegar and less water. Experiment. - ---kat griffith, editor--- Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 13:06:58 EDT From: THLRenata at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Food Preservation Morgan asks: >>Third, I really wanted to pickle some mushrooms just because they are my favorite :) I can't find a late period English source for it, however. Does anyone out there have a period source for pickled 'shrooms? I would be eternally grateful :)<< Here's one from Lady Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt book. I've made this as marinaded mushrooms, but the recipe works for pickled as well. Watch the amount of ginger! The first time I made this I did not know how thick a 1 inch piece of ginger root should be (come to think of it, I still don't) and the recipe came out VERY gingery. I took it to a tourney where it was sampled by everyone who came into our pavilion. The comment was unanimous "Hmmm, interesting." Have fun with it! Renata (who no longer allows her culinary creations to be called "interesting"!) To Pickle Mushrooms Take your Buttons, clean ym with a sponge & put ym in cold water as you clean ym, then put ym dry in a stewpan & shake a handful of salt over ym, yn stew ym in their own liquor till they are a little tender; then strain ym from ye liquor & put ym upon a cloath to dry till they are quite cold. Make your Pickle before you do your mushrooms, yt may be quite cold before you put ym in. The Pickle must be made with White-Wine, White-Pepper, quarter's Nutmeg, a Blade of Mace & a Race of ginger. Hilary Spurling redacts this recipe as follows: Make the pickling liquor first. For every 1 lb. mushrooms you will need about 1/3 pint of white wine, 6 white peppercorns, half a nutmeg, a blade of mace and a 1 inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and sliced. Put all ingredients into a small saucepan and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add a few spoonfuls of water if the liquid shows signs of evaporating. leave to cool. Wipe the mushrooms clean. Put them, whole, into a thick-bottomed saucepan with a heaping teaspoon of slat, and heat them gently, shaking and stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, especially in the begining before the juices begin to flow. Keep the lid on between stirs. The mushrooms will plump up, squeaking, then sweat lightly and finally stew in their own juice. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. The mushrooms will start to reabsorb their juices. Let them cool completely if pickling -- if marinading them for immediate comsumption, pour the pickling liquid on them while they are hot. Let cool before eating. Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 08:57:28 -0500 (CDT) From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming) Subject: SC - Pickled Mushrooms - Long Greetings! THL Morgan MacBride requested a recipe for pickled mushrooms. Here's one I found and followed since it is quite clear. I "cheated" and used button mushrooms so I didn't peel them. Pickled mushrooms, from Sir Kenelme Digbie's _The Closet Opened_, as found in Cariadoc's _Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks_. I have edited out some of his instructions that have no bearing on the preparation...It was a lot for my wrist to type. "Pickled Champignons" "...Cut the great ones into halves or quarters,, seeing carefully there be no worms in them; and peel off their upper skin on the tips: the little ones, peel whole. As you peel them, throw them into a bason of fair-water, which preserves them white. Then put them into a pipkin or possnet of Copper (no Iron) and put a very little water to them, and a large proportion of Salt. If you have a pottle of Mushrooms, you may put to them ten or twelve spoonfuls of water, and two or three of Salt. Boil them with a pretty quick-fire, and scum them well all the while, taking away a great deal of foulness, that will rise. They will shrink into a very little room. When they are sufficiently parboiled to be tender, and well cleansed of their scum, (which will be in about a quarter of an hour,) take them out, and put them into a Colander, that all the moisture may drain from them. In the mean time make your pickle thus: Take a quart of pure sharp white Wine Vinegar (elder-Vinegar is best) put two or threee spoonfuls of whole Pepper to it, twenty or thirty Cloves, one Nutmeg quartered, two or three flakes of Mace, three Bay-leaves; (some like Limon-Thyme and Rose-mary; but then it must be a very little of each) boil all these together, till the Vinegar be well impraegnated with the Ingredients, whch will be in about half an hour. Then take it from the fire, and let it cool. When the pickl is quite cold, and the Mushrooms also quite cold, and drained from all moisture: put them into the Liquor (with all the Ingredients in it) which you must be sure, be enough to cover them. In twn or twelve days, they will have taken into them the full taste of the pickle, and will keep very good half a year. If you have much supernatant Liquor, you may parboil more Mushrooms the next day, and put them to the first. If you have not gathered at once enough for a dressing, you may keep them all night in water to preserve them white, and gather more the next day, to joyn to them." Alys Katharine Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 22:53:25 EST From: LrdRas at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Period Use of Mushrooms THLRenata at aol.com writes: << what varieties of mushroom would have ben used for the original recipe back in Richard II's day? >> Many of the mushrooms we grow today were used in the middle ages. The common white ones (Agaricus campestris), portebella, crimini (sp.), morels which were a favorite of Louis XIII, and truffles (rooted out by trained pigs) come immediately to mind. Other species known to be used were boletas, royal agaric, Jew's Ears (Auricularia auricula) According to Toussssaint-Samat in 'History of Food' mushrooms have been cultivated since Classical times in beds of horsemanure. In the Middle Ages one of the preoccupations of alchemists was the study of mushrooms. They hoped 'to discover the secret of creation from them'. 'Nicandes of Cleo in the second century B.C.E. wrote in 'Theriaca suggests manure between the roots of fig trees for cultivation and Dioscorides in 'Materia medica' suggets sprinkling shredded poplar bark over compost. Other sources of information on cultivation can be found in Corpus 0f Mushrooms (Pietrandrea Mallioli-1500-77 C.E.) and Theatre d'agriculture et mesnage de champs (Olivier de Serres, pub. 1600 C.E.). They are also noted by Avecenna (930-1036 C.E.) and St. Augustine. Ras Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 14:08:42 +0000 From: Robyn Probert <robyn.probert at lawpoint.com.au> Subject: Re: SC - Period Use of Mushrooms At 16:14 10/12/1998 -0800, Elizabeth/Betty Cook wrote: >"MUSHROOMS of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed >above: and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if >you wish to put them in pastry, add oil, cheese and powdered spices. >I don't know what kind he is describing, but it doesn't sound like what I >buy at the grocery. Sounds like baby buttom mushrooms to me - the one time I grew my own mushrooms, mushrooms 'of one night' were about 1.5 - 2cm across (say 3/4 "). If you cut them open, the gills were still pink. I'd be buying the smallest button mushrooms available in the market. Rowan Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 01:56:16 -0500 From: Melanie Wilson <MelanieWilson at compuserve.com> To: LIST SCA arts <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu> Subject: Mushroom Soup Found this recipe from The Forme of Cury c1390:- This is simple enough. Take as many mushrooms as required, clean, pare and cut into small pieces. Put into a pan with shredded leek and plenty of good broth. Colour and flavour with saffron and add spices to taste. 1 lbs, mushrooms to 1 leek, to 2 pts broth, saffron 1 pinch, spices nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, a touch of sugar ? this would be my interpretation of it. I tend to use field or horse mushrooms for my soups, but as this mentiones saffron for colour, they must of been using them early or another type, as my mushroom soup tends to be almost black (I love it very tasty) but no amount of saffron would colour it :) Mel Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 20:21:03 -0800 From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net> Subject: Re: SC - Radio spot request here you go! all rights reserved, no reprinting without permission, etc. enjoy! - --Anne-Marie Mushroom Pasties: [Le Menagier a Paris, c. 1395] Mushrooms of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed above; and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if you wish to put them in pastry add oil, cheese and powdered spices. Our Version: 1 lb small mushrooms, cleaned and chunked up if neccessary 2 T olive oil 1 t ginger 1/2 tsp black pepper 1/4 t. cinnamon 6 T grated cheddar 4 T grated parmasean 8" Pie shell w/top 1 egg, beaten Parboil mushrooms (dunk into boiling water for a minute and drain). Mix together mushrooms, 2/3 of the cheese, oil and spices. Arrange on the bottom pastry. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Put the lid on, brush with the beaten egg. Bake 400o for 15-20 min. Serves 8-10 Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 20:21:03 -0800 From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net> Subject: Re: SC - Radio spot request here you go! all rights reserved, no reprinting without permission, etc. enjoy! - --Anne-Marie Mushroom Pasties: [Le Menagier a Paris, c. 1395] Mushrooms of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed above; and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if you wish to put them in pastry add oil, cheese and powdered spices. Our Version: 1 lb small mushrooms, cleaned and chunked up if neccessary 2 T olive oil 1 t ginger 1/2 tsp black pepper 1/4 t. cinnamon 6 T grated cheddar 4 T grated parmasean 8" Pie shell w/top 1 egg, beaten Parboil mushrooms (dunk into boiling water for a minute and drain). Mix together mushrooms, 2/3 of the cheese, oil and spices. Arrange on the bottom pastry. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Put the lid on, brush with the beaten egg. Bake 400o for 15-20 min. Serves 8-10 <snip of Eggs farced [la Varenne #1 p294]- see eggs-msg file> Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 00:06:12 +0100 From: Thomas Gloning <Thomas.Gloning at germanistik.uni-giessen.de> Subject: SC - marzipan mold material -- pfifferling > The word in Sabina Welserin is Pfifferling. I assumed that it was the same as the modern usage, but there is always the chance that the terminology has drifted. Anyone know if the Early Modern High German use of that particular noun was different than today? < The article in the "Deutsches Woerterbuch" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and the passages in Moriz Heyne's book (p. 332) suggest that the prototypical use of "pfifferling" is the one to denote the mushroom called "chanterelle" in French and English. On the other hand some glossaries of the 15th century put together the word "pfifferling" with more general terms in latin like "boletus", which meant (I assume, don't quote me) something like 'edible mushroom'. There are even entries like "tuberes pfyfferling" (lat. _tuber_, 'truffle'). As far as I can see, the descriptions in the herbals of the time of Sabina Welser suggest that the word "pfifferling" meant the chanterelle. The herbal of Lonicer (1616) says: "Die dritten sind Pfifferling oder Pfefferling/ welche man also nennet vmb de hitzigen Geschmacks willen/ der sich dem Pfeffer gleichet. Diese werden bey den Lateinischen Boleti orbiculati genannt" (fol. 86a; 'The third kind of mushrooms are the pfifferlinge or pfefferlinge. They are called this way because their taste is hot, comparable to the taste of pepper. These mushrooms are called boleti orbiculati [round mushrooms] in Latin'). In the herbal of Hiermonymus Bock (1577) we find: "Die dritten Schwemme droben gesetzt/ nennet man bey vns Pfifferling/ heissen wol Pfifferling/ vmb des heissen geschmacks willen/ vnnd Orbiculati der groesse halben. Jm Rhase Cautar oder Alcorsoph. cap xviij." (fol. 332a; 'The third kind of mushrooms above mentioned is called in German pfifferling/ probably they are called pfifferling because of their hot taste, and they are called orbiculati [round and formed like a disk] because of their size. In the book of Rhazes they are called Cautar or Alcorsoph, chapter 18.'). The passage referred to by "droben gesetzt" (above mentioned) is: "Die dritten so auch inn der speise genuetzt weren/ wachsenn inn hohen finstern Waelden/ von farben gantz weisz/ rund/ etliche breytter dann ein Deller/ die geben/ wann sie zerbrochen seind/ weisse scharpffe hitzige Milch/ heisser auff der zungen dann Pfefferwurtz. Dise braten die arme leut im Odenwald mit saltz/ auff glueenden kolen jhn zuor speise" (331a; 'The third kind of mushrooms, which are used for cooking, grow in high and dark woods, they are all white, round, some of them broader than a plate. If they are broken there is a white sharp and hot "milk", hotter on the tongue than pepper. These mushrooms are roasted with salt on a coal as a dish by the poor people in the Odenwald [a rural landscape northwest of Heidelberg]'). Konrad von Megenberg in his "Book of nature" (about 1350) tells the following story: "ez ist auch ainer ander lai swannen, die haizent etleich ze latein boletos und haizent ze da"utsch pfifferling da schol man sich vor hu"eten, wan si sint dick gar vergiftig und toetleich. daz waiz ich wol, wan ez geschach ze Wienn in Oesterreich da ainer pfifferling az und trank met dar auf und starb zehant vor dem vaz" (ed. Pfeiffer 1861, p. 402). 'There is a different kind of