aspic-msg - 9/5/15 Notes on aspic. A meat-based gelatin used in some medieval dishes and sotelties. Recipe. Substitutions. Other gelatins. NOTE: See also the files: sotelties-msg, fish-msg, broths-msg, puddings-msg, roast-pork-msg, roast-meats-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 14:33:56 -0400 From: marilyn traber Subject: Re: SC - aspic? > Ok, I've seen several mentions of this "aspic" in several messages > lately. For us new cooks, what is it? > > Stefan li Rous Do you know the clearish gelatinous goo under the refrigerated chicken or turkey? That is aspic in its original and best example. You get it from cooking cartilage and bones to render out relatively pure protein. It is the forerunner of jello. margali Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 07:14:24 -0400 From: Philip & Susan Troy Subject: Re: SC - aspic? > Dragonfyr said: > > she filled the blown out eggs with a beef aspic, > > Ok, I've seen several mentions of this "aspic" in several messages > lately. For us new cooks, what is it? > > Stefan li Rous Aspic is a very clear jelly made from meat-based gelatin, as, for instance, the juice from a roast chicken will turn into a jelly when it gets cold. The jelly around the canned ham is another example, except it is usually unacceptably salty. For most culinary purposes, aspic is usually made either by adding gelatin to stock, or ideally by boiling down consomme, which is an OOP, extra clear, extra flavorful, meat or fish stock. Adamantius Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 13:26:14 -0400 From: Woeller D Subject: Re: SC - SC- Basic Cookbooks This is my answer to Yorkshire pudding, Aspics and cookbooks combined. Ignore what you will. The book that I find indispensible is Helen Worth's 'Cooking Without Recipes'. It's old (Mine is a third copyright edition from 1965) but it has hundreds of 'patterns'- it explains techniques for cooking items and styles, with guidelines and hints so that you can 'freeform', and also has many basic recipes. Then, others have asked about aspic- I don't find it in my modern cookbooks, but page 149 of my trusty old reliable says: Aspic - -1 envelope unflavored gelatin - -2 cups liquid, divided OR 1 3/4 cups liquid plus 4 T acid (having explained on the same page that vinegar or lemon juice may be used to 'tenderize' the gelatin) - -1/2 t salt 2-4 C flavoring ingredients*OPTIONAL ( having explained on the previous page under 'gelatin salads' that good liquids are fruit juice, stock, bouillon or milk, and suggested flavorings include various meats, veggies, seafoods & fruits) Soften gelatin in 1/2 C cold liquid. Stir over low heat until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat & add remaining liquid & salt & pour into molds. If using flavoring ingredients, fold in when gelatin is cosistency of egg white, then pour into molds. Refrigerate until firm. Angelique Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 22:35:12 EDT From: melc2newton at juno.com (Michael P Newton) Subject: Re: SC - aspic? On 18 Oct 1997 01:49:06 U "Mark Harris" writes: >Dragonfyr said: >> she filled the blown out eggs with a beef aspic, > >Ok, I've seen several mentions of this "aspic" in several messages >lately. For us new cooks, what is it? > >Stefan li Rous I've been reading {grazing,actually} _A Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy_ by Andre L. Simon, and he has what looks like a real cool recipe for Aspic. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I'll give it out anyways: Aspic french for Meat Jelly. Meat gravy and calf's foot jelly flavoured with pot-herbs, one of these being the espic or spikenard, hence the name. The more usual way to make a meat glaze for Aspic is as follows: Onions and Carrots 1 calf's foot Small "bouquet garni' 1 clove garlic 1 clove Hot water Cover the whole bottom surface of a heavy copper or iron saucepan with slices of onion; cover these in turn with trimmings of lean meat, preferably gelatinous things such as pieces of shank of veal, skin of fresh pork and scraps of beef, poultry or veal. Add one or two sliced carrots, a calf's foot cut into smallish pieces, the 'bouquet',clove, garlic, salt and pepper. Moisten with a ladleful of water and set on a good fire to sweat. When the juices begin to flow and the contents of the pan begin to colour and look like sticking to the bottom, reduce heat greatly and continue cooking very gently until the surface fat looks quite clear. Skim this fat off very carefully, then add hot water according to requirements. Do not touch contents of pan, beyond shaking gently now and then, that the browned onion may colour the glaze nicely, but do not allow contents to burn.Simmer gently over a low heat for 2 or 3 hours; then, again skim off any surface fat and strain the gravy through a very fine sieve lined with muslin. Set aside for use whenever wanted. It will keep well on ice. If anyone uses this, let me know, and we'll compare notes! Lady Beatrix Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 18:09:42 -0800 From: david friedman Subject: SC - Meat jelly (was: french cooking etc.) There are period recipes for meat (and fish) jellies; what you are usually doing is cooking down wine or whatever with pigs' feet or the like to make a stock that will jell, then cooking slices of meat in it, then arranging the meat in a dish, straining the liquid, and pouring the liquid over the meat and letting it cool and set. Elizabeth/Betty Cook Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 20:47:10 -0800From: david friedman Subject: Re: SC - Meat jelly (was: french cooking etc.)Stefan quoted me:>>There are period recipes for meat (and fish) jellies; ...>>Is this the same as aspic? We had a recent discussion on this list about>aspic (which is now in my file aspic-msg). Is aspic something else? Or>is meat jelly a more general category that includes aspic?Yes, I believe this is the same as aspic; I was using the word "jelly"because the period recipes are called things like "gele of flessh" or"gelye de fysshe". I don't know when the word "aspic" comes into use forthis sort of thing in English.Elizabeth/Betty Cook Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 12:34:51 -0500 From: "marilyn traber" Subject: Re: SC - Jelly (was Menagier translation webbed) ya know the ooky clear gel under cold chicken- it's called aspic. they used to take the hocks of veal, cook for a long time with various seasonings and use it as a basic aspic as well. you can fake an aspic if you are in a hurry with Knox unflavored gelatin and make it with beef or chicken broth. it does sort of surprise the midnight fridge raider if they are expecting white grape jello and get chicken aspic. *snicker* margali Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 10:11:43 -0400 From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow) Subject: Re: SC - Re: >I agree. Since jams are basically fruit that has stewed a little too long I >find it unreasonable to think that jam did not exist. OTH,Jellies I would have >more of a problem with,. Unfortunately, I do not lnow of any medieval >literature that refers to this food either. On gut instinct and logic , I >would say continue serving it, just don't list it as "medieval". :-) > >Ras Meat jelly was known, as this fancy dish of pork & chicken in aspic proves: Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers Cix. Gelye de chare. Take caluys fete, & skalde hem in fayre water, an make hem alle [th]e whyte. Also take howhys of Vele, & ley hem in water to soke out [th]e blode; [th]en take hem vppe, an lay hem on a fayre lynen clo[th]e, & lat [th]e water rennyn out of [hem]; [th]an Skore a potte, & putte [th]e Fete & [th]e Howhys [th]er-on; [th]an take Whyte Wyne [th]at wolle hold coloure, & cast [th]er-to a porcyon, an non o[th]er lycoure, [th]at [th]e Fleysshe be ouer-wewyd with-alle, & sette it on [th]e fyre, & boyle it, & Skeme it clene; an whan it is tendyr & boylid y-now, take vppe [th]e Fleyshe in-to a fayre bolle, & saue [th]e lycoure wyl; & loke [th]at [th]ow haue fayre sydys of Pyggys, & fayre smal Chykenys wyl & clene skladdyd & drawe, & lat [th]e leggys an [th]e fete on, an waysshe hem in fayre water, & caste hem in [th]e fyrste brothe, an sethe it a-[3]en ouer [th]e fyre, & skeme it clene; lat a man euermore kepe it, an blow of [th]e grauy. An in cas [th]e lycoure wast a-way, caste more of [th]e same wyne [th]er-to, & put [th]in honde [th]er-on; & [3]if [th]in hond waxe clammy, it is a syne of godenesse, an let not [th]e Fleyshe be moche sothe, [th]at it may bere kyttyng; [th]an take it vppe, & ley it on a fayre clo[th]e, & sette owt [th]e lycoure fro [th]e fyre, & put a few colys vnder-nethe [th]e vesselle [th]at [th]e lycoure is yn; [th]an take pouder of Pepir, a gode quantyte, & Safron, [th]at it haue a fayre Laumbere coloure, & a gode quantyte of Vynegre, & loke [th]at it be sauery [of] Salt & of Vynegre, fayre of coloure of Safroun, & putte it on fayre lynen clo[th]e, & sette it vnder-nethe a fayre pewter dysshe, & lat it renne [th]orw [th]e clo[th]e so ofte tylle it renne clere: kytte fayre Rybbys of [th]e syde of [th]e Pygge, & lay ham on a dysshe, an pulle of [th]e lemys of [th]e Chykenys, eche fro o[th]er, & do a-way [th]e Skynne, & ley sum in a dysshe fayre y-chowchyd, & pore [th]in gelye [th]er-on, & lay Almaundys [th]er-on, an Clowys, & paryd Gyngere, & serue forth. Le Menagier also lists several meat jellies and fish jellies, including one tinted blue with turnsole & decorated with armorial bearings in gold & silver. (Power's "The Goodman of Paris", p. 280) Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu renfrow at skylands.net Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing Recipes" Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 14:31:14 -0800 From: david friedman Subject: Re: SC - Le Menagier At 4:40 PM -0500 10/22/98, Helen wrote: >Also, what is crayfish jelly? Here is Menagier's meat jelly, which has crayfish in the meat-day version along with the meat and crayfish and/or various fish for the fish-day version. I haven't tried this version, although I have done one from a contemporary English cookbook. - --------- TO MAKE FOUR DISHES OF MEAT JELLY, take a pig and four calf's feet and have two chicks plucked and two skinny young rabbits, and remove the grease, and they are to be split in two down the middle, except the pig which is to be cut in pieces: and then put in a pan three quarts of white wine or claret, a pint of vinegar, a half-pint of verjuice, make it boil and froth strongly: then add, in a small closed cloth bag, a quarter of an ounce of saffron to give an amber colour, and put meat on to boil and all together with a little salt; then take ten or twelve pieces of white ginger or five or six pieces of galingale, half an ounce of grains of Paradise, three or four pieces of mace leaf, two blancs worth of juniper: cubeb, nard, three blancs worth: bay leaves, six nutmegs; then crush them in a mortar and put in a bag and put in to boil with the meat until it is cooked, then take it out and set it to dry on a white cloth, then take for the best plate the feet, the snout and the ears: and the rest to the others. Then take a good net on two supports, and pour your whole potful through it, except for the spices which you take out, and strain it for soup, and do not stir it until it gets clearer. But if it does not strain well, heat it here and there to keep it hot so it will strain better, and strain it two or three times until it becomes clear, or through a cloth folded three times. Then take your dishes and arrange your meat in them, and have some cooked crayfish, of which you are to put on your meat the thighs and tails; your jelly is to be reheated, and pour enough of it on to the meat to cover, for there need be only a little meat, then put in the cellar overnight to cool, and in the morning stick in it cloves and bay leaves and cinnamon sticks, and sprinkle with red anise. Note that to make it in two hours, you must have quince seed (or flesh: trans.), philicon (possibly an astringent plant of the fern family) and cherry-tree gum, and crush all this together and put in a bag to boil with the meat. Item, on fish days, you make the jelly as above, with loach, tench, bream, eels, crayfish and perch. And when the fish is cooked, put it to drain and dry on a fair white cloth, and skin and clean it well, and throw the skins in the broth. Elizabeth/Betty Cook Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1998 09:09:32 -0400 From: Phil & Susan Troy Subject: Re: SC - crayfish jelly Helen asked: > > >Also, what is crayfish jelly? > > > > > >"Side dish: crayfish jelly, loach jelly, small rabbits and pigs. > > I saw the recipe, but I do not know what it is. Is it a jelly (for > bread) or more like an aspic? Crayfish jelly is most likely a solid, clear fish jelly (crayfish don't seem to have the right kinds of proteins to gel on their own, ditto crabs, lobsters, and shrimp) flavored and garnished with crayfish. If you've ever seen head cheese in the market, it's probably something along those lines, except made with fish and crayfish instead of hog's head. Not unlike a jellied shrimp salad, which actually sounds to me like it might be pretty good. Adamantius Østgardr, East Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 18:20:16 -0400 From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow) Subject: Re: SC -gelatinous properties, was chessboards >I'm trying to find a mention of carageenan in any of our references or >original sources. No luck, yet, but Ann Hagen says, in _A Handbook of >Anglo-Saxon Food_, the Processing and Consumption volume: > >"Cereal-derived flummery produced a slightly acid, solid jelly, ...." > >She is not talking about carageenan here, is she? A product derived from >moss would not come under the 'cereal' heading, I don't think. The word >'flummery' is not generally used in the USA, but is it still used in GB >for puddings, et al? Does anyone know, specifically, what Hagen means? Sir Kenelme Digby has a flummery recipe. It is a wheat flour pudding or jelly flavored with sugar and rosewater or orange-flower water: "#152 WHEATEN FLOMMERY... Take half, or a quarter of a bushel of good Bran of the best wheat (which containeth the purest flower of it, though little, and is used to make starch,) and in a great woodden bowl or pail, let it soak with cold water upon it three or four days. Then strain out the milky water from it, and boil it up to a gelly or like starch. Which you may season with Sugar and Rose or Orange-flower-water, and let it stand till it be cold, and gellied..." Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu renfrow at skylands.net Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 15:54:13 -0700 From: MAGGIE SECARA Subject: RE: SC -gelatinous properties, was chessboards I believe that a seaweed called "dulse" is/was common as a food in the Hebridescommon Maggie C. Southampton RPF/CA MaggiRos Mairghread-Rós FitzGarret of Desmond, O.L. (Caid) Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 00:57:52 -0000 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" Subject: Re: SC -gelatinous properties, was chessboards This is what Alan Davidson says in North Atlantic Seafood, after describing carrageen moss or Irish moss (Chondrus crispus): "In fact there are two plants which go by the name carrageen. The other is Gigartina stellata (Stackhouse) ... Both belong to a group of red seaweeds which are the source of agar (or agar-agar, a Malayan word meaning the gelatinous extract made from various of these plants). This product is important in making liquids viscous or producing jellies ... During the Second World War Britain suffered a shortage of agar and special measures were taken to identify and exploit native stocks of carrageen ... The housewives of the Hebrides still use carrageen for making a delicious milk jelly which has a pleasant tang of the sea in its flavour. ... The Irish have found many ways of using it in cookery, many of them subsidiary (for example, as an addition to soups or to help set the fruit mixture in a fruit flan)." Davidson also has an Irish recipe for a carragheen dessert. Carrageen moss was eaten in Iceland in the old days, usually mixed with grains in a porridge. Sometimes the porridge was cooled, cut into pieces, and the pieces were then preserved in whey, sometimes for months. Carrageen was also chopped and mixed with skyr (whey). Dulse, on the other hand, is still eaten and has been since the settlement, and frequently chewed as a sort of chewing gum (if you have read Egils Saga, you may recall when Egill wanted to starve himself to death after losing his sons but was tricked into accepting some dulse - that was OK, dulse for chewing wasn´t food - but its saltiness made him thirsty and he called for a jug of water, but was given milk instead. When he realized he had broken his fast, he abandoned his starvation plan and composed a rather good poem instead. Nanna Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 11:36:22 -0400 From: Christine A Seelye-King Subject: SC - Gelatins/ Carageen Pudding On Fri, 7 May 1999 MAGGIE SECARA writes: >I believe that a seaweed called "dulse" is/was common as a food in the >Hebrides > >Maggie DOH! Of course! There is a candy called "Dulsy the Yellowman" on the cover of the pamphlet for the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. There is a fair there that dates to the early 1600's, and it is traditionally served there. The flyer says (yup, just went and dug out my pictures from our trip) "Dulsy the Yellowman depicted in this brochure originates from the two delicacies, dulse and Yellowman, features of the "Ould Lammas Fair", held on the last Monday and Tuesday of August in Ballycastle." And then, I got out my "Favorite Irish Recipies" book I got there, and there is a recipie for yellowman (a yellow, brittle toffee) and for *ta da* Carageen Pudding. No dates here, but it is a start. Carageen Pudding >From "Favorite Irish Recipies - Traditional Fare from the Emeral Isle" Carageen is a seaweed found around the coast of Ireland. Also known as Sea Moss or Irish Moss, it is full of minerals and has considerable gelatinous properties. 1 1/2 oz. dried carageen Juice and grated rind of a lemon 1 dessertspoon thick honey 1 pint cold water 1/4 pint double cream 1 egg white Whipped cream and lemon slices to decorate Place the carageen in a basin and cover with hot water. Leave to soak for 20 minutes, discard the water and drain the carageen well. Place in a saucepan with the lemon juice and rind and honey, pour in the cold water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the honey completely, then simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid into a basin and allow to cool completely when it should have the consistancy of a beaten egg. Whisk the cream until it is thick and fold in. Whisk the egg white until it stands up in soft peaks and fold into the carageen mixture. Rinse a 1 1/2 to 2 pint mould with cold water, pour in the carageen mixture and chill until set. Turn out on to a serving dish and serve decorated with whipped cream and lemon slices. Serves 4 to 6. Dried carageen can be obtained from many health food shops and when used it imparts a fresh flavour without any taste of the sea. Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 05:39:09 -0000 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" Subject: Re: SC - Flummery From: Alderton, Philippa >Anybody have a recipe or three for flummery? Because of its association with >my beloved Nero Wolfe, I'd dearly love one- also its derivation, if that's >available. This is how Gervase Markham describes flummery in his English Hus-wife: "From this small Oat-meal, by oft steeping it in water and cleansing it, and then boiling it to a thick and stiff Jelly, is made that excellent dish of meat which is so esteemed in the West parts of this Kingdom, which they call Wash-brew, and in Chesire and Lancashire they call it Flamerie or Flumerie." >From The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse: "To make French Flummery: Take a quart of cream, and half an ounce of isinglass, beat it fine, and stir it into the cream. Let it boil softly over a slow fire a quarter of an hour, keep it stirring all the time; then take it off, sweeten it to your palate and put in it a spoonful of rose water, and a spoonful of orange-flower water; strain it, and pour it into a glass or bason, or what you please, and when it is cold turn it out. It makes a fine side-dish. You may eat it with cream, wine, or what you pleas. Lay round it baked pears. It both looks very pretty, and eats fine." Mrs. Glasse also has a couple of recipes for hartshorn flummery. As to the origins of the name, this is what I found in Cupboard Love by Mark Morton: "People who are not from Wales have great difficulty reproducing certain Welsh consonants; as a result, the Welsh word llymru was rendered into English not only as flummery but also as thlummery, the latter most easily said after a trip to the dentist. Flummery, of course, prevailed over thlummery and from the early seventeenth to the mid eighteenth century the word referred, like the original Welsh term, to a sour jelly made by boiling oatmeal with the husks. In the mid eighteenth century, flummery also developed two new meanings: it became the name of a sweet dish made of milk, flour, and eggs, and simultaneously it came to mean empty praise or gibberish. In this, flummery underwent the reverse development of the word trifle, whose original sense was idle tale but which also came to denote a dish of sponge-cake and cream." Nanna Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 19:17:39 EDT From: LrdRas at aol.com Subject: Re: SC -gelatinous properties, was chessboards phlip at morganco.net writes: << but the only reference to flummery I have >> Here's another for you: flum*mery (noun), plural -mer*ies [Welsh llymru] First appeared 1623 1 a : a soft jelly or porridge made with flour or meal b : any of several sweet desserts Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 19:31:30 -0400 From: Philip & Susan Troy Subject: Re: SC -gelatinous properties, was chessboards LrdRas at aol.com wrote: > Here's another for you: > > flum*mery (noun), plural -mer*ies > > [Welsh llymru] > > First appeared 1623 > > 1 a : a soft jelly or porridge made with flour or meal > > b : any of several sweet desserts Bzzzzttt. It also appears in Gervase Markham's "The English Hus-Wife", 1615, based on various of Markham's previously published works, so may be earlier. Also see, IIRC, Elinor Fettiplace, whose receipt book is dated ~1605 or so. One might try to check sources dating from around that time, or somewhat earlier, and also located, geographically, in the West Country. Not to pick nits; I have a vested interest in proving the OED, normally considered the Ultimate Authority on such matters, occasionally, um, less than accurate. Adamantius Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 09:18:42 +1000 From: Meliora & Drake Subject: SC - Islinglass jelly notes (long) I am not a very experienced cook and this is my first redaction done directly from the source material. A White Leach (from Dawson, 1596) (from a posting by Anne-Marie) Take a quart of newe milke, and three ounces weight of Islinglasse, halfe a pounde of beaten sugar, and stirre them together, and let it boile half a quarter of an hower till be thicke, stirring them all the while: then straine it with three spoonfull of Rosewater, then put it into a platter and let it coole, and cut it in squares. Lay it faur in dishes, and lay golde upon it. My redaction (1/2 quantities of original) 550ml milk (1/2 quart) 30g islinglass in 50ml water (1.5 oz) 120g sugar (1/4 pound) 5 teas rosewater (~ to taste) Place Islinglass in water for an hour or two. It will swell up and form a gum-like consistency. Warm milk and sugar. Add islinglass. Stir. As soon as the islinglass starts being incorporated into the milk mixture it separates the milk. (I have tried this when the milk is hot, cold, warm, directly added the islinglass crystals etc, the milk ALWAYS separates) While stirring, boil the mixture for 7.5 minutes. (I ended up boiling it for 15 mins). During this time the islinglass will let off a VERY strong (and IMHO quite distasteful) fish smell. Also the curds will break up and become very small. Remove from heat and add Rosewater. Then Strain and let set overnight. I strained my curds and whey through cheescloth and made three batches. One of whey only. One of curds only. And one of a mixtue of curds and whey. When set cut into squares and gild with gold. (I deliberatly didn't bother with this step). The next morning, all three dishes had set into quite a firm jelly that could easily be sliced. It appeared firmer than gelatine, but that could be accounted for in the quantity of islinglass I used. They were all opaque white (with a yellowish tinge). The next night I took all three dishes to a local meeting and had 24 people to taste-test them. The curds and the curds/whey mixture were both quite grainy in texture. The whey was quite smooth and creamy in mouth-feel. Texture-wise the whey only won hands down. The grainy texture was considered far too alien to be pleasurable. Taste-wise, the curds tasted like "sweet fat". The curds/whey mix and the whey only tasted like "creamy and sweet with an aroma of rosewater and an unidentifiable tang - lemonish but not quite". (Hmm, the slightly yellow colour may have help attribute the unidentified taste as lemonish) The whey only mixture was considered to be more silken in feel and taste and again won hands down. Of my 24 people, 19 prefered the whey, 5 refused to try any, and one disliked the taste of all of them. Actually there were two who did not like the taste. The other was me!! Unfortunately the tang in the dish reminded me of the rather powerful fish odour while cooking. No-one else felt that the dish tasted even remotely "fishy" and I have even been asked to make it for an event "someday". well, YMMV with these notes. But if anyone else wishes to do any experimenting with this dish, please let me know. I would love to hear how anyone else tackles this !!! Meliora meliora at macquarie.matra.com.au Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 18:53:14 -0400 (EDT) From: alysk at ix.netcom.com Subject: SC - White Leach Recipe A WHITE LEACH The Good Huswifes Jewell, Thomas Dawson, 1596 Take a quart of newe milk, and three ounces weight of Isinglasse, halfe a pound of beaten suger, and stirre them together, and let it boile half a quarter of an hower till it be thicke, stirring them all the while: then strain it with three spoonfull of Rosewater, then put it into a platter and let it coole, and cut it in squares. Lay it fair in dishes, and laye golde upon it. A Modernized Version 1 quart of milk, whole or 2% 3-4 packages of Knox unflavored gelatin 1 to 1 1/3 cups sugar 1 1/2 (or more) tablespoons of rosewater Take a quart of milk (4 cups). Put 1 - 1 1/2 cups of that milk in a bowl and sprinkle the packages of gelatin over the milk, stirring it in as you sprinkle. While the gelatin is softening (approximately five minutes), heat up the remaining milk. It needn't come to a boil since you are using modern gelatin. Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved. When the gelatin is softened scrape it into the milk and sugar mixture and stir until it is thoroughly dissolved. Add as much flavoring as you like. Pour into a glass or metal pan and set it in the refrigerator to cool. Cut into one inch cubes when set. Variations: Use saffron for coloring and orange flower water for flavoring. Puree strawberries or raspberries for flavor and color. Be sure to strain out all the seeds before adding the fruit to the milk. Add the fruit after you have heated the milk or the color may change radically. You can arrange different-colored cubes into attractive designs such as a checkerboard. Place a small fruit such as a cherry or raspberry on top of each cube just before it has finished setting but is firm enough so that the fruit doesn't sink to the bottom. You may use more than four packages of gelatin but that is sufficient to adequately set a quart of milk. (One package is supposed to set two cups of liquid.) Should you make a mistake (such as forgetting to add the sugar) you can scrape all the jellied milk back into a pan, re-heat to liquify it, add whatever you forgot, and chill it again. Alys Katharine Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 20:31:24 EDT From: allilyn at juno.com Subject: Re: SC - Recipe Challenge again??? with period gelatin I happened to have open my file on jellied dishes, so, since the nice lady not on the list--perhaps we'll lure her?--wants to make a jellied dish, try this from Sabina Welser's Cookbook, translated by Valoise Armstrong, and found on the internet at Duke Sir Cariadoc's site. 181 In the year of our Lord 1548 on the 25th of January the master cook Simon, cook for the counts of Leuchtenberg, instructed me to prepare jellied fish in the following manner First he took a pike weighing two pounds and skinned it and cut slashed notches into it and divided it into pieces. He had also previously prepared a dish with aspic [with] two trout, each weighing about one pound. He scaled them a little on the back, afterwards shaping them prettily so that the head and tail stood up high and he cooked them. He put water into a pan over he fire, let it boil, also salted it, also poured some vinegar over the trout, after that laid the trout in the broth, so that the broth covered them well, afterwards let them simmer. Do not, however, allow them to cook too quickly or else they will not stay erect. They become entirely blue. And let the trout remain in the broth for three hours and they them afterwards on a pewter plate. After that he put the pike in a pan, put a little salt therein and one quarts of Neckar wine and let it come to a boil. Next he put into it somewhat more than one quart of isinglass water, also saffron, pepper, sugar, as much of each as he felt was right. He let it cook very slowly over a small fire and skimmed the froth with a skimming ladle, after that strained the broth into a pot and laid the pike in a dish and let the broth run three times through a wool or canvas sack, so that it became nice and clear. Following that he poured it on the pike but did not allow the bowl to get too full and let it stand until the following day. After that he took the bowl in which he had put the two trout and poured into it about two fingers high of broth from the jellied fish. Do not over fill it. Also reserve a good part of the broth for the next day. Then prepare white, yellow, brown, black, green as follows. First the white color which is made like so: Pound almonds small and strains them with isinglass water, that is the white color. Then take the white color and color it yellow, then it is yellow. After that take trysolita [19], which is a brown cloth, and lay the cloth in isinglass water and wring it out, then it becomes brown. The black is made like so: Take rye bread and toast it well on a grill, then pound it into a powder and strain it with isinglass water, then it becomes black. After that take a handful of spinach or chard and pound it in a mortar and strain it with isinglass, then it becomes green. Afterwards send it to a painter and let a bowl in which there is no fish be painted with the five colors, however you would like it, with coats of arms or plants. Everything can be eaten. The aspic should become firm beforehand, before you paint upon it. Afterwards, when that which you want has been painted, also letters, then set the two trout into it and pour the remaining broth over it, until the broth is as full as you would like it. And then let the aspic become firm, then it is ready. Allison, allilyn at juno.com Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 22:39:45 -0500 From: Philip & Susan Troy Subject: Re: SC - Pig slaughtering-OOP Patrick Hood wrote: > Also, how well do jellied meats go over at events? I thought pickled > herring was tame but have found few southerners who will try it. I would > guess pork jellos would be seen as even worse. Hmmm. It's a tough call. My own experience has been that people will eat foods that _contain_ meat or fish-flavored gelatin, if they can convince themselves that the dish itself does not actually _consist_ of meat or fish gelatin. So, the jelly-glazed brawn with mustard is okay, but a tournesole blue jelly quivering up at you on the plate tends, around here, to get something of a lukewarm reception. On the other hand, gelatin being basically pure protein, it can be pretty rich when concentrated enough to be firm; even for people who like the stuff, how much can you eat? I don't think it's necessarily a comment on either the quality of the dish or the sophistication (or lack thereof) of the diners' tastes. It's just that a little goes a long way. You might try it as an integral part of another dish, like, say, the jellied brawn mentioned above. In late period this would have been made from a boned-out whole small pig. For SCA feast purposes, this would be something like a boneless piece of fresh ham with some skin on it, brined, rinsed and boiled like corned spareribs, then pressed into a mold, skin side down, and covered with the reduced cooking stock. You can then chill it all, and you have the option of removing it from the mold and coating it with more gelatin layers. It is served cold, in slices. Then you can tease the diners and suggest that if they don't want to eat it, it's probably that they're too wimpy to try the mustard you made for it. Adamantius Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 21:55:54 -0500 From: Philip & Susan Troy Subject: Re: SC - Pig slaughtering-OOP Liam Fisher wrote: > Yeah, it's not something normally served and it falls into the "strange > food" category, so most people will just taste, not eat it. A shame, too, since I believe the original postor was referring to feeding such dishes to folks in Meridies (at least I thought so). Seems to me a chilled fish jelly (or meat or poultry) would be extremely refreshing on a hot afternoon. > I was reading through the jelled foods from platina, and I like the looks of > the fish gelatin that used the whole pike to make the gelatin. Pike's not a > bad fish and it's not a strange tasting fish, I might try that myself, but > it's not feast food in my book because it'll almost all come back, but it IS > water soluble, but why waste the pike? Now, bearing in mind that I don't have the recipe in front of me, I do think something that is like pieces of fish suspended in jelly might be preferable over just the jelly (I suspect it would have a lot of the character and flavor of gefilte fish, often served cold in a similarly jellied stock). I would say that you need the jelly to be sufficiently flavorful in its own right that the fish meat itself will no longer necessarily add flavor, _and_ it needs to be so flavorful that it will seem flavorful even when cold (warm foods' flavors are easier to pick up with the taste buds than cold foods', which is why you tend to have to season foods to be served cold more highly than similar warm foods. And once you reach that point, the chances are that most of the flavor of the dish will be in the jelly rather than the flesh anyway. Then there's the fact that pike is a moderately bony fish, especially for those not familiar with the anatomy: you can't just lift off two flat mostly-boneless fillets off the sides. If you want boneless fillets (and pike have those funky y-shaped bones like carp and shad, too!), you actually get _five_ of them, not hugely symmetrical -- three from the back and two sides above the dorsal fin, and two from either side of the tail section below/behind the dorsal fin. A solution for those not up to the challenge of deboning a pike either in the kitchen or at the table is to simply cook most of the flavor and the nutritional value into a jelly, and throw away what amounts to an empty husk of overcooked fish muscle tissue. It would also be essential to use as little added liquid as you can get away with, I suspect. Even when you roast or steam a whole fish you get some juice which actually begins to congeal on the platter while you're eating it; it seems a shame to dilute the protein. Adamantius Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 14:37:33 -0400 From: margali Subject: SC - Colored Broth without Fire I was just looking at Colored Broth, from 'Take a Thousand Eggs or More' with an eye towards making it for the Gilded Pearl potluck in a couple of weeks, and was struck by something odd. Take a Thousand Eggs or More by Cindy Renfrew, pp 13 " As you will note, there are some inconsistencies in this recipe. For instance, how are we to thicken this dish with rice if we are to prepare it with-owt fyre? Also, we are instructed to ley of euery a leche in a dysshe, and yet the recipe is called a sew or broth. The end result is a colored rice pudding that will set like glue and adhere to an inverted plate, making posible its use in food sculpture, if little else. Saffron has been added here as a coloring agent, since we are vaguely instructed to make one part yellow. Two similar recipes appear in Du Fait de Cuisine [1420, #9 and #28]: both are thickened with wheat flour, instead of rice, and use much more vivid colors than those used here - saffron for gold, alkanet for gules [red], and turnsole for azure [blue]. 1.5 cups strained almond milk, made with water .5 cup raw rice 2 tbsp sugar .25 tsp clove powder .25 tsp mace powder 2 cubebs, ground [I got a smidge less than one eighth of a tsp] 1 tsp cinnamon 2 tbsp white wine 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped 2 tbsp red wine pinch saffron [about 8 threads] Heat the almond milk to boiling in a 1 quart sauce pan. Add rice, cloves, mace, cubebs and cinnamon. Reduce heat and cook until rice is soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Process in a blender until smooth. Divide the mixture into 3 equal parts in 3 small mixing bowls. Leave one part plain. To the second add saffron and white wine. Stir Grind the parsley to a paste in a blender. Squeeze out the parsley juice through a strainer. Discard the pulp. Add the parsley juice and red wine to a third of the almond mixture. Stir. The mixture should be tinted green. Set aside. Chill all three parts in the refrigerator for one half hour or until set. When ready to serve, place a small slice of each in a dish. makes about 1 cup. " Here is the translation of the original she was working with: 78. Colored Broth without fire. Take 4 lbs of almonds, & lay in Water over all, and blanch them, and on the morrow grind them very well, and draw thereof a thick milk: then take Rice, and wash them clean, and grind them well, & draw them up with the Milk through a strainer, and put it in a bowl, & part it in the vessel, and put in all white Sugar, and every vessel Cloves, Maces, Cubebs and powdered Cinnamon: And let that one part be white, that other yellow and that other green with parsley: and lay of each a slice in a dish and look that Milk be mixed with wine, and that other with Red wine. Has anybody actually tried following the directions in the original, and mixing the almond milk with rice flour cold? [the part about washing and grinding the raw rice. It never mentions cooking or cooked rice.] Another question - why the red wine with the parsley? It never really specifies that the red wine goes to the green bit, and you can extract saffron into a small amount of red wine and get a slightly pinkish tinge to the yellow [I did it in a batch of rice yesterday to see what color it comes out] that in the right amount is pretty nominal. When I did it with the parsley, I got khaki. margali Bored and equipped with too many cooking ingredients I really shouldn't be eating right now ;-) From: "a5foil" To: Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] blue food Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 22:59:54 -0400 Olwen asked: > Ok I'll bite. Where do you get white gelatine and black carrots? > > Olwen White (well, OK, sort of cloudy, whitish, murky) gelatine in the period recipes I've seen came from hooves and trotters and other cartilage and bones cooked until mostly dissolved in water or broth. When cooled, it turns vaguely white. Blend in some almond milk before the mixture gels, and it gets much whiter. Thomas Longshanks Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 14:20:55 -0800 (PST) From: Huette von Ahrens Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Festival of the Rose Pixs To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org --- Olwen the Odd wrote: > Arte~thank you for posting pictures. You are > wonderful. Tell me about the > almond jello thing. From John Murrell, "A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen" A LEACH OF DIVERS COLOURS IN THE FRENCH FASHION Lay halfe a pound of Jordane Almonds in colde water, the next day blanch and beate them in a stone morter, put in some good Damaske Rose-water into the beating of them, when they be very fine draw them through a strainer with a quart of sweete mild from the Cowe, and set on a chafing dish of Coales, with a piece of Isinglasse, a piece of whole Mace and Nutmeg quartered, a Graine of Muske tyed in a piece of lawne, when it groweth thick, take off the fire, and take out your whole spices, and let it runne through a strainer into a broad and deepe dish, and when it is colde, you may so slice it and serve it in. If you will colour any of it, Saffron is for yellow, greene Wheat for green, Turnsole is for red, and blew bottles in corne give their own colour. Madge Lorwin's redaction: 1/4 pound blanched almonds 6 tbsp rose water 1 tbsp unflavored gelatin 2 cups rich milk or half and half 1 large piece of whole mace 1/2 nutmeg, cut up 2 drops essence of musk 2 tbsp sugar (optional) Grind the almonds fine and mix with three tbsp of rose water; soften the gelatin in the remaining rose water. Put the milk, ground almonds, mace, nutmeg, and musk into a quart-size saucepan and bring it to just under a boil. Lower the heat to simmer, and cook for fifteen minutes, stirring every five minutes. Add the sugar and the softened gelatin and stir until the mixture just begins to thicken. Remove from heat and strain the leach through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth into a glass cake or pie dish. Set the mixture in the refrigerator until the leach sets firmly. To serve, cut the leach into small squares or diamonds and pile them lightly in a chilled serving dish. My quick and completely OP version: One box Asian almond flavored gelatin [5 oz] 8 cups water One box Jello in color you want [5 oz] 1 piece of whole mace 1/2 piece of whole nutmeg 1 tsp rosewater Boil almond gelatin according to package instructions, with mace and nutmeg. Take out mace and nutmeg. Add Jello and rosewater. Put into jello mold and chill. I originally planned on making the Lorwin redaction, but I ran out of time and energy. I also couldn't find food-grade musk. While I was trying to decide if I should try to make the dish or just forget it, this quick and OP version occured to me and I decided to try it. I had ordered a sun shaped copper jello mold, but it didn't arrive in time [it still hasn't arrived], so I went with a mold I had that was sort of sun-esque. I also originally wanted to put the sun shaped yellow jello on a layer of purple colored jello, but the cookie sheet that I planned to use for this got used for another dish, so I put the jello on a bed of purple cabbage instead. Not as I envisioned it, but that's life. Huette Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:30:41 -0400 From: "Christine Seelye-King" Subject: [Sca-cooks] Galyntyne To: "SCA Cook's List" Here are some observations about the origins of 'galantine' from Curye on Inglyshe. It seems to infer that what the French meant to be a Thickened fish gelatine became misunderstood by the English and morphed into a sauce thickened with breadcrumbs with the spice galangale added. A bad in-period redaction? Bad translation? A classic case of the British not understanding a French sauce? You decide - Christianna > From Curye on Inglyshe's Glossary: galyntyne n. (1) jellied juices of meat or fish is the basic meaning (Fr. galantine, galatine, Lat. galatina) but since this was further thickened with bread crumbs and spiced, the term was transfered to the sauce IV 130t, 131t (?). - It is not clear that any of the recipes included here are of the basic type: GALANTINE, I 51, makes no specification, and note that III 24 FRESCH LAUMPREY is to be served cold but the 'galentyn' hot. This may or my not mean that the fish was kept in a jellied state until it was served, at which time the jellied sauce was heated up.( Hodgkin also concluded that 'in galentyne', as against 'galyntyne sauce', meant 'in gelatine'.) galentyne(2) a spiced sauce hickened with bread crumbs, usually containing galangale - probably as a result of false etymology; in some MS versions of IV 131 the two words are confused II 68, 69, etc.~ (3) alternative name for the spice(s) alone or with breadcrumbs II 30, 31, etc GALYNTYNE IV 142, sauce resembling the FR cameline; IV 131 Laumprouns in galyntyne. Take laumprouns and scalde hem; see(th) hem. Meng powdour galyngale and some of the broth togyder & boile it, & do (th)erto powdour of gynger & salt. Take thelaumprouns & boile hem, & lay hem in dysshes, & lay (th)e sewe aboue & serue fort. IV 142 Galyntyne. Take crustes of brede and grynde hem smale. Do (th)erto powdour of galyngale, of canel, of gyngyuer, and salt it; tempre it vp with vyneger, and drae it vp (th)urgh a straynour, & messe it forth. Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:19:51 -0500 From: "Terry Decker" To: "Cooks within the SCA" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Fish scales for aspic <<< Rumpolt has a couple of recipes for aspic, where you begin with a broth made by boiling the fish scales with isinglass and an onion skin. The onion skin is presumably for color. It's sieved in a woolen cloth before using for the aspic. The net has recipes for fish cooked with the scales (which are not eaten) but I didn't see anything for cooking the scales alone. Has anyone ever seen recipes that call for cooking the fish scales? What would this be adding the broth? Color, thickening, flavor? Ranvaig >>> You are boiling the fish scales to hydrolyze the collagen and produce gelatin. This is less costly than using isinglass exclusively, as prior to 1795, isinglass was produced from the swim bladders in sturgeon, particularly Beluga sturgeon. Bear Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 07:05:15 -0500 From: "Terry Decker" To: "Cooks within the SCA" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What should aspic taste like? In my (limited) experience, the flavor of an aspic is largely dependent upon the flavor of the liquid used to make the gelatin. Tomato juice, fruit juice, a flavorful broth, a little sherry, etc. have their place in making aspics. For a fish aspic, I would make a poaching liquor of water, wine and spices, then poach a little salmon for flavor. Strain the liquor and use it to make the gelatin. Bear <<< My wife tried a fish-in-aspic dish this week (using small prawns and some flaked fish). It looks right, as far as we can tell, pieces of fish and small crustaceans suspended in a transparent medium. It just doesn't taste of anything very much; even the prawns seem a bit dulled by the jelly. I've not had it before, so have nothing to compare to. Is there something we're missing here - should it have more taste, should it have more salt, or is it a visual-and-texture oriented dish? Aodh >>> Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:13:45 -0400 From: Johnna Holloway To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What should aspic taste like? I have always suspected that a lot of the appeal of jellies, gelatins, aspics, etc was in the fact that someone had produced a clear gelatin dish at all. Starting with calves feet and producing a dish that could be served at a table seems something of a miracle. (I just saw Julie and Julia the other night and well remember Amy Adams making the aspic, it failing to unmold and sliding off into a big mess, and her exclamation, "The bitch lied!":) I've had aspic dishes served to me at modern banquets (few and far between) and most didn't taste of anything much. When one eats Jell-O after all, what you taste is the sweet fruit flavor. Lacking that sweetness, aspics tend to be blandish. A palate cleanser. (I think there were even eels in an aspic of sorts at one feast in fact. I don't recall trying them.) So as to what they tasted then or should taste like now??? Ivan Day talks about Jellies and such here http://www.historicfood.com/Jellies.htm Also http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.com/search/label/Jelly You might also see this article "Aspic aspirations" http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/apr/30/aspic And Peter Brears covers them in his book Jellies & Their Moulds (The English Kitchen) I highly recommend it. Johnnae Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:51:50 -0400 From: eloquent page To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What should aspic taste like? I think that another part of the appeal is that meant/fruits in aspic last longer than when exposed to the air. The visual appeal must be part of it too, though. Has anyone made the subtlety where you set fish into aspic in a wagon wheel and then display it upright so it looks as if they are swimming? Katherine Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 17:51:33 -0400 From: Sharon Palmer To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What should aspic taste like? Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ; format="flowed" Rumpolt Aspic recipes: Ochsen 82. When you want to make an aspic of ox feet/ that should be yellow/ then take water and vinegar/ let it simmer together/ mix it with ground pepper and saffron/ check it/ if it is well tasting/ if it is sour or salted/ if it is not sour/ then make it sour/ because ox feet are good to eat in a sour broth/ pull them out on a board/ and let them become cold/ lay them first in a dish/ and pour the broth over it through a wool sack/ then it becomes beautifully clear. Ochsen 83. Set the ox feet to (the fire) in a water/ put a little salt in it/ and let them cook well/ and when they become cold/ then they will be again firm. Take it out of the broth on a clean board/ and let them become cold/ lay them in a dish/ and pour the broth through a hair cloth into a clean fish kettle/ pour a little vinegar into it/ and let it not simmer/ stir?? back and forth with an iron spoon/ until it becomes cold. Or take two new pots/ and pour from one into the other/ then it will be nicely white/ as if you had poured milk into it/ that made by the cold vinegar/ that you poured into the warm broth. Then pour on the feet/ and let stay until it becomes cold. But if you would rather have it with garlic/ then cut a little into it/ then it is also well tasting. Because the Hungarians enjoy eating with garlic/ especially such a white aspic/ costs not much/ but there is much effort for it. Kalb 57. To make aspic of calves feet. Set the feet to (the fire) with a water/ and when they are well cooked/ then see/ that they are not over salted/ however if you want to make it white/ then take no spices/ but only wine vinegar with the broth/ then it will be white from it/ pour it in the dish over the feet/ However before you pour it over/ then let it become cold/ and stir it with a spoon back and forth/ then soon it will be cold and white. Then you might also make together with the spices/ as it is good in both manners/ especially when it is sour. Spensaw 6. Take the head/ and small pieces of meat from the piglet/ set it to (the fire) with blood/ and put in a little isinglass/ let it simmer with it/ also take whole onions in it/ three or four/ and parsley herb/ make it sour/ And when the meat is boiled/ then take it out with a skimmer on a clean board/ and let it become cold Let the broth run though a sieve/ and skim the fat away/ because the young pigs are readily fat/ especially when they still suck on the mother/ Take the broth/ and mix it with pepper/ and a little saffron and cinnamon/ let a boil open (come to a boil) with it/ let the broth become cold again/ stir it constantly with a spoon/ until it becomes cold/ lay the meat in a dish/ and the head in the middle/ pour the blood over it/ and let it become cold/ like this it occurs/ that you have a beautiful black aspic/ that is not bad/ and if you do not believe it/ then let the effort not displease?? you/ and attempt it/ then you will praise it like me. Spensaw 21. Piglet cooked yellow in an aspic/ or in a brawn/ that is sour and cold/ if you make it in winter/ then do not take isinglass to it/ however if it is in summer/ you must take it (isinglass) to it. If you will make it clear/ then pour it through a wollen sack. Take a new pot/ that nothing has been cooked in/ wash out with cold water/ and pour the broth from the piglet into it/ let it stand in it/ until it becomes cold/ like this it will congeal/ and you see/ that it is beautifully clear/ then pour it over the meat/ that you have laid in the dish to the aspic. then the broth becomes clear/ as when you had let it run through a sack. And a cook must often use such advantage and renck??/ because one does not always have what you want/ one should have much/ but one also comes out with little. Spensaw 22. To make a white aspic from a piglet. Take the piglet/ parboil it/ and clean out/ take water/ vinegar and salt/ set it to (the fire) with that/ and let boil/ put whole mace and pepper in it/ let it also simmer together/ until it becomes done/ pull it out on a board/ and let lay/ until it becomes cold/ pour the broth through a hair cloth/ into a clean tinned fish kettle/ pour a good wine vinegar a spoon full or two into it/ stir it back and forth with an iron spoon/ until it becomes cold/ then it will be nicely white from the cold vinegar/ dress it in a dish/ and pour the broth over it/ then the aspic stays nicely white/ one will think/ that you have poured a milk into it/ But if you would rather also make it with garlic/ then pound a little garlic/ and let it run through a sieve/ pour in the other cold broth/ then it will taste very lovely from the garlic. And prepared in this style/ the Keiser Maximilian's mother/ Queen Anna/ has loved to eat/ in the morning for soup/ also at midday/ that she often twice a day has eaten/ such white garlic aspic. Spensaw 28. Take weck bread/ wine/ broth/ egg yolks/ and a little vinegar/ let it simmer with each other with saffron/ and when it has boiled/ then strain it through a hair cloth/ that it becomes thick and smooth/ boil only the piglet meat simply in water/ take a little vinegar and salt/ let it boil to the place (until done)/ pull it on a board/ that the broth pours from it/ you can lay it in a dish/ strain the broth with bread and pounded liver/ and pour over the meat/ and let become cold/ and when it is cold/ then one calls it a liver aspic/ it becomes so thick/ that one must cut it with a knife/ especially in the Rhine valley they like to eat such dishes. Hirsch 2. A pressed deer head. Make the head clean/ that the hair is removed/ and when it is clean/ then set it to (the fire) in a water and salt/let it boil completely to the place (until completely done)/ and when it is cooked/ the take it out onto a clean board/ let it become cold/ and cut the meat away/ cut it small/ also cut fresh bacon into fine cubes/ and set it to (the fire) in a beef broth/ let boil well with it/ put ground pepper/ thus whole/ that is a little pounded/ in there/ let simmer with it/ and do not over salt it/ also put well tasting herbs in it/ that are green or dry/ then pour it in a clean cloth/ tie it tightly with a string/ lay it between two boards/ and lay weights on it/ then underneath it becomes cold and hard/ take it out from the cloth/ then you can give it whole on a table or carved/ and give it dry. Thus one prepares it for king and emperor/ for princes and lords/ and need not be any scheme??/ to prepare such a dish/ because it is unusual for venison/ when many ears are cut into it. -- I think this is saying that a pork or calf aspic would include ears to help it set, but that isn't usually done for venison. Gem? 1. To prepare a Chamois head. Take the chamois head/ together with the horns/ set it to (the fire)/ and let it simmer/ until the hair comes off/ clean it/ and trim it/ set to (the fire) with water and vinegar/ salt it/ and let it simmer to the place (until done)/ take it out onto a board/ and let become cold/ when it is cold/ then you can gild or silver the horns/ then it is a beautiful show dish/ Or you can set it in the middle of an aspic/ then it is elegant and good. Steinbock 1. The (Ibex) head together with the horns boiled and prepared/ cold on the table given for a show dish. Or set in an aspic/ it is lovely and delicate. Adler 1. Take the eagle/ pluck it only in the middle/ leave the feathers on head/ neck and tail/ roast it as a whole/ when it is roasted/ then set it in a aspic/ like this it is beautiful and elegant. Drappen 5. You can also prepare the bustard/ like a swan/ in a galantine (or aspic)/ that has various colors/ be it yellow/ green/ red/ white/ brown or flesh color/ also black with almonds/ that are coated with various colors/ and the aspic laid over with them/ it is good/ and a beautiful show food (or subtlety). Schwan 4. On the other hand the swan roasted. Prepare it/ and pluck it except for the wings/ tail and neck/ pull the skin off of it/ stuff it/ and let it become dry in an oven/ Take the swan/ and stick it on a spit/ take an instrument/ that is made nicely smooth from iron/ stick it through both legs/ and look/ that the instrument and the soles are nicely wide/ that also three or four holes are made in it. And when the swan is roasted/ so you can in place on a clean round board/ that is nicely cleanly turned (on a lathe)/ Nail it with clean white nails/ and let it stay like this/ until it becomes cold/ when it is cold/ then it becomes stiff and hard/ that makes the instrument/ Dress it again the head/ neck/ wings/ and tail/ and when it is prepared/ then set it on a dish or silver/ pour a jellied broth/ that is boiled from clean feet/ over it/ and that you take nothing to it/ but cinnamon and saffron/ enough/ that strongly tastes/ and make it well sweet/ that no other material comes to it/ than vinegar and wine. Then when you have clarified it/ so it becomes good and well tasting. Pour then in the dish/ in which the swan stands/ let it become nicely cold/ and congeal/ so it becomes a beautiful aspic/ give the roasted swan a beautiful adornment/ it is lovely and beautiful for a show-food (subtlety). You may gild or silver it/ or adorn as you will. Aurhan 3. You can also roast the Wood Grouse/ and let it get cold/ prepare in a aspic with its Feathers/ head/ wings and tail. Fasan 6. You could also well prepare a pheasant in an aspic/ so it also stands elegant and beautiful. Fasan 17. Nim~ ein Fasan/ vnd rupff jn fein sauber/ wenn du jn gerupfft hast/ so weid jn rein au?/ nim~ jn vnd hack jhn klein mit den Beinen/ nim~ darnach ein saubern Hafen/ der fein au?gesotten ist/ setz es zu mit lauterm Wein/ la? es wol miteinander sieden/ da? der Fasan wol gesotten wirt/ 17. Take a pheasant/ and pluck it nicely clean/ and when you have plucked it/ then disembowel it cleanly/ take it and chop it small with the bones/ then take a clean pot/ that is nicely boiled out (clean a new clay pot by boiling water in it)/ set it to (the fire) with clear wine/ let it simmer well together/ that the pheasant is cooked well/ pour it in a hair cloth/ and let the broth run through/ take it again in a clean pot/ that is boiled out/ and is appropriate to it/ put in the broth a clove three or four/ and let simmer with each other/ Also take cinnamon to it/ a quarter pound/ and let ein half hour or three quarters hour very gently boil. When you will remove it from the fire/ then make it yellow/ and let come to a boil again/ and take not much saffron/ that it doesn't taste strongly of it/ then pour it in a wool sack/ and let it run through not more than twice/ like this it will be beautifully clear/ set it (something holding the clear broth) into a cold water/ like this it soon congeal/ as from isinglass/ is also healthier and robust/ you must put not much salt in it. When it stands (sets)/ then it can be cut/ as you will have it/ You can give it piecewise on a silver (plate). And when you simmer it/ then make it well sweet with white sugar/ like it is tastes lovely of the cinnamon/ and gives to people/ that are sick/ a strength/ because it comes no other meat to it/ than from pheasant. Such dishes to make from a pheasant/ are good to give to sick people. You can also make an aspic from a pheasant/ as from a capon. (Following the recipe given for a capon in aspic) Pfauwen 3. Cold roasted peacock dressed with an aspic/ as is described before to prepare a swan/ in an aspic/ that sets nicely/ together with the feathers/ like this it is good to eat/ and is a beautiful showpiece. And you can make and dress many dishes from a peacock. Kappaun 36. To make an aspic from the capon. Chop the capon to small pieces/ take a new pot or (another kind of) pot/ that is well boiled (clean)/ set the capon to (the fire) in it with clear beautiful wine/ let it boil in there/ until it becomes well soft/ then take the meat together with the broth/ and let it run through a hair cloth/ Again take a clean pot/ that is boiled (clean)/ pour the broth in it/ take whole cinnamon/ that is broken small/ a quarter of a pound/ put it in the broth/ and about ten whole cloves/ that are nicely washed clean/ Take a snow white sugar/ prepare the broth well with it/ let simmer together/ together with the broth/ about half an hour long/ and when you are nearly ready to take from the fire/ then make it yellow with saffron/ let it boil a little/ but not too long/ take it away from the fire/ and pour it in a fair clean wool sack/ let it run through into a dish/ like this it becomes beautiful and clear/ then let congeal/ like this you can give it cut up/ or whole/ as you wish/ like this it is a robust dish. You can not make much from a capon/ therefor one must let the broth simmer quickly. Because such an aspic will set/ even in the summer when it is hot/ if only it is in a cold cellar/ like this it congeals sooner/ than with isinglass/ it is also healthier and lovelier to eat/ it tastes lovely of the cinnamon. However if you want to make a large aspic/ then you must have many capons to do it/ then you can make it green/ red/ or with it's own broth/ like this it stands beautiful from the cinnamon. And such aspics one can prepare in many ways/ but they cost a lot/ Hennen 17. Brawn of hens or aspic. Dismember the hens/ parboil them well/ and clean them out/ Then take calves feet/ chop them small/ and set to (the fire) with pure wine and vinegar/ and let simmer well to the place (until completely done)/ when you are nearly ready to dress/ then skim the fat from it/ spice it with saffron/ pepper/ and with ginger/ let boil not long/ that the color does not disappear/ make sweet or sour/ pour the broth away from the meat/ and pour it (the meat) on a clean board/ pick the chicken out of it/ and pour the broth through a wool sack/ so it becomes clear/ pour it in the dish over the chicken/ so it will congeal nicely and become clear. That is why one takes calves foot/ and lets it simmer well/ and need the broth from it for the aspic/ like this it is healthier than from the isinglass. -- isinglass can also be used to congeal an aspic, but Rumpolt thinks it is healthier made with calves feet. Hausen 22. A caraway brawn made from beluga sturgeon/ or a white aspic with garlic/ be it sour or not/ it is in both manners good. St?ren 9. A aspic made from a sturgeon/ be it white or gold. S?lmling 4. Brawn from young salmon/ or aspic/ especially yellow. S?lmling 6. A aspic to make from young salmon/ in a violet colored broth/ so it is yellow on the belly/ and but the back blue. Therefore the young salmon stays beautiful in a brown or gold broth. S?lmling 12. Take a tench/ chop it small with the bones/ set to (the fire) with a pea broth/ that is nicely clear/ and let it simmer until nearly done/ take under it a pike/ and let it simmer also with it/ when it is all cooked/ then strain it through a hair cloth/ put the broth in a tinned fish kettle. pour a little vinegar under it/ stir around/ until it comes to a simmer/ then set it down from the fire/ and pour more vinegar in it/ stir well together back and forth/ until it becomes cold/ if you do not have the time/ then put a lad to it/ when it's cold/ then take the young salmon/ that you have boiled blue/ that the head and tail is whole/ put it turned over in a dish/ Once you put it/ then pour the broth over it/ let it congeal/ like this it is a beautiful aspic/ the broth is white/ the fish however is gold and blue/ so the jelly has three colors. Such a jelly costs not much/ but has great difficulty. You can also lay over with almonds/ that are earlier cleaned off/ and peeled (blanched)/ coated (with sugar)/ like this it is elegant and good. Hecht 31. Yellow pike in an aspic. Take the pike and flay it/ take the pieces/ and set them to (the fire) in a wine/ together with the isinglass/ that is nicely white from washing in 6 or 7 waters/ let simmer well in wine/ throw some whole onions/ that are peeled/ into it/ and also let simmer with it. Meanwhile open the pike/ wash it out clean/ and salt it down/ let it lay awhile in the salt/ until that in the pot is cooked/ in the meantime you can make a sausage from the pike stomach/ as is previously described/ how you should make it. And when the isinglass is cooked in the wine/ then take the pike/ and wash it cleanly out/ cut it to pieces/ and arrange it in a fish kettle/ pour the wine over it/ pour more wine and vinegar to it/ set it on coals/ and let boil very gently/ and skim it clean/ and check often/ if it is correctly salted/ peppered/ yellowed/ and sugar it not much/ that it tastes just a little from the sugar. And when the pike is cooked/ then pull it out onto a board/ and pour he broth through a fair wool sack/ meanwhile the fish becomes cold/ lay it in the dish/ and let the broth/ that which you have also clarified??/ become cold/ pour over the fish/ and let it set/ cut the sausage/ that you have made from the pike// also let it simmer with it/ wide and round/ lay them on the aspic/ also carve the liver/ and lay it on/ If you have almonds/ that are beautifully white/ then lay them over the aspic/ then it is elegant and good But if you want to have a whole pike head/ then boil it whole like this nicely blue/ let it stand in the same boiled water/ until it becomes cold/ then it will stay nicely blue/ specially when the broth covers it/ that it is not dry. When it is cold/ then set it in the middle of the dish/ then pour the broth over the other fish/ then the aspic becomes elegant from the pike head. Hecht 32. To make a Rumbel?? of a pike/ if you have a fair pike/ that is large/ them make it nicely white/ take the scales/ set them on (the fire) in clear wine with isinglass/ and if you have an excessive pike/ then open it/ and cut it very small with the scales/ set it also to (the fire) with the isinglass/ and let simmer well. Then open the pike/ wash wash it out/ and let it lay in the salt/ while the (other stuff) cooks. Take the pike/ that you have salted down/ wash it out cleanly/ and cut it to large pieces. Take a tinned fish kettle/ and lay the large pieces of pike in it/ pour the broth/ in which the pike had cooked/ through a sieve again over it/ and if you have little broth/ then pour wine and vinegar with it/ then set it on glowing coals/ and let simmer very gently/ skim it clean/ and the remaining pike/ that you have cooked/ one puts in the alms/ check it/ if it is salted correctly/ pepper it and yellow it/ make it well sweet with white sugar. And when it is cooked/ then take it out on a board/ take the broth/ and pour it in a wool sack/ then it becomes clear and beautiful. And when the pike is cold/ then take a clean new small barrel/ and take bay leaves/ that are nicely whole and clean/ also almond/ soaked three or for days/ and are nicely peeled/ throw them together between the pike pieces on the bottom and over it/ When you have arranged it thus/ then pour the broth over the top/ that it goes over/ and let set/ and when the Rumbel is set/ and you have made it in a small barrel/ then close it/ then you can send it away/ where you want to have it. However when you want to eat from it/ then take always out a piece after the other together with the broth/ then it is good and lovely to eat. Thus in Germany one makes the Rumbel aspic/ because we do not always have the fish/ called the Rumbel/ as alone on the sea/ thus one also commonly brings such aspics from Italy. Karpffen 14. Take a carp/ and cut it/ that it becomes nicely white/ open it/ and wash it out/ salt it down/ and let lay in the salt and hour or a half. Take the scales/ and set them to with an pea broth/ and put a little isinglass in it/ let simmer with it/ throw whole onion skins in there/ and also let simmer - I think "schneidt jn" might mean drain the blood, and that's why the fish becomes white. I suspect carp to the kitchen alive from a local pond, and that's why other recipes call for carp blood. Take the carp/ and make pieces from it/ wash it out nicely clean/ and arrange in a fish kettle/ pour the broth through a hair cloth again over it/ and let simmer with it/ that it becomes nicely well tasting/ and correctly salted/ pepper it with ground pepper/ and let simmer with it/ until it becomes done/ and when you want to lift it from the fire/ then pour a good wine vinegar in it/ then the broth will be nicely white/ let only a boil open/ then move the fish onto a clean board/ arrange them in a dish/ and stir the broth back and forth with an iron spoon/ and if it is too little sour/ then pour a vinegar over it/ then the broth will be even whiter/ and you should let it boil no more/ then pour over the fish/ and let it set. Thus one cooks the aspic with carp/ You also might make such an aspic with garlic/ then it is also good and well tasting. And when you cook the aspic/ then take mace and whole pepper with it/ then it will be even better tasting. When you want to cook it white with pea broth/ then pour only a vinegar in it/ then it is immediately white/ as when one pours milk in it. Karauschken 5. Take the Crucian carp/ scale it nicely clean/ and open it/ salt it down/ and let it lay in the salt awhile/ Take the scales/ chop them small with the bones/ set them to (the fire) with a pea broth/ and let them simmer well/ pour it through a hare cloth/ and rub the carp in a fish kettle/ that the salt comes away/ pour the same broth/ that you have cooked/ over it/ and put in mace/ whole pepper/ and a little vinegar/ let it simmer with it/ move the carp onto a board/ and let them become cold/ put the carp in a dish/ pour the broth over it/ and you should not pour it off/ then let it set. This one makes the fish aspic. Grundel 3. Aspic from goby. Take a tench/ and chop it small with the bones/ set it to (the fire) in clear wine/ and with vinegar/ and let simmer well/ pour it through a hair cloth/ put it again in a clean fish kettle/ and set it on coals/ let simmer/ pepper it and yellow it/ and make it well sweet/ when it is mixed/ then pour through a wool sack/ then it will be nicely clear/ And if you think/ that it will not set/ then take isinglass with it. And when the broth is clear/ then pour in a dish/ that it is half full/ let it set/ Then take goby/ that are boiled nicely blue and are cold/ lay them on the broth/ that has set/ next to each other/ and again pour the brother over it/ let it set again/ so the goby do not fall to the bottom/ look beautiful and amusing/ because the fish are blue/ and the broth yellow. Ranvaig Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 23:02:34 -0600 From: James Prescott To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What should aspic taste like? From Sabina Welserin 1553 (translated Valoise Armstrong 1998), if this is what Katherine was referring to, we have: "First take the broth from boiled carp and pike and mix isinglass with it and let the broth simmer. Take sugar, ginger, pepper and cinnamon and color it yellow. Taste it, make it however seems good to you. Afterwards let it run through a sack until it becomes clear. Then prepare a small tub as wide as the wheel and about a hand's breadth deep and set the wheel into it. After that you must pour the broth into it and when it becomes firm, then break the tub into pieces and take the wheel out of it and set it again on the spike. The trout must be fastened over the tip. The method for cooking them remains as before. Afterwards let the iron piece at the bottom be fastened to a dish by a gold smith. And underneath make a white aspic, make black letters therein, whatever you would like, and pour a brown aspic over it, when the white has become firm. It should be only lukewarm, so that the white does not melt again. And watch out that the aspic on the edges is especially firm, or else it will not hold. This is an attractive table centerpiece." Thorvald Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2015 11:31:15 -0400 From: eloquent page To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What should aspic taste like? On 2015-03-13, 21:55, Stefan li Rous wrote: Katherine said: <<< The visual appeal must be part of it too, though. Has anyone made the subtlety where you set fish into aspic in a wagon wheel and then display it upright so it looks as if they are swimming?>>> I guess I?m not understanding this. Is the aspect put into a pan with a wagon wheel? What keeps the aspic in place when you tilt up the wagon wheel? I thought aspic wasn?t stiff and would flow away without support. I thought aspics were displayed flat on the table, with perhaps things suspended in it. Sort of like those awful marshmallows or fruit in Jello dishes. Stefan =========== I saw it somewhere else, too. I'll have to check through my cookbook collections again tonight and find the reference. If I remember correctly you placed the wheel flat on a board, made the aspic, (and I assumed cooled it until it was nearly ready to set), then poured a layer into the wheel and let it set. Next you arranged the fish onto the aspic, and filled in the rest of the space between the spokes. When it was set you removed the board and stood it upright. This fish should look as if they were swimming around an aquarium, I assume. It was listed as a subtlety for a feast. Katherine Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2015 16:43:42 -0400 From: eloquent page To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What should aspic taste like? There is a wonderful book by Peter Brears called Jellies and Their Moulds, published by Prospect Books. It has chapters on medieval and Elizabethan jellies, as well as a lot of really useful general information on gelly/aspic making. For the larger items, you use a much higher ratio of gelatin to liquid. I highly recommend the book if you want to try making these. Katherine Edited by Mark S. Harris aspic-msg Page 33 of 33