frumenty-msg

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frumenty-msg – 2/9/08

A period cooked grain dish often with eggs, cream and saffron.

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From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>

Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 09:14:48 -0400

Subject: Re: SC - cooking frumenty for the masses

Anne-Marie Rousseau wrote:

> Does anyone have experience cooking barley for large numbers of people?

> We will be making frumenty outdoors, and I need to know how it bulks up

> for say, 100 bodies. Is it like rice, ie touchy but doable if you know

> how? Or is it like pasta where if you give it enough water it's fine?

I've never cooked barley in large quantities outdoors, but I do know a

few things about it. To be on the safe side, I'd say it's better to

compare it to rice than to pasta, because if you just boil it till it's

done, and then drain it, it has a tendency to become cemented together

by gravity. You also lose a certain amount of the nutritional value by

filling up your cooking water with barley tea and throwing it away, but

in the case of pearl barley it may be a moot point.

If you're going for a final product which people can neatly pigeonhole

into some prior experience, I suggest you cook it like a pilaf. To do

that, you need 6 cups of boiling liquid

per pound of barley, which equals approximately two cups, BTW. Toss the

barley in a pan with a bit of hot oil or butter, until the barley is

well coated with the oil and begins to toast a bit, and have your liquid

on the boil in a separate pot. Combine, cover, and simmer on LOW heat

for 25 -30 minutes. Depending on how much you're cooking, it may well

really want to burn before the top layer is done, so you may want to

consider cooking two or three smaller batches, and use the heaviest pots

you can get away with.

> I just fear ending up with a gloppy mess (thereby undoing all thepositive

> propaganda I've been giving out about medieval food not being brown

> gloppy messes!).

Now, this is all with the understanding that frumenty is supposed to

have a consistency something like a risotto or rice pudding: spoonable

but cohesive; in a word, stondyng. However, I'll grant that that might

not be what you necessarily need under your current circumstances.

It just occurred to me that you might consider bulgur wheat, which is

precooked, and wheat being, so far as I know, the more standard grain

for frumenty anyway. I'm thinking that bulgur cooks very much like

Minute (Pfeh!) Rice, especially the smaller-cut varieties of bulgur. You

could essentially pour your boiling liquid over the bulgur, cover it,

and let the wheat drink up the liquid, with no possibility of burning.

Bulgur gets 2 parts liquid to one of bulgur by volume, same as rice.

Better to use too little liquid than too much; if it's too dry or hard

you can add more boiling liquid. Bulgur generally takes about 20 minutes

to "cook", and the initial coating with oil is optional. You might

consider it anyway if you're really concerned about the glop factor.

G. Tacitus Adamantius

From: Mary Morman <memorman at oldcolo.com>

Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 08:27:17 -0600 (MDT)

Subject: Re: SC - cooking frumenty for the masses

On Wed, 25 Jun 1997, Anne-Marie Rousseau wrote:

> Does anyone have experience cooking barley for large numbers of people?

I have made frumenty outside for about 100 people. Did it at a camping

event three years ago. I did not make a 'savory' frumenty with broth

but a plain frumenty cooked in milk. we served it with cream and

strawberries. I know this is not traditional, but the cooking should

be fairly similar. doing it in broth may actually be easier.

I used cracked wheat rather than barley, and the trick was to warm the

liquid through before adding the grain and then keep stirring without

a stop (three people, almost two hours) and keep the heat steady - not

too hot, but not let it cool off.

the resulting porridge was indeed brown and gloppy, but, sweetened with a

little honey, tasted marvelous.

let me know if you need anything more specific. and oh, I used a double

bottomed stock pot filled about 3/4 full and a very large wooden spoon for

stirring.

elaina

From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>

Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 11:57:21 -0400 (EDT)

Subject: Re: SC - cooking frumenty for the masses

Adamantius wrote: