grape-leaves-msg - 12/24/04
Using grape leaves in cooking. Recipes. Sources. How to prepare fresh grape leaves.
NOTE: See also the files: ME-feasts-msg, wine-msg, lamb-mutton-msg, wine-cooking-msg, fd-Turkey-msg, fd-Greece-msg, fd-Byzantine-msg.
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Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 13:26:13 EDT
From: Tollhase1 at aol.com
Subject: Re: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
Stuffed grape leaves. Two recipes- one meat and the other veggie. I have
always had lamb or meat filled. Please note that my wife's recipe from a
Greek friend is missing and offer these two.
Recipe 1
Taken from our Immigrant Ancestors by Jeff Smith, ISBN 0-688-07590-8
1 pound ground lamb, [using beef instead for costs.]
1 cup long grain rice. [also mixing brown and wild rice in]
1/4 teas ground cinnamon
7 dozen fresh grape leaves, or 1 jar [friends mother ripped out her vines
before I could get there.
1/4 teas allspice
Salt/pepper to taste
juice two lemons
serve with yogurt and hot lemon sauce
Mix lamb, rice, spices salt and pepper.
If using fresh leaves, try to get smaller ones {personal experience, they
work best}. Blanch them till they change color. Just a moment. Drain and
cool. If using a jar, just sperate large from small.
Place a layer of smaller leaves in the bottom of a large heavy bottomed
kettle or sauce pot, with a cover.
Lay each large grape leaf on a flat surface, vein side up. Trim away stem. [
v cut into bottom of leaf}
Put about a tablespoon of mixture into grapeleaf. Form the mixture into a
cylindrical shape apx, 1/2 x 2 or three inches. Depends upon grape leaf.
Fold up the bottom, [stem side] up. Fold in both side. Roll top over for
tight fit.
Place in Pot. Place tightly next to each other so they won't unwrap. About
3 or 4 layers deep. Place plate over layers. Cover with water. Bring to
boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook, covered for one hour. After the
first 30 minutes of cooking, add the lemon juice.
Recipe number 2
Greek Cooking, by Ruth Kershner ISBN 0-517-239329
Dolmadakia
1 jar leaves
1 1/2 T olive oil
1 medium onion
1/2 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup wild rice
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons parsley finely chopped
1/2 teas salt
fresh ground pepper
2 medium tomatoes {obviously not period}
juice of lemon
First part same as above
Saute onions until limp. Add pine nuts and cook 5 minutes.
Add rice, raisins and 1 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or
until all the liquid is absorbed. Stir in parsley, salt, pepper cinnamon and
tomatoes.
Fill and fold as above recipe.
Place in pan same as above. Pour 1 cup water over. Place plate over. Cook
30 minutes
This recipe recommends serving with lemon wedges.
I am making a mint yurgert dip to go with both grape leaves and meatballs.
Recipe......Add fresh mint from garden until it tastes right let it sit
overnight before serving.
Hope this helps.
Does anyone have any period sources for these. I did not see on in the
Missanary
Lord Frederich
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 14:40:27 EDT
From: CorwynWdwd at aol.com
Subject: Re: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
karla at silverspin.net writes:
> Anyone have any good recipes for these things? Has anyone ever gone and
> gotten fresh grape leaves to make them with? I've only ever had them made
> with the canned ones.
>
> Charlotte
I stuff mine with brown rice and pine nuts, seasoned with rosemary, dill,
oregano and a little salt. Most of the supermarkets and the one middle
eastern store carry jars of grape leaves. I truly think you could stuff a
canned grape leave with shredded paper and it would taste good though.
Corwyn
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 15:39:29 -0500
From: a14h at zebra.net (William Seibert)
Subject: Re: stuffed grape leaves
I was introduced to dolmatti (stuffed grape leaves) when I was stationed in
Greece. Grape leaves are first preserved in olive oil, then used to wrap a
stuffing made of cubed lamb and rice, both of which are ground together and
spiced (to taste by the individual cooks) before stuffing. They are then oven
baked and served under a white sauce.
wajdi
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 18:47:01 +0100
From: "Oughton, Karin (GEIS, Tirlan)" <Karin.Oughton at geis.ge.com>
Subject: RE: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
When you use the canned/packet preserved leaves, do you soak them first to
get rid of the salt? The reason I'm asking is the one time I made dolmades
we didn't soak the leaves ( if you should) and the whole dish was
*incredibly* salty - almost to the point of inedibility.
k.
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 13:51:51 EDT
From: Tollhase1 at aol.com
Subject: Re: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
Yes, I soak them or at least rinse them. I have also used fresh leaves. The
Key is young small leaves. The older ones get tuff. And only blanch them
enough to make them playable.
Frederich
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 14:47:51 EDT
From: CorwynWdwd at aol.com
Subject: Re: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
Karin.Oughton at geis.ge.com writes:
> When you use the canned/packet preserved leaves, do you soak them first to
> get rid of the salt?
I rinse them, but then, I rinse everything. Maybe I'm part raccoon. <G>
Corwyn
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 21:43:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Peggy A. Stonnell" <izzie at vcn.bc.ca>
Subject: RE: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
On Tue, 18 May 1999, Oughton, Karin (GEIS, Tirlan) wrote:
> When you use the canned/packet preserved leaves, do you soak them first to
> get rid of the salt? The reason I'm asking is the one time I made dolmades
> we didn't soak the leaves ( if you should) and the whole dish was
> *incredibly* salty - almost to the point of inedibility.
>
> k.
I take mine out of the jar, and rinse them very well in a collander. Lots
of running water. I don't soak them, I want the salt to run away.
Isobel fitz Gilbert
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 15:07:05 EDT
From: Tollhase1 at aol.com
Subject: Re: stuffed grape leaves
timorra asked:
>i am curious can you use any kind of grape leaf or is there only certain ones
>you can use?
>i would be interested in hearing what kind of leaf most use..or am i
>misreading something?
I have always used what ever I could find for free, no matter what type of
grape they produce or the canned ones if I was desperate.
Frederich
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 01:49:18 EDT
From: LordVoldai at aol.com
Subject: Re: stuffed grape leaves
[about using fresh grape leaves]
don't use the older leaves, use the younger tender leaves. blanch them in
salted water with some lemon juice for a few min., then pat dry and you
should be good to go.
voldai
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 08:38:50 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - grape leaves
lainie at gladstone.uoregon.edu writes:
<< Anyone have any good recipes for these things? Has anyone ever gone and
gotten fresh grape leaves to make them with? I've only ever had them
made with the canned ones. >>
Yes. As with many foods, they are at there best when picked and used fresh.
Leaves from any grape species like Lambrusco, Vinifera or even the southern
US Scuppernong and wild northeastern US grapes are edible.
Simply pick unblemished grape leaves that are of good size. Remove the coarse
leaf stem. Drop them in boiling water for 30 seconds or so to blanch and use
as you do the bottled ones. You will be amazed at the difference in flavor
and quality. They can also be blanched and frozen for later use.
Ras
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 16:49:06 CEST
From: "Christina van Tets" <cjvt at hotmail.com>
Subject: SC - vine leaves
There is actually a recipe for stuffed vine leaves not long out of period
(ie. 60 years or so) in the English corpus. Lady Ann Blencowe, IIRC,
included them in her collection, headed 'To make a delma'. You can find
this quoted in Elisabeth Ayrton's 'Cookery of England'. Not that I'm
claiming that the earlier Poms used them; it's just an interesting piece of
relatively useless trivia (another souvenir from the Grand Tour??).
BTW, the leaves are really easy to salt and mine were good for years, until
I dropped them.
Cairistiona nB
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 11:46:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 18-May-99 Re: stuffed grape
leaves (w.. by LordVoldai at aol.com
> YES!!! soak the leaves to romove the brine
Oh blah! Don't do that -- the briny taste adds a really nice accent to
the grape leaves.
toodles, margaret
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 11:48:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - RE: stuffed grape leaves
Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 19-May-99 SC - RE: stuffed
grape leaves by Stefan li Rous at texas.net
> Canned grape leaves?!!! I'd have never even guessed to look for these.
> Anyone else tried these and fresh grape leaves? How do they compare?
> Is there some other use for these other than in dolmades?
You can't do this with the canned leaves, but Platina has a recipe for
either grape leaves or grape tendrils done pretty much like boiled
greens.
toodles, margaret
'p.s. For whatever reason, I tend to find bottled grape leaves around
the olives in larger grocery stores.
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 10:13:12 -0600
From: "Stapleton, Jeanne" <jstaplet at mail.law.du.edu>
Subject: RE: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 18-May-99 Re: stuffed grape
leaves (w.. by LordVoldai at aol.com
> YES!!! soak the leaves to romove the brine
Oh blah! Don't do that -- the briny taste adds a really nice accent to
the grape leaves.
toodles, margaret
Count me as someone else who would like to remind
everyone that "too salty" is a matter of *personal*
taste. Anything someone says is "too salty" is
likely to have me running to try is, as a bonafide
sodium chloridaholic.
This soaking could explain why I've had some really
bland (and therefore to me inedible) dolmades at
feasts, and really flavorful ones at Greek restau-
rants...
Berengaria
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 09:58:58 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: RE: stuffed grape leaves (was Re: SC - rocotti and cottage chease leftovers?
At 9:56 AM -0700 5/18/99, karla at silverspin.net wrote:
>And I think the recipe is period as well, as this lady frequently brings really
>interesting period things to events and then shares them with lots of
>people.
That would be interesting if so; off hand I can't think of any period
recipes for stuffed grape leaves. Aside from recipes, has anyone seen
period mentions of them?
David/Cariadoc
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 13:57:44 -0700
From: kat <kat at kagan.com>
Subject: SC - grape leaves period??
In the translation of Sabina Welserin located at
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html
there is a recipe for quail cooked by wrapping them in grape leaves to keep in the moisture...
- kat
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 22:58:38 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - Potluck part two....
<snip>
>So far nobody has offered evidence that any stuffed grape leaves are
>period, although there seems to be a slightly out of period reference to
>them--recipe so far unknown (i.e. hasn't been posted; I assume someone
>knows it).
>
>David/Cariadoc
There is a reference to stuffed *fig* leaves in Athenaeus, but not grape
leaves:
"...visions of tender-flaked barley cakes, wheat bread, fine meal cakes,
octopuses, entrails, suet, sausages, soup, beets, stuffed fig leaves, ..."
Gulick's edition, Vol. 2, Book IV, p. 105.
Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net
Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 18:30:43 EDT
From: RButler96 at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Dolmas, Dolmades
I am in possession of a translation of a 12th century "cookbook". The general references to a grape leave wrapped delicacies make me think that perhaps this would be an early forerunner. I would be happy to provide teh reference location if you would like. My local college library was able to locate a copy for me.
Khadijah bint Mika'il al-Zarqa'
mka Rebecca Butler
Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 22:13:03 EDT
From: RButler96 at aol.com
Subject: SC - Period cookery recipes
Since I have had so many inquiries, I felt it necessary to share this on the
list.
A Baghdad Cookery Book
al-Baghdadi 1229
Translated in "Islamic Culture" (a journal)
the January 1939 edition
Be patient when requesting it. One of the Ivy League schools has a hard
copy, and U of F has a microfiche copy that I have a print out of the
complete thing. It's about 40 or 50 pages, and details many recipes, and
some great stories of the time. It's basically one man's favorite dishes.
There are a couple that resemble dolma.
My Lord husband and I recently presented a feast taken from this publication,
and it went over absolutely beautifully.
Khadijah bint Mika'il al-Zarqa'
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 10:03:30 +0200
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: Roman Recipes LONG
>> Or flat bread to wrap the food in- the original souvlaki, falafal, gyros
>> sandwich etc. Even food like barley can be served in bread bowls.
>
>And when we discussed bread bowls further back no one could point to
>bread bowls being period as food containers. Anyone have any evidence
>for this being done in period, now?
Yes. In Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae (III. 125-126vol 2, pp 83-85, 1928
edition), from a string of disjointed quotations:
"Give me a mystilÍ [ed.- a piece of bread used in lieu of a spon]; for I
will not use the word mystron..."
And then:
[Athenaeus quoting Nicander] "'But when you prepare a dish of fresh-killed
kid or lamb or capon, sprinkle some groats in a hollow bowl and pound them
well, then stir in a fragrant oil, well mixed. When the broth is boiling
hard, pour it over the meal, put the lid on the pan, and smother it; for
when it is stewed in this way, the heavy meal swells up. Serve it when
mildly warm in hollow mystra.' [Athenaeus speaking] In these
terms...Nicander indicates the use of pudding and barley-groats , directing
that a broth of lamb or kid or fowl be poured over it. To repeat his
words: pound the groats in a mortar, mix oil with it and stir it in the
broth when it begins to boil. When, after these preliminaries, the mixture
actively boils up again, it should be stirred with the ladle without adding
any other ingredient; simply spoon it off as it is, to prevent any of the
rich fat at the top from boiling over. That is why he says 'put on the lid
and cover the boiling liquid'; for the meal swells up then it is smothered
in this way. Finally, when it has cooled to a mild heat, eat it with
hollow pieces of bread."
He mentions earlier (p. 105), in a list of comestibles served at a feast,
"stuffed fig-leaves". The editorial note says "[spelled in greek letters]
thrion, a dish often mentioned by the comic poets, consisting of eggs,
milk, flour, honey, cheese, and lard in a wrapping of fig leaves. Cf. the
modern Greek dish dolmades, made with grape leaves.
Cindy
Date: Sun, 09 Dec 2001 11:08:37 -0500
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] dolmas
This is not a period recipe, but comes from a lovely Greek cookbook produced by
the Women's group of a Greek Orthodox church...don't have the book down here
right now, so can't remember the name of the church. I have made these
numerous times and they've been well-received:
Stuffed Grapevine Leaves with Avgolemono Sauce (Dolmades me Avgolemono)
Yield--6 - 8 servings
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or lamb
1 1/2 C. chopped onion
1 C raw converted rice
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. dried mint leaves or 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint.
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup water
1 lb. jar grape leaves
3 cups hot chicken stock
1 Tbsp. butter
Avgolemono Sauce (recipe below)
Combine meat, onions, rice, salt, pepper, mint and dill. Add water and mix
well.
Drain brine from jar of grape leaves and wash leaves well. Put one heaping
tablespoon of meat and rice mixture in center of leaf's dull side and roll
leaf tightly, folding edges over and rolling toward point of leaf.
Cover bottom of an ungreased Dutch oven or casserole with torn leaves.
Arrange rolls in layers. Pour hot chicken stock over rolls and dot with butter.
Cover with a heavy plate to keep rolls from opening as rice puffs. Cover
casserole and cook over low heat for 1 hour.
There should be some liquid left in casserole for Avgolemono Sauce. If dry
when cooking time is up, add 1 cup water and simmer for a few minutes longer.
Remove from heat and keep covered. Measure liquid and prepare the sauce. To
serve, remove to plate and pour sauce over dolmades.
Avgolemono Sauce (Saltsa Avgolemono)
Yield--2 cups
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
6 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 cup boiling chicken stock (from cooking dolmades)
In a saucepan, beat eggs until frothy. Gradually add lemon juice and hot liquid, stirring constantly. Add salt and simmer over very low heat,stirring constantly, until mixture has thickened. Do not allow mixture to come to aboil.
Blender or Food processor method: Add eggs to container and blend on high speed until frothy, at least 2 minutes. Add salt and lemon juice, and blend 1 minute longer. With motor running, slowly add hot liquid. When all liquid is blended, return to pot and simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
Kiri
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:44:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Verjus
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
--- "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org> wrote:
> Nota bene: the blooms on the plum tree directly behind my window are
> beginning to sag, but I can see the grapevine from her, and there's leaves
> sprouting- maybe the size of a teaspoon, but
> soon bigger! Can anyone say dolmades? ;-)
>
> 'Lainie
Dolma, more correctly.
According to the Oxford Companion to Food [and
this entry was written by Charles Perry];
Dolma : vegetales stuffed in the East
Mediterranean style. There are two main
categories: those with meat stuffings (usually
extended with grain), which are served hot, often
with a sauce such as broth thickened with lemon
juice and eggs; and those with rice stuffings (often enriched with nuts, raisins, or pulses), which are served cold, dressed in oil. The
latter are also known as yalanji dolma (Turkish
'yalanci' or 'counterfeit'; namely meatless.)
In Turkey, a distinction may also be made between
dolma ('stuffed thing') made from a hollowed-out
vegetable (aubergine, courgette, sweet pepper, or
tomato; less often potato, artichoke, cucumber,
carrot, or celery), and sarma ('rolled thing'),
where the filling is rolled in an edible leaf,
such as vine leaf or cabbage. A sort of sarma
may also be made from separated layers of boiled
leek or onion rolled around a stuffing.
Dolmas are vernacular food in Turkey, the
Balkans, the southern Caucasus, Iran, Central
Asia (where the word differs in form according to
the Turkish lnguage: dolama in Turkmen, tulma in
Tatar), and in Egypt, the Fertile Crescent, and
Arabia. Kaldomar ('cabbage dolmas') have long
been part of Swedish cuisine also, as an
unplanned consequence of Charles XII's sojourn in
Turkey after his defeat by the Rusians at the
battle of Poltava. When he returned to Sweden in
1715, he was followed by his Turkish reditors
--and their cooks--who remained until 1732.
This distribution, as well as the name dolma
itself, indicates that this dish belongs to the
court cusine of the Ottoman Empire. Vegetables
had been stuffed before Ottoman times, but only
sporadically. For instance, the ancient Greek
'thrion' was a fig leaf stuffed with sweetened
cheese, and some medieval Arabic cookbooks give
recipes for aubergine stufed with meat (and
also, curiously, for the reverse; chunks of
cooked aubergine coated with meat like a Scotch
Egg. However, it was in Istanbul that stuffed
vegetables were first treated as a regular
culinary genre.
The Ottoman origin is somewhat obscured by the
fact that in some countries stuffed vegetables
may be referred to by a native name meaning
'stuffed', such as 'yemistos' (Greek) or 'mahshi'
(Arabic). Indeed, some Arabic dialects rarely if
ever use the word 'dolma'. Nevertheless, the
signs of Turkish origin are clear. In places as
remote as Kuwait and Damascus, instead of "mahshi
waraq'inab" (stuffed vine leaf) one may say
"mahshi yabraq" (in Kuwait, "mahshi brag") which
comes from the Turkish 'yaprak' (leaf).
Huette
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 22:20:18 -0400
From: Patrick Levesque <pleves1 at po-box.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Stuffed grape leaves
To: "Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>"
<sca-cooks at asteorra.org>
The historical backing is very flimsy, but you can find recipes on the
Gode Cookery website as well:
http://www.godecookery.com/byznrec/byznre.htm
Petru
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 06:10:37 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Stuffed grape leaves
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
To Make a Delma.
Take the Lean meat of Loyn of mutton and as much beef Suet,
shread it small as for force meat. Then put the smae quanity of
Rice boyld tender, season it with sweet herbs, salt & pepper, & a
little nutmeg; then mix it all together and brake in one or two
eggs according to the quantity of your meat. Then take Cabbage
or vine leaves and dip them in hot water, then role the meat in ye
leaves about the bigness of a small Cucumber, and tye them with
course thread, put them into a stewpan with gravey, put them over
a gentle fire cover'd. Let them stew till they be thoroughly done,
then take them out and take off the thread, thicken the gravey
the yolk of an egg and pour it over your meat. page 29.
The Receipt Book of Ann Blencowe. This is from the Adelphi Limited edition
from 1925 which I own. The manuscript carries a date of 1694, but Ann was
born in 1656 and married in 1675. I suspect that this was compiled for one
of her daughters upon a marriage. The mss remained in the family and the 1925 edition is the first time that it was published. There was another edition done
later, but it's not as nice as this one. Neither is very available.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 10:22:4 -0700
From: "Wanda Pease" <wandap at hevanet.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Ann Blencowe Recipe Book: was: Stuffed Grape
Leaves
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
The recipe book is currently available from Provincial Press Books for
$21.00 for those who might be interested. - Regina
http://www.provincialpress.us/index.html
~*~
http://www.provincialpress.us/Books%20for%20the%20Tade.htm
The Receipt Book of
Mrs. Ann Blencowe
Anno Domine 1694
Introduction by George Saintsbury ~ Preface by Leander W. Smith
With an Essay by Robert de Berardinis
So accustomed are we to using the term Œreceipt book¹ as a synonym
or Œaccounting ledger¹ that we pass by those early tomes wherein the
homemakers of yesteryear wrote their instructions for the preparation of
food and the curing of ills. Such are the contents of this book.² So reads
the preface to this collectable volue. The manuscript on which the first
edition is based was compiled in the year 1694 in England¹s Parliamentary
jurisdiction of Brackley. Mrs. Blencowe, née Anne Wallis, was born in 1657,
into a family of upper middle-class society.
The complation contains over eighty ³Household Receipts.² Sack
Posset, Shaking Pudding, Pickled Walnuts, Flummery, Hashed Calves Head,
Hodge Podge, Sillabub, Rabbit Pie, and ³Pickle Lila² {Piccalilli} are
samplings. Among some sixty entries in the section named ³historical Receipts²
are: For the Green Sickness, For Shrunken Sinews, Drink for the Spleen, High
Spirited Pills, Blessed Pills, The King¹s Evil – and Horse Dung Water, which
was prescribed for ³women in labor for Agues and feavers and distemper.²
An essay on George Saintsbury, the renowned early twentieth-century
literary critic and connoisseur, who provided an introduction for the first
edition in 1925, details the man¹s passion for fine wines. Comments by one
of today¹s well-known expers on the world of wine are featured.
Reprint. 77 pages, 8½ x 11. Wrappers. Item no. BL2. $21.00.
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 13:14:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
ubject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Stuffed grape leaves
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> The Receipt Book of Ann Blencowe. This is from the Adelphi Limited edition
> from 1925 which I own. The manuscript carries a date of 1694, but Ann was
> born in 1656 and married in 1675. I suspect that this was compiled for one
> of her dauhters upon a marriage. The mss remained in the family and the 1925
> edition is the first time that it was published.
I would say that this recipe makes dolma way out
of period for Europe, but possibly speculatively
in period for the Middle East. The problem being
that 100years can see a lot of change within
a region, even in the Middle East. I believe
that the Ottoman Empire chefs started a lot of
traditional foods that we associate with Middle
Eastern foods today, but that aren't really
appropriate for the SCA time frame. I suspect
that dolma could be one of these. I know that
baklava is another.
Huette
Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 15:48:37 -0400
From: Avraham haRofeh <avrahamharofeh at herald.sca.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] frozen dolmas
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> I am thinking about doing some grapeleaves, stuffed with rice, minced
> raisins, parsley & mint for war. Has anyone ever tried freezing these?
I haven't done so, but it sounds like they ought to freeze fine. Just be
certain to heat them thoroughly (steaming would work well) so the starches
in the rice will uncrystallize - if you don't, the rice will be like little
rocks (assuming you use regular long-grain rice).
****************
Reb Avraham haRofeh
(mka Randy Goldberg MD)
Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 17:07:24 -0400
From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] frozen dolmas
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> Thanks! I hadn't thought of serving them warm, just thoroughly
> defrosted. Although I have used long grained rice, my preference is
> for medium grained rice, as I cannot seem to find short grained
> among my usual haunts. It is gooier by nature, and I tend to cheat.
> Cook the rice, make the filling, stuff the leaves, sprinkle with
> lemon water & bake 15 minutes at 350 (or nuke 2 minutes with less
> water for just a few in a hurry). I had too much trouble with
> exploding dolmas on the stove....
Instead of cooking the rice, pour boiling water over it and let it
soak for 20 mins or so, then drain and use in your dolma. The rice
will swell, but not over cook when you cook the dolma.
Frozen dolma won't be quite as good as fresh, but still fine. I've
frozen fresh grape leaves, it wont hurt them.
Ranvaig
Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 20:57:27 -0400
From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] frozen dolmas
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I use the recipe from A Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
But I double the recipe for a 1 lb jar of leaves, I'd always have too
many leaves left over
Fresh young leaves.. picked in the spring are even better.
1 lb jar of grape leaves (50-60)
3/4 c rice
2-3 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 1/2 T parsley, finely chopped
2 1/2 T mint, finely chopped
1/4 tsp gnd cinnamon
1/4 tsp gnd allspice
pepper to taste
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 c water
1/4 tsp saffron (optional)
1 tsp sugar
juice of a lemon, or more
Put the grape leaves in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, let
soak 20 min, drain.
Put the rice in a bowl, pour boiling water to more than cover, let
soak 20 min, drain
Mix rice with tomatoes, onion, parsley, mint and spices, adjust
seasoning.
Line the bottom of the pan with a few torn or tough leaves.
Stuff the leaves and roll up, pack tightly in the pan. Put the
garlic here and there.
Mix the oil, water and saffron, pour over the leaves.
Put a small plate on the top (I've never needed to do this).
Cover the pan and simmer gently for 2 hours, until thoroughly cooked.
Add water as needed, a cup at a time. Cool in the pan before turning
out. Serve cold.
<the end>