SC - fried fish and other foods

[Terry Nutter]

Uduido at aol.com wrote:

> Please do post the recipe! :-) You are right on the button about not co=
ating
> the fish with flour or whatever. So far as chicken is concerned, if you=
 fry
> it slowly with the SKIN attached it developes a nice crusty exterior wi=
thout
> the addition of  extraneous material. The main secret to frying without=
 a
> coating is to constantly monitor the fat's temperature and make sure th=
at it
> does not rise to a level where the food is dessicated or burned before =
the
> interior is cooked.
> =

> Lord Ras

Okay, here's my redaction for Le Menagier's cuminade de poisson. You'll
notice that it allows for the fish to be baked rather than fried. That
is only because I was originally serving 400 with this recipe, before I
cut it down. It was served at East Kingdom Twelfth Night, A.S. XXIX.

Enjoy!

Adamantius

_______________________________________________________________________

Cuminade of Fish

	=93Poultry flavoured with cumin. Cut it into pieces and put it to cook i=
n
a little wine, then fry it in  fat;  then take a little bread dipped in
your broth and take first ginger and cumin, moisten them with verjuice,
bray and strain and put all together with meat or chicken broth, and
then color it either with saffron or with eggs or yolks run through a
strainer and dropped slowly into the pottage, after it is taken off the
fire. Item, best it is to make it with milk as aforesaid and then to
bray your bread after your spices, but behoveth it to boil the milk
first lest it burn, and after the pottage is finished let the milk be
put into wine (meseemeth this is not needful)  and fry it. Many there be
that fry it not, nathless it tastes best so.
	=93(Bread is the thickening and afterwards he saith eggs, which is
another thickening,  and one should suffice, as is said in the chapter
concerning the creton=B4nee. Verjuice and wine.--If you would make your
pottage with milk behoveth not to use wine or verjuice.)
	=93Commine=E9 for a fish day. Fry your fish, then peel almonds and bray
them and dilute with pure=E9 or fish broth and make milk of almonds; but
cow=92s milk is more appetising, though not so healthy for the sick; and
for the rest do as above. Item, on a meat day, if you cannot have cow=92s=

milk, you may make the dish of milk of almonds and meat as above.=94
Le Menagier de Paris, trans. Eileen Power; Harcourt, Brace  New York
1928
 =

	I envision this dish as something like fish fillets in an almond -
curry flavored
cream sauce. Almond milk made with cream or half-and-half is appropriate
for a fish-day, and eliminates the need for any additional thickener.
Since neither Le Menagier nor his source, Taillevent, mentions a garnish
of any kind, I=92ve decided to cheat and top the whole shebang with fried=

onions; both a consistently appropriate medieval garnish for pale
pottages, and a way to introduce a flavor I feel will improve the dish.
The dish is intended as a spoon-food, so the fish should be either in
chunks or soft enough to break up easily.  				=

	For eight servings:
 	=

	2 pounds white, lean (=93non-fishy=94) fillets or steaks, such as cod,
bass,
		monkfish, etc. 			  =

	oil, butter, lard, or bacon fat =

	1/4 pound finely ground blanched almonds (1 cup)
	1 pint half and half
	1 small onion, finely grated or pureed (capricious and unnecessary but
good)
	1-inch chunk ginger root, grated or 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
	3-4 Tbs ground cumin seed
	1 pinch saffron,
	salt and pepper
	=

	Season the fish with salt and pepper and either saute or bake at 400=B0 =
F
in a greased pan. Vegetable oil is best for this. Cook for about eight
minutes per inch of thickness of your fish, til fish is barely opaque
inside and flaky. Keep the fish warm. =

	Meanwhile, cook the onion and ginger over low heat in a saucepan, with
a little more oil. When they are soft and aromatic, but no longer
volatile (you=92ll know it when you see it), add cumin and saffron. Do no=
t
brown. Add half and half and mix thoroughly. Raise heat a bit and bring
it to a boil. Beat with a whip and add the almonds in a steady stream.
Bring back to a boil, stirring frequently. Season to taste with salt and
pepper, and add more cumin if you feel like it. You can blenderize
and/or strain the sauce if you want it smoother and/or thinner. Pour it
over the fish and mess it forth.