SC - Recipes and Redactions

[Sue Wensel]

Maeve writes:
>Cosette the Nice and I just spent all day sunday putting up vegetables
>(pickled of course) which won't be ready until about september crown.  Last
>fall we pickled more vegetables which we are eager to taste in May.  Many
>pickled things take time to mature before they are ready to be served,
>sometimes months.  This often doesn't fit in to the feast planning
>schedule.
>
>We are always looking for pickle recipes and other ways of preserving
>fruits and vegetables for later use.  Anyone have any experience with this?
>
>Maeve
>charding at nwlink.com

OK. I can't resist showing off my new recipe, espescially since I trawled
all over the 'net begging for originals of the recipes I read about in a
third-hand source......Oh NO! It's the Pickled Lemons AGAIN!!!! The
copyright notice is for my protection. I may wish to write a cook-book one
day! The notice expressly forbids copying to another news group. Please note
this fact. It allows the use for Feasts and even for printing a menu/recipe
list, but only in an SCA context. As a point of interest, current law
provides that a recipe is sufficiently altered from an original if it
contains a 25 percent difference in ingredient contents and/or amounts, AND
the corresponding alteration in directions. Altering the directions with
different wording OR a slight alteration in ingredients is not sufficient to
avoid violation of copyright laws. Please accept my apologies for the
baldness and necessity of the copyright notice. Since we have taken the
honor of the SCA into a public forum, I feel it is necessary. 

The ancient, non-copyright originals:

Preserved Oranges (technique lifted, but not all ingredients).
The Good Huswife's Jewel --T Dawson, 1596
 
A Lemon Salat from A Book of Fruits and Flowers, printed by Thos. Jenner,
London 1653 (author unknown). I followed the ingredients but not the technique!

The recipe is a compilation of the two, and can not be considered a primary
source redaction of a medieval recipe. I have bothered to include it on the
sca-cooks list because it's fabulous, and must be tried to be appreciated.
In the past I have read several recounts of salads which had lemons or
pickled lemons strewn upon them. This was my attempt to re-create those
pickled lemons. Not having been alive in the 16th-17th century, I don't know
if I have succeeded. However, every now and then, a cook get a single recipe
for which they are most proud. Right now, this is mine. 

COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
The following recipe entitled "Pickled Lemons" is copyright  L. Herr-Gelatt,
1997, also known as Lady Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon within the Society for
Creative Anachronism, Inc., (SCA), and may not be reproduced in part or in
whole without express permission of the author, except for the one-time
transmission  originated by the author for the purposes of the newsgroup
"Sca-Cooks" and no other automated transmission, for storage in the Society
for Creative Anachronism, Inc. (SCA) Cooking Archive Files of Mark M. Harris
for research purposes, or to be used privately for the purpose of Historical
Meal Planning and Cooking within the structure of the SCA, Inc. In all
cases, full credit should be given to the author. At the date of
transmission, the Author can be reached at liontamr at ptd.net or at RR 1 Box
500F Honesdale PA 18431. This copyright notice must accompany all versions
of the recipe unless the author gives express permission to exclude it.


RECIPE:


Pickled Lemons

2 blemish-free lemons
Juice  and zest of 1 lemon (no white)
1 cup white wine (sweet: Rhine wine is suggested)
1 c.  sugar
1/3 cup white or flavored vinegar (I used home-made costmary/lemon verbena
vinegar)

Cut a small round hole in the 2 lemons the size of the end of your little
finger. Remove the round piece of peel. Insert  a paring knife into the hole
and 
give it several twists to loosen and break the membranes. Insert little
finger and press gently against the flesh to try and loosen any pits. Remove
the pits that fall out, and reserve the draining lemon juice for syrup, below. 

Gently bring to boil 1 quart of water in a suacepan. Lower lemons into the
pan and boil rapidly 5 minutes. Remove and drain. Repeat 3 more times with
fresh water (it is more efficient to have one pan heating while boiling in
another). If the lemon rind is espescially thick, 1-3 more boilings will be
necessary.

Drain them well, saving the liquid that pools beneath them.

In a separate saucepan combine remaining ingredients (and the drained lemon
juice from above). Bring to a boil to combine, and turn off heat. When
lemons have been boiled in the 4 changes of water, put them (drained) into
the wine-syrup mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer approx.
15 minutes or until syrup volume has reduced by 1/3-1/2. Cool. Remove lemon
zest and reserve for another use (it is now candied). To keep the lemons,
refrigerate lemons in syrup or can them in the syrup using normal heat
processing procedures.

Store in an airtight container. Slice lemons thinly or dice small  and use
in salads or to garnish desserts. The liquid produced, in which the lemons
are to be stored, refrigerated, or canned in by heat processing, is
excellent, and can be used on it's own as a dressing for salad or added to
water or seltzer for a refreshing drink.



I welcome any comments about the above recipe.


Aoife


 
"Many things we need can wait. The child cannot."
				---Gabriela Mistral, Chilean Poet 1889-1957