SC - Advice, please!

[Stephanie Rudin]

     I am doing my first feast the first weekend of September and I am 
     trying to keep the costs down as much as possible.  One of the recipes 
     I've chosen is from "The Original Mediterranean Cuisine" by Barbara 
     Santich.  The recipe is given three ways, once in the original italian 
     (at least I think it's italian - going back to italian class in high 
     school almost 20 years ago), once in an english translation and once 
     in the author's redaction.
     
     Di Limonia Di Polli (from Libro della Cucina)
     
     Friggansi li polli con lardo e cipolle, e pestisi l'amido non mondo e 
     distemperesi col brodo de la carne de porco, e colisi, e cocansi con 
     li detti polli e spezie.  E se non avessi amido, spessisi il brodo 
     colle tuorla d'ova; e quando sira presso l'ora del ministrare, metti 
     in quello succhio di limoni, o di lomie, o di cetrangole.
     
     Limonia of Chicken
     
     Fry chicken with salted pork fat and onions, and grind unblanched 
     almonds and combine with pork stock, and strain, and cook with the 
     chicken and spices.  If you don't have almonds, thicken the liquid 
     with egg yolks; and when it is nearly time to serve the dish, add the 
     juice of lemons or bitter oranges.
     
     So... my problem is that in the redaction, Santich calls for ground 
     ginger, pepper, salt (depending on saltiness of stock) and saffron.  I 
     would prefer not to use the saffron because of the cost involved.  (If 
     this were for only a few I wouldn't mind but we are planning for over 
     100 people and I don't think I can swing it.)  Since the original 
     author only says spices, I don't have any clue what to substitute.  I 
     am not familiar enough with period cooking to know what would taste 
     right and I am not familiar enough with saffron to know what the lack 
     of it will do to the recipe's flavor.  The only thing I can think of 
     is that the recipe seems to lack garlic, but that might just be a 
     personal thing for me.  Hence, I am throwing myself on the mercy of 
     the experienced cooks on this list.  I welcome any advice you might 
     have.
     
     Thank you!!
     
     Mercedes
     rudin at okway.okstate.edu 
     
      
     
     
     
      


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