SC - Mock Sturgeon-update

[Cindy Renfrow]

Congrats on a successful experiment!  Also, thanks to Lord Robert for
translating Le Menagier's version.

For those coming in late, here is the recipe in question:
>From Sloan MS. 1108 (found in Curye on Inglysch, pp.155-6):
To make sturgyn.  Take [th]e houghys of vele and caluys feete and sethe hem
in hony.  And whan [th]ou hast soden hem all to poudre, take [th]e bonys
oute.  In case [th]at [th]e flesshe be longe, take it a stroke or ii and
put it in a fayre cannevasse and presse it welle.  Than take it and lese it
fayre in thynne leches, and not to brode.  Take onyons, vynegre, and
percelly and ley [th]eron, and so serue it forthe.


<snip>>
>I completed the cooking process fo the meat in theis recipe. A veal head was
>unavailable so I substituted veal shank and threw in a couple of pigs feet.
>These substitutes are justified, IMHO, because it is the cooking technique
>that is in question here, not the ingredients.
>
>The meat was covered with water and brought to a boil. 1/1 cp of honey was
>added to the water. The heat was reduced to a simmer and the pan was covered
>and boiled until the meat totally fell from the bones (approx. 3 hrs.).

Typo - how much honey?


>I then removed the meat from the liquid, strained the broth amd returned it
>to the heat, letting it reduce until it took on a (ta-da!) coppery color!!
>:-) This is now residng in the frig until it jells.

Is the meat or the broth, or both, copper-colored?

>The meat and skin  are waiting to be cool enough to handle. Preliminary
>observation show that the meat and flesh is a uniforn copperish pink color
>with a few bits here and there that are dark.
>
>Question: Is the flesh of sturgeon pinkish colored with a brown streak down
>the back or sides?

I have searched thru my cookbook collection and found that:

a) a fresh sturgeon is described by Mrs. Beeton: "Its flesh is delicate,
firm, and *white*..."

b) a mostly-whole smoked sturgeon is shown in one book.  The flesh is
indeed copper-colored! The skin is black & grey in a sort of diamond-backed
pattern, rather more like a colorful alligator than a snake.  It is quite
striking.


>Looks like this recipe is legitimate AS written and that the vinegar versions
>are just that, versions. I suspect that the honey recipe is the much older
>when viewed as a derivative of Roman recipe which from my observation so far
>is the way I am leaning.
>
>More to follow including complete redaction. I need the sturgeon question
>answered at this time. Thank-you.
>
>Ras

A little history:

Athenaeus, Book 2, p. 53, "In the middle a salt sturgeon, luscious, white
throughout, and hot."
	p. 55,  "He received a trurgeon, which the mighty Danube nurtures,
the half-salt joy of Scythians."
	p. 43-45, "Hesiod has this to say about the sturgeon with
double-edged mouth, the fish which the rough-clad fisherfolk call the
"jaw".  The Bosporos, rich in salt fish, delights in it, and the people
there cut the belly pieces into squares and make it into a pickle.  Not
inglorious in the eye of mortals, I ween, is the tribe of sharp-nosed
sturgeon which jagged lumps of salt adorn either whole or sliced."

Farmhouse Cookery, p. 68, "All sturgeon, whales and porpoises caught in
British waters or found stranded on British beaches are the property of the
Crown, and have been so since the 14th century."

Mrs. Beeton, paragraphs 332, 333, "Its flesh is reckoned extremely
delicious, and, in the time of the emperor Severus, was so highly valued by
the ancients, that it was brought to table by servants crowned with
coronets, and preceded by a band of music...   Estimate of the Sturgeon by
the Ancients. - ,,,the flesh of this fish was compared to the ambrosia of
the immortals.  The poet Martial passes a high eulogium upon it, and
assigns it a place on the luxurious tables of the Palatine Mount..."

Yours in haste,

Cindy/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net


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