SC - Cassoulet

[Sharon L. Harrett]

sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG wrote:
> 
> Decker, Terry D. wrote:
> 
> > To quote Lorna Sass in To the Queen's Taste, "The kidney bean is a New
> > World vegetable native to South America.  It gained popularity quickly
> > during the Renaissance, and was most often served boiled and buttered as
> > part of a sallet.  Beans were primarily food for the poor, and in the
> > words of one Elizabethan playwright:  "Hunger maketh hard beanes
> > sweet.""
> >
> > I haven't chased this one back to her sources, since I only found it two
> > nights ago while looking over everything I have with Elizabethan
> > recipes.
> 
> Sass's source (try saying that 10x fast!) for the Tart of Beanes appears
> to have been "A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye", dated c. 1560. However,
> the original receipt does not specify the type of beans used. Sass
> appears to have opted for kidney beans for convenience. I suppose it's
> possible kidney beans were what was intended, but it's equally possible
> that split favas are what the original author would have used, they
> having been a common enough food item, and would have made an
> instruction to peel the beans, usually a necessary step for cooking
> favas, unnecessary.
> 
> Anybody got a Gerard's Herbal? I believe it is pretty closely
> contemporary to the cookbook mentioned above... .
> 
> Adamantius
> ______________________________________
> Phil & Susan Troy
> troy at asan.com
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Greetings all:
	Yep, I have Gerard's... and we did discuss this a few months back, but
anyway, here goes.
	Gerard states that there are 9 kinds of "kidney bean" known to him (and
quotes from other sources as well). These include some from India,
Egypt, and Brazil, as well as those grown in earlier times in the
Mediterranean. His illustrations resemble our lima bean far more than a
kidney bean, being flat ovals, and the pods are flat also with a
distinct string along the straight side. He says they come in several
colors, white, black, red, purple, and orange. The plants and flowers
resemble our lima bean much more than a string or shell bean, having
narrow leaves well apart on the stalks.
	Among the other legumes, he has lentils(2 kinds) garden peas (6 kinds)
several edible vetches, and the "garden bean" or fava, with 3 kinds
being known (white, yellow, and black)- the black being grown
ornamentally only, not eaten.
 	There are no references to what we have now... string beans, although
he says that the favas and "kidney" beans may be cooked immature, in
their pods, and dressed with vinegar and salt as a "daintie meat"

Ceridwen


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