SC - Re: Shortbread

[Kerridwen]

On Fri, 19 Sep 1997, Ld. Stefan li Rous wrote:

>What does the deep frying do that frying in s shallower pot doesn't?

I believe this was answered quite adequately already, so I'll just
skip a bit...

>This seems awfully wasteful of oil, especially if you are only cooking
>a few items. Someone mentioned that you could filter the oil for reuse?
>How do you do that? Drain it through a colander lined with paper towels?
>What then, is this oil only good for future deep frying or can it be
>used for other things?

Yes, that is how to filter it, and yes it can be used again. Methods
for storage and warnings about flavoring of the oil have also been
addressed already, so me thinks I'll skip a bit more...
>
>Was deep frying period? It seems expensive in oil, but I guess in some
>areas olive oil was common.

Well, here we run into a bit of a Crux. Going back to Platina (1475,
Venice, Italy) we have quite a few Fricatella recipes, which all call
for a frying of the food in question. Considering the amount, it is
FAR easier to cook such foods in a deeper pot than it would be to,
effectively, saute them in a shallower pan for frying. Lard or oil
could be used for the frying and both were fairly easily obtained in
Italy at the time. But I cannot recall Platina specifically mentioning
in which way he would have expected these things to be fried.

I would have to say that my experience with frying foods would lend me
to believe that deep fat frying would certainly have been the way it
was done. While pan frying can almost as easily be done, and I don't
doubt it was done on occasion should the need for a smaller or quickly
cooked portion arise, I would tend to go with deep frying as the
method of choice. But I could be wrong and just letting my deep fat
fried Southern roots show. ;-)

Honos Servio,
Lionardo Acquistapace, Barony of Bjornsborg, Ansteorra
(mka Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio, TX)
zarlor at acm.org
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