SC - On roast beef and fried chicken- long

[PhlipinA at aol.com]

Was just going through my copy of Platina, "De Honesta Voluptate et
Valetudine", the Milham translation, 1998, and found the following
instructions.

The first is from the 6th book, Chapter 4, entitled "Assum", or "Roast":

"Make a roast from whatever meat you want this way: if it is old (1), when it
has boiled a while, take it out of the pot and lard it, and have it turned
over the fire until it is well cooked, but if it is tender, like veal and kid,
cook it without boiling, the same way as above. Wash in boiling water capons,
pheasants, kid, partridges and whatever wild meat requires roasting, well
plucked and dressed. After they are rinsed and garnished to stimulate appetite
with fragrant herbs, pepper, and finely chopped lard, have them cooked on a
hearth on a slow fire, but when you see that they are nearly cooked, sprinkle
salt with breadcrumbs all over them, after the fire has been increased more
than before and the spit turned with a faster turning hand. Then take the meat
off at once, let the steam go away, and serve to your guests."

(1) At this juncture, I'm reminded of Adamantius telling me that the Romans
felt beef was vulgar, and would not be eaten by the upper classes- they'd eat
veal in preference. In this case, the phrase " Si annicula erit" means, I
think, meat from a mature animal. Ras, although this does not specifically say
roast beef, it is a generic recipe for roasting any animal, and I feel that
beef is one of the animals included. I suspect many of the recipes we have are
intended to be generic. Your thoughts, Ras, Adamantius, Cariadoc, anyone?

The second one comes from the same book, 6, chapter 11, entitled "Frictum ex
Quavis Carne", translated as " A Fry from Whatever Meat You Want":

You will make a fry from fowl and whatever meat you want in this way: put meat
and birds into a pot on the fire with lard after they have been well gutted
and washed and cut up, either in small pieces or quartered, and stir
frequently with a spoon so they do not stick to the sides of the pot. When the
cooking is nearly finished, take out the greater part of the lard and pour
into the pot two egg yolks, beaten with verjuice and mixed with juice and
spices. It is necessary for it to boil only until properly cooked. Some add
saffron to this dish so it becomes more colored. It will not be alien to
pleasure to sprinkle finely chopped parsley on the dish and serve immediately
to your guests. It will be very nourishing, and, even if it is digested
slowly, it will repress bile and help the heart, liver, and kidneys.

Now, this is very similar to how I make my Southern Fried Chicken- the major
difference being that the spices are added in a liquid medium at the end of
cooking, where I add the spices in flour and corn meal at the beginning- in
fact, this one is very reminiscent of Buffalo Wings. Being modern, I usually
use peanut oil for the fat and bake it after it's browned, to reduce fat, but
I have frequently fried chicken in lard until it was done. Maybe I'll try this
one, next time I'm in a fried chicken mood... Again, I think this is another
example of a generic frying recipe, used instead of a specific recipe for a
common practice, just as in the Roast recipe. Thoughts?

Still haven't found a recipe for Poached Adamantius with Fish.

Phlip
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