SC - Hedgehogs

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Hullo, the list!

We're asked for hedgehog recipes; there's one in the Forme of Cury,
which is part of a long series of several recipes using the same meat
mixture, shaped and cooked variously:

"182	Farsur to make pomme dorryse and o(th)ere (th)ynges. Take (th)e
lire of pork rawe, and grynde it smale. Medle it vp wi(th) eyren &
powdre fort, safroun and salt; and do (th)erto raisouns of courance.
Make balles (th)erof, and wete it wele in white of ayren, & do it to
see(th) in boillyng water. Take hem vp and put hem on a spyt. Rost hem
wel, and take persel ygrounde and wryng it vp with ayren & a perty of
flour, and let erne aboute (th)e spyt. And if (th)ou wilt, take for
persel, safroun; and serue it forth."

Later, we get:

"184	Hirchones. Take (th)e mawe of (th)e grete swyne, and fyfe o(th)er
sex of pigges mawes. Fyll hem full of (th) self fars, & sowe hem fast.
Perboile hem; take hem vp, & make smale prikkes of gode past, and frye
hem. Take (th)ese prickes yfryed & set hem (th)icke in (th)e mawes on
(th) fars, made after an vrchoun withoute legges. Put hem on a spyt &
roost hem, & colour hem with safroun, & messe hem forth."

The Harleian MS 279 recipe (found in the Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery
Books) used in "Pleyn Delit" calls for spicery, and, specifically,
ginger. I'd go a bit closer to the earlier FoC notion of powder forte,
probably a mixture of pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and maybe galingale. I'd
go with 1/2 teaspoon of the first three for Pleyn Delit's recommended
two pounds of ground pork, plus 1/4 teaspoon galingale. I think I'd go
with 1 teaspoon salt. I like the idea of the almond spines or prikkes
over the fried pastry ones, although that's a cool idea too. The
Harleian MS 279 / Pleyn Delit recipe also omits the currants.

I think a really essential point is to use the right cut of pork,
especially if you're doing little ones without the natural organ
casings. You need to have a sufficiently fatty cut to ensure moistness
of the finished product. Probably shoulder (blade or "Boston" rather
than picnic) is marbled enough without going overboard. If you just buy
generic "ground pork" you might be okay, unless the supermarket butcher
is on a health kick. Bulk sausage meat might not be such a bad idea --
it's usually seasoned with pepper and salt only, and is plenty moist enough.

Hope this does it for you...

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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