SC - Apricot recipes?(was Byzantine Cooking)

[DianaFiona]

>
>Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 14:40:33 EST
>From: CorwynWdwd <CorwynWdwd at aol.com>
>Subject: Re: SC - Couple of questions for ya'll...
>
>> The early equivalent to aluminum foil was usually leaves and/or (clayish)
>>  mud covering. Don't know when it started, but since it's found in many
>>  cultures worldwide, I suspect it has been independently discovered a
>>  zillion times.
>
>I've also baked a ham in rye dough, as per a recipe we were trying to do from
>a period source the hostess had. It didn't make much difference in the taste,
>so we abandoned the idea as too cumbersome for a feast of any size. Since it
>was easy to find I assume it was late period.
>
>Corwyn

There really is no "one period way" to cook individuallly wrapped dishes,
though that technique was know and used inperiod. Dough (discarded or not
afterwards), leaves, clay, straw or hay (which adds a neat flavor to ham),
the item's own skin,  dredgings, and paper were all used to coat cooked
items and shield it somewhat from excessive drying or scorching in the heat
of the fire or oven while cooking. I personally have read referances to all
of these things being used.

Dough: Apecius, The ham with fig sauce recipe.
Straw/hay: Molokhovet's Gift to Young Housewives and other Slavic Sources
such as Domostroi and Brad and Salt ( Gift is OOP but large chunks probably
date to a period practice).
Dredgings: Any Medieval European cookbook such as Taillevant, etc....
Paper: Late period bakery items such as Housewife's Jewel (Dawson) have us
putting the small cakes on papers in the oven to dry. I also saw a recipe I
cannot recall for papered fish somewhere, and vaguely remember some (Martha
Washington or Possibly some other slightly OOP source) directions to shield
something on top with paper , a bakery item I seem to recall, possibly from
Mrs. McClintock's Receipts for Cookery and Pastrywork (or something
remarkably similar), Ed. Isabail MacLeod, Glasgow U. Press, which is the
first *published* scottish cook book, tho OOP by a fair margin.
Leaves and Clay: Archaeological evidence of excavated household fire pits
and trash dumps.

So you can see, though I'm a little fuzzy this A.M., that the concept of
Aluminium Foil ie: wrapping/covering food prior to cooking or using a
substance as a heat barrier while cooking is not a new thing. Foil is a
handy substitute, but I believe we should also remember that it does not
impart any flavor to the food being cooked (other than a possible aluminium
taste), the way hay or leaves or dredgings or dough might do. So when you
are substituting for modern ease of preparation, you may well be changing
the character of the dish.

I am remnded of the recipe I have always meant to try, but never got the
chance: Rye or Black bread dough baked in cabbage leaves (which act as a
bread pan). Cabbage can get almost sweet, and I imagine would impart a green
flavor to the dough. Has anyone tried this? I ran across it in a secondary
source while looking for Russian foodstuffs a few years ago. 

And, when you are gathering leaves for wrapping, remember: Leaves of Three,
let them be ;^D!  


Aoife---waiting for the caffeine to hit the bloodstream

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