SC - Mushroom Pasties

[david friedman]

At 6:00 PM -0600 1/19/98, Michael F. Gunter wrote:
>Mushroom Pasties
>"The Goodman of Paris" adapted in "The Medieval Cookbook" by Maggie Black.
>
>1 lb mushrooms				1/2 tsp salt
>2 T. olive oil				1/8 tsp ground black pepper
>2 oz grated cheese (cheddar)		1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
>1 egg, beaten				salt
>
>tart shells & pastry to top
>
>Preheat oven to 400 degrees
>
>Finely chop mushrooms. Put in a bowl and mix in oil, cheese, and seasonings.
>Place in the tart shells and cover with the top crust. Seal with beaten egg.
>Make a small cross cut in the center of the lid to let steam escape.
>
>Bake for 15-18 minutes. Serve warm.

We do a redaction of the same original, but it is somewhat different. The
original is:
- --
Mushroom Pastries
Menagier p. M-25

Mushrooms of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed
above; and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if
you wish to put them in pastry add oil, cheese, and powdered spices.
- --
Also, Menagier gives elsewhere:
- --
Fine Powder of Spices
Menagier p. M-40

Take an ounce and a drachm of white ginger, a quarter-ounce of hand-picked
cinnamon, half a quarter-ounce each of grains and cloves, and a
quarter-ounce of rock sugar, and grind to powder.
- --
Note that the original includes no egg. Note also that the original tells
you to parboil the mushrooms, a step omitted in the Maggie Black version.
I'm also skeptical of black pepper alone, or black pepper and mustard, as
an interpretation of "powdered spices." Le Menagier uses mustard for
mustard sauce; if you look at spices that are specified, in _Le Menagier_
and similar sources, I don't think you will find mustard treated as a spice.

Here is our version:

1 lb mushrooms	spice powder:	1/8 t cloves
9 oz cheese (parmesan)	1 t ginger	1/8 t grains of paradise
1 T olive oil	1/4 t cinnamon	1/4 t sugar

Slice mushrooms and parboil (put into boiling water and cook two minutes);
drain. Grate or chop cheese. Grind grains of paradise and mix up spices.
Mix mushrooms, 2/3 of cheese, spices and oil. Put mixture into crust, put
remaining cheese over. Makes scant 9" pie. Bake about 20-25 minutes at 350°.

Incidentally, we don't know whether what he means by "pastry" is a
flour/water/shortening dough, like a modern pie crust, or a flour/water
dough. We use the former, but might well be wrong.

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


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