Vastly OT: Re: SC - walnuts.

[Philip & Susan Troy]

jeffrey stewart heilveil wrote:
> 
> I wonder if you have seen references to keeping the fish in the oil?  The
> original didn't really suggest how to keep them, but Platina does not
> either.  So I wonder (other than current practice) what lead to the
> suggestion of keeping in oil?  Do we have a precedence?
> 
> Just curious,
> Bogdan

Obviously there is a precedent, but I don't know what it is or when it's
from, apart from storing things like olives or cheeses in oil, which
does appear to have been done in period. On the other hand, there are
late-period dishes like escabeche, which is in fact quite similar to the
carpione preparation, but for the addition of vinegar, which clearly
calls for the fish is to be kept submerged (in the resultant
vinaigrette), and escabeche comes to light in places like England in
late period; I expect it is considerably older in its "native" Spain.
Some claim its name is Arabic, I've heard arguments against this too.

But, the bottom line is that I was speaking only from a modern viewpoint
as to what works. I expect keeping the fish, if sufficiently cooked and
dehydrated, would work without the oil, if not quite as well. It would
have to be dryer if the oil was not included, I'd think.

By the way, this is done with meat curries, which are cooked until
almost all the moisture is absorbed or evaporates, leaving behind meat
with a paste residue and an oily sauce,  in places like Indonesia and
Myanmar (isn't that the current name for Burma?), and these dishes are
expected to keep for up to several weeks without refrigeration. If we
had any real reason to believe such dishes were cooked in period, they'd
be a lot of fun for Pennsic...I'd cook them in any case, period or not.

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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