SC - Medieval Ribs? Or Barbecue Beef?

[LHG, JRG]

Greetings! Now that I have your attention, I'd like some opinions, please.

Mistress Sincgefiu (Cindy Renfrow) has a recipe called Stwed Beeff in "Take
a Thousand Eggs or More, Vol 2"---original edition,  from the Harleian Ms
#4016 (pg 202). The translation  (because I have no "thorn" on by keyboard)
reads thusly:

"17 Stewed Beef. Take Ribs of fresh beef, And (if thou will) roast it till
it is nigh enough; then put it in a fair small pot; cast thereto parsley
and onions minced, raisins of Corinth, powdered pepper, cinnamon, cloves,
sandalwood, saffron, and salt; then cast thereto wine and a little vinegar;
set a lid on the pot, and let it boil soakingly on a fair charcoal till it
is enough; then lay the flesh, in dishes, and the syrup thereupon, And
serve it forth."

It is my contention that this is a recipe for meat that has been roasted,
then cooked  with liquid till it is fallen off the bone, then served with
the sweet-spicy liquid it was cooked in. There is the possibility, however,
that this is "Ribs" as we modernly know them, with a sweet-spicy red sauce
rather than modern tomato-based barbecue sauce, since there is no directive
to remove the bones or strain them from the sauce.

Opinions, or argument for or against ribs, please? I'd like to try this en
masse soon, as this is a perfect camp-ground event dish if one posesses the
fire-tools and pots.

Thanks

Aoife (who lived in the south on a diet of ribs-n-cheese-grits for 2 years
in her misspent youth and has never been the same since).

============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================