Stew (was SC - period fruit pastries)

[Michael F. Gunter]

On Tue, 27 Apr 1999 10:32:06 -0700, david friedman wrote:

> Actually, I'm not sure beef stew is period. More precisely, I can't think
> of any non-Islamic period recipes that correspond to what modern people
> think of as "generic stew." There are dishes where the meat has been
> stewed, but I can't think of any where pieces of stewed meat are combined
> with substantial vegetables in a thick gravy or something similar. Perhaps
> someone else can offer examples.

I just happened to have a copy of Platina's "De honesta voluptate et
valetudine" with me and ran across the following in Book VII, item 34, "Dish
Made from Meat" (as translated in "Platina: On Right Pleasure and Good
Health", Mary Ella Milham, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, Tempe,
Arizona, 1998):

"Cut up boiled lean meat finely, and when it has been cut up, cook it again
in rich broth for half an hour, first adding ground bread crust, a bit of
pepper, and a little saffron. When it has cooled a little, add beaten eggs,
ground cheese, parsley, marjoram, and finely chopped mint with a bit of
verjuice. Put these in the same pot, mixed and stirred at the same time,
stirring slowly with a spoon so as they do not stick together. The same can
even be done with livers and lung."

It sounds very much like that could be, effectively, a thick stew, depending
on how much broth you decide to create this with. The admonition to stir so
they do not stick together would, however, suggest a fairly thick dish. So
there is a possible example for you of stew from 1475, Venice, Italy.

I'm not sure if that helps or only further clouds the issue.

Honos Servio,
Lionardo Acquistapace, Bjornsborg, Ansteorra
(Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio, TX)
zarlor at acm.org


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