SC - My latest feast (and a few comments)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> Did you actually make the salami? If so, I'd love to hear more details.
> We've talked about various sausages before, but I'm not really sure
> how salami differs. It is air dried perhaps?

Yes, normally. Its distinctive flavor is partly the result of bacterial
action, which modern charcuterers usually introduce artificially as
cultures. But yes, it's normally air-dried after having lost a fair
amount if its water mass through salt-induced osmosis (it's too early in
the morning for me to recall the special name for the osmosis of water).

> I haven't looked in "The Medieval Kitchen" yet. Feel free to tell me
> to go look there, but this roasted garlic spread sounds interesting
> and I'd love to hear more details. We did have a discussion on this
> list a year or two ago about whether roasted garlic was period or
> not. I don't think anyone gave any evidence that it was, then.

I remember that conversation, and all I could think of at the time was
the 14th-century English aquapatys dish of boiled garlic on sops. If the
roasted garlic spread is the stuff I'm thinking of, this is agliata
(roasted garlic sauce 2) from Ludovico Frati's [modern] edition called
Libro di cucina del secolo XIV. It calls for roasted garlic to be
pounded in a mortar with raw garlic, breadcrumbs, sweet spices, and
broth, then boiled and served hot. 

Now while this stuff appears to have been more a sauce than a spread,
there are modern precedents for such gloriously garlicky sauces as
rouille (classic garnish for bouillabaise) to be spread on a piece of
toasted crouton and floated in the soup.

On the other hand, I could be completely off as to the original source recipe...
 
> The roasted onion salad sounded good too. But I imagine that is in
> "The Medieval Kitchen".

Yes, but it was in Platina's De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine, among
other sources, I believe, first. Platina also treats carrots and several
others, as I recall, in the same way. Roast in the embers, peel/scrape,
slice and dress with vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, and perhaps some fresh
chopped herbs. The roasted vegetables get a slightly caramelized
sweetness that doesn't leech out in the boiling water you'd otherwise be
likely to be using to cook them. Yum!

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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