SC - redacting

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Peldyn at aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 12/14/1999 3:50:55 AM Pacific Standard Time, troy at asan.com
> writes:
> 
> > Then there is
> >  their claim that an instruction to stick a pen into the skin of a bird
> >  and blow it up means to baste it with a feather.
> 
> How weird!! I would have assumed that they did just what they said, blew the
> bird up! Isn't that standard practice for some poultry dishes such as Peking
> duck?
> 
> Peldyn

Yes, it's a method for separating the skin from the meat for Peking Duck
(for which nowadays a bicycle pump is a common tool), but also common in
medieval roast chicken recipes. I believe the confusion lies in the fact
that the unknown author was probably referring to some kind of reed pen,
and they couldn't get away from the idea of a big feather/quill pen.

The term "penne" appears twice in "Curye On Inglysch", once as a tube to
be inserted under the skin of a bird etc., and once as a sort of spatula
for folding ingredients together. In the glossary Hieatt and Butler
define "penne" as possibly a feather, used as a whisk, and quote Pegge's
footnotes to The Forme of Cury for even more confusion. It's possible
Pegge had never heard of Peking Duck. They may simply have omitted the
explanation of a pen as an air tube for space considerations.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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