SC - boiled garlic

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> But would the garnishes of a dish be mentioned? Are there a number of
> recipes that say something like "and garnish as you wish with good herbs"
> or whatever? Are there really that many modern recipes that specify
> garnishes, particularly at the "professional" level?

If I understand what you mean by the "professional" level, I'd say not
all, but many, specify at least a recommended garnish. Recipes written
by professionals for professionals (those for use in restaurants, not
for cookbooks) will often contain very specific instructions as to where
to put everything on the plate, as well as the type and quantity of
garnish. The Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel, for example, used to have
pictures of the plated food with the instructions, essentially, reading,
"Go thou and do likewise!" I haven't experienced this in really fine
restaurants, though. Of course another consideration is that for
classical European cooking, most garnishes are pretty traditional, and
the garnish helps define the dish. An example would be risotto Milanese,
which is sprinkled with gremolata (IIRC), a mixture of lemon rind,
garlic, and, I think, parsley. 

As far as period recipes go, it's a tough call. Some will specify things
like optional coloring or sometimes even gilding instructions, others a
sprinkling of fine spice powder, and others still nothing at all other
than basic instructions for preparing the dish. As I recall, the
aquapatys recipe just says to boil the garlic in this stuff with powders
of these spices, and serve it forth hot. To me, this suggests it was the
intent of the cooks to serve it more or less ungarnished in its
saffron-y yellow sauce. (Again, I'm going from memory here; I _think_ it
contains saffron.)
 
> It really isn't a very impressive dish by itself, just a few garlic
> cloves coated in a light covering of sauce sitting in a bowl. I get
> the impression that the upper class medieval folks preferred decorated
> foods vs. simple ones. How would they have dressed such a dish up?
> Served it with something else? What would you suggest to fancy this
> dish up a little?

Hmmm. The evidence suggests such people certainly enjoyed decorative
foods, but wouldn't necessarily mean it was a necessity or even a
universal preference. As you suggest, one excellent and rather pervasive
way to dress up a dish would be, and was, to serve it with something
else of contrasting color on the same platter. Sort of yin and yang on a
plate. You still sometimes see this type of presentation in restaurants.
Dragon and Phoenix, etc. The aquapatys was probably cooked rather soft
and served on trenchers, and as I recall (but my recollection could be
faulty) Sass recommends serving it on toasts. One possibility for
approaching the spirit of the dish and improve its appearance without
changing the dish itself might be to make some brown-bread toasts cut in
decorative shapes with a fancy biscuit cutter. I dunno, Ansteorran Stars
or something like that, tucked in around the edges of the platter.  
 
> This dish was for a pot luck/sideboard. I think it did very well this
> way. With the addition of some non-period wooden toothpicks, it could
> serve as a finger food.

Quite possibly. Most of the cooked garlic dishes I've seen involve
spreading it on bread or croutons of some kind. Did you cook the garlic
until soft, or somewhat firm? It sounds as if it was pretty firm, if it
could hold on a toothpick. My major concern in such a case would be that
you'd lose a lot of your sauce.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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