SC - leeks, tavern food and galingale

[Christina van Tets]

Hello the list!

Sorry that I've had to put all these in the one message (I know people tend 
to prefer one topic per letter) but I can't manage things any other way at 
present.

For non-culinary documentation of leeks, you could try the CA on gardening 
(sorry, it's still in a box somewhere):  I think it gives details on early 
etymology of gardens, and indicates the importance that leeks held at that, 
even among the non-Welsh.  Also you could try a Germanic etymological 
dictionary (that the words for garlic and chives are variants on the basic 
word for leek in German and Dutch I find interesting in itself - it would 
imply that the leek was in use prior to the sound shift which split Dutch 
from German in about 500 AD - did the Goths use leeks??).

As to tavern food, I would look at one or two pictures - Brueghel for 
preference (that lovely one which shows bowls served from a barn door 
carried horizontally is my favourite - if you can't get hold of a copy of 
the real picture, it's spoofed in Asterix in Belgium).  Didn't someone some 
months back mention a practice of serving bowls of various items for a set 
price to make things easier in taverns? Was that documented, or just a 
guess?

Oh, and by the way, I went to a jenever (gin) museum the other day - very 
nicely laid out with touchy feely exhibits all over it.  The sacks of spice 
for flavouring were especially good.  I was particularly interested in the 
galingale (which, yes, they still use), since I had not been able to lay my 
hands on any until then (no pun intended, but it was rather fun to run my 
hands through a sack of the stuff).  What struck me most was the fact that 
it smelt so much like a mild turmeric.  Do the two taste similar?  Could one 
use a _little_ turmeric to replace galingale in recipes?

Incidentally, you can make a really nice Kir from Bessenjenever 
(blackcurrant gin) and sparkling Moselle from Luxembourg.  We decided to 
call it Kir Benelux.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Mind you, 
almost anything seems like a good idea after Kir.

Cairistiona



______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
============================================================================

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".

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