SC - Thanksgiving & Cooking gifts

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

> The Big Yaller Dawg keeps saying he wants to roast Stoopid Cat.   When I
> tell him there won't be room in the ovens, he just whines a little and says
> boiled would do if absolutely necessary <sigh>.  I found out this morning he
> was online last night trying to auction off Stoopid Cat's pelt.  Tomorrow
> could well be very interesting!
> 
> regards, Puck

>From my exotic-meats-msg file:

> Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 05:16:40 -0500 (CDT)
> From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming)
> Subject: SC - My Translation - Roast Cat Recipe
> 
> Greetings from Alys Katharine.  Here is something I did a number of 
> years ago...
> 
> Two Recipes from Ruperto Nola's _Libro de Guisados_
> 
> Translated by Alys Katharine (Elise Fleming)
> 
> In 1929 Dionisio Perez, also known as "Post-Thebussem", put into modern 
> print the 1529 edition of Ruperto Nola's _Libro de Guisados_ with 
> copius footnotes and commentary on vocabulary.  It was published under 
> Pedro Sainz y Rodrigues, Catedratico of the University of Madrid, Vol. 
> IX, Los Clasicos Olvidados, Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles. 
> 
> At the beginning of the Glossary, Dionisio Perez comments briefly on 
> his work.  This is a rough translation.  Except where noted, all 
> footnotes are mine.
> 
> "I have preferred to become familiar with the second Spanish edition 
> made in Logrono in 1529 by Miguel de Eguia at the request (paid by) 
> Diego Perez Davila, mayor of that city, since it is a more perfect and 
> cleaner copy than the first, printed in Toledo in 1525.  In 1538  and 
> 1543 Nola's work was reprinted, without an indication as to place.  In 
> 1577 another edition was done in Toledo.  I am not familiar with any 
> later editions.  In the _Encyclopedia Espasa_ a 1568 edition is noted 
> to which the title page of the second edition is attributed, which 
> appears here. (1)  Torres Amat notes an edition done in Toledo in 1477. 
>  In the 'Prologue" I give a history detailing these editions.
> 
> "The few biographical references that remain about Nola come from the 
> 'Memoria para ayudar a formar un diccionario critico de los escritores 
> catalanes' (Barcelona, 1836), edited by Torres Amat, and doesn't 
> specify which of the three Hernandos or Fernandos of Naples had Nola as 
> a cook.  In the 'Prologue' some facts and dates are set forth on this 
> matter."
> 
> The first recipe on page 124 caught my eye.  It is offered for 
> historical interest only.  I don't intend to try it!
> 
> (1)  I am uncertain about the translation of this sentence.
> 
> Roast Cat as One Likes to Eat It (p. 124)
> 
> You will take the cat that is fat.  You have to slit its throat.  After 
> it has died, cut off the head and throw it away because it isn't 
> edible.  They say that by eating its brains one can lose one's own 
> brains, sense of judgment and reason.  After skinning it very cleanly, 
> open it up and clean it out well.  Then wrap it in a clean linen cloth 
> and bury it in the ground where it has to lie for a day and a night.  
> Then remove it from there and put it to roast in a roaster and roast it 
> on the fire.  When beginning to roast, rub it with good garlic and oil. 
>  When you have finished greasing it beat it well with a switch (bundle 
> of twigs?) (2)  This you have to do until it is well roasted, oiling it 
> and beating it.  And when it is roasted, cut it up as if it were a 
> rabbit or kid and put it on a large platter.  Take garlic and oil 
> (?liquified?) with a good broth so that it is (?quite thin?) and cast 
> it over the cat.  You can eat it because it is good table fare.
> 
> Note:  According to a note by Dionisio Perez, cat was served disguised 
> as rabbit in taverns in the poorer sections of towns, but it was also 
> eaten and known to be cat in homes of decided taste.  Cat meat is firm 
> and flexible.  Interring it isn't enough to tenderize it.  It needs 
> beating during cooking, according to Perez's notes.
> 
> (2)  After I did my translation I found one that Nige of the Cleftlands 
> had done.  She noted that the "switch" was probably a bundle of 
> rosemary used to impart a flavor and sort of tenderize the meat when 
> cooking.  She cited another source where rosemary twigs were used to 
> beat a piece of meat while cooking.

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
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