SC - Cooks adapting/Creating Recipes WAS: saffron (a really long time ago)

[Michael F. Gunter]

In a message dated 4/6/00 7:34:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/ writes


<< The problem with modern cooks taking a recipe and
 then making their own variants is that we know a great deal less
 about medieval cooking than a medieval cook did, hence do not know
 just what variations would or would not have seemed appropriate to a
 medieval cook. Varying a period recipe, especially doing it to fit
 our tastes, is likely to mean changing it in ways that make it more
 like a modern recipe, hence less medieval.
  >>

I agree with this, especially after doing a recipe for Pomme Dorre
(golden
apples) The original recipe directs you to (see for yourself);

Hauviette
the following is my work on this recipe.

Pommes Dorre Recipe # 440
Take felettes of pork, and rogte hom half raw, and bray hom, and in the
brayinge caft therto a few zolkes of eyren, and a few clowes; and when
hit is
brayed, do hit into a veffel, and put therto pouder of pepur ynogh, and
colour hit with faffron; and do therto fugre or honey clarified, and a
few
raifynges of corance, and medel al togeder; and then fet a panne over
the
fire with water, and let hit boyle,and make rounde pelettes of the
greneffe
of an ey of the fame ftuff, and caft hom into the boylynge water, and
fethe
hom, and then do hom on a fpit, and rofte hom; and in the rothynge,
edore hom
zelow with zolkes of eyren, and flour, and faffron, medeled togeder, and
fome
grene if thouw wyl with royft of herbes endorre hom, and ferve hit
forthe.

Source, Ancient Cookery- a 15th Century manuscript , found in $BE"(J
Collection
of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks$B!)(Jfirst compiled by Duke
Cariodoc of the
Bow and the Duchess Diana Alena, 6th Edition.





Pommes Dorre

Take fillets of pork, and roast them half raw, and grate them and in the

grating put a few egg yolks and a few cloves and when it is grated put
it in
a vessel and add ground pepper and colour it with saffron, and add sugar
or
clarified honey, and a few currants and mix this together; then bring a
pot
of water to boil, and make balls the size of an eye, and put them in the

boiling water and bring to a boil, then put them (the meat balls) on a
spit
and roast them, and while they are roasting, coat them with a yellow
mixture
of egg yolks , flour and saffron, well mixed, and some green if you
want,
made of herbs, coat them (and allow the coating to roast) and serve them

forth.
________________

A Discussion
I have thought about the multiple cooking steps in this and many other
medieval recipes. At first glance these steps may seem to serve a
culinary
purpose, such as par-roasting to make the chopping easier, or additional

cooking to ensure that the meat is well done, or even to reduce the use
of
fuel by using boiling water which was a standby at all times in the
medieval
$B!)(Jitchen$B!)(J I believe however that the medieval cookbooks  we
are reading from
are those intended for the highest of tables and the cooks had an
alterior
motive to the multiple cooking steps.I have cooked this recipe using
both a
roasted meat and a raw ground meat as the starting point and did not
find a
significant difference in taste. I will admit that ground pork resulted
in a
somewhat $B!)(Jpringier$B!)(Jconsistency than the pre-roasted then
ground pork. What
pleased me after working with the recipe and following it's original
instructions was that it turned out wonderful, despite doing what most
modern
cooks would see as unfit to creat a meatball dish.

Let$BCT(J consider the Galenic idea of  balancing humors. A major
consideration
of the medieval cook was to prepare food  for the health of those who
would
consume it. If we analyze the above period recipe,it should be noted
that
pork is considered to be cold/moist. As the meatballs are boiled, this
increases the coldness/moistness, therefore by par-roasting the meat
first
you are balancing this process. If the par-roasting isn$BCU(J done,
the end
product could be too cool/moist and result in a disruption of the bodily

humours of the person feasting on it. This theory needs to be expanded
by
analyzing other recipes as to the degrees of  moist/dry, hot/cold in
order to
determine how effective it is. For now, it$BCT(J an interesting idea
that fits
this situation.

The endoring can be done over a grill or barb-b-que or using the oven at
a
hot temperature (450 degrees). The grill is much more efficient as you
do not
have to keep opening the door to the oven, and is also more true to the
original recipe. However, in the winter , I admit , standing over a
grill, is
not my idea of a great time but I did do it for this vigil,and I felt
the
results were justified. You may choose to use the oven and by all means
don$BCU(J
feel guilty.



A Redacted Recipe- Pommes Dorre
1 lb boneless  pork (butt ends seem to have enough fat, loin is too
lean) or
for convienence, ground pork
2 egg  yolks
2 cloves
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground white pepper
3-5 strands of saffron, crushed
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp currants (optional)

Endoring paste
5 egg yolks
5 strands of saffron (gold) or 1/4 cup pureed parsley (green)
1/8  cup unbleached all purpose flour

If using ground pork, eliminate the roasting and grinding.
Roast the pork steak for 10-20 minutes at 350 degrees so that it is half

cooked. Cut into chunks. In a food processor, finely grind the meat. Add
the
egg yolks, spices, and if using, the currants. Blend well.
Bring a pot of water to boil and form 3 inch balls of the meat mixture.
Carefully drop the balls into the boiling water, allow to come to a boil

again and cook for 3 minutes. Remove and thread onto either a  metal or
bamboo skewer.

Brush the egg paste onto the meatballs, allowing to cook between coats.
Roast
the meatballs well to ensure that the egg paste is cooked. Serve hot or
cold.
Makes 25-35 meatballs.