SC - igrounden & middle english

[Morgana Abbey]

Here's a substitution for a visual reason, I believe.  It's in 

Redon, Odile; Sabban, Francoise; Serventi, Silvano . THE MEDIEVAL
KITCHEN.  Schneider, Edward., translator.  The University of Chicago
Press, Chicago & London. 1998.  ISBN 0-226-70684-2.

#39.  Seyme' of Veal
Grave' or seyme' is a winter potage.  Peel onions and cook them all cut
up, then fry them in a pot; now you should have your chicken split down
the back and browned on the grill over a charcoal fire; and the same if
it is veal; then you must cut the meat into pieces if it is veal, or in
quarters if it is a chicken, and put it into the pot with the onions,
then take white bread browned on the grill and soaked in broth made from
other meat; then crush ginger, cloves, grains of paradise, and long
pepper, moisten them with verjuice and wine without straining this, and
set aside; then crush the bread and put it through a sieve, and add it to
the brouet, strain everything, and boil; then serve.    Menagier de Paris
151.

"The recipe gives us the choice of chicken or veal; we have chosen the
latter.  Here, seyme' is given as the equivalent of grave'; for the
moment we have nothing to add on this matter of terminology."  p. 93.

What I have to add is that I think he is going for the effect that is
produced by a seyme' in heraldic illustration.  Reading through the
recipe, the brouet is going to be a deep brown, and the chicken and veal
are both white or light meats.  Even though browned on the grill (for
humoral reasons, I think, as they are both moderately warm and moist)
they are then cut up and the light flesh would stand out against the
brown broth.  

How does this sound to the rest of you?  If I'm right, then we have
another reason for making possible substitutions.  Even more visually
effective if the meat were cut into dice sized pieces, as might have been
done in a feast kitchen rather than a home kitchen--labor intensity.  I'd
serve this in a wide, shallow soup dish, to let the light meat peek out
of the brown brouet.

BTW, someone mentioned substituting pork for beef.  Don't think that
would have happened: beef was hot and dry, pork was cold and moist.  By
the time you changed the cooking methods and the liquids, seasonings and
sauces, you had a different recipe.


Regards,
Allison,     allilyn at juno.com


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