SC - roasting and boiling

[Christina van Tets]

Just a thought, but is it possible that roasting before boiling (as comes up 
fairly frequently in period recipes) is actually to do with utensil usage?

I realise that Maitre Chiquart and his ilk are unlikely to have had such a 
problem, but I found when doing a demo not so long ago that pre-roasting 
stewing meat made it much easier to use the two fireworthy pots I had to 
greatest effect.

I had assumed that recipes which started 'Take cooked meat' or something 
similar meant this for a culinary reason, but who knows?  Certainly it gave 
me time to bake bread in one pot and blanch almonds and hardboil eggs in the 
other before getting down to the business of the stewing.

And to reverse the two actions, parboiling then roasting might well ensure 
that the meat is more thoroughly cooked on the inside before the outside 
blackens.

Cairistiona
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