SC - Re: Pomegranate juice

[Stefan li Rous]

"E. Rain" wrote:
> 
> Stefan asked if paella was period.
> I've looked into this with the various resources I have on medieval/renn
> spanish cooking (translations from various period spanish cookbooks, The
> Heritage of Spanish cooking, etc) and so far, the answer seems to be no.  I
> find a couple different rice dishes, but none that really resemble the
> classic paella valenciana. Hopefully when Brighid gets back fro Pennsic she
> can provide the translation of the dish she mentioned and weigh in on this a
> little more, but so far nothing truly paella like has come my way.
> Eden

Perhaps we're going about this the wrong way. I think we may get further
trying to find evidence of the cooking method than necessarily looking
for specific paella recipes, particularly when Paella Valenciana is by
no means the only paella out there, and may not even be the "Ur" paella.

OK, to specifics. Some evidence suggests the word "paella" is derived
from Indo-European roots meaning, simply, "rice", but which have come to
refer as well to a cooking process common from India and southern Russia
through the Middle East and across North Africa -- your basic pilaf, a
dryish rice dish with separate grains rather than the soupy or
pudding-like dishes common to much of Europe in period. Granted, paella
is moister, and generally made with a shorter-grain rice than most
pilafs, but the basic cooking method is more like a pilaf than like,
say, blankmanger or even a modern Creole boiled rice.

So, what evidence do we have of rice being cooked like a pilaf, in a
relatively small amount of liquid, waiting for the liquid to be
absorbed, rather than by adding rice to a lot of liquid and waiting for
it all to thicken?

For starters, Digby (who had travelled widely) has a recipe for Rice
Boiled Dry, which turns out to be a fairly standard Asian boiled rice,
cooked on high heat until all the water has either been absorbed or
evaporated, then steamed in the covered pot over low heat, and finished
with butter and powdered spices.

Can anybody think of any earlier European dishes, which may or may not
have been inspired by non-European sources, that use a method along
these lines, and don't produce a soupy or gooey result?

Adamantius  
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com