SC - Recipes from War

[Mordonna22 at aol.com]

The period dishes I cooked at War were:
A Mirause of Catalonia and Fried Gourd from Platina as translated in 
Cariadoc's Miscellany. and Apple Frittours for Lent from "Two Fifteenth 
Century Cookery Books" as found in "Take a Thousand Eggs or more" by Cindy 
Renfrew.

A Mirause of Catalonia
Put together on a spit capons or pullets or pigeons well cleaned and washed 
and turn them over the hearth until they are half cooked. then remove them 
and cut them in pieces and put them in a pot.  Then chop almonds that have 
been toasted under warm ashes and cleaned with some cloth.  To this add some 
bread crumbs lightly toasted with vinegar and juice and pass all this through 
a strainer.  This is all put in the same pot with cinnamon and ginger and a 
good amount of sugar and left to boil on the live coals with a slow fire 
until it is done, all the time being stirred with a spoon so that it does not 
stick to the pot.  It is quite nourishing, long in being digested, it warms 
the liver and kidneys and fattens the body and stirs the belly.

My adaptation:

5 small frying chickens
1 quart chopped, toasted Almonds
2 cups bread crumbs
2 cups red wine vinegar
4 sticks cinnamon
4 tsp. ginger
2 cups sugar

Roast the chickens until "Half done".  Debone, and add to four cups water in 
a large pot and place over a slow fire.  Add the almonds, bread crumbs, and 
the vinegar and spices and simmer but do not boil for twenty minutes or so, 
stirring frequently.
Notes:  I did not strain the almonds and bread crumbs, and used only vinegar 
and no verjuice.  My Household called it "Period Sweet and Sour Chicken," and 
it was all eaten.

Fried Gourd

Scrape off the skin from the gourd and cut it sideways in thin slices.  When 
it has boilled once, transfer it onto the board and leave it there until it 
has dried out a little.  Then roll it in salt and good white flour and fry it 
in oil, when it is done and put on a platter, pour a garlic sauce over it, 
with fennel blossoms and bread crumbs so dissolved in verjuice that it looks 
thin rather than thick.  It would not be amiss to pass this sauce through a 
strainer.  There are those, too, who use only verjuice and fannel bloom, if 
you like saffron, add saffron.

My adaptation

5 lbs European Squash ( I don't know what it was, but the label said European 
Squash.  It had orangey-yellow flesh with slight green flecks, and a hard, 
thin, brown skin.  It was cut in pieces, so I couldn't even tell the shape, 
but must have been about the size of a small pumpkin.)
salt
flour
lard

Peel the squash and cut in thin slices.  Place in a pot with about two cups 
water and bring to a boil.  Drain well, and allow to dry a bit (20 minutes in 
Aten aridity).  Dredge in flour and salt, and deep fry in hot lard.  

Garlic sauce

2 tsp. fennel seeds, 
2 cups red wine vinegar
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Add the fennel seed to the vinegar and bring to a boil.  Add the bread crumbs 
and mix well, serve over the squash.

The Apple Frittours for Lent recipe I have posted here before.  Note that 
this time I used Apple Cider instead of Ale in the recipe, because of Aten's 
current policy concerning recipes containing alcohol.  It turned out simply 
fabulous, and I've already had requests for it next year.


Mordonna the Cook,
SunDragon's Western Reaches
Atenveldt
(m.k.a. Buckeye, AZ)