Precooking? (was Re: SC - questions/kinda long, sorry)

[LrdRas@aol.com]

Hi everyone, 

I was working on this recipe this weekend and wanted to share. Let me know 
what you all think.

Date Pie
Platina- ON Right Pleasure and Good Health

Milham translation
#43Torta ex Dactylis
Amygdalas bene tunsas cum iure piscium et aqua rosacea dissolves. Dissolutas 
in catinum per sataceum transmittes. Dactylorum exossatorum selibram, parum 
passularum, quattuor aut quinque ficos, risi item bene cocti uncias tris in 
eodem mortario conteres. Parum deinde petroselini, atriplicis, amaraci 
manibus confracti ac in oleo fricti gladiolo concides. Non erit ab re si cum 
his iocuscula aut adipem piscis condideres. Unciam praeterea passularum 
Corinthiarum, selibram sacchri, parum cinnami, plusculum gingiberis, modicum 
croci simul aut seorsum teres, superioribusque admiscebis. Verum ut magis 
haec spissentur, aut semunciam amyli aut ova lyci indes, extendesque in 
testum bene untum et subcrustatum infixis ubique nucleis pineis bene mundis. 
Lagana vero si placebit pro superiore cursta extendes. Coqui lento igne hoc 
pulmentum debet. Tenue item ut sit necesse est. Coctum saccharo et aqua 
rosacea suffundatur. Alit hoc quidem et multum, tarde concoquitur, hepar 
iuvat, dentes corrumpit, pituitam auget.

Date Pie
Soak well-pounded almonds with fish juice and rose water. When they are 
soaked, pass through a sieve into a bowl. Grind in the same mortar a half 
pound of pitted dates, a few raisins, four or five figs, as well as three 
ounces of well-cooked rise. Then cut up with a small knife a little parsley, 
orach, and marjoram, torn by hand and fried in oil. It will not be out of the 
way if you cut up livers or fish fat with these. Besides, grind together, or 
separately, an ounce of Corinthian raisins, a half pound of sugar, a little 
cinnamon, a little more ginger, and a bit of saffron, and mix into the above, 
So that it may really thicken more, put in either a half ounce of starch or 
pike eggs, and spread out in a well-oiled earthenware pot with a lower crust 
with well-washed pine nuts stuck everywhere in it. If it will really please 
you, spread crepes instead of an upper crust. This mixture ought to be cooked 
in a slow fire. Also, it is necessary for it tho be thin. Wehn it is cooked, 
it should be covered with sugar and rose water. This really also nourishes a 
great deal, is slowly digested, helps the liver, damages the teeth, and 
increases phlegm.


Redaction

1.5 cups ground almonds
.5 cups rose water
1 cup fish juice (.125 tsp insinglass in 1 cup water, stirred well)*

Combine above, let sit for 10-15 minutes. Pour into a mesh strainer and let 
drain for sometime, stir occasionally to assist the draining.

.5 lb dates
.125 cup yellow raisins
4-5 figs
3 ounces (.5 cup) well cooked rice (1.5 cup water to .5 cups long grain rice)

Combine in food processor till thick consistency. 

1 tsp Flat leaf parsley
, 3-4  baby spinach leaves, .5 tsp fresh marjoram chopped well and fried in 1 
tsp olive oil**

1 ounce currants (.333 cups)***
.5 lb sugar (6 TB turbinado, 5 TB packed demerera)****
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger*****
4-5 saffron threads crushed
3.5 tsp unbleached wheat flour
Grind the above in food processor then add to the above ingredients.

Line a large shallow baking pan or two pie plates with pastry  (I used 
commercial pie dough, this was a spur of the moment thing)

Stick pine nuts (.333 cups) into the pastry bottom
Spread filling into the pastry.
Top with upper crust or crepes (I did 2 pies, one with pastry top the other 
with a crepe)

Cook 325 degrees farenheit for 45 minutes.

Combine .25 cups demerera sugar and .25 cups turbinado with .125 cups rose 
water. Mix well untill mostly disolved. Pour over the top of the pie. 

Eat.


Notes
*The fish juice issue threw me for a while. I was debating whether this was a 
garum (ie Roman fish sauce) type thing or if it was just a fish broth. There 
were a few recipes later in the manuscript that used fish juice to make the 
dish thicker which lead me to believe that this was much more like using a 
gelatine than using the liquid as a source of flavour. Isinglass being a 
source of gelatine is a fish derivative and fit the bill. If anyone has any 
input here, feel free to jump in.

**The translation says “a little”, I interpretted this to mean a generous 
pinch

***Someone posted (was it Bear?) that they believed Corinthian raisins not to 
be currants but  actually were a specific type of raisin. I could not for the 
life of me remember the type and rationale, if someone recognizes this please 
post in comment.

***I wanted a deeper flavour to the icing than just what white sugar could 
give so I combined these sugars. I also felt this was a closer attempt at a 
period sugar that would have been more commonly used than pristine white 
sugar (also, pure white sugar was often noted when needed). I chose to work 
with the Apothecaries scale for weight  which makes a pound equal to 12 
ounces vs the modern 16. This choice was based on conversations on this list 
specifically regarding the Menagier ratios for hippocras I believe (out of 
memory at the moment), but I have taken to being liberal with that 
interpretation from the Menagier to other period works. Feel free to comment 
on this.

****In retrospect, I will use 2 tsp ginger as the recipe calls for “a little 
cinnamon, a little MORE ginger”

It was a fun experiment and was quite yummy. So far only my family has tried 
it. My husband upon being questioned felt that it was “fine” and if you “like 
dates, you will like this pie”.I preferred the pastry top, my husband the 
crepe and my oldest son ate both his and his younger brothers share and asked 
for more of  both. I’ll be bringing it to fight practice tomorrow, we’ll see 
what the response is then. BTW the undissolved turbinado sugar looked as 
delightfull as it tasted, it added a beautiful crystaline finish to the top 
of the pie.  Fresh mint leaves would be a nice garnish.

Hauviette