SC - Re: 14th C Catalan

[ChannonM@aol.com]

I think I have another comment on your redact
after rereading it for a third time.  Specifically:
>>>1 tsp Flat leaf parsley
       3-4  baby spinach leaves 
      .5 tsp fresh marjoram chopped well and fried in 1 
       tsp olive oil**<<<<

You have used spinach for orach, which is a related
but different potherb common in the Mediteranean
region then and now.  You can get orach seeds from
Burpee.  The plant is very tall and has burgundy leaves
looking quite unlike any spinach variety.  But it does turn
green when boiled and is somewhat like spinach, I 
suppose.  But so do many other leafy potherbs, including
poke salat.   I am not sure that this substitution is valid
as Platina is using orach as a herb seasoner rather
than as a vegetable.  I think that boiling orach leeches out
a flavouring which spinach does not possess, much as
you would cook poke and other bitter greens in several 
waters to moderate their bitter taste.  I don't see Platina
regarding the herbal potency of spinach sufficiently high
to use it as he describes with orach.  I think orach embues 
a separate flavour.  I will have to check out raw orach if I 
can find it. I think it is too late to grow it this season myself.

Akim Yaroslavich
"No glory comes without pain"