SC - Rum?

[James F. Johnson]

Here's the maybe-pumpkin recipe from Granado.

Source: Diego Granado, _Libro del Arte de Cozina_ (Spanish, 1599)
Translation: Lady Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)

PARA RELLENAR DE DIVERSAS MANERAS LAS CALABAZAS -- To 
stuff gourds in various ways

If you wish to cook the gourds, diligently clean them of their rinds, 
taking care not to break them.  Make a round opening at the part where 
the flower is, and the stem, and with a knife remove all that is inside.  
And stuff it with a mixture made from lean meat of veal, or of pork 
chopped with an equal amount of lean and fatty bacon, and adding 
cheese, eggs, raisins, common spices, and saffron.  And have small 
chickens and pigeons, stuffed, and put them in the gourd with the said 
mixture, and when it is full cover it with some round slices of the same 
gourd.  And put it in a proportionate vessel, in such a way that it cannot 
move, with enough broth to come up to more than halfway, covered with 
streaky bacon cut into slices, or with salted pig's belly.  This is done so 
that the gourd should take on flavor and should not be insipid.  And in 
the broth put pepper, cinnamon, and saffron.  And cause it to cook over 
the coals, keeping the vessel covered so that it cannot breathe, and 
when it has boiled a little while, just until the mixture has compressed, 
add more broth and let it finish cooking.  And when it is cooked, strain 
the broth from the same vessel, and put the gourd on a plate and serve 
it hot with the bacon all around.

You can also fill the gourd with milk, beaten eggs, sugar, and streaky 
bacon cut into bits.

You can also make it in another manner.  And that will be, having made 
an opening without taking off the rind, remove the interior and with 
dexterity arrange slices of lean bacon inside, on the bottom as well as 
on the sides, and have ready uncooked yellow stuffings cut up, or truly 
just the mixture, and make a layer of it on the bottom.  And take 
pigeons, chickens, and quail, and other small birds cut up, the entrails 
and the bones removed, and sprinkled with pepper, cinnamon and 
cloves and nutmeg.  And put them one by one in the gourd, fitting them 
with the same mixture of stuffing for intestines.  And at the end, upon 
these birds put a slice of veal sprinkled with the said spices, which 
should cover all the mixture.  Then cover the opening with the same part 
of the gourd that you took out, and wrap the gourd in a fold of paper and 
tie it with a thread, and put it in the oven which is somewhat less hot 
than if you were going to cook bread in it.  After two hours take it out 
and untie the paper and serve it hot.


Note: stuffings (rellenos) are mentioned in many other recipes.  They 
seem to be a mixture of chopped meats and seasonings, sometimes 
formed into various shapes and sizes, sometimes used to fill intestines 
in the manner of a sausage.  Fennel is a seasoning in many of these 
stuffing recipes, so Italian sausage mixture might work for redacting this 
recipe.  I believe that a yellow stuffing would have saffron in it, but that's 
only a guess on my part.


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net