SC - syllogisms (was:Food Ingredients Posting)

[lilinah@earthlink.net]

Ok, Ras asked for it.  Here are the recipes I shared with the gentle from
the Trimaris list.  First a list of dishes that I gave him.  Here are the
recipes original, translated and the redaction from the book as my notebook
with my redactions is still packed in my basement, but I will tell you
things I know I changed.

I have done these dishes for SCA folk and mundanes alike and they all liked
the.  My husband loves them.  But I have not done for a feast.  Just in the
heat of the moment I pulled a book I use all the time The Original
Mediterranean Cuisine; Medieval recipes for today, by Barbara Santich, off
the shelf and did a Mock Menu, that I figured most people would eat to show
that an "all" period feast could be a good feast too.

If I were to do a feast (simply done)

Course the first
Limonia of Chicken from Libro Della Cocina
Baborada for Fried Fish from Sent Sovi
Green Cabbage (Broccoli) with Meat from Libro Della Cocina
Platina's Herb Salad from De Honesta Voluptate

The Recipes and Redactions

Di Limonia Di Polli

Friggansi li polli con lardo e cipolle, e pestisi l'amido [sgould be
amandole or amigdale] non mondo e distemperesi col brodo de la carne de
porco, e colisi, e coccansi con li detti polli e spezie.  E se non avessi
amido, spessisi il brodo colle turloa d'ova; e quando sira presso  l'ora del
ministare, metti in quello succhio di limoni, o di lomie, o di cetrangole.

Translation:
Fry chicken with salted pork fat and onions, and grind unblanched almonds
and combine with pork stock, and strain, and cook with the chicken and
spices.  If you don't have almonds, thicken the liquid with egg yolks; and
when it is nearly time to serve the dish, add the juice of lemons or bitter
oranges.

Author's redaction:
Chicken in lemon sauce

2 lb chicken drumsticks or 1.5 lb chicken breasts
2 onions, chopped
1 - 2 Tablespoons oil (MC1)
1 cup blanched almonds (MC2)
2 cups chicken stock (MC3)
1-1 1/2 tspns ground ginger (MC4)
Freshly ground pepper
Salt (depending on saltiness of stock)
1/2 tspn pure saffron (threads) infused in 1/4 cup of hot stock
Juice 1-1 1/2 lemons

Trim chicken pieces as necessary, pat dry.  Heat oil in a wide, shallow pan
(large enough to hold all the chicken comfortably in one layer).  Lightly
fry onions until soft, but do not allow them to color.  Add chicken pieces
and slowly seal on all sides, again without browning.

Place almonds in a food processor.  Add hot stock and process for about 2
more minutes.  Using a coarse sieve, strain this almond milk over the
chicken, pressing down on almond residue to extract all the liquid.  The
almond milk should have the consistency of thin cream; it will thicken
during cooking.

Add ginger and saffron steeped in stock, together with a good grinding of
pepper.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes (for breasts) or 30 minutes (for
drumsticks). Remove the lid and increase the heat to boil the sauce down to
a thick, creamy consistency.  Add the juice of 1 lemon, taste, and if
necessary, add more lemon juice.  The lemon flavor should be distinct but
not overpowering.  Check for seasoning and add a little salt if desired.

My Changes: (the ones I remember)

1.  Salted pork fat to me means bacon, pancetta or something similar, so I
used bacon grease instead of oil (she talks about this after the recipe and
says she changed this for a healthier dish)
2.  Since the original called for unblanched almonds I tired them instead,
but I personally like the blanched better (she also discusses this and made
the change to blanched because it did in other recipes)
3.  I used pork stock that I had made from bones and trimmings instead of
chicken stock.
4.  I used fresh ginger that I cut and ground myself, I like the flavor
better.

BABORADA A PEX FFRIT

Si vols ffer baborada a pex ffrit o a serdina ffresqua, se ffa axi: Prin Il
grans d'ayl, e pa torrat mullat en vinagre, e avellances e nous, e pique-u.
E quant es be piquat, destrempa hom ab un raig d'oli, e puyes ab vinagre; e
met-o hom mel aprop.  E tempra-u hom ab aygua calda tro que sia clara, e
holi; e van en la casola sobre l foc.  E quant bul, met-hi hom la pex, e
met-i hom molta salsa, e es milor.  E bulla tro  ques sia espassa, e axi
cou.  Puy va pex per telladors, e salsa per escudelles.

Translation

Baborada for fried fish

If you wish to make baborada for fried fish or fresh sardines, do it thus;
take two cloves of garlic, toasted bread soaked in vinegar, hazelnuts and
walnuts, and grind all together.  And when it is well ground, mix it with a
dash of oil and then vinegar; and add honey or concentrated grape juice.
And blend it with hot water to a thin consistency., and with oil; and set
the pan on the heat.  And when it boils, ad the fish, and add lots of
spices, for then it is better.  Boil until it is thick, and sufficiently
cooked.  Then serve the fish on platters and the sauce in bowls.

Author's redaction: (my redaction to follow, I just used this one the other
day)

Fried fish in a sweet-sour sauce

1 small clove garlic
1 baguette-size slice of bread 1/2 thick, crusts removed
1-2 tablespoons vinegar
4 hazelnuts and 4 walnut halves, or 8 walnut halves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tspn honey
5 tablespoons hot water
Salt, freshly ground pepper and freshly grated nutmeg
350 G (12 oz) fish fillets
Flour
Olive oil for frying

Peel garlic and chop finely.  Soak bread in vinegar.  Blend all the sauce
ingredients together until smooth, using either a food processor or mortar
and pestle.  Alternatively, garlic maybe cooked in a little oil until soft
before blending with other ingredients.

Lightly flour fish fillets and fry in the usual way.  Remove from pan.
Empty any remaining oil from the pan, add sauce and bring to boil, stirring
occasionally.  Add a little more water if necessary.  Check balance of
flavors and add a little more vinegar if necessary.  Return fish to pan and
heat through in sauce, then serve.

My redaction:

Filets of fish
Flour
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 slice day old French bread, toasted lightly in a warm oven, broke into
pieces
4 hazelnuts
4 walnuts
1 TBL vinegar
1 TBL olive oil
2 TBL concentrated white grape juice (I used because I liked the different
flavor from the honey)
4-5 TBL hot water
Freshly ground pepper
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

1.  Clean filets and make sure no small bones are in them.
2.  Mix flour and salt and pepper together on a plate
3.  Heat oil in a skillet
4.  Add fillets and brown lightly
5.  Remove and lay on a paper towel to drain, then wipe the remaining oil
from the skillet
6.  In a food processor, add garlic, bread pieces, hazelnuts and walnuts
7.  Blend until they are in a small breadcrumb-like consistency
8.  Add vinegar, blend well
9.  Add oil slowly and let it emulsify
10.  Add grape juice, then hot water
11.  Pour sauce into the skillet
12.  Bring to a boil
13.  Add fillets into sauce
14.  Add spices into sauce
15.  Let cook for a few minutes, until fish is warmed through
16.  Remove fish from sauce, trying to drain as much of it as possible,
serve on platter
17.  Pour sauce into a bowl and serve

Green cabbage with meat

Original:

Cauli Verdi Con Carne

Togli le cime de' cauli sane, e gittale nelle pentola bugliente con la
carne, e falli bullire; e cavali e metti nell;aqua fredda.  Et tolto d'altro
brodo in un'altra pentola, mettvi del bianco dei finoccchi; et quando e ora
del mangiare, poni i detti cauli col brodo nella pentola predetta; fa'
bullire un poco, e puoi mettervi brodo di carne di cappone, o oglio.

Translation:

Green cabbage with meat

Take the tips of fresh cabbage, and throw then into the boiling pot with
meat, and boil them; then take them out and put them into cold water.  Then
take another lot of stock in another pot, and add the white part of fennel;
and when it is time to eat, add the said cabbage to the pervious pot, and
bring it to the boil, and then add chicken stock or oil.

The Author's redaction is a completely vegetarian dish and i don't think it
translates well from the original, so here is what I did.

My redaction:

Take broccoli and boil in a meat stock (I used chicken because I had it on
hand).  Boil them until tender, then drain and put into cold water to stop
the cooking, so they don't get overdone.  Take another pot of stock and
bring it to a boil, then add a fennel bulb quartered.  Cook for at least 40
minutes to infuse the flavor, then add broccoli to this stock.  Boil for a
few minutes, add some olive oil for flavor.

On Preparing a Salad of Several Greens
A preparation of several greens is made with lettuce, bgloss, mint catmint,
fellen, parsley, sisymbrium, orgian, chevril, cicernita which doctors call
teracicon, plantain, morella and other fragrant grees, well washed and
pressed and put in a large dish.  Sprinke them with a good deal of salt and
blend with oil, then pour vinegar over it all when it has sat a little; it
should be eaten and well chewed because wild greens are tough.  This sort of
salad needs a little more oil than vinegar.  It is more suitable in winter
than summer, because it requires much digestion and this is stronger in
winter.

I have made many fresh green salads from this.  I don't think I need to
redact.

Course the second in another email.

Murkial