SC - Chicken Curry

[Ron and Laurene Wells]

I know.  You are completely right.  If you will notice, I DID warn all the
readers that what I ended up with was VERY far from the original.  I was 1
hour to dinner time, and did NOT have time to roast a chicken (which I did
not HAVE a whole chicken anyway, what I HAD was breast meat, so that is
what I used) and then follow through with this recipe afterwards.  I think
this would be  good "leftovers" dish, using the leftover meat from a couple
of roated chickens or whatever.  Maybe not for everyone, but for me it
would be.

>Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 11:15:52 -0600
>From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
>Subject: Re: SC - Chicken in Milk & Honey CURRY
>
Here is my train of thought as I was cooking this recipe...

>At 9:28 AM -0800 3/7/00, Ron and Laurene Wells wrote:
>>  >>Take good cowmilk and do it in a pot. 

"My other pot is cooking the rice, and I only have 2 burners.  How can I do
this in one pot?  I'll add the milk after cooking the chicken, since it
seems to be added together in the end anyway."

>Take psel.,

"I don't even know what that is.  What else is in this?"

> sage,

"Yes, I have sage.  Two kinds in fact.  I'll use the rubbed sage."

> Hissop,

"Hissop?  I thought Hissop was a healing oil?  They want me to stock this
as a culinary herb now?  Oh my...  I'll have to check my Penzey's catalog
for that one."

>>  >>savory,

"Savory... savory... where is that savory...  I could have SWORN that I
ordered savory!  Now you're telling me that I only have ONE of the listed
spices?" (Yes, I talk to the recipes while I am cooking them.  If they ever
answer me back, then I will get worried.  So far they haven't.)  Oh my,
this is not going to be right at all... what do I have that is SOMETHING
close to Savory?  THYME?  OREGANO?  I'll use the THYME.  I know they grew
Thyme in the kitchen gardens.  Oregano just sounds too Italian for this dish."

> and other good herbs. 

"Ah ha!!!  I'm saved!!!  A generalization!  What goes good with these
herbs?  Hyssop is a mediteranian herb, and so is Fenugreek.  I'll try
Fenugreek.  It has a sweet flavor also that should blend well with the
milk.  Hmm...  One more perhaps... I will use Cardamom.  That goes well
with the Fenugreek, and is also mediteranian."

>Hew them 

"That must mean to grind them with a mortar and pestle.  Since mine are
already ground I can skip that step."

and do them in the milk and
>>  >>seethe them. 

"Seethe them huh?  Can't say I ever saw that term used in cooking before.
Gives more meaning to the reference to the emotional term "Seething inside"
doesn't it?  I'll add the herbs to the milk and see what happens."

>Take capons half y-roasted

"Half roasted... I don't have ROASTED chicken, I have raw chicken.  And I
don't have time to roast it either.  Oh my.  Well, this isn't anything like
that recipe we had at the SCA event, and what I am cooking isn't going to
turn out ANYTHING like this recipe.  Hmmm... well, I need to cook something
for dinner, so may as well do what I can."
 
>and smite them on pieces and

**About this time I discovered that my BRAND NEW bag of rice, NEVER opened
before, had Bolweevils in it.  And I was quite angry.  I had to throw out
the whole bag of rice.  I tell you, I really WANTED to SMITE something
about that time!!!** I thought to myself though, "Into pieces, well, I can
do THAT at least.  I can cut this breast meat into pieces.  That was the
whole point of this recipe anyway, wasn't it?"

>>  >>do thereto pine

"Pine???  I can go get some Pine sap off the tree in the front yard?  Is
that what they mean?  Maybe pine nuts?  I'm fresh out of pine nuts.  I've
got to find SOMETHING similar to a tree that would be comprable...  Here
are some Juniper berries.  The jar says they are from Italy.  Maybe that is
close enough to the Mediteranian and they will work okay.  I'll take them
out before serving."

> and honey clarified.

"Yep.  have honey!"

 Salt it and color it with saffron
>>

"I know I don't have Saffron... what about Marigolds?  Nope.  What is like
marigolds?  Calendula, they are edible and in the same botanical family.
I'll try those."

  >>and serve it forth.
>>  >

"And serve it forth.  Makes just about ANY recipe sound medieval..."

So, there you have it.  That was the reasoning behind everything that I did
to the recipe.  
- -Laurene