What's with the fried chicken? (was RE: SC - Chicken in Milk & Honey FOR LAURENE)

[david friedman]

At 1:51 PM +1100 3/8/00, HICKS, MELISSA wrote:

>Do you have a copy of "To the Kings Taste" by Lorna Sass?  It contains a
>redaction of Douce Ame that some cooks (who aren't comfortable with
>redacting their own recipes) use.  I used it until I got up enough courage
>(hmm - maybe I should have changed that word, oh well) to redact it myself.
>
>It is as follows: Please note, I am not saying this is a good redaction,
>only that as it is in a published source, it is a redaction that may have
>been used if your cook wasn't confident (much better word) at redacting.

...

>Douce ame (Capon in milk and honey)
>Douce Ame. Take gode cowe mylke and do it in a pot. Take parsel, sawge,
>ysope, savray and other gode herbes. Hewe hem and do hem in the mylke and
>seeth hem. Take capons hald yrosted and smyte hem on pecys and do thereto
>pynes and hony clarified. Salt it and color it with saffron and serve it
>forth. Forme of Cury

...

>Dredge fowl in flour mixture, then brown the pieces in oil until golden.


...

We have now had two "redactions" of Douce Ame given on this list, one 
earlier by someone here who is new to period cooking, this one from a 
published book. Both of them start by frying the chicken. But the 
recipe is perfectly clear--"take capons half yrosted and smyte hem on 
pecys." Not only does it say to roast not to fry, it is clear that 
you cook them and then cut them up, which is hard to do when you are 
frying chicken.

Is there some deep, hidden compulsion in modern day Americans to fry 
chickens, whatever the recipe says?

Recipe: Take a chicken and put it in a pot and sethe it till it be enow ...

Redaction: Dredge fowl in flour mixture, then brown the pieces in oil 
until golden


Recipe: Wrap the chicken in the dough and bake it in the oven like brede ...

Redaction: Cover the chicken in bread crumbs, and deep fry.


Recipe: Take a chicken Yrosted, dress it in the skin of a pheasant, 
and serve it forth as if for peacock at a great house.

Redaction:

Ingredients:

1 pheasant skin
'
1 seven pieces order from Kentucky Fried Chicken, extra crispy

....

Use mashed potatoes from the order to stick together fried chicken 
into shape of a partridge, and insert in skin. Serve.

I can see it now.

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/