SC - Pleyn Delit et al-vinegar

[Elaine Koogler]

I agree.  I think that vinegar may well have been used the same way I often use
wine...to enhance flavor.  In fact, at the event I cooked a couple of weeks ago,
I made a soup/stew which was my own creation based on some "pottages" from
Digby.  I kept tasting it, adding seasonings, tasting, etc., but something was
still not quite right.  I added a bit of vinegar, and it was perfect.  You
couldn't taste the vinegar...it enhanced all of the other flavors.  Oddly
enough, in recipes with lots of acidic content, sugar can be used the same way.

Kiri

allilyn at juno.com wrote:

> >>Speaking of which - anyone have the same problems with Pleyn Delit that
> I have?  I tried using several recipes only to find that the authors were
> rather too vinegar-happy for my taste.  And I *like* vinegar. <<
>
> Clotilde,
>
> I'm not that fond of vinegar, but I don't dislike a reasonable taste.  I
> find most of the 'commercial' food books on medieval cookery to have the
> same problem.  Redon, et al's Medieval Kitchen does the same.  IMO, no
> stew or soup or dish of any kind except pickles needs half a cup of
> vinegar in it, prepared for 8 people.  Maybe an egredouce, which is
> *meant* to have a sweet/sour flavor.  That's what the word means.
>
> We've worked hard to dispel the idea that medieval food was 'rotten' and
> was overspiced to cover it.  Now, we have to move on to get the other
> flavorings in proportion.  To me, the very fact that a recipe says,
> occasionally, to 'make it sharp with vinegar or verjuice' means that the
> normal use of these flavorings was not strong.  They *enhanced* flavor
> with vinegar, with sugar, with spices and herbs.  They do not SMOTHER all
> food taste with these things.  Anybody want to climb on the soapbox with
> me?
>
> Regards,
> Allison,     allilyn at juno.com
>
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