SC - I am So Ashamed! (long)

[Michael F. Gunter]

And it came to pass on 25 Oct 00, , that deborah minyard wrote:

> CAT??

> >Thank you.  Nola's recipe for roast cat says to whip it with green
> >twigs while it is roasting.

Yes.  The recipe has been discussed here before and is in the 
Florilegium.  Different cultures have differing ideas about which 
plants and animals are acceptable food.

I have a modern Spanish cookbook that I picked up at a used book 
store.  The title (translated into English) is "Cooking Recipes of 
Basque Grandmothers".  The editor interviewed elderly women in 
the regions of Alava and Navarra and wrote down their recipes.  
There are two recipes for cat -- stewed and in sauce.  Now, it's 
possible that some kind of wildcat is meant here, but "gato" 
certainly means cat.  There is also a remedy for asthma in the 15th 
century "Manual de Mujeres" which contains cat grease.

I don't get the impression that it has ever been a common meat in 
Spanish cuisine.  Enrique de Villena doesn't mention it in his 1423 
carving manual, in which he describes how to carve a wide variety 
of animals.  Most period recipes call for more conventional meats, 
such as mutton, kid, and chicken.

Brighid, owned by four very demanding gray tabbies


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