SC - Boiled Peanuts by Mail

[Stefan li Rous]

On 22 Apr 01,, LrdRas at aol.com wrote:

> I followed your redaction until  this part. The original recipe says to drop 
> to red hot stones into the mixture and then allow to cool. I may be wreong 
> but I was wondering why you decided to serve the sauce warm? 

Ah.  Here we have a difference of choice of words between two 
translations.  Vincente's translation, which was the one posted, 
used the word "cool" in reference to the stones.  Mine says:
"take two smooth pebbles from the sea or river, and cast them in the fire, 
and when they shall be quite ruddy and red, cast them with some tongs 
in the mortar in such a manner that they are extinguished there, and when 
all this is done taste it for flavor..."

The Spanish is "que se amaten alli".  "Amatar", according to the 
1726 RAE dictionary means
1. An archaic form of the verb "matar", 'to kill'
2. To put out and to extinguish the fire, the light, thirst, hunger, etc.

"Se amaten" is the reflexive form of the verb, so a more literal 
translation would be "so that they [the pebbles] extinguish 
themselves there..."

I took this to mean that the heated pebbles will lose their red glow 
and transfer their heat to the sauce.  Since there is no instruction 
to let the sauce sit until it is completely cool, I assumed it would 
be served warm.

Now, obviously, the pebbles do cool off in the process of being 
dunked in the sauce.  Vincente, would you care to jump in and say 
how you read this?  Anyone else?

> Also if I am not 
> mistaken the original also indicates that the suace is to be thinned with 
> diluted vinegar as opposed to water alone. 

My redaction calls for 3 TBS white wine vinegar -- although I 
recommend reducing that quantity if one is using prepared 
horseradish from a jar, as that already contains vinegar.  I think you 
may have missed that line.  If something got lost in the cut and 
paste, let me know, and I will repost.

> I am looking forward to your responce.

I would appreciate your comments on the culinary side of this.  
Although I have heard of cooking with heated rocks, I understood it 
was a technique that was used in cultures/situations where 
cooking vessels that could be put on a fire were not available.  This 
is the only example I have seen in late-period cuisine.  Why might 
this technique be used, rather than setting the pot over some 
embers?

> Ras


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
now at a new address: rcmann4 at earthlink.net