[Sca-cooks] Blood substitute

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Christina Nevin wrote:

>>1 tsp Marmite or other yeast-based gravy seasoning, (in lieu of blood)
>>Brangwayna Morgan
>>
>
> Interesting substitute. Is this specific to this recipe, or would you
> recommend it as a blood substitute for others also? I'm always looking for a
> good alternate for those times I can't get blood - which tends to be most of
> the time as my supermarket doesn't carry it <insert grossed-out look from
> counter boy when asked> and I can only get to the butcher's on weekends (a
> time which is generally fully booked).

I'd spotted that, too. I assume that it's recipe-specific, and may be the invention of Hieatt and Jones. It might serve as a good substitute for red meat juice: you know, for when you make a brown gravy and add the juice from your sliced roast to the gravy pan? Do Britons even do this, or do they still make fun of Americans for thickening their gravy?


Anyway, one of the things on my ever-expanding to-do list includes
checking out whether a pureed chicken liver, or piece of veal liver, raw
or cooked, stirred into the hot sauce, and then not subsequently boiled,
would have anywhere near the effect on color, flavor, and texture of a
blood-laced sauce.

Blood tends not to be added to sauces just to make sure they're brown (and it's usually a different brown, more like melted milk chocolate than anything else, from the civeys I've seen and eaten), it also thickens a sauce in a manner similar to egg yolks, and adds a slight gaminess. Which, since it frequently appears in game recipes anyway, usually isn't a problem. I STR a couple of period recipes that speak of using dark, nearly burnt toast steeped in vinegar, blood, and in lieu of blood, pounded liver, as a sort of liaison for thickening.



Adamantius

--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
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let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98