SC - re-hash of my breakfast notes plus recipe

[Laura C. Minnick]

UlfR wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 9 Jan 2001, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:
> 
> > One of the more tear-jerking moments in my time in the SCA was
> 
> I've seen a lady come into the kitchen, fall on her knees and kiss the
> hem of the cooks gown. It *was* an excellent banquet, and Celemon had
> done an outstanding job.
> 
> > discovering that after the servers brought out my rendition of the
> > 14th-century English Saumon Gentil, one young lady, a talented
> 
> Did you _really_ think you could get away with this? I'm planning on
> making this at some feast, and I'm not quite happy with my results. My
> main questions are:
> 
> 1. How do you handle the saffron (it's obviously not a scribal
> error...). Grind it with the spices, or dissolve it in small amount
> water and add that?

I seem to recall infusing the saffron in a small amount of water, maybe
1/4 cup, then grinding the moist threads with the fish.
> 
> 2. What effect did you go for with the spicing? Spicy, or just adding a
> hint to the fish?

Somewhere in between modern delicate and spicy. Warming... I would say
most of what came through was the cumin garnish. 
> 
> 3. Did you have slav^Wassistants with mortars, or did you grind it some
> other way? I'm thinking about using a regular meat grinder (limited
> slave labour, and app. 50-60 guests).

I used a food processor... :  (. I normally will try a dish doing it as
close to the instructions specify as possible, then adapt it for larger
quantities, industrial equipment, etc. Originally, when working with
just one fillet, I minced the fish with a knife and then used a mortar.

Observations:

1. This is one of the more glaring culinary errors perpetrated by Hieatt
and Butler in an otherwise good edition (CoI). I believe this is pretty
straightforward, and that nobody ever intended the bones to be ground,
or any such nonsense. Fillet the fish, grind the _meat_, season it,
extrude it, poach, drain, plate, garnish, serve. It's a salmon dish, and
you take out the bones before grinding it, fer Heaven's sake... with all
respect to two great scholars, I have to borrow an expression from my
kid: "Du-uh!!!"

2. Don't be too scrupulous about trimming away the salmon's fat. It'll
taste a tiny bit fishier, but then it _is_ fish (it should taste like
chicken???) and it'll be moister.

3. Undercooked salmon is infinitely better than overcooked, unless it
isn't fresh, in which case you shouldn't be eating or serving it anyway.
The fish will continue to cook after you remove the pan from the flame
or oven (depending on how you do it), and after you remove the fish from
the water. I suspect the best thing would be to stop the actual cooking
of the fish before it is actually done, so that by the time you're ready
to serve, it'll be cooked through. 

4. You might think about using a sausage stuffing tube instead of a
horn, if it comes as an attachment to your grinder. I think we used 
disposable pastry bags with large tubes.

Adamantius (hey, lookit, we're talking about medieval food!)
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com