[Sca-cooks] Pastillus - Redaction & A Recipe

[Marian Rosenberg]

VI 9 Meat Roll from Tame Animals

I call tame animals all which are nourished at home, like calf, capon,
hen, and the like.  From these, you make a roll thus: take as much lean
meat as you want and cut it up fine with small knives.  Mix veal fat
into this meat well with spices.  When it has been wrapped in thin
crusts, bake in an oven.  When they are almost cooked, put on the roll
two egg yolks separated from the white and beaten with a paddle with a
little verjuice and very rich juice.  some add a bit of saffron for
looks.  This roll can even be made in a well-greased pan without a
crust.  For special pleasure, cook in a roll capon, pullet or whatever
you want, whole or cut up in pieces.  There is also much nourishment in
this; it is slowly digested, has little indigestible residue, aids the
heart, liver and kidneys, is fattening, and stimulates the libido.
(Milham 271, 273)

This recipe seems straightforward enough.  Chopped meat mixed with
spices and rolled in dough.  Brush the dough with egg yolks, verjuice,
and saffron ... mostly for color but also for a bit of the sharpness.

If I were cooking this for a feast I might even make it that way.

But I was cooking this as a test run on Pennsic lunch pastries.  And I
had lots of yummy fresh vegetables about the house.  And no verjuice.
And no saffron.

It worked.  It worked really well.  And if no longer a period recipe, it
probably counts as peri-oid.

Ingredients -
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion
4 large button mushrooms
1 handful shiitaake mushrooms
1 green pepper
2 eggs
garlic
ginger
cinammon
cloves
black pepper
pastry dough of some type (I used pre-made dough from the Asian grocery)

Chop vegetables finely.
Mix meat, eggs, and spices together.
Mix meat mixture and vegetables together.
Wrap in dough.
Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes turning every 10 minutes.
Cool.
Serve.

-M