[Sca-cooks] A redaction of Platina's Hemp Dish

[Huette von Ahrens]

While I have no idea what the taste of hemp seed is
like, for some reason poppy seeds came to my mind.  I
know that they are a period substance and when
consumed just before taking a drug test, they will
give a false positive for opium use.  I guess it is
the drug connection and not anything else that I am
thinking of.

Huette


--- Underground Cooks Collective
<undergroundcook at operamail.com> wrote:
> Some dishes from period sources are rarely going to
> be attempted by modern
> cooks. These include, for obvious reasons, Platina's
> two recipes involving
> hempseed. Taking advantage of a small quantity of
> seed which recently made
> itself available, we recently decided to produce a
> version of his "Cibarium
> Cannabinum" (Hemp Dish) (VII:49).
>
> Millham's translation is as follows:
>
> "Make a hemp dish for twelve guests this way: cook a
> pound of well-washed hemp
> until it splits open. When it is cooked, add a pound
> of almonds. When it has
> been pounded with breadcrumbs in a mortar, moisten
> it with lean stock and stir
> it into a pot through a seive. Then, when it has
> been placed on the hearth,
> stir it frequently with a spoon. When it is almost
> cooked, put in half a pound
> of sugar, a half ounce of ginger, and a little
> saffron with rose water. When
> it is cooked and apportioned on serving dishes,
> sprinkle with rather sweet
> spices. I think this is very similar to the
> _baricocoli_ of the people of
> Sienna, for an extraordinary dish has been made from
> many ordinary things, but
> it is also difficult to digest and creates
> squeamishness and pain."
>
> Our version, with quantities unfortunately
> constrained by the available seed:
>
> hemp/cannabis seeds: 2/3 oz
> ground almonds: 2/3 oz [1]
> soft breadcrumbs: 2 tbsp
> meat or vegetable stock: 3 tbsp
> sugar: 1 1/2 tsp
> ginger: 1/8 tsp
> saffron: 3 threads, powdered
> rosewater: 1/8-1/4 tsp [2]
> 1/8 tsp cinnamon, pinch cloves and pinch mace for
> spice mix, or your favorite
> poudre douce
>
> Wash the seeds and boil them [3] until they split
> open (a bit over half an
> hour in our case, but may very depending on the
> seeds). Place the seeds,
> almonds and breadcrumbs into a mortar and pound
> until the seeds are well
> crushed.
>
> Mix in the stock, put the mixture into a fine seive
> and press it through the
> seive into a pot. This may take a bit of work, as
> the mixture is fairly thick.
> [4]
>
> Gently cook the mixture until it thickens up (around
> 15 minutes). Stir in the
> sugar, ginger, saffron and rosewater and cook for
> another few minutes.
> Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle lightly with
> sweet spice mix before
> serving.
>
> This gives a pleasant-tasting, smooth dish, almost
> reminiscent of a mousse in
> texture, though heavier. The tasters did not notice
> the squeamishness or pain
> alleged to accompany it.
>
> [1] If you like pounding away with your mortar and
> pestle, whole almonds are
> presumably intended in the original.
>
> [2] We incautiously used 1/2 tsp, which was far too
> much and tended to obscure
> other flavours. 1/8-1/4 tsp would probably have been
> about right, depending on
> personal taste.
>
> [3] We deliberated on what cooking method to use,
> and decided boiling was most
> likely to burst the seeds as required.
>
> [4] We believe that this step is intended to
> separate out the outsides of the
> seeds, giving a much smoother dish. For this reason,
> we think that using a
> blender instead of a mortar and pestle is not a good
> idea, as it may chop up
> the outside of the seed fine enough that it can get
> through the seive. We
> actually used a two-step process with a coarse and a
> fine seive, but this is
> probably unnecessary if you have a big enough fine
> seive to start with.
>
> Production would probably be easier if one had more
> seeds available, as
> procedures were a little fiddly with such small
> quantities and we really only
> got enough for a small dish for one person.
>
> Platina's other hemp recipe (VII:67) is fairly
> similar, with the seeds again
> being pounded with almonds, moistened and cooked
> with sugar and rosewater. It
> specifies a longer cooking time than we used, but
> does not start with cooked
> seeds. It's interesting to note that hemp seeds
> count as an "ordinary thing".
> Does anyone know of other recipes using them (aside
> from the versions of these
> two in Martino, whence Platina copied them)?
>
> We're interested in suggestions for substitutes for
> hempseed, as this dish is
> well worthy of being served more widely. Those
> living in areas where
> cultivation of industrial hemp (low-THC cannabis) is
> legal might be able to
> get access to seeds of that variety and thus be able
> to serve a fully
> authentic version of the dish, but it would be
> useful to know of other grains
> which might serve as well.
>
> Disclaimer: The posession and consumption of
> hempseed may well be illegal
> where you live. The quantities required to get a
> reasonable amount of this
> dish may be enough to attract svere penalties. In
> addition, this is probably
> an inefficient means of ingesting THC if that's what
> you're actually after.
>
> The Underground Cooks' Collective
>
> (Our apologies for the anonymity, but it's probably
> wiser not to publicly sign
> names to this...)
>
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=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they
shall never cease to be amused.

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