medieval healthy food was Re: [Sca-cooks] Tiramisu

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Anne-Marie Rousseau wrote:
>
> hey all from Anne-Marie
> As the medieval concept of "healthy" doesnt fit into the Zone/Dean
> Ornish/Weight Watcher/etc very well, we've had to do some "thinking outside
> the box",but its possible. I'd be delighted to share menus/recipes if desired?
>
> --Anne-Marie, having a lot of fun re-testing medieval recipes with lower
> fat/salt/carbs/etc

Yep, those period dishes of beans, greens and grains are sure tough to
turn into healthy forms, aren't they? ;  )

A large part of it is probably image, and then there's the fact that
when you doctor a recipe to cater to one person's dietary needs, you may
make the dish inedible for someone else.

The image thing, or perhaps the perceived yuck factor, though, will
probably be largely reduced by the fact that the people looking for
these types of foods will more or less be expecting beans, greens and
grains (respectively) anyway.

I'm talking about, say, beans or joutes without bacon (horrors!) or
equivalent fat/salt source, frumenty without eggs or almond milk,
essentially a peasanty porridge-type dish.

I seem to recall that several of the recipes I worked with from Anthimus
were pretty low in fat, salt, carbs, and other evils, or at least the
range offered choices in those directions.

I'm thinking, for example, of the steamed beef stew that appears to be
made without salt, and the lentil and coriander "salad" which is
decadently spiked with olive oil. I think these made it into the Florilegium.

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