[Sca-cooks] Michalangelo's Lunch

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Volker Bach wrote:
>
> I might as well introduce myself, now that I
> decided to jump right into the fray with nary a
> second of listening in. I'm a new listmember,
> soon-to-be SCA member and currently designated
> cook of the Incipient Shire of Two Seas (Kingdom
> of Drachenwald), Giano Balestiere (MKA Volker
> Bach). And no, I do not normally lack humility in
> this fashion. I just occasionally get carried away
> when cooking or history are discussed.
>
> Christine Seelye-King schrieb:
> > My
> > lord conjectures that as herring is a cold water fish, it might be a
> > preserved item, bought in barrels,
>
> That is an amazing find! And just to underpin that
> theory, yes the herring was most likely an import
> either from the Baltic (where, at the time, the
> Hanse's mighty Schonen fleet still went about its
> annual business of catching, gutting, and salting
> away a significant part of Europe's fish dinners)
> or from Holland (that was beginning to take away
> the herring business from the Hanse as the herring
> swarms went out of the Baltic).
>
> > while the anchovies might be a fresh
> > 'catch of the day' from the Mediterranean.
>
> Possibly, though Italian spreads traditionally
> included fish in oil rather than fresh when served
> with bread (I have evidence for this,
> unfortunately, only for the 2nd and 18th century
> CE, not for the sixteenth, but personal experience
> strongly suggests it's better that way).

BTW, just for fun and/or FWIW, it's worth noting that tomorrow, Sunday,
June 24, is the currently designated Feast of Saint John, which not only
means that Le Menagier wants us to gather 500 new nuts and proceed
accordingly, but it is _also_ the traditional date of the launching of
the herring fleet and harvest in places like Denmark (and perhaps
elsewhere for all I know). So, once again, several New York restaurants
are having their annual herring festivals, most notably Aquavit,
Christer's, and, of course, the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station. For
those who may be thinking in terms of big ol' jars of pickled herring
(not that there's anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfeld used to
say), allow me to disabuse you immediately of that notion. We're talking
killer-fresh, recently-live herring, filleted and skinned in seconds,
almost invariably served raw, and of finer quality than any
sushi-quality fish I have encountered. Like buttah!

I think my favorite is still the boring old caper/riced
hard-boiled-egg-yolk/chopped onion garnish for raw herring fillets, but
there are other presentations at least as good...

Now all I need is to win the lottery within the next few days...

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98