[Sca-cooks] Need Reference info

[a5foil]

Neat idea! I think Kiri did something like this many moons ago. As others
have suggested, try Lady Brighid's translation of Nola. It was one of the
very first books in Spain, and a best seller for 100 years.

The original was published in Catalan (1520) as the "Libre del coch." It
draws on much of the material I'm working on, which is earlier Catalan,
ranging from early 14th to mid-15th c. So, in Nola, you get much of the 15th
century food concepts. Nola was translated into Castillian, starting in
1525, by the Lord Mayor of Logroño, with other editions and reprints
published through 1577. Thereafter, other books pulled from those Castillian
editions. So, Nola spans most of the time period you want to cover, with
little variation. The biggest difference will be that the 1525 and 1529
Castillian editions added some non-Catalan Spanish recipes, and completely
changed some ingredients for other dishes, transforming them into inland
Spanish versions.

What this cookbook won't do for you, is tell you what the seafarers (many of
the crew being Catalan, BTW, on a voyage from Spain) were carrying in their
food lockers for the middle and end of the trip. Here are some ideas from
the ingredients of the cookbooks:

Salt cod and salt pork are much more common than beef in the early half of
your period, in this cuisine. The legumes were chickpeas, favas, and
lentils. The grains were barley, oats, rice, and wheat. The nuts were
almonds, chestnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts. The
fruits that would keep: dates, figs, and raisins. The vegetables that would
keep, somewhat: cabbage, carrots, garlic, onions, and parsnips. The major
fats: olive oil, rendered lard, bacon grease. They might have kept some live
fowl for a meal or two: chicken, dove, duck, goose. They might have kept a
few rabbits. They ate just about anything they could catch in the sea.
Anchovies were very common, as were mullets, fresh or preserved. My early
Catalan sources identify over 50 fish. These books do not discuss bread or
biscuits.

Hope this helps,
Thomas Longshanks

----- Original Message -----
From: <Mastercahankyle at cs.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 9:45 AM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Need Reference info


> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> Greetings to the list,
>
> Next Year, either Memorial Weekend or the weekend of May 31-June 2, I will
be
> cooking a special feast for Montevale's Annual Stag event.  I am currently
> looking for a good source for Spanish Cooking from 15th to the early 17th
> century.
>
> The idea behind the feast is a ship's voyage. The 1st remove will be tasty
> food on the day of departure, 2nd remove will be food after being at sea
the
> first week of the voyage (fresh ship's biscuits, boiled pork, cabbage,
etc.),
> 3rd remove will be food served during the last week of the voyage (stored
> ships biscuits, chickpea, dried fish and possibly beef jerky), and then
the
> 4th remove will be food upon arrival in port which will be East Indian or
> Oriental Food.
>
> If we do the long weekend I will also be cooking a second feast which will
be
> a liberty feast (those of you who are ex-sea service will understand
> '"liberty") which will more than likely be of Spanish or English nature, I
> haven't thought that through yet.  It may even be a mixture of dishes from
> several different "ports of call" countries.
>
> Anyway, I do not have a Spanish source in my cookbook collection so I
would
> like suggestions for a good Spanish source.
>
> Also, Oh great Odd One, I am still waiting for the recipe of that pie from
> Garb Wars which my Lady liked so much. In fact we would like copies of all
> the recipes you did for Garb Wars.
>
> I S
>
> Baron Master Cahan Kyle
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