[Sca-cooks] Meat and not potatoes feast

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Margaret's menu sounds good to me.  MEAT.  <flipping a coin>  Cooked.  If you
must serve vegetables at all, make sure they are well disguised.  Don't
breathe the word "turnip" and they will think they're eating cheesy potatoes
until it's too late.

The only problem with Sekanjabin and other syrup-based jalab drinks is that
people often mix it too strong.  Go lightly with the syrup and serve it as
cold as possible.  Alternatively, I have another good liquid dish, see later
in this e-mail.

"Pixel, Queen of Cats" wrote:

> Hmmm. What I would want: meat with sauce or gravy, armored turnips (I
> *always* want armored turnips), bread with stuff to smear on it, some
> variety of pies with cheese and/or meat and possibly vegetables of some
> sort, a beverage in the not-too-sweet-lemonade category (slightly tart and
> refreshing), juicy fruit tarts. If pasta, make it substantial--thick,
> chewy noodles. Sugared almonds for nibbles after the meal.
>

Giano describes:

>Another thing I have become quite addicted to is
>Taillevent's 'roti de porc farci' - pork roast
>filled with a farce made from gruyere cheese, ham,
>hard-boiled egg yolk, salt, pepper, and powdered
>ginger. It's quick to prepare, too. I haven't
>tried it on an open fire, though (a smaller,
>non-period version with stuffed pork chops at a
>barbecue worked fine, but that's soooo tacky)

I don't find it all that tacky.  What's more, dividing the
meat into individual chops gives you better portion control.
What proportions of ingredients do you use for the farce?
I want to try this.

My own contribution:
I don't know if this is documentable since I have no sources for eastern Asia,
but here's a cold soup that I absolutely LOVE on hot summer days.  I
enountered it last summer at the local Korean BBQ and scoured the Internet
until I found a recipe that matched.  It has many of the advantages of
Sekanjabin without the sweetness.

Cucumber Cold Soup - Oi Naeng-kuk [but I just call it Korean Gatorade!]

          Cucumber  :  2
          Wakame:  1 Tbsp.  [That's a dried seaweed, omit if you can't find
it]
          Green onion  :  1/2 stalk
          Garlic  :  1 clove
          Soy sauce  :  2 Tbsps.
          Vinegar  :  3 Tbsps.
          Sugar  :  1 Tbsp.
          Sesame seed, roasted  :  1/2 tsp.
          Hot pepper powder  :  1 tsp.
          Salt

1. Wash the cucumbers scrubbing with salt.
Cut them in thin strips, or slice them 1/10 inch thick.

2. Crush the garlic and chop the green onion.

3. Put the cucumbers, wakame, green onion, garlic, hot pepper powder, and 1
tablespoonful of vinegar in a bowl. Mix them well by hand.

4. Combine the remaining vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce with 4 cups of cooled
water.

5. For serving, pour the cooled soup on the mixture in the bowl, then sprinkle
the
roasted sesame seeds. Transfer it to individual bowls. This is often served
with an ice
cube in the bowl.

For our metric bretheren:  1tsp. = 5 ml,  1 Tbsp. = 15 ml

Yours in Service,
Selene