[Sca-cooks] online glossary: blow, blow up

[tgl at mailer.uni-marburg.de]

<< Blow him = a method of skinning an animal by inserting a straw
between the flesh and the skin,  and inflating the animal like a
balloon; the air ruptures the interior membrane, thereby  loosening the
skin and making it easier to remove. (TTEM) >>

I am not sure if the purpose of blowing up is always to remove the skin.
There are a few recipes for stuffed poultry where the technique is used
to first lift the skin from the meat (but not to remove totally) and
then to put some kind of farce between the skin and the meat.

Here are some recipes mentioning blowing up (for either purpose):

-- Viandier # 66 (_enfler_ Scully p. 121; Pichon/Vicaire p. 92f.)
This recipe and the other three from the Vatican Viandier are online.

-- Viandier # 72 (Scully p. 135; Pichon/V. p. 94)

-- Viandier #213 (souffler; Scully p. 267; Pichon/V. p. 130)

-- Viandier #214 (souffler; Scully p. 268; Pichon/V. p. 130)

-- Rheinfränkisches Kochbuch, German 1445, 290v.2 ("... so lufft sie als
ein hune ..."; probably 'blow the goose up like a chicken'; see the note
in the edition.) -- In this German recipe from the Rheinfränkisches
Kochbuch, one must "fulle die gans da mit" 'fill the goose with the
farce' [I think: between the skin and the meat], later the recipe
states: "vnd stoisz sie auch inwenig" 'and press the farce also inside
the goose'. Thus, there seem to be two places to stuff: (1) between the
skin and the meat, (2) inside.

-- Diversa Servicia # 28 "Nym a penne & opyn [th]e sckyn at [th]e heuyd
& blowe hem tyl [th]e sckyn ryse from [th]e flesche ..."

-- Harl. 4016 (Austin p. 81):
"Chik farsed. ¶ Take a faire chek, and skald him, and breke the skyn (as
sone as he is scalded) in the necke behinde, and blowe him, And cast him
in faire water, and wass him; and þen kutte of þe hede and nek, and lete
þe ffete be on al hole, and draw him clene; and þen pike faire parcelly,
and parboile hit; And þen take hard yolkes of eyron, and hewe hem and þe
parcelly togidre, and fress grece, and caste there-to pouder of ginger,
peper, a litel saffron and salt, And put al in-to þe Chike, and put hit
on a Spitte; And thenne late him roste, and serue fort(h)."

In his note 3 on page 123 of his Viandier edition, Scully mentions
several other recipes, some of which use this kind of inflating
technique, e.g. two recipes in the Arabic _Wusla_ reported by Rodinson
(Recherches p. 157; kind of boneless chicken).

Thus: as far as I can see, blowing up is used both to stuff some farce
between the skin and the meat, and to remove the skin without damage in
order to fill the skin with something, e.g. to get a boneless chicken.

Th.