[Sca-cooks] Re: Llibre de Coch

[a5foil]

The ancestor of this dish used a fresh curd cheese called mató, and was not
a cooked dish. Mató does not taste salty (like a cottage cheese) or sour
(like chevre), and is whiter and fatter than ricotta. Now, it is almost
exclusively made with cow milk, but in the 14th and 15th century was made
from sheep or goat milk or a blend of the two. The closest substitute is
going to be ricotta.

The recipe wants you to take the curds just at the point they form, while
they are still soft.

Lady Brighid's translation is of the Logroño edition of 1529, translated
from the Catalan by Diego Pérez Dávila, Lord Mayor of Logroño. This recipe
does not appear in Nola's original, and was apparently added by Diego Pérez.
Logroño is on the south side of the Ebro river valley, due south from
Bilbao. This is sheep country. Almost all the aged cheeses of the region are
from sheep milk. You could use almost any cheese from the Basque country,
Burgos, Navarra, or Aragon. Any good, aged sheep milk cheese will do.
Manchego would be an excellent choice as an affordable alternative to
Parmesan.

Thomas

----- Original Message -----
From: <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 6:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Llibre de Coch


> On 30 May 01,, Vincent Cuenca wrote:
>
> > >I was looking through it and the Dish for Angels caught my attention.
I am
> > >going to give this one a try.  I would like some input from folks as to
> > >what
> > >"take one azumbre of milk in the season of curds" might mean.  Would
this
> > >be
> > >like riccotta or cottage cheese or would it be more like yogurt?
> >
> > I translated this a bit differently.  The original text is "tomar un
azumbre
> > de leche en tiempo de los requesones"; my translation is "take an
azumbre of
> > milk that has just formed curds".  My take is that he's talking about a
sort
> > of cottage cheese.
>
> Now that I look at it more closely, I think we're both right -- and
> both wrong.  The 1737 RAE dictionary says that "requeson" means
> the second curd which is made by cooking the whey of the milk
> after the cheese is made, ie., ricotta.  (Re-queson = re-cheese).
> The recipe goes on to say "cast them [the curds] into the milk".
> So you take the newly made ricotta and throw it into two liters of
> milk.  I would therefore translate that phrase as "at the time of
> [making] the curds."
>
> > Milk can curdle at any time, IIRC, and "tiempo" can
> > refer to time as well as season.
>
> > Then there
> > >is "a quarter pound of aged cheese" which I am pretty sure would be
just as
> > >I please but (I assume) a white cheese.  If anyone has any opinions
please
> > >post them as I will be trying a couple of versions this weekend.
> >
> > Usually, I tend to use Parmesan cheese when muddling around with de
Nola's
> > recipes.  An aged white cheese might be good too.  After all, de Nola
does
> > say over and over that these recipes are just guidelines for the
inventive
> > cook.  :)
>
> Parmesan is what I use.
>
> > Vicente
>
>
> Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
> Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
> mka Robin Carroll-Mann
> now at a new address: rcmann4 at earthlink.net
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