[Sca-cooks] Atlantian Twentieth Year Celebration - Feast Notes

[Elaine Koogler]

That's weird.  I guess it's because I used Word, which turned my fractions into
strange symbols when e-mailed.  Here is my recipe with real measurements:

Crusta ex Cicuribus
Crust for Tame Animals

This is one of Maestro Martino’s recipes, which Platina included in his De Honesta
Voluptate (On Right Pleasure and Good Health).  The original was named Per fare
una crostata di pollastri ho pipione ho chapretti.  The major differences between
the two, according to the translator, Mary Ella Milham, is that Martino mentions
pleasing one’s patron, whereas Platina does not as he is not addressing his work
to professional cooks.  However, he adds medical advice that is not in Martino’s
version.

The translated original:

If you want a crust with chicks and any sort of bird, first boil them.  When they
are almost cooked, take them out of the kettle, and when they are out, cut them up
in pieces, and fry in a frying pan with plenty of lard.  Then pour them out into a
pan or well-oiled earthen pot lined with a crust.  Add plums and cherries or sour
fruit to this mixture without harm.  Then beat with a paddle verjuice and eight
eggs, if you are having more guests, or fewer, with a few, with a moderate amount
of juice.  With this, mix parsley, majoram and mint chopped as finely as possible
with a knife, and place on a fire but far from the flame, for it must boil
slowly.  Meanwhile it ought to be stirred with a spoon as long as needed until it
covers the spoon with a thick coating.  Finally, pour this juice over the crust
and put it on the fire, even if it is a meat pie.  When it is cooked, serve it to
your guests.  It will be very nourishing, digest slowly, leave little indigestible
residue, repress bile, and irritate the chest.

My redaction:

1 1/2 lbs. Chicken
1 pint chicken stock
pastry for crust
1 cup dried or (reconstitute in white wine)
3/4 cup verjuice (or 1/2 cup white wine and 6 tsp. white wine vinegar)
6 eggs
1 3/4 tsp. each majoram, mint and parsley
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chicken stock

Boil the chicken pieces in chicken stock until almost cooked.  Bone the chicken
and brown in a little olive oil.  Line a deep-dish pie shell with pastry, then
fill with the chicken and cherries.  Pour the sauce over the pie and bake until
browned on top at 325 degrees.

Sauce:
Blend eggs, verjuice (or wine/vinegar mixture) and ½ cup chicken stock together.
Add parsley, marjoram and mint and mix thoroughly.  Cook over a low heat, stirring
constantly until thickened so that it clings to the spoon.

Notes:  For ease of eating, I have boned the chicken rather than leaving it in
pieces as the recipe suggests.  I also have found that the pie is richer if the
chicken is cooked in stock.  I was quite lucky in being able to find verjuice to
use this time.  It is very exciting to be able to use the period ingredient rather
than a substitute.

Bibliography

Milham, Mary Ellen.  Platina:  On Right Pleasure and Good Health.  Tempe,
     Arizona:  University of Arizona, 1998.

Santich, Barbara.  The Original Mediterranean Cuisine.  Totnes, Devon, UK:
     Prospect Books, 1996.

There's also a little more information, like sources, etc.  Use what you wish.....

Kiri


Stefan li Rous wrote:

> > Here is the text of the "Atlantia 20 Year Feast Notes"
> >
> > ~Tirloch
>
> Master Tirloch has posted a menu and recipes from the recent Atlantian
> Event. I would like to add this message to the Florilegium as a feast in
> my FEASTS section. Unfortunately, My secret decoder ring doesn't seem to
> work on some of these recipe measurements. I'm going ahead and asking this
> publicly since others may have this problem also.
>
> Since the missing fractions seem to be consistant, I think all we
> need is what each character phrase really represents. So here are
> some examples:
> > Crusta ex Cicuribus
> > Crust for Tame Animals
> >
> > 1 =BD lbs. Chicken                                1 pint chicken stock
> > pastry for crust                                    1 cup dried cherries
> > (reconstitute in white wine)
> > 6 eggs                                                  1 =BE tsp. each mar=
> > joram, mint
> > and parsley
> > =BE tsp. Salt                                            =BD cup chicken st=
> > ock
> > =BE cup verjuice (or =BD cup white wine and 6 tsp. white wine vinegar)
>
> "=BD"?
> "=BE"?
>
> > Pour the sauce over the pie and bake until brown=
> > ed on top
> > at 325=B0.
>
> Obviously, "=B0" = "degrees".
>
> > Bread (THL Felicia - Marinus)
>
> > 2 =BC cups all purpose flour    1/3 cup sugar
> > 1 =BD teaspoons salt               2 tablespoons instant yeast
> > 1-1/2 cup water                     1 stick unsalted butter
> > 2 cups quick cooking oats   2 eggs
> > 2 to 2 =BD cups all purpose flour
>
> "=BC"?
>
> I *think* that is all of them.
>
> Thanks, Stefan.
> --
> THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
> Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
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