[Sca-cooks] Re: ?? : Chicken & Pear Stew

[Susan Browning]

Greetings,

I used the redaction you posted for our Fall Collegium.  I made a test batch
in advance, and made some modifications.  I used the cider vinegar rather
than red wine, as a matter of taste preference.  I also used a lot less
vinegar than the redaction you found originally.  I used a combination of
bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, and a home grown bantam rooster.  So, I
roasted the chicken breasts, and started stewing the rooster right away.
Once the chicken breasts were partially done, I simmered them in the broth
with the rooster.  Once cooked, I removed the chicken, skinned, boned, and
chunked them, and then stewed them longer.  It came out very pleasant, but I
think I ended up using too little vinegar in an attempt to not use too much.

Eleanor

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bethra Spicewell" <christina_elisabeth at yahoo.com>
To: <olwentheodd at hotmail.com>; <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 9:58 PM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: ?? : Chicken & Pear Stew


> Greetings,
>
>  Olwen asked:
>
> >Hello. I was going back over this recipe as I
> >am planning on making it for
> >the company pot luck this week and I have
> >a question.  The redaction you
> >give here calls for red wine vinegar.  Why?
> > The original calls for grinding
> >the bread, spices and vinegar together (in
> >same amounts?) yet does not
> >specify the type so I would assume white.
>
> This isn't -my- redaction (I'm still getting to that stage <g>), and I
> don't remember where on the web I found it,  but -I- would assume red,
> rather than white, as I don't normally have any white wine vinegar, and
> I always have red and cider on hand. (Regular supermarket white is used
> for cleaning and making sour milk)
>      I actually used cider vinegar to make this for the dayboard, to
> allow for allergies. This also makes sense as being a fruit used with a
> fruit. For home consumption, I have used red wv. I think I like the
> cider vinegar better.
>
> >Also, the original calls for boiling
> >the under-baked chicken only in fat and
> >water.  I am supposing that the
> >redaction here calls for canned broth and
> >bouillon simply as a preference of
> >taste, though not very period.
>
>     The redaction, as written, called for these.
>      I did it this way as I only roasted part of the chicken pieces,
> and cooked the rest (skinned and boned) in "a good stock", made from
> the skin, bones and canned broth.
>      Maybe the redactor wanted both broth and cubes to put some flavor
> back into a supermarket bird ?  I usually add one or the other to
> poached chicken anyways, especially if it's boneless.
>      I do admit that I didn't use the original methods,  but I plead
> frustration, ignorance, and lazyness.  I'm learning, slowly. This was
> my first dayboard/feeding of the masses, and I went with what I'd done
> at home, 'cause I knew it worked.
>     Hope this helps. Let me know if you want the home-sized version of
> the recipe.
>
> Bethra
>
> =====
> Christina Elisabeth de la Griffon Riant
>    Barony of Stonemarche        EK
>