[Sca-cooks] Waffres

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Craig Jones. wrote:

> Ok,  I'm planning to redact this recipe over the next few days.  My
> guess is that "Take þe Wombe of A luce" is referring to the Womb of a
> fish, which I'm guessing is Isinglass.  It would make sense for a
> wafer recipe to include a gelling agent I guess.  Any opinions folks?


Isinglass is derived from the swim bladder of the sturgeon, I'm pretty
sure, and you can find large pieces of puffy fried fish maw (which is
actually the swim bladder) in Asian groceries. It is one of those
nearly-tasteless-but-with-an-interesting-texture ingredients much prized
in Chinese soups.

Whether this recipe is referring to the swim bladder or the hard roe of
the female luce (which is a pike of sorts, BTW), I don't know. It would
be tempting to assume the latter, and assume it is there as a substitute
for cheese on a fish-day recipe, but the recipe also seems to call for
cheese, so presumably that's not an issue.
Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98