[Sca-cooks] Feast Experiments

[Barbara Benson]

Greetings,
Stefan asked a couple of questions & I will attempt to answer them to the
best of my ability.
> Can you post the original recipe translation?
A while back on this very list I requested info on anise dishes. His Grace
Caridoc was kind enough to post multiple recipies for me to choose from on
3/4/02 and this was one of them.
-Recipe for Oven Cheese Pie, Which We Call Toledan
-Andalusian p. A-64
-Make dough as for musammana and make a small leafy round loaf of it.
-Then roll it out and put sufficient pounded cheese in the middle.
-Fold over the ends of the loaf and join them over the cheese on all
-sides; leave a small hole the size of a dinar on top, so the cheese
-can be seen, and sprinkle it with some anise. Then place it in the
-oven on a slab, and leave it until it is done, take it out and use
-it, as you wish.

> Why did you choose those particular two cheeses? And why the mix of
> two cheeses?
First thing I did was go to the Miscellany and see what Caridoc had done. He
made small loaves and used feta. I wanted to make one per table about 8
inches across when finished & thought that feta would be cost prohibitive
and feta is a very strong cheese that not everyone likes. So, I thought
about cheeses that could be pounded and that melted pretty good. The soft
curd type cheeses were right out as well as the harder cheeses, so I
narrowed it down to semi-soft cheeses. I thought brie would be good but it
is VERY expensive & maybe a bit too soft & high fat. So I thought I would
use some brie for the flavor and a mild cheese that it would mix well with.
I started thinking about cheeses that melt well, are less expensive, and
easy to buy in bulk (at Sams). Queso for Melting fits the bill and is almost
a farmer's cheese. The other thought was Mozzerella but the fake stuff you
can buy cheap is mostly water and I think it would kill the pastry - and the
real stuff, while it is the food of the gods, is very expensive.

> How stretchy does this cheese end up getting? I'm wondering just how
> easy this dish is to eat without forks and with just a spoon and knife.
> Particularly if shared in a "mess". Sounds pretty messy to me. :-)
That is one of the other reasons I selected the queso cheese. It melts
beautifully but when it cools it firms up nicely. It also cuts perfectly
without any stretchieness or oozing (another drawback of mozzerella) it
actually slices better than most pies I have made. If you served it piping
hot out of the oven it would be a huge mess, but if you let it sit and cool
down at least 30 min then it congeals and slices just fine. Of course it is
tastier as an ooey gooey mess but there are other things in my feast that
need will not sit as well and will need the out of the oven and out the door
treatment more than it does.

> THLord Stefan li Rous
Sorry this has gotten so long, I am nothing if not thorough. I bet this will
teach you to ask me leading questions.
Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva