Fw: [Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks digest, Vol 1 #2334 - 12 msgs

[Phlip]

OK, Paul's reply...

Phlip


> Reply:
>
> Gene Anderson is the expert for Ni Tsan and he is in Italy right now so I
> will pass what Philippa forwarded along to him for comments.
>
> On tea. The Chinese certainly drank tea during the period in question
(14th
> century) and lots of it. Tea, however, was only beginning to catch on in
> Central Asia and its rise to dominance as the Mongol drink of choice had
> only just begun. If you are serving some Chinese dishes, tea, as we know
it,
> would be fine. Probably a green tea or one of the other unfermented teas
> would be best, but most of the modern varieties (not including the "red"
or
> black trade teas) already existed. If its Mongol food the beverage choices
> would be a) kumiss, the preferred drink, b) a sharbat, probably
> non-alcoholic but fermented ones were served as well, use a Persian
recipe,
> or c) "Mongolian Tea," i.e., brick tea boiled in milk. Tsampa, tea with
> butter and other things was also consumed. For lack of period recipes use
> modern Tibetan ones. "Mongolian Tea," by the way, which I have had, is
> excellent. However, in general, no self-respecting Mongol during the
period
> would have been without his kumiss. That was THE prestige food. If you
can't
> get horse kumiss, use camel.
>
> Baklava. Mongols popularized it but it was not the baklava of today.
Layers
> were thicker and there was more use of nuts and the sweetness was based on
> honey and not sugar. One Mongol-era recipe we have calls for a bean paste
> for the dough parts but we substituted semolina, which works fine. You end
> up with a pile of thin pancakes with nuts in between and a honey poured
over
> the whole. Excellent, by the way. In fact, superb. The word baklava is
> probably a Turkicized form of a Mongolian word, by the way.
>
> Dolmathes are definitely not Mongol-era, as is chow mein. The latter is
even
> south Chinese. Use Ni Tsan for the Chinese dishes of the era. We will add
to
> this corpus, for north China, Ni Tsan is central, shortly (see below about
> the third Yuan source).
>
> The third Yuan manuscript is coming along but I was slowed down by another
> book. We intend to circulate recipes out there to SCA land (Elaine Koogler
> has already signed up to help) when we get far enough along. We have roped
> in Sabban on this one, so it should be quite a book when we get it done.
>
> Hope I hit all the points.
>
> Good idea about the eggplant. Yes, they were probably not the huge
eggplants
> we find in the supermarket. More like the smaller "Japanese" eggplants.
Not
> quite period, but the Uzbeks do a wonderful stuffed tomato too. Same idea.
>
> Keep the comments coming guys!!!
>
> Paul D. Buell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phlip" <phlip at 99main.com>
> To: "Buell" <pbuell at seanet.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 11:44 PM
> Subject: Fw: [Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks digest, Vol 1 #2334 - 12 msgs
>
>
> > Was going to forward this to you anyway, because of the question of
things
> > to serve with tea from "Soup" and at the end there was a question
> addressed
> > to you....
> >
> > Phlip
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jones, Craig" <Craig.Jones at airservices.gov.au>
> > To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 2:06 AM
> > Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks digest, Vol 1 #2334 - 12 msgs
> >
> >
> > >
> > > > I agree with HG Cariadoc, though, that there are probably
appropriate
> > > > recipes for little dishes in the Ni Tsan Cloud Forest
Whatchamacallit
> > > > (Drakey? You getting this?) and in A Soup for the Qan.
> > >
> > > Yeah.  I'm getting it...
> > >
> > > In 'Cloud Forest Hall Rules', I'd say:
> > >
> > > *  Honeyed Stuffed Crabs
> > > *  Imitation Scallops made from Fish
> > > *  Yellow Bird Buns
> > > *  BBQ Pork
> > > *  Wonton (with chicken and apricot kernel paste) - not served in
> > > broth...
> > > *  Water Dragonlets
> > >
> > > Other possibilities:
> > >
> > > *  Adjust the BBQ Goose recipe so you have thin slivers of BBQ Goose
> > >    Breast???
> > > *  Adjust the 'Snow Temple' Vegetable recipe so that it's milk curd
> > > wrapped
> > >    in a bite-sized piece of cabbage and steamed?
> > >
> > > In 'A soup for the Qan':
> > >
> > > *  Poppy Seed Buns ,
> > > *  Cow's milk Buns,
> > >
> > > I can look for more recipes from this source later if you need 'em...
> > > those are the 2 finger food items I can remember off the top of my
> > > head...
> > >
> > > Other possibilities:
> > >
> > > *  If you used the small Lebanese eggplants, I reckon bite-sized
> > > Eggplant
> > >    Manta would be great...
> > > *  Braised lamb heart (slice the hearts very thinly and roll them in
> > > half
> > >    and skewer with toothpick perhaps?
> > >
> > > > I mean, if the
> > > > justification for doing a Chinese meal with tea is that it is more
> > > > period than an afternoon "tea", then you probably need more in the
> > > > way of period Chinese recipes, or you'd just be substituting one
> > > > non-period thing for another. It also adds credence to the erroneous
> > > > theory that ethnic food is period by default.
> > >
> > > Ooo yeah, I hate that.  If I see Baklava or Dolmades at another middle
> > > eastern feast then I'm gonna scream!  And the feast where they served
> > > chow mein quite a few years back was 'special'.  Hopefully with these
2
> > > sources, those days are behind us.  I've still been unsuccessful
hunting
> > > down primary sukothai and ayuttayan recipes so my plan on cooking
period
> > > thai food still hasn't happened yet :(
> > >
> > > Philp, what's the status of the 3rd Yuan chinese manuscript that they
> > > are translating and does Paul Buell need any help?
> > >
> > > Hopefully there are enough ideas above to get you going?  I'm happy to
> > > send those recipes (and what redactions I have) to the person who
needs
> > > it.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > > Drake.