Subject: [Sca-cooks] Kiwi Cooking [was]Early Christmas gift

[Christina Nevin]

Serena da Riva wrote
>>Greetings, Well, I had to go get the little book that I have. It is
entitled "Kiwi Cook Book"
>>The first chapter is soups and there are three soups that have the
respective names of Toheroa, Paua and Pipi. These are
apparently seafoods indigenous to New Zealand. I thought these names sounded
very silly.


No sillier than any other foreign language. The words are Maori. They are
all shellfish. Toheroa (pron. toe-hee-row-ah) is a middle sized, delicately
flavored shellfish, comparable to scallops, and extremely popular (they have
problems with overfishing of them). Paua (pah-wa) is an abalone (the
distinctive bluegreen NZ one) and quite tricky to cook but well worth
getting it right. Pipi (pip-ee) are small, similar to baby clams, shellfish
with a mild taste.


>>There are also recipes for
things called Kina, and Pukaki. The main thing that made me laugh when
reading this cookbook was the recipe for Pukaki and Swan. The discussion on
swan
includes the following:
"Most hunters find the meat of swan rather strong, but a young swan can be
very tasty if properly cooked. An almost
infallible test is to press the beak between the fingers. If the beak snaps
then the swan will be good eating"
The very idea of eating swan is funny to me. I know one person that bought
swans to swim around in the pond on their
property. I think they spent several hundred dollars on them. So, the idea
of walking up to one and trying to squish
it's beak is very funny.


Kina (kee-nah) are sea urchin. Pukaki (poo-kah-kee) is a lake. Perhaps they
meant pukeko (poo-keh-ko) which is a native bird, now protected, though my
mother remembers eating it and not particularly liking it. Like swans, it
apparently has a strong taste. She also remembers eating swan in the 1950s.
In NZ it isn't illegal to eat them (as it is in the UK) and during the
Depression in the 30s and the lean post-war times they were a reasonably
common source of poultry meat. However there are only black swans. I don't
think there are any white swans in NZ (at least there aren't in Auckland). I
agree the idea of walking up to a swan and trying to squish its beak is
laughable - and possibly suicidal! Obviously written by someone who'd never
been around the nasty things.

Al Servizio Vostro
Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia | mka Tina Nevin
Thamesreach Shire, Insula Draconis, Drachenwald
http://www.thorngrove.net | thorngrove at thorngrove.net
"There is no doubt that great leaders prefer hard
drinkers to good versifiers." Aretino 1536
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


This electronic message contains information from CACI International Inc or
subsidiary companies, which may be confidential, proprietary,
privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure.  The information is
intended to be used solely by the recipient(s) named above.  If you are not
an intended recipient, be aware that any review, disclosure, copying,
distribution or use of this transmission or its contents is prohibited.  If
you have received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately
at postmaster at caci.co.uk
Viruses: Although we have taken steps to ensure that this e-mail and
attachments are free from any virus, we advise that in keeping with good
computing practice the recipient should ensure they are actually virus free.