[Sca-cooks] Cooking questions from Teceangl

[Daniel Myers]

I can help with a couple of these.

On Wednesday, December 4, 2002, at 10:22 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

[snip]

> 5) What sort of rice is closest to what was used in 14th-15th C France?

 From the number of "white" dishes that use rice, and since rice
production appeared to have been tightly controlled by the far east, I
suspect that white rice (medium grain?) is pretty close to what was
used at that time throughout Europe.  I currently do not have any
evidence to back this up, but I'm working on it.

> 6) Can you freeze almond milk and then thaw it as anything usable?

I've found that a passable almond milk can be made fairly quickly using
a food processor and a sieve - skip straining it through a cloth, that
takes forever.  Grind the almonds, add hot water, run the food
processor for a bit longer, let sit for a few minutes, and then strain.
  It may be less efficient, but a large amount can be made in a short
amount of time.

> 7) Do any of the sauces in _Early French Cookery_ or _The Medieval
> Kitchen_
> freeze or otherwise keep, or shall I plan on making all sauces
> on-site?  Can
> any sauces be frozen or kept before thickening is added and then
> warmed and
> thickened on-site?

The almond leek sauce from _Early French Cookery_ keeps well for a day
or so when refrigerated and reheats just fine (which is a good thing
because it takes a good amount of prep time and needs to cook a while).
  With most of the thickened sauces though you probably wouldn't save
much time by pre-mixing, warming, and thickening instead of making the
sauce completely on-site.

- Doc


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  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.medievalcookery.com/
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