[Sca-cooks] fennel sauce

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan sez:

>John le Burguillun said:
>>  There is a simple sauce recipe in the "Cuoco Napoletano" that uses fennel as
>>  an ingredient.  I did a redaction for a University class I taught on Sauces.
>>  People liked it well enough that it was one of the three sauces I sent to
>>  feed the 600 folks at Atlantian 20 Year.
>>
>>  119. Verjuice With Garlic
>>
>>  Get a little garlic, fresh fennel and basil, grind this with a little pepper
>>  and distemper it with good verjuice.
>
>Does the original actually say "distemper"? Or does it say "temper"?

The original is, of course, in Italian, or some dialect thereof; this
would probably be Terence Scully's translation. "Distemper" is one of
those peculiar, almost meaningless catch-phrases he uses (kind of
like sub-fry, for which there is a proper English culinary term: to
sweat -- to fry over low heat until soft, without browning or
crisping). Sort of an evasive place-holder for terms for which he can
come up with no really good one-word translation/equivalent. Probably
the best English word would be "macerate": to moisten and infuse.
Some might guess there's a physical crushing process to "distemper",
as in "stamp", but I'm not sure about that. I may be thinking more in
French than in Italian.

Adamantius