[Sca-cooks] medieval Japanese [food] for the total novice..

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Kiri reports:

> There is a new book out that I can't afford at the moment that has all of
> what you're asking about...Devra has it...it's a history of Japanese foods.

I need this book!  Title, author... or should we just check the Poison Pen
website?

> I think you are pretty much good to go with things like various veggies
>  cucumber, onion, spinach, snow peas, bean sprouts, mushrooms, carrots,
> etc., but not demonstrably new world things like bell pepper, etc.).  They
> also had things like various type of noodles, rice, millet, tofu, soy sauce,
> rice vinegar.  So far as meat/fish/poultry is concerned, you're always
> pretty safe with fish.  I usually tend to shy away from beef and pork, and
> I'm not sure about chicken.  Sushi is defnitely not period, at least the way
> we know about it, but, oddly enough, tempura is.  I have recently discovered
> that yakitori is probably a period dish as well.

Meat and poultry didn't catch on in Japan until relatively late in the game.
Remember in "Shogun," the grossed-out reactions when the English pilot hunted a
game bird and hung it out to age properly?  Our baron is a longtime lunch
provider but we can't break him of serving chicken teriyaki at tourneys, no
matter how many times we make him watch that scene.  Well, as long as the people
will eat it, he says.  *sigh*

Noodles go 'way back.  I read in a book about soba [buckwheat] noodles that a
noodle house restaurant figures in the tale of the 47 Ronin, as the spot where
they met to plan their vendetta.  The story took place in 1701-2, during the
Tokugawa shogunate, still a rather feudal period in that region, yesno?

The anecdotal information that I recall about Tempura is as follows:  some
Portuguese priests were frying fish [or maybe prawns] for their Friday dinner.
A Japanese, wondering why they were ruining perfectly good seafood that way,
asked why they were doing that?  The priests tried to explain that Friday was
the time for fish.  Latin for "time" is "tempora".  This tale may be
Snopes-worthy, but it's a good one.  Don't forget to leave the batter a little
lumpy and keep it ice-ice-cold.

> We are presently in the process of translating an almost-period Japanese
> cook book, the "Ryori Monogotari"...I believe that our translator has almost
> completed one chapter.  We will be sharing these as they are completed.

Huzzah!  I await this breathlessly.

Selene, Caid