[Sca-cooks] Lenten oils, was Honey Butter?

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On 6 Mar 2002, at 11:30, A F Murphy wrote:

> What did people in the north use as cooking fats during Lent? They
> couldn't use either butter or lard, which I think were otherwise the
> standards. The only oil I know about in period (my knowledge not being
> extensive) is olive oil, and while that might have been available, how
> common would it have been?

I'm sure the wealthy would have imported olive oil.  The other oil
that was in use was rapeseed oil (commonly called canola oil in
modern U.S.)  According to C. Anne Wilson in _Food and Drink in
Britain_, large-scale cultivation of rapeseed did not begin until the
16th century; before that, the oil was mostly imported from
Flanders.

> Of course, this actually raises another question. As I write this, I
> realize I take it for granted that they needed to brown onions, sauté
> some foods, pan fry fish...  Did they, actually? I haven't read many
> recipes yet, but it occurs to me that I don't think I have encountered
> these techniques much, if at all, yet.

There are period recipes for pan-frying all kinds of foods, though
deep-frying recipes are rare.  I took a quick look through the fish
section of _Take a Thousand Eggs_.  Most of the recipes call for
grilling, roasting, or stewing the fish, but there are a few that say to
fry them in oil.


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net