[Sca-cooks] Beef stew- redaction question

[Stefan li Rous]

Caitlin of Enniskillen said:
> I have made this more or less you way and also with home made bread using
> half whole wheat flour and half bread flour. The home made bread thickened
> the sauce a lot, but it wasn't sticky-gooey. I always meant to try it again
> with less bread, (but we never go to make the stew at Gulf War this year)...
>
> The time I made this recipe with store bought wheat bread turned out more
> gelatinous as yours did. I am not quite sure what is different between the
> two types of bread, but I much preferred the home made bread version (as did
> everyone else). I have made it with bread crumbs as well and get the more
> sticky broth.

I've made this recipe for the past two SCA-Cooks pot lucks at Gulf
Wars. It has gone over well both times and there were no leftovers
even though I made a double batch. However, I've always used Master
Cariadoc's redaction (found in the Florilegium and the Miscellany).
I'm afraid that this is the first time that I've noticed the
original said loaf and not crumbs or some such.

Like trenchers, some recipes do intentionally call for bread that
is older and therefor probably drier. I suspect the problem with
this recipe is the moisture already in the bread, as well as the
fact that a moister bread would not break up and crumble and therefor
not disperse as well in the liquid.

My suggestion would be to take the loaf and put it in a low temperature
oven or let it sit outside in dry area for awhile. And then follow
the original recipe directions.

Master Cariadoc, why did you choose to use bread crumbs instead
of the loaf and crumbling it in the stew later? You tend to be a very
strong proponent of following the period recipe as originally
written, at least for the first time.

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****