[Sca-cooks] 12th Night Ideas

[Elaine Koogler]

----- Original Message -----
>
> Just checked out "Dining with William Shakespeare" and found two used
copies
> at $140.00 and $160.00. Ack! Yes Kiri, please may I have the recipe, m'am?
> Thank you. I will however be ordering a copy of All the Kings Cooks, that
> sounds neat!

Sorry for the delay...I realized that the copy I had online was for 150
people, so thought I should send you the original:

To Sowce a Pigge
Take white Wine and a little sweet broth, and halfe a score nutmegs cut into
quarters, then take Rosemarie, Baies, Time, and sweet margerum, and let them
boyle altogether. skum them very cleane; and when they be boyled, put them
in an earthen pan, and the syrop also, and when yee serve them, a quarter of
a pig in a dish, and the Bays and nutmegs on the top.
           --Thomas Dawson, "The good Huswife's Jewell"

The Working Version:
One 1 1/2 pound piece of boned loin of pork
1/3 yard cheesecloth
2 1/2 cups veal or chicken broth
2 cups dry white wine
3 bay leaves
1 nutmeg broken up
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1 1/2 tsp. salt.

Remove all but a thin covering of fat from the pork.  Roll the meat up
tightly int he cheesecloth and tie it as you would a roast, then make a knot
in the cheesecloth at each end.

Put the broth, one cup of wine, and the seasonings into a two-quart saucepan
with atight-fitting lid and bring to a boil.  Ad the pork roll; low the heat
to simmar, and cook, covered, until a fork will easily penetrate the meat--2
to 2 1/2 hours.  Remove the meat from the cooking broth and put it into a
glass or stainless-steel bowl.  Pour the second cup of wine over it, add the
herbs from the cooking broth, and as much of the broth as is needed to
completely cover the roll.  Cover the bowl with a plastic bowl cover; set
aside until cold, then refrigerate.

Marinat the pork for at least one week, turning it once a day.  To serve,
remove the cheesecloth covering and slice the meet about 1/4 inch thick.
Arrange the slices on a shallow serving dish and spoon a little of the
sousing liquid over them with some of the spices.  Serve with a sauce of
prepared mustard to which a little vinegar has been added.
......
Brawn was a cold-weather dish.  "It is accounted a great piece of service at
the table from November until February be ended, " wrote Harrison, "but
chiefly in the Christmas time..."
....Cookbook bills of fare for winter feasts all begin with a dish of brawn.
"A Proper newe Booke of Cookerye" specifies "Brawne and mustarde"; Murell
uses a "Shield or collar of Brawne"; Robert May's menu for All-Saints Day
begins with "A collar of Brawne and mustard"; and Rabisha starts his menu
with "a Collar of Brawn".

I have included some of the notes that Ms. Lorwin had with the recipe so
that you have a little more idea of how important this dish was to the
holiday celebrations at the time.

Hope this helps.  What we did was to cook these about a week and a half
before the feast, then put them, wtih their marinade in heavy-duty "baggies.
Worked really well!  I used a German mustard mixed with a little white wine
vinegar...but if you were to make your own, that would be good as well!


> Kiri, you are going to overload my wish list on Barnes and Noble! I just
> added Fooles and Fricassees too! Is the full title of "A Taste of History"
> "A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain"?

Yes, that's the one.  I bought it, oddly enough, at the airport in London!!!
I really didn't realize what a treasure I had.
> As this progresses, I will keep you updated!  Thanks again!
>
> John Marshall of Hartshorn-Dale
>
Yes, I hope you will....I'd love to see your final menu!

Good luck!!!

Kiri