[Sca-cooks] Caviar

[Stefan li Rous]

Olwen asked:
> Hi everyone.  Does anyone have a period recipe involving caviar?  How about
> red caviar?  I have a giant jar of it and need to figure out what in the
> world to do with it.


 From this file in the FEASTS section of the Florilegium:
fish-feast-art     (6K)  3/29/00    Details and recipes for a mid-Lent
                                        "fish feast" by Rudd Rayfield.

> Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 15:38:48 EST
> From: RuddR at aol.com
> Subject: SC - Mid Lent 2000
<snip>

> I more or less halved the proportions given in the
> original, with a bit more rice and a bit less caviar.  Not having pike eggs,
> I used black caviar, which turned the pie pale green.  Red caviar would
> produce a different effect.

> PAPAL TORTE
> Sweet Fish Paste and Caviar Pie
>
> Get a pound and a half of soft-textured sturgeon or good pike; well cooked by
> boiling, and be careful not to leave any bones, then grind it up thoroughly;
> when ground, take it out of the mortar, get half a pound of almonds and a few
> pinenuts and grind them together; then get half a pound of rice well cooked
> in almond milk and grind it with the above; add in a pound of sugar, half an
> ounce of ginger, a little cinnamon, salt, saffron and a beaker of pike eggs,
> and strain everything; make a crust in the pan as is directed above, putting
> the mixture onto it.
> MS B¸hler 19
>
> Pastry dough for one nine-inch pie crust
> 3/4 lb mild, skinless fish fillets
> 3/4 C blanched almonds
> 1/4 C pinenuts
> 1/2 C rice
> 3/4 C strained almond milk
> 3/4 C water
> 1/4 C caviar or other fish eggs
> 1 C sugar
> 1/2 tsp ginger
> 1/8 tsp each cinnamon and saffron
> Salt to taste
>
> 1.  Pre-heat oven to 3508
>
> 2. In a pot, over medium heat, bring water to a boil. Immerse fish, return to
> the boil, reduce heat, and simmer for three to five minutes, or until fish is
> cooked through.  Remove fish, drain, and break into chunks.
>
> 3. In a pot, combine rice with water and almond milk, bring to a boil, reduce
> heat, and simmer, covered, for ten to fifteen minutes until liquid is
> completely absorbed.
>
> 4. In a blender or food processor, adding about a tablespoon of water, grind
> the almonds and pinenuts together to a fine paste.
>
> 5. Add fish and rice to the nut paste in the blender and grind everything
> together to a fine paste. Add sugar, spices and caviar and blend them into
> the mixture as well.
>
> 6. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for forty-five minutes.
>
> Serves eight to twelve
>
> Rudd Rayfield

Stefan