[Sca-cooks] butter

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:

> Also sprach Stefan li Rous:
> >Maire commented:
> >>I also ran across a mention, in one section of the Anon. Andalusian
> >>cookbook (I've been spending a lot of time in it lately), that refers to
> >>some people's custom of using butter with their bread, although I
> >>remember thinking that it was unclear (to me, at least) if that was a
> >>reference to butter-as-ingredient or butter-as-condiment.
> >
> >Interesting. If as a condiment this would conflict the general
> >impression that southern Europe used olive oil while northern Europe
> >used butter. Since I thought part of this was based on the fact
> >that butter will not keep long in the southern climate, while olive
> >trees don't grow well in northern Europe, I wonder how this butter
> >was kept in Andalusia, which I thought was Spain.
> >
> >Perhaps there are mountainous areas in Spain which are cooler than
> >Spain in general? Or maybe if you mix it into bread quick enough you
> >don't have to worry about the butter going rancid?
>
> Butter is used pretty extensively in the Middle East and in India,
> but making ghee (a cooked, clarified butter product which is not
> really the same thing as ordinary clarified butter) is an excellent
> way to preserve it. I suppose it's possible that some form of ghee is
> what the Anon. author is talking about.
>
> Also, there's the distinct possibility that the climate of
> 13th-century Spain is different from what we'd expect today. In fact,
> some of the dishes in the Anonymous collection seem as if they may
> reflect the foodways of the pre-Islamic, Celtic Spanish. Butter use
> may be a part of that, along with a general avoidance of chick peas,
> for example (IIRC).
>

Oooh! Oooh! I can add to this one. It was cooler in Europe during what we
consider the high middle ages. The Romans grew grapes in Britain, during
the 13th century it was too cold. So it's not unreasonable to consider
that Spain, Portugal, and France, all who share the same heating system as
Britain (the Gulf Stream) would be cooler as well.

Also, the Celtic peoples were apparently big on butter. Or so I've read.

Margaret