[Sca-cooks] Adventures in redaction...LONG

[Helen Highwater]

Lainie did write:
>an Onion or Shallot Tart, #77 in _The Medieval Kitchen_.
SNIP
>the translated (not redacted) recipe:
>
>"Torta of shallots, or of onions, etc. If you want to make a torta of these
>two things, take whichever you like and boil it well. First thoroughly
>remove the water with a sieve, and then chop them fine, and take good pork
>fat and chop it well; take eggs and fresh cheese and saffron and chop them
>together, and make the torta."

In your considerations of re-working...

First, lardo may be like the French lardons, which is sort of fat
back or whatever - it's chunks of unrendered fat with bits of meat in
it... if so, the bacon isn't far off.

Second, there's an interpretation issue - i'm not looking at the
original, but the translation says:
>  ...take eggs and fresh cheese and saffron and chop them together...

So it seems possible to me that perhaps they want already boiled eggs.

>  The cheese and eggs. I think I would use more eggs and a little less
>  cheese. It is very crumbly and not holding together. Not at all like a
>  quiche, more like a cheesecake with onions in it (don't all gag at once!).

Doesn't sound gaggy - since it isn't sweet it sounds delicious. And
i've had breakfast pastries made with carmelized onions that were
both sweet and savory, so it doesn't sound weird to me. Back when
Chez Panisse first opened and it was affordable and you could just
walk in and get a table, they began serving Sunday brunch. These
pastries i had at brunch there have stayed in my mind longer than
whatever i ate for dinner - i remember which of my 1930's evening
dresses i wore to dinner, but can't recall what i ate.

As for the cheese - you could experiment. Farmer/pot cheese is drier
than Ricotta, and i would think that the difference in texture would
influence the final outcome. Neither is terribly fatty (or at least
they don't seem so to me) compared to most aged cheeses. So i think
they'd work when enriched with the tasty pork fat.

Anahita