Not OOP--serving shrimp (was Re: [Sca-cooks] OP: shrimps

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 12/2/2003 3:57:24 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
> pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com writes:
> 
> <<In C. Anne Wilson's  _Food in Britain_, she talks about shrimp being eaten 
> in period and that they were served with vinegar. But that's all that she 
> says. How would one go about cooking and serving shrimp, for, say, a 13th 
> c. feast? Or would this have been considered low-class and not served?>>
> 
> 
> No, there are definitely recipes for shrimps, "lopisters", and similar items 
> in period recipe manuscripts.  I know there is at least one in Take a Thousand 
> Eggs.  They mostly just seem to be "boil and serve with vinegar".  Quite 
> tasty, too - I did some for an intro to medieval food class that I did for local 
> Girl Scout leaders.
> 
> Brangwayna

Ah. I don't own Take a Thousand Eggs (but it's on my list, really it is). 
I do have Curye on Inglysch, and I've seen the recipe(s) for fish-bugs 
(but since I don't actually like lobster I tend to ignore it). So how 
would one serve boiled shrimp in period? Shell-on, or peeled? Cut up in 
bits? Swimming in vinegar or just a sprinkle on top?

Apparently shellfish are still eaten with vinegar in places like 
Maryland--my brother-in-law eats shrimp and lobster this way.

Margaret