[Sca-cooks] Novice Saffron User

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

The recipe for Darioles from Ancient Cookery (Curye on Inglysch) includes, 
potentially, saffron. It's mostly supposed to be for color, but there's no 
reason to not increase the amount to where you can taste it. It's really 
good in the cheese variation.

Margaret


>From the Miscellany (because I am horrendously lazy and don't feel like 
transcribing when I get home:

Darioles
Ancient Cookery p. 37/443

Take cream of almonds, or of cow milk, and eggs, and beat them well 
together; and make small coffins, and do it therein; and do thereto sugar 
and good powders, or else take good fat cheese and eggs, and make them of 
divers colors, green, red, or yellow, and bake them and serve them forth.

1 1/3 c milk and cream
1/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1/6 t salt
enough pastry for 2 9" pie crusts

colorings, each in a quantity for 1/3 of the filling:
6 threads of saffron in 1 t water
3/16 t of saunders
2 T parsley mashed and strained with 2 t water

Make pastry into tart shells in muffin tins and bake about 10 minutes. 
Make filling, divide in three and color one part with saffron, one with 
saunders, and one with parsley juice. Pour into tart shells and bake. The 
recipe makes 15 tarts.

> 
> Hey all from Anne-Marie
> 
> As a novice saffron user, I'd suggest a dish that really lets you see
> and taste what it is that saffron DOES. In most highly flavored medieval
> recipes, the saffron is just one note among many (mmmm...saffron in
> paste en pot lamb stew, or in that almond lemon chicken from The
> Original Mediterrean Cuisine....)
> 
> I routinely stir a small pinch of saffron into sweet custard tart
> filling. The threads make pretty red streaks, and you can actually TASTE
> it. 
> 
> Basically make your favorite custard tart, with a bit of cinnamon and
> nutmeg, and add a pinch of saffron. Most of the sources, even to roman
> times have a recipe for a custard tart of some kind. My personal fave
> combo is using honey as the sweetener yum!
> 
> Good luck :) and happy saffroning! :)
> 
> --AM
> 
> 
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