[Sca-cooks] Questions about de Nola

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On 16 Nov 2003, at 15:04, Sue Clemenger wrote:

> I'm having a pleasant Sunday afternoon, reading de Nola on the
> Florilegium (I'm trolling for ideas for a feast bid), and have had my
> curiosity prickled by a couple of things.

> 1.  "Cheese of Aragon" appears relatively frequently, usually in such a
> way as to indicate that it is a hard cheese, like Parmesan or
> something.  Does anyone have anything more exact as to what it actually
> is?

Regrettably, no.

> 2.  A number of the sauces and pottages are strained through a woolen
> cloth.  Would this more likely have been a coarse cloth, allowing small
> particles of the almonds or chicken or whatever to pass through, or a
> finer quality, designed to make everything puree-ish?

I'm going to give you one of my long-winded answers.  :-)

The Spanish word is estameña.  The English term is tamis-cloth or tammy-cloth.  
The RAE dictionary describes it as being woven from fine, twisted strands of wool.  
Modern definitions of tamis say that it is made of worsted wool.  (Worsted: Firm-
textured, compactly twisted woolen yarn made from long-staple fibers.)

One of the recipes that mentions the woolen cloth is #68 (pottage of fat made with 
milk).  It says (regarding almond milk) "cast half of the milk into it and strain it with 
your woolen cloth, or with a horsehair sieve, or with a clean linen cloth".  

>From these various bits of information, I'd guess that the woolen cloth should be 
about the equivalent of a fine wire sieve (which is what I use for straining almond 
milk).  I don't recall any recipes in de Nola containing chicken or anything really solid 
being strained through wool.  There are some sauces containing ground liver blended 
with broth -- those I would assume to be a rather liquid puree, and the cloth would 
catch any bits of liver that were not properly pureed.

> 3.  Does anyone have an online or mail-order source for sour orange
> juice? It's just *not* available up here....

I tend to follow Barbara Santich's suggestion, and mix regular orange juice with 
lemon juice.

> Thanks in advance,
> Maire
> _______________________________________________
> Sca-cooks mailing list
> Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net