[Sca-cooks] Questions about de Nola

[Barbara Benson]

> Brighid ni Chiarain> I'm also amused by recipes that tell you how to make
a dish, and then end
> with something like, "But in truth it's better if you leave [ingredient]
out and
> put in [other ingredient] instead.

My personal favorite:

124. CAZUELA DE CARNE You must take meat and cut it into pieces the size of
a walnut, and gently fry it with the fat of good bacon; and when it is well
gently fried, cast in good broth, and cook it in a casserole; and cast in
all fine spices, and saffron, and a little orange juice or verjuice, and
cook it very well until the meat begins to fall apart and only a little
broth remains; and then take three or four eggs beaten with orange juice or
verjuice, and cast it into the casserole; and when you wish to eat, give it
four or five stirs with a large spoon, and then it will thicken; and when it
is thick, remove it from the fire; and prepare dishes, and cast cinnamon
upon each one. However, there are those who do not wish to cast in eggs or
spice, but only cinnamon and cloves, and cook them with the meat, as said
above, and cast vinegar on it so that it may have flavor; and there are
others who put all the meat whole and in one piece, full of cinnamon, and
whole cloves, and ground spices in the broth, and this must be turned little
by little, so that it does not cook more at one end than the other. And so
nothing is necessary but cloves and cinnamon, and those moderately.

OK,

Chopped Meat, Bacon, All Fine Spices, Saffron, Verjuice or Orange Juice,
eggs, Cinnamon.
OR
Maybe no eggs or spice but only cinnamon and cloves but add vinegar
OR
Don't chop the meat but have lots of cinnamon, cloves, and ground spices
But really
just a little cloves and cinnamon with your meat.

And make sure to only stir it four or five times. Not three, and six is
right out.

Bwa hahahahahaha

-Serena da Riva