[Sca-cooks] Redacting another Jewish dish (fwd)

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On 23 Sep 2003, at 16:11, jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:

> 
> Among the stuff in _A Drizzle of Honey_, there is one account from an
> Inquisition record that looks very much like a period recipe. The quoted
> text from the report appears to have been:
> 
> "Los viernes fasta . . su ama acelgas sancohadas en agua e despues
> ahogadas en aseyte e con cebollas, e alli, en el azeyte, reheruir; e
> despues echana alli su agua e pan rallado e especias y yemas de hueuos; e
> cozia fasta que se para muy espeso." (Accent notes: the c's in acelgas,
> cebollas and especias have the down-hook on the bottom; the i's in alli,
> fasia, and cozia, and the second e's in despues are all accented.)
> 
> The authors of _Drizzle of Honey_ translate this:
> 
> "... Swiss chard, parboiling it in water and then frying it with onions in
> oil, and then boiling it again in the oil. And then she threw in water and
> grated bread crumbs and spices and egg yolks; and she cooked it until it
> got very thick."

A more literal translation would be, "On Fridays, her mistress made chard 
parboiled in water and then drowned in oil and with onions, and there, in the 
oil, boiled again; and then casting there her water and grated bread and 
spices and yolks of eggs, and cooked it until it became very thick."
 
> I'm a) wondering about 'boiling it again in oil' 

I think the steps would be as follows:
1. parboil chard in water
2. remove chard from water
3. put chard in oil ("drowned" may mean a lot of oil) with onions
4. Bring the oil and vegetable mix to a "boil"
5. add remaining ingredients
6. cook until thick

I think the "boiling it again" refers to the frying.  It was boiled the first time in 
water, and then again in oil.  I do not think that there are two separate frying 
steps.  

> and also whether this
> should be treated as a variant on the de Nola-type recipes where you
> parboil the vegetable, sautee in oil, and then thicken the result...?

It seems so to me.
 
> -- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net


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