[Sca-cooks] Pork ribs

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Laura C. Minnick:
>At 08:07 AM 8/8/2004, you wrote:
>>I'm sorry, I know it's Pennsic and we have to stay away from our regular
>>topics :-))
>>
>>But this one is a summer topic, kind of..
>>
>>
>>So, since BBQ sauce isn't period, what are your recommendations on pork
>>ribs? (besides the ubiquitous cameline sauce)
>
>Try Poivre Jaunet. I made some last February for Regina's birthday 
>party (She yurend 57, so we had steaks and a variety of sauces!).
>
>You can find it at http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec67.htm USE 
>THE PERIOD RECIPE not the redaction. Read them through and you'll 
>know why.
>
>Make it up a day or two ahead. It can pack a punch, but the flavors 
>mellow and blend a bit after a day or so and it is really, really 
>good. I think it would be delicious on your ribs! (But be sure to 
>take your tunic off before putting it on your ribs... uh... well...

I can attest to the poivre jaunet kicking butt. I made it with white 
wine vinegar as the basis for a veal stew, as Taillevent speaks of 
veal in yellow pepper sauce but doesn't say how to make it as a 
fusion dish, so to speak). Mine was probably less tangy than 
'Lainie's appears to be, but this is presumably due to dilution with 
veal broth.

My favorite sauce for things like this is the Rich Pepper Sauce found 
in the 13th-century Anglo-Norman recipe manuscripts published in 
Speculum in, I believe, the 80's, a copy of which, at the moment, I 
have inaccessibly buried. It involves grapes pounded in a mortar and 
strained to get must, a thickening of fresh white bread crumbs, 
ginger, and lots of freshly ground black or long pepper. I don't 
recall whether it calls for a pinch of salt but adding one helps. 
Initially I made it with frozen grape juice, and that works quite 
well, and you can get it to be a rather bright, but deep, purple, and 
the sweetness goes well with pork. It's also great with rare venison 
cutlets, which are slightly purple anyway...

Adamantius
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