[Sca-cooks] Doreures et leschefrites

[Elaine Koogler]

I don't know if it has any bearing on this, but there are a number of 
recipes in the mid-Eastern books that call for something being baked 
under a piece of meat hung above it so that the fat from the meat can 
drip down into the item being baked.

Kiri

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:

> Also sprach Alex Clark:
>
>> Having just taken another look at the menus in _le Menagier de 
>> Paris_, I have a few questions about the identity of foods listed there.
>>
>> The doreures are translated by Hinson as "browned [vegetables]", but 
>> literally the word indicates either gilding or browning (or both). In 
>> dinner menu X, they are specified as "doreures de pommeaulx et de 
>> pe`s d'Espaigne et de chastellier," which I guess might translate 
>> word for word something like: "gilders of meatballs and of land of 
>> Spain and of /chastellier/" (I haven't yet found corroboration of 
>> Hinson's translation of chastellier, nor any other translation). The 
>> first type could be the same thing as pommedorry; a recipe for 
>> pommeaulx (meatballs turned green with moistened parsley and flour) 
>> is on p. 222. Hinson's translation in menu X is "browned apples and 
>> Spanish peas and young lampreys," which doesn't seem to make sense -- 
>> how and why does one either brown or gild peas? So, does anyone 
>> happen to know what doreures are?
>
>
> FWIW, Scully has "doreurs" in his glossary for his edition of 
> Taillevent, and he translates it as "glazings". I agree that this 
> could easily be a yolky-saffron-ey mixture designed to go on 
> pommedorry. Now, note that he _also_ translates pets d'Espaigne as 
> Spanish Pots or Spanish Farts (as in farce or stuffing): think of 
> those English recipes where you make your pommedorry mixture into 
> shapes with molds such as sacks or flowerpots, then remove, roast and 
> glaze them. I believe there are also English recipes that use the same 
> stuffing for castle-shaped subtleties (although I think there's also 
> pastry involved in that one). That might serve as _some_ evidence, at 
> least, to interpret the expression to mean something like, "a 
> gilt-glazed course of 'little apples', 'Spanish flowerpots', and 
> 'castles'".
>
> Unless instead of castles it has something to do with chestnuts, but 
> I'd doubt it.
>
>> The other food that I have a question about is leschefrites, which 
>> Hinson translated as "fried bread slices". Assuming that lesche means 
>> the same as Middle English leche, this is consistent with the modern 
>> English phrase "fried slice" but not with the Middle English phrase 
>> leche frys. Leche frys means a tart made with cheese or thick almond 
>> milk. Since the Menagier's leschefrites often appear together with 
>> darioles, I am inclined to assume that they are like the Middle 
>> English leche frys. But does anyone know of any more conclusive 
>> evidence?
>
>
> Again, Scully, in the same source, translates lechefricte (his 
> spelling, or probably from the Vatican MS of Taillevent) as a 
> dripping-pan, such as you'd use to catch meat juices for basting.
>
> I suppose this _could_ be an example of a dish named for a utensil, in 
> this case, a wide, flat pan. Modernly, we have casseroles, terrines, 
> etc., as examples of dishes named for their containers/dishes... I 
> don't know how much this last one helps, but here it is, anyway.
>
> Adamantius
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