[Sca-cooks] Stekeys of Beef or Venysoun

[Stefan li Rous]

Brekke commented:
> Interesting comment; I may try that, too.  My original interpretation
> was that the sauce would have been cooked in the same griddle as the
> meat, so that's why I used the drippings.
The probability of mixing the spices "in the same griddle" probably 
depends upon your interpretation of "griddle". I believe Bear had some 
comments on this that are in my file. Is it an open grill? Then pretty 
difficult to do this. Is it a flat plate? Possible but perhaps a bit 
difficult if it gets liquidy. A flat plate with sides like a skillet, 
would of course work well for this.

Stefan
>
>    Brekke commented:
> > I'll try to dig up my recipe for "Stekeys of Beef or Venysoun", made
> > with pan drippings, wine, pepper, and ginger, and served over meat 
> with
> > a sprinkle of cinnamon.  quite good, and I'd consider it a variant of
> > gravy.
>    Perhaps this one, which is in the steaks-msg file in the Florilegium
> is
>    the one you have in mind?
>    Harleian 279 (Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books)
>
>    To make Stekys of venson or bef.  Take Venyson or Bef & leche & 
> gredyl
>    it up brown; then take Vynegre & a litel verious <verjuice>, & a 
> lytil
>    Wyne, and putte pouder perpir ther-on y-now and pouder Gyngere; and
>    atte the dressoure straw on pouder Canelle y-now, that the stekys be
>    all y-helid ther-wyth, and but a litel sauce; & serve it forth.
>
>    This doesn't sound like a gravy to me, but a sauce. For instance, I
>    don't see the meat drippings being used.
>
>    In fact, looking at this more, I don't see these various spices and
>    verjuice being mixed together or heated together, other than on top 
> of
>    the steak. Maybe mixing them together seperately is implied. But it
>    says to sprinkle the cinnamon on top of the steak.

--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****