[Sca-cooks] looking for [herb] recipes

[Stefan li Rous]

  Lady Sionnan of Concordia asked:
> I am looking for recipes in which herbs play large part in.
How about Herbolade?

 From the eggs-msg file in the Florilegium:
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>:
> re: references....
>
> Here are two. There are more.
> In one, its a simple mix of eggs, butter and herbs, baked in a shell. 
> The
> other is an omelet gizmo with cheese, with the addition of ginger. We 
> chose
> to omit the ginger (sometimes..its tasty too), and do it as a 
> crustless pie
> or egg bake thing, depending on your point of view. Considering our 
> infant
> level abilities with the fire we're attempting to learn to cook on, I 
> think
> we did pretty good :)
>
> We have done it with a more complex mix of salad greens, fresh herbs, 
> etc,
> but you can’t beat the already bagged greens for ease of use and 
> hygeine
> when camping in primitive conditions. Please note that while neither
> mentions onions, they  were classified as an herb in the garden lists 
> and
> like of the time. If it offends, you can certainly leave them out.
>
> Herbolat: (Forme of Curye 180)
> Take persel, myntes, saverey and sauge, tansey, vervayn, clarry, rewe,
> ditayn, fenel, southernwode; hewe hem and grinde hem smale. Medle hem 
> up
> with aryen. Do buttur in a trap and do the fars thereto and bake it and
> mess forth.
>
>  One Herbolace Or Two of Eggs (Menagier de Paris, p. 274)
>
> Take of dittany two leaves only, and of rue less than the half or 
> naught,
> for know that it is strong and bitter; of smallage, tansey, mint, and 
> sage,
> of each some four leaves or less, for each is strong; marjoram a little
> more, fennel more, parsley more still, but of porray, beets, violet 
> leaves,
> spinach, lettuces and clary, as much of the one as of the others, 
> until you
> have two large handfuls.  Pick them over and wash them in cold water, 
> then
> dry them of all the water, and bray two heads of ginger, then put your
> herbs into the mortar two or three times and bray them with the 
> ginger. And
> then have sixteen eggs well beaten together, yolks and whites, and bray
> and mix them in the mortar with the things abovesaid, then divide it 
> in two
> and make two thick omelettes, which you shall fry as followeth.  First 
> you
> shall heat your frying pan very well with oil, butter or such other 
> fat as
> you will, and when it is very hot all over and especially towards the
> handle, mingle and spread your eggs over the pan and turn them often 
> over
> and over with a flat palette, then cast good grated cheese on the top, 
> and
> know that it is so done, because if you grate cheese with the herbs and
> eggs, when you come to fry your omelette, the cheese at the bottom will
> stick to the pan, and thus it befals with an egg omelette if you mix 
> the
> eggs with the cheese.  Wherefore you should first put the eggs in the 
> pan,
> and put the cheese on the top, and then cover the edges with eggs, and
> otherwise it will cling to the pan.  And when your herbs be cooked in 
> the
> pan, cut your herbolace into a round or square and eat it not too hot 
> nor
> too cold.

There are other similar recipes and redactions from different people.

There are also salads:
salads-msg       (144K)  3/18/03    Period salads. lettuce, greens.

The lines between herbs and leafy greens seem to have been much fuzzier 
then.

Stefan
--------
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 ****